Page 47 of Unspoken Lies

Somehow, he’s in a pocket of shadow, and the streetlights no longer feel as safe as they did a few seconds ago. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I can’t fucking handle the real world.

“Don’t come any closer,” I squeak, my finger hovering over the push button trigger. When I bought it online, I wanted to ensure that it would be easy for me to handle.

It’s also one of the things that helped me talk myself out of the house earlier today. I feel lightheaded, and my chest is hurting as I take another step back.

“Why are you stalking me!” the man screams. He sounds familiar, yet I don’t know why. I don’t know anyone in Montecito. That’s what made this area so special.

Complete anonymity. Ha, so much for that.

“I’m…I don’t know who you are,” I tell him, shaking my head. “Please stay away from me.”

“No, I need to know that you’re not real,” he says. “I need this…”

As the light falls over his face, he’s also reaching out to touch me, and my hand is shoving the stun gun just below his armpit. It’s the highest I can reach, and my vision is starting to blacken.

Fuck, I think I stopped breathing.

His brown shocked eyes are the last thing I see before they roll back and he collapses at my feet. Holy fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Sinking to my knees as I drop my hand, I ask myself if this really happened. Pulling out my phone with my other hand that’s trembling, I force myself to breathe. My entire body hurts as I pull in the oxygen, my vision clearing at an alarmingly slow rate.

I space out as I dial one of two numbers that I regularly call, and it takes a second before I hear him yelling at me through the phone where it’s resting on my knee. Fuck, I have to get my shit together.

I’ll disassociate about this later.

Bringing my phone up to my ear, I stop the increasing alarm and frequency of the Spanish coming from the other end of the line.

“I’m here,” I rasp, tears beginning to leak from my eyes. “Emil, is Elijah Fletcher here? He ran at me as I was walking home from work. He was freaking the fuck out!”

“I never asked you where work is,” Emil says, cursing under his breath. “It’s been one thing after another for me. Take a breath for me, it’s doing the thready shit right before you pass out. Good. Is he standing in front of you now?”

“He’s kind of passed out,” I whisper, taking a painful breath. My body is so stiff, everything hurts. “I used my stun gun on him. He tried to touch me.”

“Then he deserved your stun gun,” he grunts. “No one gets to touch you without permission, not ever. Now, where are you working,mija?”

“Cellie’s Mystics,” I reply dully.

“Hey!No te alejas de mi, Rachelle,” he growls. “Stay with me. I have a lot to tell you. Leaveel pendejoin the street. I’ll have someone collect him, okay? Someday he needs to learn that when you fuck around, you may just find out. Get up.”

His insistent tone helps me force steel into my veins to push myself up to stand. Gently kicking Elijah’s body to see if he’s alive, I shrug as his chest rises and falls. This is more courtesy than he allowed me.

“I’m up,” I mutter. “The asshole is breathing.”

“Good, good. I’m texting someone as we speak to get him. Please look both ways before crossing the street,” he says. “I really don’t need to lose you and end up with more gray hair, alright?”

Lips twitching because he does have more grays in his dark hair, I glance both ways before switching off my stun gun and pocketing it. The last thing I need is to be stopped by the police.

Fuck, why is my life so odd?

“Alright, old man. Spill your guts to me,” I say, crossing the street.

“Mija, we would be on the phone for a very long time if I did that, and some of it isn’t my story to tell,” he sighs. “I’ll tell you what I can.”

The walk home is eye opening, and I decide I may not leave my apartment again for a while. The wolves are in my town.

I didn’t even know it.

CHAPTER 11