Maybe Fate: A Novel (New Adult Paranormal Romance) (5 page)

I
wonder if it was all a joke, maybe he gave up? Maybe... maybe he WAS
flirting with me, and I just blew it?

Ducking
my head against a chilly gust, I chided myself mentally.
Stop
it. Don't start doubting yourself. Remember that he said he's been
following you for a while.

Downtown
was already loud and lively, even though it was hardly past five.
Groups of students mingled with people who worked or lived in the
area, gathering in front of stores and making walls of noise.

Weaving
around everyone, I stood at the corner before the concrete beast of
a building that was the police station.

Setting
my lips into a determined line, I strolled through the large double
doors.

The
woman at the counter looked up as I entered, offering me a weak
smile under tired eyes. It made me wonder if we mirrored each other.
“Excuse me,” I said. “Um. I'm here to report a...
well, a stalker, I suppose.”

“
Oh
my,” the lady answered. Sitting up, she tapped at the buttons
on her phone. “One second, let me get someone for you.”

Nodding,
I peered around the station with interest. Cops wandered around in
uniform, while a number of plain clothes people sat around desks,
typing or chatting.

“
Yes,”
the woman said suddenly. “Yes, detective Remmy, there's
someone who'd like to speak with you. Mmhm. Yes, when you have a
moment, thanks.” Clicking the phone down, she gave me another
weary grin. It didn't quite reach her eyes. “If you'd like,
there's some coffee over there while you wait.”

“
Yeah,
thanks.” Blinking, I wandered over to the pot of dark liquid.
Wonder
if this has been here for a while or not.
Realizing
I was too exhausted to care, I poured myself a small cup.

Barely
getting the sugar and powdered cream into it, a voice interrupted
me. “Hello, can I help you?”

Jumping,
wincing at the hot coffee that scalded my wrist, I turned to find a
broad man in a dark grey shirt and trousers behind me.

He
seemed friendly enough, flinching sympathetically at how I wiped
liquid from my skin. “Sorry,” he said quickly, “didn't
mean to scare you. I'm Detective Remmy.”

“
Oh,
ah, right,” I babbled, drying my hand on my jacket. Reaching
out, we shook briefly. “I'm Gale, and don't worry about the
coffee. That was my bad.”

“
A
bit jumpy?” he asked, a bushy mustache hiding some of his
frown.

My
laugh was hollow. “A bit, yes. I uh, I've never had to do this
before, so...”

Nodding
understandingly, he motioned me towards a table in the corner.
“Here, come tell me what's wrong.”

We
sat across from one another as I nursed my coffee to gather my
thoughts. Tapping the rim of the cup, I set it down gently. “Right,
so. Here's the thing. I think I'm being stalked.”

Remmy
didn't seem shocked. “Ah, I see. You think, you aren't sure?”

“
Kind
of? I mean,” I said quickly, waving my hands in front of me,
“I can't prove it. That's all. So if you ask me to, well...”

His
chuckle was deep, sympathetic. “No no, Gale, relax. I just
want you to tell me what happened. You don't need to prove anything
to me.”

Unsure
about how easy this seemed, I took another swig of my drink.
“Alright. Bare with me, it'll sound a little weird. But last
night, I was walking through my college campus—I go to
Endicott, up the road—anyway, when I went through the
commons... Well, there was a guy watching me.”

“
A
guy,” he said, pulling out a small notebook to scribble in.
“How old, would you say?”

Shrugging,
I felt Nethiun's face burning in my memory. “My age, maybe? At
least nineteen, I think. Um, he was blonde, pretty pale. Oh, really
tall, too.”

Remmy
nodded, staring down as his pen blurred over the page. “Aright,
what color were his eyes?”

“
Uh,”
I coughed.

The
detective glanced up at me through thick eyebrows. “Didn't get
a good look at them?”

“
He
was wearing sunglasses,” I explained lamely, unsure how to
express how much that detail had bothered me. “He kind of had
them on even when it got dark out.”

“
Sorry,
dark out? He was following you at night?”

“
Late
evening, before the sun set, he followed me to the park by the
college. Then he must have followed me back to the campus, he showed
up behind me after things got dark.”

Remmy
tapped the pen to his cheek, studying me curiously. “So you
saw him following you. Did he speak to you?”

Recalling
some of the weird things Nethiun had said, I blushed. “Uh.
Yeah. He told me he'd been following me for a while, and he knew my
name.”

Sighing,
the detective wrote something down. “Fingers crossed, did he
tell you what he wanted, or who he was?”

Laughing
a little cynically, I tugged the ends of my hair. “Actually,
no and yes. He wouldn't say what he was following me for. But, he
did tell me his name—and please don't laugh—he called
himself Nethiun.”

“
Nethiun?”

Closing
my eyes, I drained my coffee cup. “Weird, right?”

“
Maybe
a fake name,” he mused. “Hmn. Anything else?”

Thinking
of how he had teased me about the stale bread, I bit my lip. “Nope.”

The
broad man leaned back in his chair, considering what he had written
down. “Well, Gale, from what you've said, there isn't much I
can do. I'm sorry to say that. While I'm glad you reported this, we
can't act on anything unless this guy actually does something.”

My
belly felt cold. I wished I had more coffee. “Wait, what? I
don't understand. He followed me and admitted to stalking me!”

“
I'm
really sorry,” he said, scratching at the back of his skull.
“I wish I could do more, but it isn't illegal to follow
someone.”

Shocked
by the turn this had taken, I looked down at my hands as they gave a
twinge of pain. I was gripping the edge of the table so hard, my
knuckles looked like bone.

Gently,
I let go, folding them in my lap. I could control that, but not the
anger in my voice. “So coming here was a waste of time.”

“
No,
no, don't say that. If this guy does something, now we have a trail
started to work from!”

“
Yeah,”
I said, my tone acid with disdain, “or, he murders me because
he's a crazy person stalking me around campus. I guess after that,
you sure can do something.” Standing so fast my chair almost
tipped over, I hoisted my backpack. “Thanks for everything,
detective.”

Remmy
lifted a hand, clearly wanting me to come back, but I wouldn't have
it. After talking myself into finally coming to the police station,
I felt worse than ever.

How
could a situation like this have actually made everything worse?

I
should never have bothered,
I
thought bitterly, stalking out the front doors without looking back.
I
should never have wasted my time. That's all it was. A waste.

Stomping
into the cold evening, I headed up the sidewalk towards the west
district. It was where I was supposed to meet up with Becky.

Part
of me wanted nothing more than to head to the dorms and marathon
awful episodes of cooking shows. I was miserable, frustrated with
being told I couldn't be helped.

The
last thing I want to do now is go out and party.

However,
if there was something I hated more, it was disappointing people.
I'd promised Becky I would go out, I didn't need to make her angry
with me with everything else I was dealing with.

The
Gold Boar wasn't far, I wished the walk had been longer. By the time
I arrived, I was still seething from my meeting with the detective.

Pushing
through the spinning door with its elaborate yellow curling designs,
I felt the wave of heat and sound hit me at the same time.

The
inside of the restaurant, which was more of a club than the name
suggested, was bustling. It was a young crowd, especially since
there was no age limit on entry. It was one of the few in the area
that ran that way, but it drew much of the freshmen on campus for
that reason.

Looking
around, my feet itched to let me backtrack out the door. I thought,
perhaps, if I moved fast enough...
Becky
might never even miss me if I say I showed up and couldn't find her.

My
glimmer of freedom vanished when the dark-haired woman slammed into
me with a squealing hug.

“
Gale!
You made it! I thought you might bail, I'm so impressed you didn't!”

Hugging
her with a sheepish smile, I untangled myself and held her at a
distance. She was dressed to the nines, as usual. Her cocktail dress
shimmered in bronze and green, clinging to every curve on her body.

Pointedly,
I stared at her exposed cleavage, wondering if her breasts would
stay inside all night. Only gravity could prove me wrong.

I
started to talk, then raised my voice as it became clear the sound
of the crowd would wash me out. “Hey! Yeah, uh, about that. I
was thinking of maybe leaving a little—”

“
Here,
this way!” She blurted, ending my attempt at polite departure.
Frowning, I let her tug me through the swarm, feeling completely out
of place.

Dressed
in jeans and my jacket, my hair mussed as ever and my face free of
makeup, I was mildly humiliated when Becky shoved me in front of a
group of people at a corner booth.

Grinning,
her lip gloss catching the lights on the ceiling, she motioned at
me. “Everyone! This is my friend, Gale!”

Wincing,
I gave a pathetic wave. “Uh. Hey.”

The
four people, three guys and one girl, looked at me with varying
expressions. They didn't seem impressed, but at least they smiled.

“
That's
Jim, Kylie, Stewart, and Markel,” Becky said, gesturing to
each of her friends. “Now, sit down, and let's get some
drinks!”

Her
hands shoved me, roughly, into the booth. Not casually, she squished
me up against one of the boys. I couldn't remember if he was Stewart
or Jim, so I just offered him a nervous smile.

What
the hell am I doing here?

Around
me, the group chatted happily. It was like I was invisible, all I
could think about was how much my skull was pounding.