Chapter 8
Willa didn’t catch up with Bec the next morning. The woman left early for a trip to Sacramento. Good for Bec, but it sucked for her. She would have to wait until Monday, or maybe she could talk to Bec on Sunday night.
The man who dropped by may not have been Robert. The person might not have been looking for her at all. There were multiple women named Willa. Honestly, she hated the idea of someone out there looking for her.
Even before Robert started stalking her, she’d thought the idea of being stalked, someone watching her every move, lying in wait as she went about her day, was freaky as shit.
Someone had tried to get her to watch the TV series You, but she couldn’t take it.
Maybe she’d watched too many scary movies as a child.
Her mom hadn’t cared what media she’d consumed.
By the time she’d turned ten, she’d seen Scream and all the Friday the Thirteenth movies.
But those weren’t the only movies she watched.
Every slasher flick she could get her hands on had been watched and rewatched.
The scenes where the killer watched their victims, spying on them through windows, standing behind trees, or in bushes, those were the ones that got her.
To think Robert was out there, watching her, was almost too much.
She had to believe that he wasn’t actually watching her, or she wouldn’t be able to function.
When she arrived at Aces, she took a moment to study the cars in the lot.
Every vehicle looked empty. But then she saw an SUV sitting a few spots down.
There was a guy on the driver’s side who made eye contact with her, and then he opened the door of his vehicle.
Panic swept over her like a huge wave crashing against rocks.
She thought about putting her car into gear and taking off, but something looked familiar about the guy.
At first, she didn’t recognize him. Then his smile slipped, and he looked very serious.
That was when she realized it was the guy who’d gotten Robert to leave Aces.
Relief dripped through her, and her shoulders deflated. She opened the door to her car and leaned out. “Sorry. I didn’t recognize you.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I was worried about you, and I had no other way to contact you.”
“Oh.” Why did he want to contact her?
“Last night I was reading an email and sitting in my car before I took off. I saw a white car drive past and got a good look at the guy. It was Robert. You walked out while I was figuring out what to do. He followed you.”
“Oh crap. I thought someone was following me.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I pulled out and stayed behind him until I could get between your car and his. I blocked him in so he couldn’t follow you.
” He raised both hands. “I didn’t follow you to your place, so I have no idea where you live, but he is following you after work, and I’m worried because I can’t be here every night to make sure he doesn’t do it again. ”
“Oh gosh, I wouldn’t expect you to. But thank you for intercepting him last night. That’s twice you’ve saved me.”
“It wasn’t much. I think most people would help if they could.”
She snorted a laugh as she shook her head. “No, they wouldn’t.”
His lips drew down deeper into an even more severe frown. “So I know this may seem like too much, but I’d like to have your number and your last name. I promise, I just want to help.”
Was this guy for real? “Why?”
His eyes narrowed. “Why what?”
“Why would you help me? You don’t know me. I’m not sleeping with you, either.”
He took a step back and raised both hands. “I know it sounds weird, but honestly, I just want to help. I don’t like people taking advantage of others, and it seemed like he wanted to hurt you last night.”
No one helped other people without expecting something in return. He glanced over his shoulder and then back at her. The look in his eyes made her anger soften just a little. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy.
“He used to beat me. That’s why I left. He says pretty words when he begs me to come back to him, but I can’t believe him. I did that more than once, and I ended up regretting it.”
“I’m sorry he’s such a jerk.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“No, but it seems like men don’t call out other men enough. I don’t want to be the type of guy who is oblivious to the pain of others.”
“Are you for real, or is this a dream? Maybe I was hit by a car.”
His lips tipped up in a smile that made her heart squeeze. He really was good-looking, which might be a bad thing for her to realize.
“You weren’t hit by a car as far as I know. And this isn’t a dream.”
She lifted one shoulder in a lazy shrug. “Maybe in my dream, you would say that. What if you’re not conscious and I’m just dreaming this all up?”
His smile grew wider. When he was serious, he looked very scary, but now he looked kind, like he wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“If I wasn’t conscious, how would you be dreaming it up? Or are we in a shared reality dream?”
She liked this guy, but she had terrible taste in men, and liking a guy wasn’t good enough. She’d liked Robert at one point.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“So, about your number and name. I’d like to see if I can do anything to stop Robert before he does something really dumb, so I wouldn’t mind having his last name.”
Anything dealing with Robert was serious. The man was a menace, and he would hurt her if she didn’t do something soon. But was giving her number to some stranger a wise idea?