Maybe Fate: A Novel (New Adult Paranormal Romance) Read Free

dangerous, I just know it. Why
did I bother confronting him? Ugh, I hope I don't end up as a news
blurb tomorrow.
    Working
around the numbness in my tongue, I slid one heel backwards. “I
swear, I'll scream.” And
just hope someone hears me. Too
terrified to take my eyes off of that pale face and check around, I
prayed there were still people in the park.
    “ Scream?”
he asked, tucking his hands into his pockets. “What ever for?”
    Hesitating,
I licked my lips. “Uh. Well. Aren't you—I mean, you just
admitted to stalking me around.”
    “ True,”
he agreed. “I'm just not sure what screaming would
accomplish.”
    That
was too much for me. In a panic, I threw the bread at him, not
watching to see if it would even do anything. All I wanted was to
run, and my body was happy to oblige.
    Scrambling
down the walkway, stones clomping under my rapid foot-beats, I
strained to tell if I was being followed.
    I
can't look back, dammit, I can't! Just run, Gale, just keep running.
    Breathing
heavy, fighting the sharp, acrid burning in my chest, I pushed
myself beyond what my muscles thought they could do.
    Screaming
for air, for a break, I denied it all and just kept sprinting until
I broke out into the street. Behind me, the park was like an angry
black spider, the leaves and branches reaching for the sky with
hairy legs.
    Bending
over by the only lamp post along that length of road, I panted.
    I
need to go further... I should get closer to other people, or go to
the police, or just something. I wish I at least had a cellphone!
    Wiping
my forehead, I turned back to stare anxiously into the shadows. The
park, a place that had always felt so peaceful to me, now made my
belly stir uneasily.
    Who
was that guy? Why the hell has he been following me?
    Shaking
my head, I smoothed my hair back behind my ears. My belly still felt
squishy, like the bread I'd eaten could come up any minute.
    Glancing
to the west, I saw the vague glow of the downtown area, where I knew
the police station would be. Unfortunately, before the safe glow of
the hustle and bustle, was a long stretch of silent houses.
    Walking
past the hunched buildings that seemed so insidious in the blue
evening didn't sound appealing.
    The
other way up the road went back to my campus, my dorm. The entire
swath of pavement was bright with tall lamps, and that... that
struck me as much safer.
    Tomorrow.
I'll go talk to the cops tomorrow.
    Adjusting
my backpack, I hurried off down the quiet street. It wasn't until I
crossed into the grassy commons of the campus that I started to
breathe easier.
    My
relief didn't last long.
    Stepping
into the first halo of tall lamp light spreading across the ground,
tingles crept up my neck seconds before that smooth voice called to
me.
    “ Did
you not realize this bread was old?”
    Freezing,
I looked down at the long shadow on the grass beside me. It poured
over, extending into the light from the lamp above.
    Warily,
I turned around until I saw that grinning face. He was standing
outside the reach of the glow, decked in darkness. Still, he wore
those sun glasses.
    In
one hand, he had a slice of white bread held high. The bag I'd
chucked at him was cradled against his chest. “Well?” he
asked, expectant.
    “ I—I,
what? Well what?” I was having trouble thinking, especially
when I was trying to decide if he was close enough to stop me from
rushing straight for the dorms at the top of the hill.
    “ Well,”
he said pointedly, waggling the bread, “did you realize it was old? ”
    “ That...
yeah. Of course.” If
I yell loud enough, right now, maybe someone will come help before
this goes too far.
    Sighing,
the stranger tucked the slice back in with the rest. “So every
time you've been eating these, it's been awful, stale quality?”
    Stunned,
I slumped my shoulders so quickly my backpack fell to the grass.
“Every time?”
    “ That's
what I said.”
    “ You...
you've been watching me in the park before?”
    Canting
his head, he