Falling Star (Combustible Book 2) (19 page)

Trent locked the front door and followed her into the kitchen where he grabbed a couple glasses.

“What happened?” he asked. His heart started calming after the initial panic.

She turned around and nearly dropped the jar as she stumbled back. He took the tea from her and set it on the counter.

“Ella, what the hell happened?” he demanded.

“You’re going to think I’m really crazy.” She took the glasses off and set them down before running her fingers through her hair, pushing it off her face. “God, this is all messed up.”

He took two steps forward and caught her arms. “What is, Ella? You aren’t making sense.”

“I think I know who my stalker is.”

“How?”

Her chest heaved as her nostrils flared. “His eyes, they were so damned familiar. And he had scars on his hands. From a fire. It all makes sense, and until I talked to Mila about it, I hadn’t really let myself believe it was possible. Now, the more I think about it, the more freaked out I am.”

“Hey, stop. Calm down. I want you to talk to me, but you need to breathe.”

“I am breathing. I… shit, I don’t know what to do. He’s supposed to be dead.”

“The stalker?”

“Logan Poole. The cops said he died in a fire when we were in high school. Guy creeped me out even back then.”

Trent watched her, trying to figure out how that was possible. She clearly believed this guy was still alive.

* * * *

Tickets for prom went on sale that morning. At lunch, Logan walked up to Ella holding a single white rose surrounded by lavender. A shudder rocked down her spine as Mila tugged her down another hallway.

“Who are you going to prom with?” Mila asked.

“Not him,” Ella muttered. She knew Logan had finally got the balls to ask her out, and she was afraid to turn him down, but there was no way in hell she was spending an evening with the creep.

“Ella, hey, can we talk?” Logan called, his voice coming closer.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Ella held her breath for a second.

“Please, just one chance?”

She stopped and turned slowly, meeting his steel gray eyes. He towered over her. It wasn’t strength in his frame but baby weight that still clung to his massive body. “Would you go to prom with me, Ella Blair?”

“No, I’m sorry. I already have plans,” she answered automatically.

His smile fell as he tried to hand her the flowers.

She shook her head. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” Ella turned and started walking away.

He caught hold of her arm and spun her around. A dangerous gleam entered his eyes. “Please, I have the whole night planned. Everything is perfect for prom. Just say yes. Give me this one night to prove how good we could be together.”

A chill flowed through her whole body and she pulled away. “No, Logan. I can’t.” She turned and ran. Mila called after her, but she didn’t turn back. Trembling, she ducked into her chemistry class and sank into a seat.

“Ella? Damn it, talk to me, or I’m calling Mila.”

Shaking her head, her mind returned to the present and she met Trent’s icy blue eyes. The look of concern on his face made her heart miss a beat. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to think of where to start.”

“Why don’t you go sit down on the couch. I’ll pour you a drink. Then you can start at the beginning.”

Ella couldn’t argue. She felt wobbly and lightheaded. After sinking onto the couch, she reached for the yearbook she’d tossed on the seat in her dash to open the door. If it weren’t Sunday night, she’d call the therapist.

Trent sat beside her and handed her a glass while setting his on the table.

“How can I help?”

Offering a tight smile, she lifted the glass to her lips and took a long drink. “Thank you.”

“Did you tell Mila?”

Ella nodded. “She told me to tell the police, and I probably will. But you’re going to think I’m crazy when I’m done. Still, I need you to know first.”

“I won’t. I trust you.”

She sucked in a breath, and he took her glass, setting it down next to his before capturing her hand.

“Logan went to high school with us.” She opened the book and found his picture, handing the yearbook over to Trent. “That’s him. He was a big guy, heavyset. Steel gray eyes. He followed me around all the time, but rarely ever spoke more than a word or two. But he’d watch me, and it scared the hell out of me back then.”

Trent nodded but didn’t interrupt.

“He asked me to prom. I told him no. He grabbed my arm when I went to walk away, and I yelled at him and ran. Mila probably remembers that.” She snorted. “He didn’t ask again. He never stopped watching me, though.”

Ella took a gulp of air to catch her breath, then reached for her glass and drank the rest of the tea. “His house burned down the night of prom. The paper said they all died. His whole family.” Ella shook her head. “I felt guilty. I mean, he asked me to prom, and the night of the dance, Logan, his younger brother, and his parents all died in the fire. I know, it wasn’t my fault, but still, it seemed that way for a while. And it still bothered me enough that I left Seattle the day after I graduated.”

He shook his head, his brow pinched. “Why do you think this is the same guy?”

“See, you think I’m crazy.”

“No.” Trent squeezed her hands. “I want to understand what makes you think it could be him.”

“The guy who took me had the same steel gray eyes. It’s been years. He’s solid muscle now, but the same height, maybe taller. He’s huge. And he had burn scars on his hands. I remember the way it felt, the ugly melted look, the skin unnaturally smooth to the touch. And his voice was familiar at the time, but now I realize, it sounded so much like him. What if Logan got out? What if he found me again, and started really stalking me?”

Now Trent looked concerned. “You need to talk to the police here so they can look for this guy. Doesn’t matter if they pronounced him dead. If you have any reason to believe he could be your stalker, they need to know to look. And maybe go as far as a restraining order.”

“And if it’s not him?” Ella asked in defeat. “Or if he changed his name, and he goes by something else? Besides, what good is a piece of paper? Will it really stop this guy?”

Trent grimaced. “We’ll talk to the police and go from there. Someone may eventually recognize you and make a big deal about it. That means he could find you. So we need to be prepared.”

“I know, but how? The stalking laws aren’t really in my favor here. I can’t prove it was him, and even if I did, unless they find him, they can’t touch him. He did hold me against my will. So they can press charges now. But they didn’t do anything the whole time I was getting gifts and letters. They took them, looked into it, but because the guy made no contact, left no proof of breaking and entering, there wasn’t shit they could do. No fingerprints. No DNA. And I’m still in California, even if I’m at the furthest reaches, in the smallest town I know.”

“Ella, we still need to talk to someone.” He lifted her chin and met her gaze. “It’s a small town, but they may have a little more leeway here. At the very least they can send patrol cars by your house.”

That didn’t ease the fear, but she nodded anyway. “Remember that morning you found me freaking out?”

He nodded.

“I might be remembering those two days. It’s fuzzy, nothing clear. But I can feel his hands, those scars, on me. He’d hold me, and I was too out of it to respond.”

Tears rolled over her puffy cheeks, and he wiped them away. “I’m sorry, Ella.”

“He didn’t take things there. The rape test was clean. I think last night was so bad because that’s how he held me, his hand on my stomach, my thighs, his breath in my ear. I woke up naked with you and thought it was him.”

“Hey, I told you last night, it’s okay. If it happens again, we’ll figure it out.”

“I hate this feeling of helplessness. Can’t stop thinking about it now, and I know I need to sort through all the shit, but I don’t want to remember. You don’t have any idea how terrifying the flashes are.”

He cupped her face, staring into her eyes. “We’ll figure out what we can do and how to stop this guy.”

“I hope so. But not tonight. I need to get my mind off this.”

“Let’s watch something.”

She winced. “I don’t have any movies here. And I’m not sure I want to watch one of
my
movies with you.”

“Why not?” he asked in all seriousness.

She shifted uncomfortably. “You already questioned if I had anything going on with a co-star. I’ve only seen men have two reactions. Either they try to compete with whoever is on screen, or they get pissy when we get to an intimate scene. I don’t want you to make comparisons between what you see and what we share because everything on screen is pretend.”

One corner of his mouth turned up. “Ella, I’ve seen every movie you’ve ever been in, and I can tell you that what we have is better than any of it.”

“It’s not going to weird you out to see me intimate with someone else on screen?”

He smirked. “No. I get the real thing.”

She groaned. “You do, but that doesn’t make it any less awkward.”

“I have movies at my house. What are you in the mood to watch? I can run over there and be back in a couple minutes.”

Ella rubbed her legs and smiled slightly. “Action. Something fun. I don’t want to think anymore tonight.”

“And not yours?”

“Please, not. Maybe another time. When I don’t have a bunch of real horrors swirling through my head.”

“Not tonight, but I’ll hold you to another time.” Trent kissed her forehead, then he hopped up off the couch and headed for the door. “I’ll be right back.”

Chapter 24

Ella left Trent in the shower after their morning run. She didn’t want to be sidetracked from her goals.

First, check email.

Call the therapist.

Breakfast.

Head to her new shop.

Not that it was open. But she finally had merchandise coming in and she planned to start setting fixtures and displays up. The grand opening wasn’t for another two weeks. No shortage of work to do in the meantime.

Dread filled her as she sat at the laptop and pulled up her email. Ryan had sent a witty response and Shannon signed off. Sam finally wrote back… what a relief.

Dearest Sister,

Sorry for the long silence. You were right. I’m sorry I was a jerk. Don’t worry, I’m leading your stalker away. I’m trying to find the truth so you finally have your answers.

Love you,

Your Brother.

PS. I’ll find you once it’s safe.

Strong hands squeezed her shoulders and Ella screamed, her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest.

Trent raised his hands instinctively. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“My brother’s okay. He sent an email. Said he’d find me. I’m not sure how.”

“Did he ever know Mila?”

She shrugged. “Yeah. We grew up on the same street. Our brothers used to chase the same girls.”

Trent half-laughed. “Okay, so he probably knows how to find you if he thinks about it long enough.”

“I guess. I hadn’t really thought of that. I just needed to get away from some of the asshole press.”

“That why you finally left?”

“You don’t have any idea how bad it got. Here, let me show you what decimated my last straw.” She turned back to the laptop and pulled up the video of her last interview.

Trent leaned down, putting one hand on the desk, his other on the chair behind her. She pressed play and prepared to cringe through the video that had sealed her decision to leave Hollywood for good.

* * * *

Trent almost told Ella he didn’t need to see it, until he caught what the email from her brother said, and wanted to show his support. If she needed to share this piece of her former life, he would let her. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t find it on his own.

On screen, Ella, or rather Raven, had straight dark hair and wore big sunglasses. She hurried from some fancy building toward a car.

Some smarmy guy with a microphone rushed to block her path. Trent winced. Didn’t take a genius to figure out what was about to happen.

“Please, let me get in my car,” Raven answered with little emotion though she gripped her keys tight in her hand.

Trent’s fingers turned white as he held the chair tighter, glaring at the guy when he opened his mouth. “I understand your captor held you two days. How much did
you
lead him on?”

She shook her head and stepped to the side of him.

“Were you drunk when you crashed your car? Did he save you and you wanted to repay him?”

Ella closed her eyes, taking a step back as her nostrils flared.

“Was it drugs? Maybe he’s a dealer who wanted your body instead of cash.”

Her jaw clenched and she moved to walk around him.

He pushed his way into her space, but she held her ground, glaring back at him.

“Did he hold you down until you begged for him?”

She spun around and started walking back to the building as the security guard rushed her way.

The reporter shouted. “Will you run to him when he finds you? Or are you just a tease looking for more publicity?”

Rage tore through Trent as he paced away. “I want to smash that fucker’s face in.”

“Yeah, me too, but answering wasn’t going to do a damned bit of good. They just turn your words around or edit the clip so it sounds like you said one thing when it wasn’t true.” She turned off the browser and shut the laptop. Tears shimmered in her eyes. “He wasn’t the first to take that line of questioning… just the worst… or maybe I’d had enough. The only thing stopping me from ripping the camera from the other fucker’s hands and shoving it up that reporter’s ass was that I was standing right outside my lawyers’ office, and the resulting story would only wind up worse.”