Damon nodded.“Sure.”The thought of relaxing in the backyard like he had many times before calmed the lost feeling he’d been dealing with.It was hard coming from a place with no color and where death and violence were the norm, to where he could finally take a deep breath and listen to the birds and bees, not gunfire and crying.
He couldn’t remember seeing birds while he was stationed overseas.Add a beer and a good friend, and he couldn’t ask for anything more.
Chapter Three
Emma awoke from anotherterror-filled nightmare.She sat up and looked around her bedroom but saw nothing.The chair she had lodged against her doorknob to keep someone out was still there—an extra precaution against the threat.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and took several deep breaths to calm her racing heartbeat.
When she felt steady enough, she pulled herself from the twisted blanket and walked into her bathroom.The bright light sent a spark of pure stinging pain into her sleep-deprived eyes, making her blink several times and then squint.She splashed her face with cold water.When the sweat was gone, she started to dry it, but stopped when she caught a glance of herself in the mirror.
“God, when did I become this shell of a woman?”She knew several factors had changed her, and there was very little she could do about anything.
The first thing that shook her world was Damon pushing her away.She had thought they’d gone past the juvenile bully stage.He was always at her house because he was her brother’s best friend.She’d been in fifth grade when she first noticed him as a cute guy instead of the other people around the house.Her girly crush had hit her hard.No other boy had ever grabbed her attention like Damon.
It was around that time he started bullying her.He and her brother had always picked on her, but Damon took it to a new level.It wasn’t anything traumatizing.Emma knew Damon would never do anything to piss Trent off.But as a young girl with her first crush, she sometimes felt devastated.The snide remarks about her bikini being too small or looking rough, and needing to stay home and sleep more.Her emotions went from happiness at seeing and being near him to anger and then hurt.A few times, she dreamed he was just concerned about her, but he’d say something else hurtful, and she’d be sad again.
The older they got, the more bullying took on a different level.It was still there, but it had lightened.She felt it was becoming more mature.
They’d slowly built a friendship she cherished.From the look on his face, she periodically made her think he wanted her as more than a friend.Now, they didn’t even have a friendship, and he was gone from her life.
Then her parents died, and she tried to be strong for her brother, but she could only do so much because of her own devastation and broken heart.
When she came home and stayed after the funeral, she thought Trent would be better with her there and vice versa.She couldn’t see herself going back to college and spending time with her friends.Although they were the same age, Emma had always felt older and never carefree like they had been.
After a few months, her brother brought his new girlfriend home while Emma was getting her life back on track.She’d been so thrilled for him because he seemed content and happy.It didn’t take long for Emma to see behind Marley’s façade.The woman was a conniving, entitled bitch, and they quickly learned to hate each other.
Emma had thought about going to her brother and telling him, but he was just starting to be happy again after their parents passed, and she didn’t want to take that from him.She wouldn’t have hesitated if she thought Marley would hurt her brother.But right now, she still made him happy.
Also, she would step in if they got more serious and talked about a wedding.She was hoping he would see the real Marley and not the one the bitch showed most people.She talked to her brother every day, and she had not sensed any unhappiness, so she bided her time.
To make her life even more eventful, she’d picked up a stalker somewhere.It began several months, almost a year ago.It started off harmless, with notes left on her car and little poems or flowers sent to her work.It quickly escalated into threats over the phone or furious-sounding notes.
She’ll never get the sound of the distorted voice on the phone out of her mind.It appeared a lot in her nightmares.
Things had come to a head between the two when Marley found out about the man stalking her.She’d never asked how she found out because there had only been a few people who had known, and her brother wasn’t one of them.
