In Her Shadow

by Lilah Raine

“I knew I recognized you! How long have you been following me?”

“I… I don’t know what you're talking about.”

not knowing where the fuck this feisty girl...

“Come on, I’m not stupid. You knew my address, you knew how much I’d drunk the other night. I was so sure your face was familiar. So I’ve been...

“You’ve been following me, and I want...

“Please don’t run. I need answers.”

This is not good, not for me, or for her.

“Can you at least let me buy you a coffee, to say thank you for the other night?”

All this girl wants is a normal life and I am anything but fucking normal.

“Come on, if it makes you feel more comfortable, I’ll let you follow me inside.”

I’ve spent most of this girl’s life fucking following her, she’s never noticed up to now. How could I have dropped the ball?

“I’m not following you. I live near your apartment, and my gym just happens to be near your office building.”

“So, you just happened to be there last week when I was drunk, and today, you were just passing by h...

“I’ve seen you. I’ve been looking out for you, and suprise suprise, most of ...

and I wait for her to slap the restraining order she’s got on the table in front of me.

“I’m cooking dinner tonight. I want you to come.”

“Dinner…? Bu...

She raises her eyebrows, daring ...

“Fine, I’ll be there. What time do ...

I give up on trying to understand the way her head works,

“You don’t even know my name and you're asking me to dinner,”

I point out, in case that knock to the head she took has made this girl forget who she is.

Eloise Meadows is scared of her...

Watching her for this long has shown me that despite what the world has done to Eloise, she’s still able to appreciate the good in it.

She finds the good in everything around her.

I’m starting to believe that she could see the good in me, too, and that’s foolish. How could I ever expect a girl like h...

She spends every day of her life fighting her way out of the darkness,...

I don’t know if what she has planned tonight counts as a date. I’ve never been on one before.

For as long as I can remember, my entire existence has revolved around one person, a girl who I’ve convinced myself I will never have.

I take a quick shower and put on some jeans with a clean black T-shirt and when the time comes to make my way over,

I automatically go to take out my key, then drop it back in my pocket and press the intercom instead.

This girl may be a little bit broken, but she’s happy.

She’s always looking for the best in life, and I’m sure to cast a shadow over that.

My mind is poisoned with dark thoughts, and my conscience is...

She’s Heaven. I...

The face that pulls me out of those dark thoughts, the one that gives me a reason to breathe.

Being with her didn’t feel wrong. It felt like salvation.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.”

He’s actually on time. Who in New York ever shows up dead on time?

His eyes are so menacing, his tattoos are as hot as they are intimidating,

I’ve picked up on the hint of psycho energy he gives, yet here I am, inviting him up here for dinner,

and wearing my best underwear…j...

“Hi.” His head is tilted downward, and he looks up at me with those lethal eyes as his thumb strokes his lower lip.

The same bed I’ve imagined him lying me on, and kissing me…and…

“I don’t drink,” he informs me

he takes a seat on my couch, leaning forward and resting his ...

I’m acting like an overexcited puppy, and this guy does not give me puppy-lover vibes.

“The thing is, it feels like you're not. I have issues, pretty big ones, actually.”

“I… I don’t trust men very easily; in fact, I’ve never had one in this apartment. Except, of course, for maintenance, and even then, I’ve had to schedule them around Katelyn so she could be here with me.

There was one time she ended up dating the gas guy… I—”