He chattered on, and it was warm and funny and sweet and for a change, not at all life and death drama. She lost track of time and progress, and all of a sudden she realised they’d walked right past the steps to her row house apartment. She turned and backtracked, and gave Nick an apologetic smile.
‘Ah. The old homestead, I perceive. Well, I did my Guy Duty – you’re okay from here?’
‘Yeah, I’m okay,’ she said. She glanced up. Elizabeth’s windows were dark; she’d already gone to bed. ‘I should probably—’
‘Go, yeah, you should. So just … see you around, then?’
‘I’ll see you around, Nick.’
‘Goodnight, Claire.’ She gave him another smile, and he returned it, and took a few steps away before he turned back toward her, pulling out his phone. ‘Okay, this is probably way out of line, and feel free to Xena Warrior Princess my ass, but can I—?’ He waved the phone at her, and he looked so puppy-dog cute that she almost said yes.
‘I can’t,’ she said, quietly. ‘Sorry. I’ve got a boyfriend.’
‘Oh. Oh, right, of course you do. What was I thinking? Sorry.’
‘No, don’t be – look, I’m sorry. I guess I was just – I shouldn’t have let you think that. I was just lonely, you know?’
‘I know lonely. Lonely is a good friend of mine. No harm, Claire. I’m not going to go curl up in a fetal ball and cry for more than, you know, six hours, max.’ He flashed her a ridiculously funny smile, and she laughed in return. ‘See you around, then.’
‘See you.’
He walked off, hands in his pockets, all loose angles and baggy jeans. The only thing he and Shane had in common, she thought, was the confidence. Shane could sling a casual nerd reference, but Nick probably couldn’t string together more than a few sentences without one; Shane knew his way around a fight, and Claire was fairly certain that she could take Nick with one hand tied behind her back. Maybe two.
And yet, there was that traitorous little tingle of interest. Probably just because he represented everything that wasn’t Morganville – a normal world, where the biggest thing most people had to worry about was the latest episode of their favourite show, or whether or not a girl would give up her phone number for a winning smile.
She liked that world. She just wasn’t sure that she was part of it … or ever would be. That was, Claire realised, what Nick represented to her: a world where a guy could just be amusing and interesting and funny, and not fight for his life every day against overwhelming odds. A life with a home, and kids, and just the usual, mundane worries.
No vampires and monsters. No wonder she felt some tingle of attraction.
Claire unlocked the front door, smiling quietly to herself, feeling oddly relaxed now, off her guard, and when she heard the scrape of footsteps behind her she turned, still smiling, and said, ‘Nick, I thought—’
It wasn’t Nick.
She didn’t know this guy. He was tall, broad-shouldered, handsome in a heavy kind of way that was probably going to turn unpleasant on him in a few years. He was Monica Morrell’s type, she thought, and all that went through her head in the same second as her threat assessment. No gun, no knife, but he carried himself as if he was ready to move at her, and alerts flashed red somewhere deep inside her.
She braced, ready to move.
‘Hi,’ he said, and stopped a few steps below her, but blocking the way down. ‘So, you’re Liz’s new roommate, right? She said she had an old friend moving in with her. I’m Derrick.’
‘Derrick,’ she repeated. Liz hadn’t mentioned him, but then, that didn’t necessarily spell trouble. Nevertheless, Claire edged one foot into the doorway, and calculated ahead what her body needed to do next in a hurry. Shift weight, swing right, complete the turn, slam the door, lock it. It was a one, maybe one-and-a-half second movement. Derrick didn’t look that fast, but she’d been fooled before. ‘If you’re looking for Liz, I think she’s already asleep.’
‘No problem,’ he said. ‘I’m not coming in. Just wanted to say hi.’
‘Hi,’ Claire said, without any warmth; she still felt weird about this. She didn’t like being doorstepped, especially by someone with that odd look in his eyes. ‘Look, it’s late. Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I—’
He held up his hands, but somehow, she didn’t take it as an apology, or a sign of surrender. ‘No problem. Just wanted to find out what your name was.’
‘Claire,’ she said. ‘Goodnight.’
She kept her eyes on him as she stepped inside, closed the door, and shot the bolts. For the first time, she was grateful for all the locks. Derrick didn’t move, at least until the door closed, but she felt a weird tension in him, as if every muscle was shaking with the desire to rush her.
Claire slid aside the small metal flap over the peephole and looked out.
Derrick’s face loomed huge, right there, staring as if he’d known she’d do it. She let out an involuntary gasp, let the flap slip down, and backed away until she bumped into the stairs. Honestly, she’d faced down vampires on her doorstep, and they generally weren’t that creepy.
She sat down on the steps, and in the dark next to her, in the shadowy space between the stairs and the hall table, she heard a breathy whisper. ‘It’s him, isn’t it? Derrick.’
Somehow, Claire wasn’t surprised it was Liz, huddled there with her knees drawn up to her chest. She was wearing fuzzy pyjamas that were a pale grey in the dimness, and she looked like a terrified little girl.
Claire got up, sat down in the narrow, dark space with her, and put her arm around her friend. Liz leant in, and she was shaking, really shaking. Claire stripped off her coat and put it over Liz’s shoulders. ‘You’re all right,’ she said, and hugged her. ‘Liz, it’s okay. He’s outside. The door’s locked.’
‘But he’s here.’ Even though it was a whisper, it sounded like a wail of despair. ‘I didn’t think he knew where I was, but he’s here. He knows.’
‘Liz – who is he?’
‘I met him at my old school. It was a blind date, my friend set us up. I didn’t like him, but he – he just kept trying to date me. At first it was just texts and calls and flowers, but then he started following me. I started dating this other guy and he – he—’ Liz’s voice faltered, and she swallowed hard. ‘He just disappeared. He finally called me and said he had to move away, because Derrick had shown up and told him if he didn’t that he’d be dead. He told me – he told me that Derrick said he’d rather see me dead than with someone else, and to watch my back. So I left. I quit school, moved out of town, changed my hair and how I dressed, made new friends. I didn’t think he’d follow me, I really didn’t.’
‘But you were afraid he would,’ Claire said. ‘Because of all the locks on the door.’
Liz nodded miserably. ‘He sent me letters. He was really angry I left. He tracked me down in the last place I was, and sent me pictures of my new haircut telling me how cute I looked. He sent stuff to my mom and dad, too. He knows where all my family lives.’
‘Did you talk to the police?’
‘Sure.’ Liz sniffled and straightened up a little, and her voice gained some strength. ‘They took it seriously and all, but he never made any threats we could prove. He’s being really careful. It’s like he’s done this before and knows what not to do to get caught. That’s what makes it even scarier. I’m sorry. I should have warned you – I should have warned you what you might be getting into. I mean, you’re just … you’ve always been so nice and gentle, and I don’t want to put you in the middle …’