A Safe Place To Fall (The Fall Book 1)

A
Safe Place To Fall

By:
Jessica Kile

COPYRIGHT

Copyright
©
2016 by Jessica Kile

All Rights Reserved

No part of this publication may
be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or
mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the
publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by
copyright law.

A Safe Place To Fall is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents
are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, live or dead,
is entirely coincidental.

Formatting by Jessica Kile

Cover illustration used with a
licensing disclaimer from Flickr

Cover Photograph by: Leon Bliss

Cover
design
©
2016 DarkLight Designs

To my family and friends, who
pushed me to finally chase my dream.

Table
of Contents

A Safe Place To Fall

COPYRIGHT

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Epilogue

Playlist

Acknowledgments

About Author

Prologue

Music blasted through the house, along
with shouts of laughter from almost everybody in the senior class.
They were celebrating being done with their high school careers.
There were a select few preparing to say good-bye to their graduating
friends, while they stayed behind to become the new senior class. A
few would be stuck for another year, because they had chosen to
party; instead of sticking to the books.

Lana
Richards was part of the lucky group to be departing the high school.
She was on cloud nine. Nothing could hold her back. Kristen, her
best friend, all but held a gun to her head to get her here tonight.
Now that she was here she was glad. This, no doubt, would be the
last time some of them saw each other. Part of her was rather
sentimental. Probably the part that was on her fourth beer.

Kristen
pulled her to the dance floor. “Dance with me.”

If not for the liquid courage, now
coursing its way through her body, she would have stayed on the
sidelines. The nice school girl never showed her inner self to the
outside world. Not tonight. Tonight she was more than willing to
shake her ass on the floor. Guys stepped in behind her, pulling her
back against them. On a normal night she would have pulled away and
ran for the hills. However, tonight the good girl was stepping out
of her comfort zone.

“Shot for you. Shot for me.”
Shawn, who had decided to forgo college, handed her a shot glass.

Lana eyed the glass. Throwing caution
to the wind she accepted the shot. Warm liquid fire slid down her
throat. “Wow.”

Shawn laughed, his blue eyes shining
with alcoholic euphoria. “Your eyes are watering.”

Chasing the liquor with her beer, she
smiled. The alcohol had allowed her to slip into girly mode. Her
girly side was glowing with the attention from the line- backer.

“So, are you sticking around?”
He eyed her hopefully.

Her body moved to the music of its own
accord. “I haven’t really decided yet.”

His eyes darkened, as they traveled up
and down her body slowly. “You have that many choices?”

“A couple,” she admitted.

Someone bumped into Lana from behind,
sending her into his chest.

Shawn wrapped his arms around her waist,
pulling her even closer. “Watch where you’re going,”
he shouted over his shoulder.

“She didn’t mean to,”
Lana said, using her hands to shove away from him.

“Hey, where you going?” he
asked, pulling her back.

“I should go check on Kristen,”
she said. His anger made her uncomfortable.

Almost reluctantly, he released her.
“Hurry back.”

She smiled, turning to go find her
friend. For the first time in her life someone was paying attention
to her. Well, someone who was not on the chess team. It was
definitely a good night, even if he was too touchy for her liking.

Kristen was gathered around the beer
pong table with a group, her arm around Barry’s waist. She
smiled when she saw Lana approaching. “Having fun?”

Lana eyed the newly paired couple.
“Looks like you are.”

“That’s what tonight is
about,” Kristen said, all but shouting to be heard. Music
blasted from the speakers set up behind them.

Lana had definitely earned it after
twelve years of constant studying. She had never gone to parties, or
even out on a date. Her main focus had been on doing well in school,
and making her parents happy. Now that high school was a thing of
her past, she could actually breathe. College was right around the
corner, but she still had the summer to enjoy herself. She was going
to soak it up.

“Don’t look now,”
Kristen told her, “but you’re being watched.”

Lana turned slightly, and saw Shawn
leaning against the wall. He was talking to another guy. They were
both watching her. Shawn caught her look and grinned.

The other guy scowled and walked away.
He was quickly forgotten, as Shawn started moving towards them.

“Did I miss something,”
Kristen asked, as Barry took his place at the pong table.

Lana tried for a carefree shrug. “Not
really. We talked for a couple minutes.”

“He can’t keep his eyes off
of you.” Kristen wiggled her eyebrows.

Lana laughed. She wasn’t the only
one taking advantage of the free alcohol. “You are such a
dweeb.”

Suddenly a male arm wrapped around her
shoulders. “You guys talking about me?”

Lana thought her face would burst into
flames.

Shawn laughed while tugging her closer
to his side. “You’re cute. You know that?”

Lana took a drink to avoid speaking.

Brown hair hung down to her, slightly
thick, waist. Her pale brown eyes were forgettable. Freckles were
splattered all over her face. She knew she was unattractive.

Kristen wiggled her fingers to signal
her departure.

Lana rolled her eyes at her friend's
need to be with a guy.

“Let’s get away from the
noise,” Shawn suggested. He moved his arm away from her neck
to hold her hand. “Nobody's found the basement yet.”

Lana found herself following him through
the garage door, into the house, and down to the basement.

Shawn tugged the pull string. Soft
light revealed a flat screen TV and a stained couch. It kind of
smelt musty, but they didn’t have to shout to be heard. The
music really could not be heard from down here. It was as if they
were in their own little world.

He pulled her over to sit on the couch.
As he put his arm around her shoulders; he turned the TV on. WILD
THINGS filled the screen.

Lana found herself unable to pull her
eyes from the screen as Nev kissed Denise.

She felt Shawn’s hand moving up
her left leg slowly. Her head turned, just in time, to see him
lowering his mouth to hers. Her breath caught in her chest as his
mouth found hers. His tongue began an intimate battle with hers. He
tasted of Whiskey and Budweiser.

An unfamiliar warmth filled her core.

Time got away from her as she got lost
in his touch and kiss. Reality came crashing back down around her
when she felt a hand go up her skirt.

Lana tore her mouth from his, shoving
his hand away. “I didn’t come down here for that.”

His hand bit into her leg. “Don’t
be a tease, Lana.”

She tried to pull her leg away, but his
hold was too strong. “I thought you wanted to talk.”

His breath felt hot on the side of her
face. “We didn’t have to be alone to talk.”

“I should go,” she said
shakily, trying in earnest to shove his hand away from her. “Kristen
is probably looking for me.”

He laughed. “She’s too busy
chasing Barry.” He ran his hand back up her skirt. “Relax,
nobody even knows we’re down here.”

That was exactly what scared her. Why
had she followed him down here? She had known better. His
womanizing reputation had followed him since tenth grade. How wrong
had she been, thinking he wanted to get to know her.

Lana shoved against his chest when he
went after her mouth again. “Seriously, I need to go.”

Before her brain could register what was
happening, he was tearing her panties off of her body.

In a smelly basement she, unwillingly,
lost her innocence.

Chapter
1

3 Months later

Lana bolted up in the bed drenched in
sweat. It took her a moment to bring her small bedroom into focus.
The small alarm clock announced that it was 5:15 A.M. Her pink Hello
Kitty curtains were illuminated by street lights casting shadows
across the bedroom. Her brain slowly registered that she was in her
bedroom in Morgantown. She was safe.

“You okay, Sugar?” Ricky,
her roommate, asked through the crack in her door.

Lana took a steadying breath. “It
was just a nightmare.”

“Those clowns chasing you again?”
There was humor in his voice.

Ricky probably thought she was the
biggest goober on the planet. It was better to allow him to believe
that evil clowns chased her in her nightmares, than for him to know
the truth. She could not bear for him to know the real reason she
woke up almost every night screaming.

“Stop laughing, and go back to
sleep,” she said, getting out of bed.

No point in trying to get twenty more
minutes of sleep. If she did somehow manage to drift off she would
find herself back in that basement. Instead she'd take the extra
time to shower away the remnants of the nightmare. Maybe if she
scrubbed hard and long enough, she would be able to erase all
memories of Shawn from her brain. This had been an ongoing ritual
since that dreadful night. No amount of soap and water had been able
to rid her of painful memories.

After her shower, she stood in front of
the bathroom mirror staring at her reflection. There were times she
didn't even recognize herself. The day after the attack she took
scissors to her own hair, hacking away through blinding tears. Long
hair was a thing of her past. She no longer tried to impress guys
with nice clothes and make-up.

Ricky was stretched out in his recliner,
when she walked out of the bathroom.

“Dressing up for your first day of
classes, I see,” Ricky sarcastically commented on her favorite
yoga pants and baggy t-shirt.