Free The Dream Walker by Carly Fall, Allison Itterly

the door to the club so she wouldn’t see him when she left.
    He wore a green polo shirt and jeans. His hair was once again impeccably combed, and his facial features showed no emotion. Alaina glanced over her shoulder at the mouth of the alley where her car was parked and decided that if she could outrun him if she needed to. At least she hoped s o, anyway.
    “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, as if he read her thoughts.
    She said nothing, just stared at him.
    “I was hoping to see you the other night at our meeting,” he said, taking a step toward her.
    “I took a shift for one of the other girls,” she said.
    He nodded. “That was nice of you.”
    Taking another step forward, he said, “But if you’d come to one of our meetings, you would see that you are destined for greater things.”
    Alaina studied him. She didn’t even know this guy’s name, and despite the fact that what he had said resonated deep within her, it felt as if he was trying to manipulate her. She didn’t like anyone trying to control her.
    Yet, as she stood here in front of him, she again felt a power from him. She wanted so badly to believe that she was cut out for more than having men leer at her body for a living, and she kept promising herself that someday she would make changes in her life, but she never di d. Maybe it was because she didn’t know what she wanted those changes to be, or maybe she was just too damn lazy.
    But everything that Mr. Ash said rang true within her. She could see things others couldn’t, namely the black stuff that this guy seemed to leave around. And it intrigued her there were others like her, others who could see the ash. What if what he said was genuine and she was special? What if she attended his stupid meeting and she was able to have a new life?
    “I can see it within you, Alaina,” he said. He looked so harmless, but Alaina could sense something below the surface, something dark. “You want to come to the meeting. You want to understand why you can see the as h. You want to know what new beginnings I can offer you.”
    Alaina took a step back, not realizing he had gotten so close. “I don’t even know your name,” she said.
    “My name’s Daniel.”
    Alaina crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him.
    “I can understand your hesitancy about coming to a meeting, Alaina,” he said. “But let me ask you this: what are you going to do when you can’t work at the club any longer?”
    Alaina gasped. How had he known?
    “I overheard the gossip, Alaina. The girls are saying you are on your way out with nowhere to go.”
    It stung that her coworkers were talking behind her back, even if what they said was the truth. Alaina was getting too “old” to sashay her ass around the club.
    “We’ll be holding another meeting in two days. You’ll find your answers with us, Alaina. Same place. I hope to see you there.”
    He stepped around her, their shoulders brushing.
    Despite the warm temperatures of the early Arizona summer morning, Alaina shivered.

Chapter 14
    Blake sat with Noah and Nico at the side-of-the-road bar outside Phoenix, not too far from the silo. It was truly a hole-in-the-wall frequented by the misfits and desolates who lived in the surrounding area. The bar was small, maybe sitting a total of forty people. The dark wooden floor was scuffed and scratched, as were all the tables of the same material. The seven cracked red vinyl bar stools were half-full most nights, and the jukebox played music from the sixties. Most of the light bulbs were burnt out, and the place smelled of old beer, body order, and smoke. Jerry, the owner, had been behind the bar for fifteen years, and his face looked as though every single day had been etched in it. He sat behind the bar, his tall, thin frame guarding the till and watching over the patrons, looking for trouble. Blake had no doubt the guy kept a couple of .44s and a baseball bat within reach. He knew he would with this crowd.
    After