Under Threat by B.J. Daniels (reading the story of the .TXT) 📕

as he pulled her closer. “What is it going to take to make you trust me again?”

Lucy lay in bed listening to the noises coming from upstairs. She hadn’t been able to sleep since she’d heard Mary come in with Chase. They’d gone right upstairs. She had heard them moving around and the low murmur of voices, but she hadn’t been able to tell what was going on until minutes ago when they’d gone into the bedroom. It was right over her own.

Not that she could hear what they were doing. The building was solid enough that she’d had to strain to hear anything at all. But she’d heard enough to know that they were still in the bedroom. Both of them. She knew exactly what they were doing, and it was driving her mad.

Getting up, she went into the living room, got herself a stiff drink and sprawled on the couch. She had hoped that Mary wouldn’t fall for him again. What was wrong with the woman? How could she trust a man like that? Lucy fumed and consumed another couple of shots until she’d fallen asleep on the couch only to be awakened by movement upstairs later in the morning.

She sat up and listened. Chase’s boots on the stairs. Mary’s steps right behind him. Lucy listened to them descend the stairs as she fought the urge to charge out into the hall and attack them both with her bare hands. Mary was a fool.

She cracked her door open to listen and heard them talking about Chase leaving the area for a carpenter job he was taking. Leaving? She tiptoed to the top of the stairs, keeping to the shadows. They had stopped on the main floor landing.

“I don’t like leaving you,” he said. “But I’ll be back every weekend. This job will only last about six weeks, and then my boss said we have work around Big Sky so I’ll see you every night. That’s if you want to see me.”

Lucy couldn’t hear what Mary said, but she could hear the rustle of clothing. Had Mary stepped into his arms? Were they kissing? She felt her blood boil.

“You’ll be careful?” Chase said.

“Please, don’t start that again.”

Lucy heard the tension in her voice and moved down a few steps so she could hear better.

“I’m sorry, but there is still something about Lucy that bothers me,” Chase said. “Doesn’t it seem strange that three people have died since she came to town?”

“You can’t believe that she had anything to do with that.”

“Lucy just walks into the job at the coffee shop after the last new hire gets run down on the road? Then she moves into the same apartment Christy Shores was going to rent before she was murdered? A coincidence?”

“Big Sky is a small place, so not that much of a coincidence since I live across the street from the coffee shop and had an apartment for rent.”

“And didn’t you tell me that Dillon was going to ask Lucy out?”

She rolled her eyes. “And that was reason enough to kill him? She said he hadn’t and she wouldn’t have gone out with him if he had.”

Chase shrugged. “It’s...creepy.”

“What’s creepy is that she reminds you of an old girlfriend.”

“Fiona wasn’t my girlfriend. But Lucy definitely reminds me of her. Fiona went after what she wanted at all costs and the consequences be damned.”

“I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“I just want you to be careful, that’s all. Don’t put so much trust in her. Promise?”

“I promise. I don’t want to argue with you right before you leave me.”

Lucy could hear the two of them smooching again.

“I’ll be back Friday night. I’d love to take you to dinner.”

“I’d love that.”

Lucy pressed herself against the wall as the door opened and light raced up the stairs toward her. She stayed where she was and tried to catch her breath. Chase suspected she was Fiona. So far he hadn’t convinced Mary. Nor had the marshal gotten her prints off the cup and found out she was Fiona Barkley. The deputy had done his job. She almost felt bad about killing him.

But it was only a matter of time before Mary started getting suspicious.

After hearing her go into her office, Lucy inched her way back to her apartment. She wanted to scream, to destroy the apartment, anything to rid herself of the fury boiling up inside her. She’d tried to be patient, but the more she was around Mary, the more she hated seeing her with Chase.

She clenched her fists. Mary had said she wasn’t sure about the two of them. Liar. But Lucy knew Chase was to blame. He’d somehow tricked his way into Mary’s bed. Chase was the one chasing the cowgirl.

She’d come here planning to kill them both. It wasn’t Mary’s fault that Chase went around breaking women’s hearts. But even as she thought it, she knew that Mary had disappointed her by falling for Chase all over again.

Not that it mattered, she thought as she calmly walked into the kitchen, opened the top drawer and took out the knife she’d planned to use on the deputy. She stared at it, telling herself it was time to end this and move on. And there was only one way to finish it.

“It’s my day off,” Lucy announced as she came out of her apartment as Mary was headed downstairs a few days later.

Mary couldn’t help but look confused as she took in Lucy’s Western attire and tried to make sense of the words. She knew that she’d been avoiding her tenant since their conversation about Dillon and Chase and felt guilty for it.

“Oh no, I’m sorry,” Lucy said quickly. “You forgot. That’s all right.” She started to turn back toward her apartment.

“Horseback riding.” Mary racked her brain, trying to remember if they’d made a definite date to go.

“You said on my day off. I thought I’d mentioned that I would be off today. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure