“Do you think this is two different people?” I asked wishing someone would confirm it.
Meredith frowned as she still scanned the black and white footage. “It could be a coincidence having you and the construction site being harassed.” Her tone indicated she didn’t think so.
After Dean and Jackson talked to their insurance agent we drove back home. Jackson didn’t talk on the drive his demeanor showed how pissed he was.
“You can’t be serious,” Jackson cried when we spotted the goat pen he had been working on had been destroyed. The fence posts appeared to have been sledge hammered until they were splinters on the ground. The word, WHORE was spray painted on the ground.
“Stay with me,” Jackson ordered pulling me behind him as he made his way through the house. When he determined the house was clear he called Meredith.
22
Jackson hugged me for the hundredth time. “Dean can take care of this. I don’t have to go.”
“Jackson it’s fine. Go to work and help Dean clean up the fire mess.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to your parents?” He nibbled my bottom lip and I melted into his arms.
“No, I don’t think I could handle my mom today.”
“She wasn’t that bad,” Jackson teased.
“She asked you what your intentions were and wanted to know if you were going to break my heart.” I blushed at the blunt questions my mom asked when she came over to bring us dinner just for an excuse to see us.
“Well now she knows I love you and you are the only one who can break my heart. I don’t like to leave you alone. She won’t be bad.”
“No, I’ll be fine besides Trina will be here as soon as she done with work in an hour. She’s picking up lunch and we’re going to hang out here.”
Jackson held me tighter and the breath squeezed out of me. “I’ll wait until she gets here.”
“Jackson I’m going to shower and do a little bit of work until she gets here. Go and get this done so you can hurry up and get back. You’ve put this off all morning and now it’s after lunch.”
Jackson eyebrows were pinched together and I smoothed the middle wrinkles with my finger. He grasped my finger and kissed the tip.
“My phone will be with me at all times. Call me even if you just want to hear my voice.”
“I always want to hear your voice. Trina promised she was bringing wine so I’ll be good and buzzed when you get home and you can take advantage of me in my intoxicated state.”
His eyes lit up with possibilities and I shivered at what I saw on his face. “I’ll call you when I get to the site to let you know what’s happening.”
“Go. I’ll be here when you get back.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Good now get out of here so I can shower.”
“Woman you’re confusing if you want me to leave stop bringing up you naked and wet.”
“Haha.” I pushed Jackson out the door and kissed his nose. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Lucy. I just want you to be safe.”
Jackson gave me a firm kiss and waited until the door lock was engaged before making his way to his truck.
When Jackson was gone I walked around the house making sure everything was locked. As big of a talker as I acted with Jackson I was still nervous being alone. In the shower I jumped at every noise and ended it early because I couldn’t enjoy the hot water.
I put on one of Jackson’s shirts letting it hit the middle of my thigh and went downstairs to get some work done. Jackson called me anxious to hear my voice. I buoyed my voice over the phone not wanting him to know how much being alone bothered me. After assuring him I was fine we hung up and I went back to work.
Trina’s knock on the door pulled me out of my work and I was grateful for it. With my nerves being on edge I kept messing up and probably did more deleting than creating.
Trina held up two full bags one filled with wine and the other filled with food. “I’m sorry it took so long. I didn’t realize how much work I needed to get done.”
“You arrived at the perfect time. I was going crazy here by myself.” I didn’t mind admitting it to Trina.
“Well your sanity has arrived.” We went into the kitchen and unpacked the bags. “I’ll pour the wine you make the plates.”
I loaded two plates of Chinese food while Trina uncorked the first bottle. “Do you want to eat in the living room and watch shitty tv?”
“You know I do,” Trina answered.
I took the food out to the living room and flipped the channels until I found some junk tv show and Trina sat next to me handing me my glass of wine.
“More wine?” Trina asked her voice sounding far away.
“I don’t think so,” I slurred surprised I was feeling so drunk after one glass. “What’s wrong with me?”
My body grew heavy and my glass hit the floor rolling under the couch.
“Damn girl, I didn’t think you were that much of a light weight. Don’t go falling asleep before we get to the good part.”
I blinked dragging my eyelids up trying to pay attention to what Trina was saying while blurry eyed and confused. There was a knock at the door and I attempted to move but nothing was working right.
“Don’t try and move honey. I’ll get the door.”
I watched as Trina practically skipped to the door.
“Karen, how nice of you to join us,” Trina opened the door and Karen moved into the room. I jumped when Trina slammed the door shut and locked it behind her.
“Why is she here, Trina?” My voice was lazy and I struggled to get up and against the couch.
“Oh, honey don’t try and move. You stay there. Karen go sit next to her.” Trina motioned for her to move next to me.
“I’m assuming it was you not Lucy who invited me over. How nice of you to get all of us together for a girl’s night.” Karen asked defiantly her arms.
“Sit the fuck down. Of course it was me. It will be so much easier getting rid of both of you at the same time. Thank you for coming.” Trina plunged her hand in her purse and pulled out a small pistol.
Karen eyed it wearily and sat down next to me. “Lucy, nice to see you again. I wish it would have been under different circumstances. I should have known you wouldn’t have sent me a note to meet you.” Her face was resigned and the furrow in her forehead made her seem weary.
“What is going on?” I slurred the couch completely supporting me now.
“What did you do to her?” Karen grasped my wrist and took my pulse.
I pulled my hand but there was no strength in it.
“Ahh, isn’t this special. Don’t worry about her she’s going to get what she deserves and you’re the one who’s going to give it to her.”
“Trina you need to stop. Richard doesn’t love you. I’m pretty sure my husband is unable to love anyone.” Karen dropped my arm and kept glancing at me while her attention stayed on Trina.
“Shut up. He loved me. If it wasn’t for her.” Trina pointed the gun at me and Karen gave a bitter laugh.
“Yeah, it was Lucy’s fault. Trina you have to see how stupid this is. Let us go. I won’t say anything and I’m sure we can convince Lucy to forget this whole thing too. I’m leaving Richard. I caught him cheating on me when we went on our little marriage get away. He’s not going to change.”
“That’s not true!” Trina’s face turned a shade of red hedging on purple. Her hand shook as she wiped her running nose.
“It is true. Let’s get it all out in the open,” Karen continued calmly. “Richard isn’t going to commit to you or anyone. He isn’t wired to be faithful. Don’t think you were the first girl who lived in his apartment. Or the first he kicked out so callously when he found his next conquest.”
The drugs made my heart a dull beat. As Karen spoke sickness bubbled in my stomach. The betrayal of Trina hurt more than anything Richard and his wandering dick caused.
A dry heave shook my s
pine as I curled inward.
“Stay where you are,” Trina screamed.
“She’s going to be sick.” Karen grabbed a bag holding it while I heaved inside.
My eyes blurred with tears and my throat burned a purged my stomach’s contents. Weak I reclined back on the couch while Karen handed me half empty bottle of water on the table.
“Where are you going?” Trina cried as I felt Karen move off the couch.
“Do you really expect me to hold the woman who had an affair with my husbands puke.”
“Fine, I’ll follow you.” Trina moved with Karen the gun aimed at her back as she went into the kitchen and disposed of my mess.
I inhaled scrambling to get my head and body to cooperate. I felt a little more in control after emptying my body of what I could, but I wasn’t in enough control to escape.
“Sit back down and shut up. This isn’t going the way I planned.” There was fear in Trina’s tone as Karen sat back down.
“How did you expect this to go?” Karen asked. “This is real life, Trina. Whatever you have planned is not going to work. If you hurt us or kill us you will get caught. You have to know this is going to fail.”
“No it’s not,” Trina’s voice was in a fever pitch. She trained the gun on Karen and pulled the trigger.
23
The report rang in my ears. Karen’s mouth was open in a scream I couldn’t hear until the ringing in my ears faded away. A large blood stain covered Karen’s chest and it kept spreading making it impossible to see where she was shot.
Karen stopped screaming and collapsed against the couch. The stain creeping further across the material.
“Sorry, Karen.” Trina turned the gun on me dismissing the bleeding Karen.
I sagged against the couch not giving away that my strength was coming back after being sick. The less Trina knew was an advantage to me.
“Why?” I asked my voice barely above a whisper.
“Because he chose you over me. He gave you my apartment. He was mine and you took him. And you almost fucked everything up.”
Trina sat on the table the gun dangling on one of her fingers in between her legs as she leaned toward me. “You know this wouldn’t have happened if you would have shut the fuck up.”
I lolled my head back and forth letting my mouth go slack. She shook her head and used a napkin to wipe the drool I was letting leak out the side.
“I had it all planned out I was going to do it slow. Make you scared of your own shadow. Ruin your relationship with Jackson. Just like you ruined mine with Richard. I will say Dean was unexpected and making him fall in love with me just to hurt him. And destroying your family business was a plus. Dean was so happy when I took interest in the job sites. He would never suspect he handed me another way to hurt you. It was perfect. With me as a friend it was easy to convince you to blame Karen. You almost messed up my plan when I sent that idiot to beat you up. I told him you slept with my husband so he was surprised when you mentioned Karen’s name.” Trina pat my head then grasped my hair and yanked it. “You could never make it easy. But I knew in the end the two of you would be gone and Richard would be all mine. But no you had Meredith sniffing around and started to suspect it wasn’t Karen but another spurned lover of Richard.”
Trina’s hand snaked out and slapped me across the cheek. It took everything I had not to fight back. I let my head whip across and bang on the couch.
“You can have him. I don’t want him.” My cheek hurt with every word.
“I don’t need your permission. You’re so fucking stupid. Stop trying to act innocent. You had Mr. Ranazzi fooled. I wouldn’t be surprised if you tried to get him under your spell too. Just like Richard was. He didn’t want to leave you. I heard him you know. I don’t know what you did but I knew I needed to get rid of you. Having you blame Karen was just a plus.”
“Why did you get me the job just to take it away from me?” I attempted to make my voice slur and it sounded over the top. I waited for Trina to become suspicious but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Because, I wanted to make you suffer. I wanted you to feel pain everywhere. I almost lost you when you got in your accident. You weren’t supposed to get hurt just make you more suspicious of Karen.”
“I wasn’t supposed to get hurt? You cut my brakes.” I forced my jaw to unclench and keep from lashing out at her.
“I needed to know Richard was done with you. You kept telling me he was calling you trying to talk you. I knew he was done with you when he didn’t come to the hospital. ”
“I told you I was done with him. He called me. I never called him. Why aren’t you terrorizing him?”
“You did something to him. He loved me. It was your fault.” Trina pushed her hair back and blew out a ragged breath. “Enough, you’re going to be a good little girl and take these pills. There isn’t much time.” Trina emptied a bottle of pills into her hand and stuffed them in my mouth. When she turned to get the glass of wine I spit them out pushing them in between the couch.
I drank the wine letting it spill out of my mouth making her think I was useless. Trina shook her head and cleaned the spill up. “Girl, you’re a hot mess. I don’t know what Richard saw in you.”
I remained limp terrified she was going to notice I wasn’t as incapacitated as she thought. Trina put the gun in my hand. The metal was warm against my skin still holding onto the heat Trina had transferred to it while she held it.
As much as I wanted to I didn’t check to see how Karen was fairing. She hadn’t moved or made any noise after she was shot and I prayed she was alive and passed out from the pain.
Trina picked me up and dragged me toward the coffee table. “We have to make it look believable. Let’s see I was here when I shot Karen. Or should I say when you shot Karen. But then of course you’re going to feel guilty and take a hefty dose of pills. Poor, Lucy.” Trina attempted to find the right angle when I let the gun drop to the floor.
“Come on, Lucy.” Trina was exasperated as she sat me on the table and grabbed the gun shoving it in my hand threading my finger so it sat on the trigger. “Now let’s see if one did the job or we need to do another.” Trina moved to Karen her fingers on her neck checking for a pulse.
With her back toward me I lifted the gun. Tears sprang to my eyes as I levered the gun at Trina. My arms shook as I attempted to hold it steady the drugs in my system pulsing through me sapping me of strength.
Without letting myself think I pulled the trigger. The gun recoiled and threw me on the ground. Trina screamed blackness crept into my eyesight but I blinked it back. I couldn’t lose consciousness yet. Not until I knew I was safe.
Trina’s loomed over me. Her face was twisted in anger and pain. Blood soaked Trina’s side and from her movements I must have missed anything vital. “You bitch.” She pulled back her leg and kicked me in the soft tissue of my stomach.
I heaved the wine she had forced me to drink rushed onto the carpet. Trina pulled back to kick me again before she could connect I picked up the gun and shot her in the leg as it swung at me.
A scream ripped through her as she fell to the floor writhing in pain. Her body was contorted as she tried to grab her blood soaked knee.
The door burst open and Meredith’s voice echoed in my ear.
“Lucy!” Jackson cried.
Hearing Jackson’s voice I knew I was safe. Jackson and Meredith would take care of everything. I allowed blackness descended over me letting the pain fade away with my consciousness.
Fire burned my throat as I tried to swallow. “Take it easy,” Jackson’s worried tone was like a balm to my aches.
“Water,” I mouthed without sound.
A cool ice chip passed over my dry lips and I sucked on it letting it’s coolness burn away the fire. “More,” I whispered.
“The nurse said you need to take it easy. They pumped your stomach and the tubes scraped your throat.” Jackson kept putting ice chips on my tongue until I shook my head letting him no it was e
nough.
“Karen?”
“She’s stable. They have her in the intensive care unit but the doctors said she is going to make it.”
A tear dripped down my face wetting my hair. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know about Trina. I pictured her face contorted in anger after I shot her. She was in pain but my shots didn’t seem to be killing blows. Did I kill her? Did I want to know?
“She’s alive. She is under police surveillance.” Jackson answered my unasked question.
More tears found their way down my face. “I thought she was going to kill me.”
“She was,” Jackson said in a stern tone. “She planned on killing you and Karen. And she almost succeeded.” Jackson’s voice was harsh with emotion. “I’m so sorry, Lucy. I should have never left you alone.”
My hand sought his and I entwined our fingers. “You didn’t know. None of us did. I don’t understand how you and Meredith showed up.”
The events of what happened were a jumbled mess. I relaxed and let the pieces fall together. The shots, the blood, the pills. What I didn’t understand was how Jackson and Meredith showed up at the perfect time.
“It was Richard. He found the note you supposedly sent Karen saying you wanted to talk to her. He wasn’t supposed to find it until after.” Jackson didn’t finish his sentence but we both knew he meant after Karen and I were dead.
“Richard thought I was going to hurt, Karen?” the irony wasn’t lost on me.
“He called Meredith. He wanted her to see it wasn’t his wife but you who was doing the harassing. Meredith mentioned your theory that maybe you weren’t the first woman he had hurt and Trina’s name came up.”
“Meredith called me when you didn’t answer your phone. We both raced to the house and got there at the same time. I could have lost you.” Jackson’s hand squeezed mine tightly as his words caught in his throat. He cleared them and kissed my forehead.
“You didn’t lose me. I’m here.”
“And I’m not letting you go again. Marry me, Lucy.” Jackson raised the bed so I was sitting. “This isn’t how I was planning to propose. I was going to wait until you were better. Plan a huge romantic getaway-“
First Kiss Page 15