Authors: Kristen Brockmeyer
Lucky in Love (29 page)
"
I've never done anything to you."
"
You killed Dominick."
"
Sorry if I seemed confused, here, but wasn't he a bad guy? And aren't you an FBI agent?"
"
Get up here," she said flatly, "Or I'll cut that girl's cute little button nose off and make you watch." Breanna let out a muffled squeal and I grimaced.
My shoulder hurt badly
and my shoes had no traction in the slippery straw, but I managed to clamber up on the stack in front of Tanya. I didn't stand, though. Instead, I sat at the edge, hunched over, cradling my injured arm. Behind me, I could feel the warm evening breeze tickling the back of my neck. There was no way I was going to stand up, making myself easier to push out those doors.
"
You know I didn't actually kill him, right?"
"
I know, but it's your fault he's dead, and it's your fault he stopped wanting me, which is even worse. You're right, though. You didn't pull the trigger. That's why I'm not really going to kill you—you're going to jump—and then I'll take care of the old lady and the rest of them."
Yeah, that
's not going to happen, I thought.
"
Dominick was your boyfriend, then?" I looked up at her, stalling for more time.
"
Fiancé," she said shortly, and her lips twisted smugly. "I was with him for four years. Why do you think the FBI couldn't pin anything on him. He had me, so he was always one step ahead of the investigations." Abruptly, I remembered Julian had said something about seeing a woman when we were locked up. A "cold fish," he'd called her. That description fit Tanya perfectly.
"
So why were you in a cage with everybody else that night?"
Her eyes narrowed and her grip tightened on the gun. My stomach
roiled. "
That
is why you get to go first. After Dominick discovered you, you were all he could think about. There were always other women—I didn't care about that. But with you, it was like he was obsessed. He called me Lucky when we had sex, and he started hurting me afterward because I wasn't good enough anymore." I felt a twinge of sympathy, mixed with extremely profound disgust.
"
Then he decided to get rid of me," she ended bluntly. "He was going to replace me with you. Now stand up."
I couldn
't put it off. I had to do something. Still holding my throbbing shoulder, I struggled weakly to my feet, gasping and bent over at the waist. I hoped I wasn't overdoing it.
"
Take a step back."
"
No."
I tensed
.
"
Do it!" she shrieked.
I looked up, preparing to launch myself across the gap between us, when Louie scrambled over the edge and hooked onto her pants, climbing her like a tree, hissing and spitting and doing his creepy moaning growl.
Tanya cried out and threw out her arms out wildly to her sides to regain her balance. The gun went off, leaving a small hole in the roof of the barn. The echoing report the shot infuriated Tarnation even more and I heard more thumps and wood splintering downstairs.
I made the short jump just as she shook Louie loose and kicked out at him viciously, sending him rolling off the bale in a flurry of fur and scrabbling claws.
"You kicked my cat, you psychotic bitch!"
Lunging, I went
for the hand that still held the gun. I threw my shoulder into her chest and latched on to her wrist with a death grip, sending both of us flying backwards. She huffed out a pained little squeal when I landed on top of her. We were close to the same height, but she was skinny. With my new curves, I probably outweighed her by a good 15 to 20 pounds.
But what she didn
't have in bulk, she made up in experience. As soon as Tanya got her breath back, she started fighting me hard. I clung tightly, stiffening my elbows to keep her gun hand as far away from me as possible, and she balled up her fist and hit me hard on the side of the head. Pain blossomed in my cheekbone and my shoulder was agony. She grabbed hold of my ponytail and tangled her fingers in it, yanking my head back so hard I thought my hair was leaving my head and my scalp going right along with it. As my eyes blurred with tears, Tanya started pushing her arm up in a macabre arm wrestle, trying to point the gun at me.
She was stronger than I
was. She twisted her body hard and shoved up with her knees, sending me over the side of the stacked straw. I fell the five feet or so to the wide planks of the hayloft floor and landed hard, sending up a cloud of dust and chaff, the air completely knocked out of me. I wheezed, trying frantically to pull in a breath so I could get up and get away.
Tanya
's head and shoulders came into view above me. She had straw in her hair and her shirt was ripped, hanging off one shoulder. She was laughing, the sick, sad laugh that haunted my dreams, and tears and mascara were running down her cheeks.
And I was staring straight down the barrel another gun.
Before I could even get enough air to scream again for Chance, I heard him yell from the top of the stairway. Tanya turned toward the sound, squeezing off a wild shot, but the same hook that had nearly knocked me out of the hayloft came whistling out of the darkness, catching her in the face. I heard the crunch of bone, and blood spattered in a wide arc as the momentum of the hook threw her backwards. I turned my head away, gagging, and didn't see her limp body tumble out of the window to fall the thirty five feet to the ground below.
Things got kind of unclear after that, and I only caught it in bits and fragments. There was Chance, frantic with worry, blood running in rivulets from a gunshot wound in his arm, checking me over and demanding to know where I was hurt. Lily came pounding up the staircase a moment later, screaming Brie's name.
I don
't remember how I got back to the house, but I think I threw up in the grass on the way. I do remember being wrapped in a comforter, shivering with such deep cold that I didn't think I'd ever be warm again, and given a piece of mint gum that masked the sick taste in my mouth. Betty, taping a bandage to my cheek while Julian held my hand and gently tried to pry the story out of me. Louie, doing his comfort thing, sitting on my lap and kneading his paws, accepting my grateful kisses and ear rubs with regal dignity.
Then, Nate was there, somehow, field dressing Chance
's arm, rounding up Tarnation, who had kicked completely through the outside wall of the barn, and dealing with the police that soon arrived in full-force, with their flashing lights and sirens and uniformed officers swarming the property. Sometime after that, I was huddled against Chance in the back of Lily's Explorer protectively cradling my belly and gripping Brie's small, cold hand. Chance was holding both of us tightly with his good arm while Julia navigated the twisted roads that led to the town of Franklin and their emergency room.
My shoulder, which was
aching unimaginably, got popped back into the socket it had temporarily vacated. There were exams and stitches and doctors and assurances that we'd all—including the babies—be fine.
We were released the next morning, a bedraggled, but thankful bunch of survivors.
I expected to see a black cloud hanging over the farm, but the morning sun was
glittering on grass wet from storms that had rolled through during the night. Everything looked as normal and beautiful and home-like as it had the morning before. Except for Nate's rental car in the driveway, Chance's sling, and the nagging soreness in my shoulder and cheek, I could have believed that it had all been another awful nightmare.
Betty and Julian were working together in the kitchen like a long-time team, getting fresh coffee for everyone (hot chocolate for Brie and I) and plating up a full breakfast when we came in. Nate was sitting at t
he kitchen table, staring distantly into the steaming mug between his hands when we walked in.
"
I swear, I've seen you guys more injured than not in the last few months. You really gotta do something about that luck of yours." His tone was light, but his eyes were bleak. I remembered the way he'd looked when Tanya and I had swapped clothes at the restaurant what seemed like a million years ago—the way he'd watched her twitch her hips in my flirty little dress—and realized that he'd been betrayed by more than his coworker.
Chance clapped his hand on Nate
's shoulder in what amounted to a guy's bear hug of support and sympathy. "Glad you made it in here when you did. Thanks."
"
Yeah," Nate smiled bitterly. "Just in time to clean things up. I figured everything out, but I was hundreds of miles away and thought I had more time."
Lily was quiet with her own cup of coffee across the kitchen, but I saw her watching him.
"You were here when everyone needed you," she said kindly, and then, realizing she'd spoken out loud, busied herself with pouring syrup on Brie's pancakes.
Brie was chattering importantly to Betty and Julian with the resiliency of a 9 year-old, giving her version of events, which had already taken on the sheen of an exciting adventure instead of a terrifying, near-death experience. The bruise
and little scratch on her forehead had become a mark of bravery. Thank God she had been stuffed between the straw bales and unable to see anything that had actually happened.
Nate pushed to his feet, his face set.
"I'm going to head out. I've got to stop by the local sheriff's office and then head back. There's a lot of paperwork to deal with now. Someone will be by to take your official statements, but I'll try to hold them off for a while so you can get some rest. The horses have all been taken care of this morning, so you guys can just relax."
I stood up to hug him. He squeezed me tight and gave me a
half-smile. "Take care of yourself, Lucky."
"
I will. Thank you for everything and I'm sorry about the way things turned out."
It felt lame and inadequate, even to me, but I didn
't know what else to say.
Chance gave him an awkward, left-handed handshake and a slap on the shoulder, telling him to stay in touch, and with a brief goodbye to everyone else, he was gone.
After breakfast, Chance insisted that I lay down for a while. Julian and Betty had gone into town to see a movie, and give us some time alone, I expected. Lily had taken Brie back to their place to wind down with some rare TV time. The house was cool and quiet, and we were alone for the first time in what felt like months.
"You can't just shuffle me off for a nap," I told him irritably. "I'm not tired."
Chance had a mutinous look on his face.
"If you can't think of yourself, at least think of the babies. You went through hell last night, remember?"
Oh, I remembered. I was pretty sure I
'd be remembering that in my nightmares for a long, long time.
"
At least come with me. I don't want to be alone."
His face softened, and he pulled me close. I hugged him tightly, careful of his injured arm.
"I'm afraid of what would happen next if I left you," he said hoarsely against the top of my head. "You have a knack for getting into trouble."
"
The Elvis preacher forgot to mention one important thing during the ceremony," I replied.
"
What's that?"
"
As my husband, it's going to be your job to make sure I stay out of it."
The breeze from the motion of the porch swing lifted the sweaty tendrils of hair from my cheeks, drying them into what would probably be an unattractive frizzy auburn halo around my face soon. Across the driveway and down in the lower pasture, I watched Brie sit on the top rail of the fence, playing with Tarnation's colt, Applejax. Her peals of bright laughter carried across the field as the colt would charge almost close enough to grab the slice of apple from her hand and then bunny hop away just as quickly. We'd given Applejax to her with Lily's blessing, even though I didn't need to bribe Brie into accepting me anymore. By the time he'd be old enough to train, Brie would be almost 12 and old enough to help.
Behind the house, I heard the sound of hammers and Blake Sheldon singing from the cranked-up radio as the contractors worked on what would be my three-stall garage, specially designed for the vintage car restoration business I planned to start sometim
e after the babies were born. The din was music to my ears.
I leaned my head on Chance
's shoulder. Between us, our hands were linked, fingers twined. The contrast still thrilled me—his tanned dark and mine still only light gold, despite all the sun I had gotten this summer. I was so white to start with, it seemed like I naturally reflected even the toughest Southern UV rays.
"
How come you didn't tell me Kentucky got so frigging hot in the summer?"