Page 101 of See It Through
Putting my phone down on the table in front of me, I snorted a laugh. “Soon, but not yet. I still have time to win another round of darts.”
I stood and turned in time to see Joy directing a couple of ranch hands in the process of dragging Teller and Brady out of the bar. Alice put her arm around Tina’s shoulder, guiding her to a barstool.
Mac shook his head. “Crazy, right?”
“Yeah.” I scuffed the toe of my boot into the rough wooden floor. “I’m the last person to have anything good to say about the three of them, but it’s pretty depressing to witness the implosion of a marriage and lifelong friendship.”
“Right.” He rubbed his nape and blew out a long breath. “Never thought I’d feel bad for Teller ‘the Terror.’”
“Same. Makes me wish I’d passed her an anonymous note back in high school telling her what a dick Brady was.”
Joy quieted the bar by banging the bell she kept hanging over the shelves of liquor. “All right, everyone. We’ve reached our quota of drama for the night. I don’t care if it’s a full moon. You behave yourselves, or I’m shuttin’ down early!”
A round of applause scattered among the patrons. Most of us locals were the low-drama sort, so two outbursts in one night weren’t what we were looking for.
“She means it,” Mac said.
“Yep. That’s why I love Joy.”
“Me too.” He jerked his chin toward Tina perched on a stool. Alice was fluttering around her, handing her an ice pack and something steaming in a mug. “Looks like Tina came out on top in this situation.”
“I’m not sure she deserves that kind of care and sympathy.”
Mac turned back to me. “I don’t think there’s even a chance Teller didn’t know what was going on between Brady and Tina. The entire town knew. Teller is a lot of things, but she isn’t stupid. No, I think that fight was because the two of them got sloppy and flaunted it. Teller could ignore it if they’d kept it quiet.”
I put my hand to my forehead and squinted at him. “Great, Maccie. You’ve made an awful situation even more depressing. That’s a rare talent.”
He grinned. “Flattery won’t get me to let you win the next round.”
I grabbed a dart and waved it at him. “All right, bucko. Time to put up or shut up.”
“You’re on, Banana.”
I bid Cormac farewell, leaving him at the bar to flirt with his petite redhead, and headed out to meet Remi. My stomach fluttered with excitement, which seemed silly since I’d only seen him this morning. But I could be as silly over Remi as I wanted since I was seriously in love with him.
As I passed the narrow alley between Joy’s and the building next door, a crash and muffled cry drew me up short.What was that?
I turned on my phone and shined the flashlight into the thick darkness, taking a step forward. My beam landed on a bent figure, and it took me a moment to understand exactly what I was seeing. A million thoughts and suppositions raced through my brain in a matter of seconds.
Someone in a hoodie was…oh shit. Beneath them, on the alley floor, lay the body of a woman, her blond hair covering her face. Injured, probably. The person in the hoodie must’ve seen them lying there and were trying to help. Maybe the blonde was drunk and had fallen. Had Tina still been at the bar when I left?
No…she hadn’t been.
The hoodie shifted, and my light hit them fully. Oh no, no, no, they weren’t helping. White hands wrapped around the blonde’s throat and—oh god, no.
“Hey!” I shouted, my feet moving faster than my mind could decide whether entering the alley was a good choice. “Get away from her! Let her go.”
My boot skidded on something slimy, sending my shoulder into a brick wall. My phone flew from my hand, the flashlight blinding me. Covering my eyes, I leaned down to grab it, but before I could, something rammed into me. My back hit the ground with a thud, my head with a crack.
I blinked at the moon above me, whirling in a dizzying spiral. No, that was just my brain, jostled from impact. I couldn’t lie here, not when—
Air left my lungs in a violent whoosh as heaviness landed on top of me. My arms moved with sluggish intent, clawing at the ground as I gasped for breath. It was no use. The next thing I knew, an iron vise wrapped around my throat.
Finally, my eyes cooperated long enough to focus on the weight compressing my chest. It wasn’t something. The person in the hoodie straddled me, their knees on my arms, hands tight around my neck.
Not a person. A woman.
As my body struggled for survival, clarity struck.I’m going to die. She’s killing me.