Susie shrugged. “To them, it’s that important.”
“Great,” Toni grumbled, not sure if shewantedto see Ranger again. After how she acted and then running from him, it would be totally embarrassing. As she looked at her front door,something else occurred to her. “Fuck! My purse is back in my car!”
Susie’s eyes widened. “Crap. Do you want me to head back down so you can get it?”
Toni had no idea how long it took to hook up a car,ifSusie was even correct about Ranger not just ditching the job and heading home. But what if she was correct and they got back down there to see Ranger hooking up her car, and then she had to talk to him and look at his beautiful face and those haunting eyes…? “No,” she decided out loud. “I have a spare key around back in my garden. I’ll grab that.”
“If he notices your purse and phone, he’ll keep them safe,” Susie promised her. “He might break into your phone to put his number in it, but that’s just wishful thinking on my part.”
Toni stared at her, unable to tell if she was joking or not. “I’m not drunk enough for this conversation.”
“Go!” Susie laughed. “Enjoy your wine and your bath. If I don’t hear from you by eight, I’ll come up to get you.”
“Thanks,” Toni mumbled. She felt completely out of sorts, and this was why she shouldn’t be allowed out in public outside of work hours.
* * *
125 Days Sober
A loud noise startled Toni awake. She panicked slightly, not seeing anything upon opening her eyes, until she lifted her head and the washcloth fell from her face. The low lighting of her bathroom further disoriented her until she realized she’d fallen asleep in the tub. The water was cool, the bubbles completelygone, and an empty wine bottle stood accusingly on the edge of the porcelain. Thank God it hadn’t been full when she started, but there’d still been enough for two and a half glasses before she dozed off.
Blinking, she tried to recall what had woken her. She was starting to think it was just the cold water getting to her when another noise from downstairs caught her notice. What was that? Her heart picking up speed, Toni rushed from the tub, dripping water everywhere. Her hair was mostly dry except for the ends, and she’d been in the water so long that her entire body had started to prune, not just her fingers and toes.
As she reached for her robe without drying off, the distinctive sound of breaking glass reached her ears. Fuck! Was someone breaking into her house?
Toni had lived on this mountain for six years, andno onehad even trespassed on her property, let alone broken into her house. And for them to do it on the night that she didn’t have a phone? Fuck! She didn’t have her phone. She couldn’t even call her parents next door for help. Was there even a point in calling the police if she could? She was at least fifty minutes from town. As the crow flies, it wasn’t that far, but the police cars couldn’t go speeding around the windy mountain roads without them becoming a hazard themselves. It was why her road was notorious for teenage crashes.
Who was here? Why? Did they know she was alone? Her mind jumped to Ranger, but that made no sense at all. Why would he break into her house? Susie had said he’d give her a ride in the morning. Was it morning yet? Not having her phone on her, Toni had no idea what time it even was, and her bathroom had no windows to hint if the sun had risen yet.
As quietly as she could, Toni entered her bedroom. She only had a lamp on, but shouldn’t that have been enough to signalsomeone was home? Maybe not, it did face the back of the house. What about her front lights?
A glance at her nightstand clock confirmed it was still the middle of the night.
Something metal crashed downstairs. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Someone wasdefinitelyin her house, and they were not even attempting to be quiet. Which meant they either thought no one was home or they didn’t care that someone was.
Toni did not like guns, but she was a single woman, who lived and traveled alone. She owned a small pistol that she kept in her car—something else she’d left behind, fuck!—and a double-barrel shotgun. It wasn’t unusual for bears or other wild predators to venture onto her property.
Maybe a raccoon had broken into her house?Please, she silently begged as she reached into her closet for her shotgun.Pleaselet it be a raccoon.
She couldn’t recall what lights she’d left on when she’d come inside. Had she even locked the back door? She’d been so focused on getting out of her torn dress and into the tub, not to mention the half bottle of wine, that she honestly couldn’t remember.
Pulling two shells from the case next to the gun, Toni loaded it as quietly as she could. She’d only used it once before, when a black bear had tried to break into her car one summer. Hoping the sound would be loud enough, she’d shot into the air to scare it away—which, thankfully, it had.
The hallway was dark when she entered. Should she turn the light on? Maybe if she did, they would leave? Feeling like a rat in a maze, Toni made her way down the hall and to the top of the stairs. Her bare feet left wet prints along the wood floor.
At the top of the stairs, Toni froze. Somethingdefinitelymoved down there, and it was not raccoon shaped. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
Another crash made Toni jump. Her heart beat was so loud in her ears that she didn’t know if she was hearing voices below. Was there more than one? She’d only seen one shadow move. What was she supposed to do? Was it better to hide? To get out? Fuck, she would not survive the zombie apocalypse. She was not good at making decisions in the moment. She liked facts, she liked order, she liked knowing what she was going to say when she was supposed to say it… She did not like horror or action or adrenaline.
“…not good enough!”
Toni’s foot was barely on the top step when that voice distinctly carried up to her. Not good enough? That sounded like it came from downstairs and to the left. Her library? Did some asshole just accuse herlibraryof not being good enough?
Regardless of their personal preferences on her choice of literature, or cliterature as she liked to call it, there was no doubting that there was apersondownstairs. A light was on in that direction, too. Toni didn’t remember going that way when she got home. She’d come in through the back and through the kitchen. She wouldn’t have had a reason to go that way. But she was in the stairwell. It was completely closed off on both sides. All she could see was what was directly in front of her, which was a tall planter on the far wall.
Toni’s grip on her shotgun tightened, but her hands were shaking so badly that it made the gun feel like it weighed a hundred pounds.
A flash of movement, a glint of metal, and the blast of the gun. It happened so fast, Toni didn’t even remember lifting the gun, but she definitely heard thesplatof the body hitting at the bottom of the steps. She wouldneverforget that sound. It was sickening and twisted, and oh God, Toni was going to throw up.
