Under Threat by B.J. Daniels (best sci fi novels of all time TXT) 📗

you could just help me up to my apartment. I think it must be food poisoning.”

“Oh no. What did you have for lunch?” Lucy asked as she reached down to lift her into a standing position. “You’re as weak as a kitten.”

Mary leaned against the wall for a moment, feeling as if she needed to catch her breath. “Chase made us a picnic lunch. It must have been the chicken or the potato salad.”

“That’s awful. Here, put your arm around me. Do you think you can walk?”

They went out the back of the office and down the hallway to the stairs.

“Let me know if you need to rest,” Lucy said as they started up the steps.

Her stomach empty, the spasms seemed to have stopped—at least for the moment. Having Lucy here made her feel less scared. She was sure that she’d be fine if she could just get to her apartment and lie down.

“I’m all right.” But she was sweating profusely by the time they’d reached her door.

“I didn’t think to ask,” Lucy said. “Are your keys downstairs?”

Mary let out a groan of frustration. “On my desk.”

“If you think you can stand while I run back down—”

“No, there’s a spare key under the carpet on the last stair at the top,” she said. “I sometimes forget when I just run up from the office for lunch.”

“Smart.”

She watched Lucy retrieve the key. “I can’t tell you how glad I was to see you.”

“I saw that your lights were still on in your office, but there was no sign of you. I thought I’d better check to make sure everything was all right. When I found your office door open and you weren’t there...” She opened the door and helped her inside.

“I think I want to go straight to my bedroom. I need to lie down.”

“Let me help you.” Lucy got her to the bed. “Can you undress on your own?”

“If you would just help me with my boots, I think I can manage everything else.”

Lucy knelt down and pulled off her Western boots. “Here, unbutton your jeans and let me pull them off. You’ll be more comfortable without them.”

Mary fumbled with the buttons, realizing the woman was right. She felt so helpless, and was grateful when Lucy pulled off her jeans and helped tuck her into bed. “Thank you so much.”

“I’m just glad I could help. Would you like some ginger ale? My mother always gave me that when I had a stomachache.”

Mary shook her head. “I think I just need to rest.”

“Okay, I’ll leave you to it. I don’t see your phone.”

“It’s downstairs on my desk too.”

“I’ll get it so you can call if you need anything, and I mean anything, you call me, all right? I’ll be just downstairs.”

Mary nodded. Suddenly she felt exhausted and just wanted to close her eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’ll lock your apartment door, put the key back, lock up downstairs—after I get your phone. You just rest. You look like something the cat dragged in.”

Even as sick as she was, Mary had to smile because she figured that was exactly what she looked like given the way she felt.

Lucy started to step away from the bed, when Mary grabbed her hand. “Thank you again. You’re a lifesaver.”

“Yep, that’s me.”

Unable to fight it any longer, Mary closed her eyes, dropping into oblivion.

Lucy had taken her time earlier when she’d finished work. She’d casually crossed the street, whistling a tune to herself. There’d been no reason to hurry. She’d known exactly what she was going to find when she got to Mary’s office.

Now as Mary closed her eyes, she stood over the woman, simply looking down into her angelic face. She didn’t have to wonder what Chase saw in Mary. She was everything Lucy was not.

That was enough to make her want to take one of the pillows, force it down on Mary’s face and hold it there until the life ebbed out of her.

She listened to Mary’s soft breaths thinking how Mary had it all. A business, a building in a town where she was liked and respected, not to mention rentals and Chase. Lucy reminded herself that she used to have a great profession, where she was respected, where she had friends. What was missing was a man in her life. Then along came Chase.

With a curse, she shook her head and looked around the room as she fought back tears. The bedroom was done in pastel colors and small floral prints, so like Mary. She wondered what Chase thought of this room—or if he’d seen it yet. Not very manly. Nor was it her style, she thought as she left, closing the bedroom door softly behind her, and checked out the rest of the place.

She’d been sincere about Mary’s decorating abilities. The woman had talent when it came to design and colors. It made her jealous as she took in the living room with its overstuffed furniture in bright cheery colors. Like the bedroom, there was a soft comfort about the room that made her want to curl up in the chair by the window and put her feet up.

But with a silent curse, she realized that what she really wanted was to be Mary Savage for a little while. To try out her life. To have it all, including Chase.

Shaking herself out of such ridiculous thinking, she left the apartment, leaving the door unlocked. As she put the spare key back, she told herself that it would come in handy in the future.

Smiling at the thought, she headed downstairs to Mary’s office. It looked like any other office except for the large oak desk. The brick walls had been exposed to give the place a rustic look. The floor was bamboo, a rich color that went perfectly with the brick and the simple but obviously expensive furnishings.

She would have liked an office like this, she thought as she found Mary’s cell phone on her desk and quickly pocketed it before picking up