Darkness Becomes Her Read Online Free Page B

she had when she left.
    Glen looked up when she walked in. “Must have been a hectic lunch break,” he said with a smile.
    Damn, not exactly as normal. “Had to fit in a lot of errands.”
    “If you need a couple of minutes to defrazzle, go ahead and take them. I know you’ve got a busy weekend.”
    Glen and his wife Toni were great bosses, and even better people. The Tripps ran the store together. She was their only employee, running the storefront, handling calls and paperwork. She was good with numbers. They were stable, dependable, and impersonal. She liked working in small businesses where her employers wouldn’t be bothered as much by her erratic work history. That also meant settling for menial jobs that didn’t pay much.
    Toni and the two grade-school Tripps came rushing in at mid-afternoon, as they did every weekday.
    “Hey, Jessie!” the girls called as they gushed with enviable energy and innocence, dropping their backpacks on the floor. “Carnival’s tomorrow!”
    Toni rolled her eyes as she picked up the packs, as she did every day, and set them behind the curved desk where Jessie worked.
    “Yep! You gonna ride the scary rides?” Jessie asked, bending down to their level.
    “Will you ride with us?”
    “Sure.”
    Both girls giggled and exchanged looks. “We might throw up, though,” they said in unison, more like twins than girls who were two years apart.
    “Ewww!” Jessie said, pinching her nose. “Then definitely do not ride the scary rides. I’d be tossing my cookies right along with you.”
    The girls commenced to making barfing noises until Toni shushed them. She set them on their homework just off the main desk. Jessie watched them asking their mom for help and felt a lump in her chest even as she smiled. When she was their age, she’d had a mom and dad, too. Thank God they didn’t know how tenuous life can be, how all that matters can be ripped away in minutes.
    Five other children came in for guitar lessons, and Jessie entertained them until class started. For a few minutes no one was in the front room. Glen was in the repair shop in back and no customers wandered in. Her head still felt light, as though she hadn’t eaten for hours. She logged into the security software and clicked on the link for her system. It recorded any activity once it was triggered.
    Her throat tightened at the sight of the man—Magnus’s brother—walking into her apartment. He wasn’t even creeping or sneaking, just walked in like he owned the place. Bastard. He looked around, taking pictures of a couple of pages in her notebook, walking to the doorway of her bedroom but not walking in.
    The video quality wasn’t good enough to see fine details. She realized she’d hoped to see his face again. He had dark, thick hair that fell past his shoulders and brown eyes with an exotic slant to them. He was good-looking, yeah, even though she felt pretty stupid thinking of him that way when he’d broken into her home and manhandled her.
    Where have I seen him before? Oh, yeah, here! Right before she’d dashed home for lunch. He was stalking her! Her gaze went to the collection of signed pictures on the back wall. She remembered thinking he looked like one of those rockers from the eighties that Glen was so into, like Kip from Winger. The jerk probably followed her home.
    Her attention went back to the monitor. She knew the moment the intruder heard her unlock the door; he ducked inside her bedroom doorway and waited for her. Even though she knew what would happen, watching it was odd, surreal, and scary. She didn’t have this security system the last time she’d gotten a surprise visit.
    She watched their fight. I fought pretty damned good. Not good enough, though.
    He pinned her with his body, and she could feel all that muscle and hardness again, crushing her. Especially that hardness, which had thrown her, because she’d thought for sure he was connected to Russell, and the man’s erection signified a