Page 1 of Stalwart Ridge Security: Murray
CHAPTER ONE
–ELODIE –
“I’m moving to the cabin in the mountains.You’re my best and only friend.I’d love it if you could come with me.We could run my business together.Yeah, Jaxie, sounds like fun...famous last words,” I mutter to myself, and huff out a frustrating breath.
Of course, neither of us could have predicted what would happen once I dropped her off at the cabin a few weeks ago.
I huff in frustration and reach out to adjust the lighting.Slightly turning the wooden hand carved robin, I continue to snap a few pictures.Thankfully, the result is better this time.Putting the camera down, I put the carved robin into a tiny box and place it in the crate with the other items.
This has officially become part of my job.I used to help out Jaxie for fun when I first suggested she put her creations up for sale.The collection she had created over time was growing and just sitting in boxes.
It was such a shame because my best friend creates amazing art.I made her a website a long time ago, and they have been selling pretty damn good.Good enough that she now insists on paying me for my help.Especially since I quit my job when I agreed to move with her to the cabin.She makes a decent living by selling handmade wooden sculptures.Most she makes for fun, but she also accepts requests in any size.
Jaxie doesn’t like to handle anything, except for creating the wooden sculptures, so I agreed to handle the rest for her.From putting them online, getting them in front of potential buyers, to handling invoices and shipping.
Jaxie and I met through my former job.Up until a few weeks ago I was a ranch hand.I started there when I was young; cleaning stables, taking care of the horses, and working myself up to training horses which are used for horse therapy.Jaxie came to the ranch for horse therapy.She was assaulted when she was nineteen which caused a brain injury.Due to the trauma, she developed psychogenic stuttering.
After years of horse and speech therapy her stutter still acts up when she’s stressed, agitated, or emotional.Jaxie avoids talking but will talk to me if we’re alone.She’d also used her voice when speaking to her father.In front of anyone else she prefers to stay silent and use ASL.
We’ve been friends for about ten years now.Dax, her father, died a few weeks ago.That was her main reason behind moving here indefinitely, offering me a chance to become her roommate.I accepted without a second thought.I’ve seen and endured my share of trauma in life.The solitude of the mountains, and the living arrangements with my best friend, made the decision easy to make.
I saved up plenty of money because all I did was work, so, I’m also seeing this as early retirement.Though, it’s more like a career shift since I’ll be working for Jaxie a few hours a week.
Except, nothing really goes the way we plan shit in life.
Things went to shit real damn fast after Dax died.I took her to the cabin a few days after the funeral.I didn’t want to leave her alone up here, but I still had two weeks to fulfil my obligations after turning in my resignation.
Thankfully, Seamus assigned himself as her personal bodyguard.I had no clue who he was, but Jaxie knew of him since he lived with his mother in the cabin next to her property.He’s also a former employee of the company Stalwart Ridge Security which her father owned with two other partners.
My two weeks’ notice was cut short when someone killed Goat, my horse, and wrote the words ‘you’re next’ on his stable wall.
When I finally got ahold of Jaxie, I told her I was coming to the cabin earlier than planned.The advice from the sheriff was to stay with friends, but Seamus didn’t think it was a good idea to stay with Jaxie, which earned me the company of Murray, my own personal bodyguard.
Murray took me to his cabin.Since then, there have been some crucial developments, besides Murray and me being forced roommates for the past few weeks.
Jaxie and Seamus discovered that Dax’s death might not have been the unfortunate accident we thought when he broke his neck due to a fall down the stairs.When they visited Jaxie’s old home, she found her father’s office trashed.They discovered a file in a hidden safe only Jaxie and her father knew about.It was filled with details which all point to the fact that her father’s accident was in fact murder.
All arrows point toward Burk Clark, one of Dax’s co-owners of the Stalwart Ridge Security company.Dax was doing some investigating and discovered some crucial information, which was motivation for Burk to kill him.
One of those things was exposing that Burk had a son named Nolan Lowell.Nolan worked briefly for Stalwart Ridge Security but had a list of reprimands and was eventually fired.A few weeks ago, everything went to shit when Burk and Nolan showed up at Jaxie’s cabin.
Guns were fired...by me as well.I didn’t have a choice.Burk was about to shoot Murray.For the second time in my life, I killed someone.This time it wasn’t self-defense, and worst of all?I didn’t even think.I simply squeezed the trigger and killed Burk before he killed Murray.
Murray.My forced roommate for the past few weeks, which caused heated tension between us.It’s probably why I didn’t think.Murray is under my skin, and it doesn’t make any freaking sense because we go head-to-head ever since he became my personal bodyguard.Chemistry, attraction, lust, wanting something you can’t have...one or all creates the feelings running through me when it comes to this man.
“Everything okay?”the man in questions rumbles, and with it pulls me from the trip down memory lane.
No.Shit will never be okay again because what happened triggered old trauma and now I have to work through it again.Having him close adds new feelings and emotions which isn’t helping either.But, I can hardly tell him that.Ugh.
“Fine,” I snap, and continue to clear out the items I used to take pictures for Jaxie’s website.
Murray snorts.“So, you weren’t zoned out and completely locked inside your own head for a moment?”
His dark eyes are locked on me, as if he can see straight into my very soul.The frown on his face shows his worry, and I hate being seen as a victim.Especially by a man I’m wildly attracted to, but absolutely can’t, and won’t do anything about it.
I give the annoying man a good eyeful of my middle finger.“Go annoy a bear or a mountain lion, they might like your company more than I do.”
He’s about to say something when his phone pings an alert.My heart leaps and my stomach drops.I know exactly what the alert triggered.It’s the alarm system, letting him know something just triggered it.
