The process of Sam’s being named grand marshal was a circuitous one, having begun the evening before when Harvey Muldock had phoned to report that their state representative, the Honorable Henry Tuttle, had been stricken with the flu. Sam was sympathetic and asked Harvey if he should send a get-w...
We'd more or less recovered from the challenger who had almost killed James and me. James was still pissed at me, but Jaclyn had agreed to leave her people here for another few days to give me time to try and bring James around. Dominic was actively trying to calm him down too, but unfortunately ...
—Sullivan Webb “She’s what?” gasped Lawson. Angel choked on her tea and Kina’s jaw dropped to the floor following Sullivan’s revelation as they gathered around Lawson’s table for Sunday dinner the next day. The men had excused themselves to catch the game. “That’s right,” confirmed Sullivan. “S...
He’d thought about little else since they’d arrived back at the club. And throughout the night, when he had been making the rounds inside Devil’s Playground, he had been tempted to pull Cassidy into a dark corner so he could do just that. Now they had a little privacy, and...
Lining up in the center of the arena, the riders tapped their horses’ necks. In one fluid movement, all the brightly splotched horses dipped their heads to the ground in a deep bow. Sierra rode Apache to the front of the group and he reared on his hind legs, whinnying happily. “Good job, Domino!”...
She sat in her apartment in the large, romantic old mansion at number 2, Schwindgasse, sewing a button on one of Kira’s dresses. How smoothly life had flowed, since her arrival, haggard and distraught, with seven suitcases and two small children, last May. She felt as though the Steiners, senior ...
Whose idea was this, she wondered as she looked into her sleep-deprived eyes. If she wasn’t careful, bags would begin to appear on a permanent basis and she’d look much older than her years. While she stood there, her gaze wandered down to her belly, and she bit back a sob. Still protruding even ...
She would walk through the glass doors wearing one of her carefully chosen, fashionably casual work ensembles, and look around the high-ceilinged, brick-walled interior of Stake Inc., and sigh with satisfaction. Only inwardly, of course; if you wanted to fit in at Stake, Clare had realized early ...
The Healing of Harms The sword hilt dropped from his weary fingers. Tommy hunched forward, his head cradled in his hands, and he wept. “Tybalt,” he whispered, face hidden behind his hands, “Please get up. Oh, please, Tybalt.” When, after an endless ...
Sun Tzu, The Art of War Christy’s Cracked Egg Restaurant was large, crowded—especially for this early in the morning. According to Xris’s research, the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet was extremely popular, attracting large numbers of people—ideal for Xris’s purpose. When he entered, no one ev...
She stopped at a small convenience store called “Roush’s Bait Shop,” which sold more beer than bait. There was a group of old men huddled around the ancient coal stove inside, smoking and chewing the fat, just like at her dad’s service station. They all knew Hannah, of course; before she quit smo...
Ms. K’s room looks out on the parking lot, where the seniors have written their last battle cries on their car windows in magic marker that won’t wash out in the rain: Watch out, 2014. We’ve grown facial hair. We’ve had sex. We’ve walked home wasted. We have 357 Facebook friends. We know what mot...
Briing!” Again, I really dislike waking in this manner. The shrill sound of the phone, right on a table above my head. Someone picks up from another room. Thank God. I groggily look around at the scattered bodies of teens, teen boys anyway, slowly w...
Pa's voice calls out. He's wrong. I can. I'm small enough to fit in this old chest forever. I'll sneak out at night to grab food then sneak back. I have it all figured out. Except bathroom breaks. I haven't quite worked that one out yet. &nb...
Zack frowned, then his face heated as he realized that he was the one who’d made that pathetic sound. Every inch of his body hurt, as if it were one big bruise. His mind was a confusing fog of impressions. Everything seemed disconnected, fuzzy, and he couldn’t focus his thoughts. His mouth was dr...