Sunday, November 23, 2014

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT is Now Available To Read 


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“This is a really nice camera. I’d like to buy it from you. That is, if you’ll take
payments. I don’t have a lot of ready cash like this.” She didn’t have any cash at
all and they both knew it.
Byron thought about it for a few minutes, listening to the shutter click and
the flash light before answering. He knew that she’d hate the idea of owing him
money, but she needed it. “Keep it.”
“This is a really expensive camera. I can’t keep it. I’ll make you payments.”
She took six more pictures while he waited.
“How expensive? You know, I don’t care. I don’t want it, you do. So what’s
the problem?”
“The problem is that it’s a really expensive, top of the line camera. It
practically does all the work for me. And it costs almost six grand.”
He watched her stiffen. He loved making her mad. She got all indignant and
stuffy when she was. “Really. Wow, Toni must have wanted something really
nice to have spent that much on me.” He didn’t like talking about Toni, but
somehow, telling Morgan didn’t feel so whiny. He put the finished piece of
pottery on the shelf next to him and looked at Morgan. “It’s from my ex-wife.
Whenever she spent money on me, she wanted twice as much spent on her.
Toward the end of our marriage, I stopped caring what she spent and she
stopped being discreet about her affairs. It ended. That particular gift has been
sitting in my spare bedroom since a couple of years before our divorce. So, as a
favor to me, I’d like for you to have it. If you don’t take it, Morgan, I’ll make sure
that it’s in the next pick up for the trash company just to spite you.” He watched
as she glared at him.
“Thank you. I’ll...I promise to think horrible thoughts of Toni every time I
use it. And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up...” She swayed suddenly and
grabbed for something to catch herself. He jumped up from the chair he was
sitting in and made a grab for her.
“Sit down. There’s a chair just behind you.” He gently lowered her into the
chair and pushed her head between her legs as she slumped forward. She took
several deep, calming breaths.
“I haven’t been...I forgot to eat this morning, that’s all. I’m okay now, you
can let me up.”

“No, you’ll stay there just a little while longer while I get my heart out of my
throat. Morgan, I swear if you try to sit up once more, I’m going to paddle you.”
When he thought he could walk without falling on his own face, he spoke to her
again. “I’m going over to the fridge and get you a pop. You’ll stay here until I get
back, you hear me?”
“I’m not a child. And I don’t want a pop. It has a lot of calories in it that I
don’t want.” He growled and went and pulled the can from the little refrigerator
anyway.
Unwanted calories. If she didn’t need those extra calories, he’d eat his next
commission check.
“Here, drink this, and shut up about it. I’m going to ask you some questions.
You aren’t going to like them, but I expect you to answer them.” He took the can
from her and popped the tab and handed it back to her. When she didn’t drink
right away, he lifted her hand and the cola to her mouth.
“What kind of questions? I’m fine, really.” She didn’t try to get up this time,
but did continue to glare at him.
“You’ve been coming here for what now, five weeks? In that time, this is the
fourth time you’ve gotten dizzy. When was your last menstrual cycle?” Her
mouth opened and closed several times before she reached out and pushed him
to his butt.
“None of your business. What are you, pretending to be a doctor? I haven’t
had sex since I was raped. Satisfied? That was five years ago. I’m reasonably
sure if I was gonna get pregnant, I’d have figured it out by now. Even you
should know that much about the birds and the bees.”
“Are you saying you and Nicky didn’t have sex at Thanksgiving? Because if
you didn’t then I...” When she paled to a deathly shade of white and looked at
him, he knew in that moment every name he’d called Nicky that day was true.
The lying bastard had taken advantage of her. “I’m going to kill that son of a
bitch.”
“No, I can’t be...he didn’t...he...I’m going to be sick.” She stood so suddenly
that he didn’t have the chance to stop her, but let her go tearing to the bathroom
in the back of the shop.
After a few minutes, he stood up and went to the door. Listening carefully,
he heard the water running and her crying softly on the other side of the door.
He knocked gently and waited for her to answer. Just when he was about to
knock again, she answered him.
“I just need a few minutes.” He didn’t move, but waited for her to come out.
“He told me that...he didn’t finish, you see. He said that he wasn’t going to let
me trap him. I didn’t know what he was talking about. He thought... he said that
I was trying to trap him into marriage. Marriage. I wasn’t. Your nephew was
doing a book report on his hero and he’d asked me to help. I was doing research
all right, but not how he thought. Jacob had thought of his Uncle Nick as a hero.”
He heard her sobbing again and his heart hurt for her.
Bryon now understood her terror at finding him in the restaurant that first
day. She’d been afraid of Nicky showing up. And he remembered that report
that Jacob had done on Nicky. Jacob had won first prize for it. They’d gone to
lunch at the school together just last week.
Byron wanted to go into town and find his brother and castrate him. Slowly.
And with relish. Fucking prick. He wondered what else had been said between
them. It had to have been enough to drive her from the house in the middle of
the night. She had opened her foot wound and had bled all over the staircase and
pooled in the kitchen where she’d used the phone. There had been blood on the
receiver when they’d come down that morning.
“Morgan, honey, are you all right?”
Byron realized that she’d been quiet for a little while and he was worried. He
tried to take inventory of the room, wondering if there were any drugs or sharp
knives or anything she could be using. He didn’t think so, but if she didn’t
answer soon, he was going to break down the door. He stepped back when he
heard the lock click and the door opened slowly. When she did finally come out,
her eyes were swollen and red.
Byron wanted to hug her, hold her tightly in his arms, but he knew she
wouldn’t like that. He also knew that she wouldn’t take his sympathy either.
“I think I have enough pictures for now. I... if I need anything else...I wanna
go home, Byron, okay?”
Morgan’s eyes welled up with tears again and he stepped closer and pulled
her into his arms anyway. She was stiff at first, and then she sagged against him
and cried again. He knew that he was saying things to her, but couldn’t for the
life of him make sense of it. He hurt for her.


Tune in next week for  CHAPTER CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE




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                                     Reed Bowen Boys 

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Kerry Stephens is beyond excited. The job promotion with the cable company came through taking her out of the office in into the field. She needs this job and didn’t know how much more she could stomach her current boss. Anything has to be better than working for him, right? So much for wishful thinking.
The Bowen family is buying the floundering cable company and want Kerry to help clean house. The problem? Kerry doesn’t want to talk. She may not be happy there under the current conditions, but she isn’t going to be responsible for anyone losing their job. She doesn’t need any more problems than she already has.
The last thing Reed expected is to find his mate so soon after coming back home. His new house is understaffed and the only furniture that’s arrived so far is the bedroom set. He knows she’s his mate, and his cat does too. He’s ready to settle down and is ecstatic to find her, and doesn’t understand why Kerry isn’t.
Kerry’s entire life she has never had anyone to love her and trust doesn’t come easy for her. Daily threats from her step-sister’s boyfriend don’t help.
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Next New Release  Coming Dec 2014


Happy Reading 

Kathi  S Barton 





Kathi  S Barton 







 




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