What a week!

I spent hours (like nine!) on Saturday trying to set my newsletter up to be GDPR compliant, and adding a pop up form to the website so people could easily sign up. Grr. I broke my website banner. I’m not sure how, but after a couple of hours I slapped a few book covers up so there would be SOMETHING there. I need to email the woman who designed my website and see if she can fix it. Sheesh. I am a Luddite. 🙁

Anyway, the old newsletter will be discontinued on May 31. I have set up a new one, so if you would still like to get the newsletter please

SIGN UP FOR THE CURRENT NEWSLETTER HERE

What else is going on for me? I leave for The Annual Reader & Author Get Together in Ohio in two weeks. I am so excited by that! Amazon Kindle Worlds are being discontinued by Amazon. My two Kindle World books will be coming down in mid-July, and then with Paige Tyler’s kind permission, I will be re-publishing them on all platforms. That is Amazon,. Barnes & Noble, Kobi, iBooks, etc.  More info to come in on those things in the near future. On to Gina and Cole.

As always, this has not been edited or even reviewed. There are probably a ton of goofs that I will fix when I start revisions. Enjoy!

Five hours later Gina was in the mudroom, dressed in the same borrowed jeans, sweater and socks, plus a shabby winter coat that had once been brown and was now nondescript beige, and a brown wool hat that was a little too big. Gina didn’t mind at all. This trip to Omaha would be as cold as last night, but the addition of the winter gear would make her much more comfortable. Colby was wearing the ill-fitting jeans and a threadbare flannel shirt, but not shoes or coat. He said he would be fine. Wolf warriors didn’t feel the cold like humans did. Gina hid her doubts about this. Maybe if he got cold he would turn into his wolf again.

She gave Nikki a tight hug. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done. Remember to burn my dress right away.”

The older woman returned the hug. “It’s a shame to destroy it, but I will.”

Beside her, Cole nodded firmly. “If the Kansas-Missourians come and see that dress they’ll know you’ve helped us. I hate to think of what they would do to you.”

Mr. Andrews shuddered. “No worries. They’ve never crossed the river, and if they do, we haven’t seen you.”

Cole shook his hand. “The Pack owes you.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Mr. Andrews smiled at his wife. “If it wasn’t for your kin saving Nikki I wouldn’t be the happy man I am today.”

Gina’s breath caught. The older man wasn’t handsome, but the tenderness on his face when he looked at his wife made him attractive. Her heart ached a little in longing. She wanted a man to look at her like that after more than twenty-five years of marriage. She flicked a glance at Cole. If she accepted him, would he look at her like that?

After one more hug and a round of handshakes, Cole led her out to the yard. They walked past the gate and down the road. When Gina turned around to look back at the house, she saw Nikki wave to her from the mudroom door.  She waved back.

“They were so nice,” she said, stuffing her hands in her coat pockets. “It’s a miracle that we took shelter with someone you knew.”

“Actually, I don’t know them. Nikki lived at the Plane Women’s House and knew my parents. When we get home, I’ll take you to the Plane Women’s Eatery for supper.”

Gina would settle for getting to Omaha. She would feel safer there. She dreaded this walk. “How long until we get to Omaha?”

“That depends on how fast we walk. If we keep at this pace, it will be about five hours. Maybe a little longer. If we slow down or get bogged down in mud, it will be around seven hours.” He tilted his head and looked up at the sky. “It’s ten o’clock now, so even if we move slowly we should get to the gates of Omaha before dawn.”

She lengthened her stride. Cole put a hand on her arm.

“Don’t rush. You’ll get tired faster. We’ll keep to the roads as much as possible. It’s easier walking and any tracks we leave will blend with other tracks, but we have to go cross country at one point.”

She wanted to deny being tired, but he would probably know she was lying. She was not as tired as she was last night, but they had been walking for only twenty minutes so far. “Okay.”

His hand slid down her arm into her pocket and clasped her hand. “Are you cold?”

“No.” It wasn’t a lie, but if he asked again in an hour she would probably have a different answer. “You can let go of my hand.”

His fingers tightened over hers. “No.”

She stopped on the road. His momentum carried her half a step further before she dug in her heels. “You want me to accept you? Then stop being so bossy. You don’t have the right to just grab my hand and then refuse to let go when I tell you to.”

The cold moonlight showed his eyes go from narrow to wide. His mouth dropped open, and then closed. “Your hands will be cold. Nikki didn’t have any mittens or gloves for you.”

“So you were holding my hand only to keep me warm?”

He blinked. She could see a struggle on his face. “Not completely.” He pulled his hand out of her pocket and bent a little to look into her face. “Sorry. I’m an alpha. I know I’m bossy. My sister complains about it all the time. I’ll try to do better, I promise.”

That was a pretty decent apology. “Okay. I can’t ask for more than that.”

She started walking again. She would try to learn to love him and he would try to not be bossy. They walked in near silence for two hours before Cole guided her into a field. Clouds had covered the moon, making it hard to Gina to see.

“Time for some harder walking,” he said apologetically.  “About two miles through some fields, and then we’re on the main road to Omaha.” He hesitated. “If you need help, let me know.”

She accepted his hand to climb down into a ditch and back up into a field, and then tucked her hands firmly back into the coat pockets. Gina couldn’t see five feet ahead. The road had been a hard surface, mostly clear of snow and mud, but the field was different. She tried to move briskly, but after only ten minutes she lost speed. Cole hadn’t touched her since he’d released her hand. Now, as she slogged through only half frozen mud and stumbled over ridges in the dirt, she knew it was time to ask for help.

She turned to look up at him. “Cole, can we slow down a little?”

His smile almost glowed. She narrowed her eyes, ready to slap down his gloating, but he didn’t look like he was gloating.  He looked … happy. Happy? She opened her mouth to say something, but her mud caked shoe caught on a branch half buried in the muddy slush, and with her hands buried in her pockets she couldn’t keep her balance. The only reason she didn’t pitch face first into the muck was Cole. He swooped and caught her before she hit the ground.

“Are you all right?” he asked, and she could have sworn he sounded honestly concerned.

Being held so close to his warm chest let her know just how cold she had gotten. “Yes.” She wiggled her foot, which was several inches above the ground. “No damage done.”

He didn’t let her down. “Would you― Could I ―” He blew a breath out. “It would be better if I could hold onto you, at least until we get back to a road.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You mean carry me?”

Even in the dark she could see how his eyes lit up. “Yes, that would be good.”

“No!”

“But then there would be only one set of footprints,” he coaxed.

She stared up at him, uncertain. “Even if they come after us, will they be able to see our tracks in the dark? You’re just want to hold me.”

“Maybe,” he admitted with a smile.

Still no gloating. It confused Gina. “I can walk.”

He sighed. “Okay.” He set her down. “But can I hold your hand? Just so you won’t fall?”

Her hand was cold. “Okay.”

His broad palm wrapped around hers seemed to warm her whole body. They didn’t speak much on their trek over the uneven ground, but she liked his hand tucked into her pocket. Holding hands with a man was another thing she hadn’t done before. It was strangely comfortable. She felt a connection between them, as if their joined hands were a bridge from her heart to his. No wonder lovers held hands.

Hey, I’m sorry. I almost forgot to post this!

I have finally begun Gina’s Wolf. It picks up a week after Victoria’s Cat ends. I am not entirely happy with the beginning, but that’s not unusual. It feels a little stilted, and I’m trying a bit too hard to show what Todd is like. I also need to sprinkle in a little more back story, like why are they still camped in the west edge of Iowa and how much food do they have, and does she ever think of Colby. For me it’s better to spit the words out and then go back later and add what needs to be there. So all that was to say, “Hey, please be kind when you read this. It is very raw.” 🙂

You can expect a scene on most Tuesdays through the end of April.  Enjoy!

GINA’S WOLF

Daughters of the Wolf Clan 3

© Maddy Barone 2018

Chapter One

The wind that ruffled the wolf’s fur carried the sound of voices to him. They called a word over and over in their human speech. He felt uneasy, as if he should recognize that word. Perhaps he should recognize the voices too. But the voices were of human kind, and though confusion smeared many things in his mind, the wolf knew that humans caused pain and carried death with them. So the wolf eluded the humans, keeping out of their paths until night fell. He trotted away, careful to keep his paws from places that they would sink into snow or mud so that the humans couldn’t track him.

Humans were bad, but somehow he couldn’t bear to leave them entirely. To the north and west there was a large concentration of humans inhabiting solid dens that shut them in completely. The wolf was sometimes drawn to them, but never went too close. To the east, over a wide river, was another, smaller, concentration of humans, who lived in dens that they could take with them when they moved.

The wolf did not have a den. He had made one once, but the human hunters had found it and exclaimed excitedly to one another, saying that almost-familiar word over and over. Cold bee. After that, the wolf only found sheltered places to rest for a few hours.

Cold bee. What did it signify? The wolf didn’t know. The man would know, but the man was still slept, no matter how desperately the wolf tried to wake him. Maybe the man’s head hurt even worse than the wolf’s did. It throbbed with fiery pain when the wolf moved to suddenly or for too long. He cautiously picked his way over the frozen river, ignoring the cold stinging his paws. In the dark, hidden by clumps of dead grass covered with fresh snow, the wolf settled down to watch the humans in the camp of movable dens. The humans here carried the dark sticks that made heads explode. The wolf knew that, and fear crawled through his ruff at the sight of them, but he couldn’t leave these humans for more than a day or two. There was something here, something important. The wolf knew that too, but he didn’t know what. The man would know. Why didn’t he wake?

There had been a time when the wolf had never wanted his human to wake and push him into a small corner of his mind. The man had been only a pup then, and they had waged war to see which of them would be the Alpha and control who was a mere shadow in the mind of the other. The wolf had fought hard, but the human pup had won, forcing compliance to his will. At the pup’s command, the wolf was only a spirit inside the human’s body unless he decided to allow the wolf to come out and run on four paws. Then the pup was a spirit in the wolf’s mind, but even in spirit form the human pup was strong enough to banish the wolf back to a spirit. The wolf respected strength and learned to yield willingly since the pup was wise and strong. The pup grew into a man, and they had forged an alliance that suited them both.

But now, when the wolf wanted him to take control, the man slept. A frustrated growl made the pain in his head flare. He should leave this place and go to where game hadn’t been hunted to almost nothing. He’d eaten only a few rabbits over the past week. Had it been a week? That was a human measurement of time, so the wolf wasn’t sure. He was sure he hadn’t eaten enough.

He got up, intending to go right now. Further south it would be warmer, and the rabbits would be plentiful. His head swung back to the human dens. There was something there. Something more important than even food. Twice, when the wind had been exactly right, he’d caught faint traces of a scent that put him in a frenzy. He didn’t know what it was. And the man wouldn’t come out.

Even now, that scent drifted to his nose, drawing him out from the grass. He had taken several steps before he stopped himself and dropped back down. Wake up, you stupid man! he shouted internally.

For the first time, a sluggish response came. Jee-nah. Then the man was gone again.

Jee-nah. What was Jee-nah? Was that the reason he stayed? Why was Jee-nah so important?

The word came to him so faintly he wasn’t sure if it came from the man or his own fragmented mind. It sent him, belly to the ground, toward the human dens. A sense of danger nagged at him, but the power of the word beat it back. The word sang in his blood and sent fiery elation through every nerve.

Mate.

“Miss Todd? Your father is asking for you.”

Gina clenched her teeth. Her name wasn’t Todd and President Todd was not her father. By the apologetic look on Janelle’s face, she knew what Gina wanted to say. With great care, Gina pushed back from the rickety camp table and stood. The urge to kick her chair over and scream nearly overwhelmed her. But only one person in the Kansas-Missouri camp was allowed to throw fits, and it wasn’t her.

“Thanks,” she said. “Where is he?”

“In the command center.”

Naturally. Gina brushed through the canvas door flap of her room in the harem tent and walked along the narrow corridor to the entrance. She took a wrap from the line and threw it around her shoulders. The sky was blue, and the sun shone brightly, but it was cold. She walked the twenty yards to the smaller tent her stepfather used for meetings. Two guards there gave her nods. One cleared his throat and angled his head so his voice would carry into the tent..

“Miss Todd has arrived,” he announced.

From inside the tent, a man said, “She may enter.”

Oh, joy. Gina swallowed and stiffened her spine. Such formality didn’t bode well. It had been week since she’d been returned to her stepfather, but she’d barely spoken to him. Was this when he would punish her for running away from Kansas City? Gina swallowed and stepped into the warmth of the command tent. The braziers sitting in each corner of the tent might thaw her toes, but they did nothing for her lungs, which had a bad tendency to freeze up when she was scared.

Gerald Todd, the President of Kansas- Missouri, sat at the head of the command center’s table. At first glance, with his thinning brown hair and cherub’s face, he didn’t look like a power-hungry, absolute ruler. He wore his most cherubic smile now. Gina suppressed her shudder. She glanced at General Atwater sitting at his right hand, but the General was focused on some papers on the table in front of him. No help there. To President Todd’s left and a little behind him—the properly subservient position for a woman– was her mother. Gina almost tripped on the canvas tarp covering the ground. Todd didn’t allow women to attend high level meetings. This was going to be bad.

A movement to her right caught her eye. Major Ellis stood there, boyishly handsome in his perfectly fitted uniform. He wasn’t smiling. His cool eyes were fixed on the other side of the tent. Gina followed his gaze to Brother Saul Allersen, whose ascetic face held a self-righteous smirk. He’d worn that same expression every time she’d seen him, but it seemed just a little more self-righteous today. His anal son, Jon, wore his usual suit, his short brown hair meticulously groomed, and looked even more smug than usual. Tanner, his other son, had made some effort to tame his wild hair, but his denim trousers and flannel shirt looked as if he’d slept in them. His smirk matched his brother’s. Why was that disgusting trio here?

Gina pulled her attention away from them and focused on the biggest threat in the room. Her mother’s husband was still looking sweetly angelic as he stood to welcome her. She was supposed to be honored that the most powerful man in eight hundred square miles stood up for her. She tried to paste an expression of humble appreciation on her face.

He stretched out his arms, making her intensely glad the table was between them to prevent an embrace. “My dear, I am so glad to see you well and safely returned to the bosom of your family.” He gestured. “Major, a chair for my daughter.”

Knowing better than to sit without permission, Gina merely nodded her thanks and stood beside the chair until President Todd beamed approvingly and invited her to sit.

“You are a fine young woman.” He dimmed his smile to something gently aggrieved, folding his hands on the table before him. “But you have been very naughty to worry your mother and me the way you did by running off. You know we live in a dangerous world where not everyone is as protective of women as I am. And some people would take advantage of you and try to use you to hurt me.”

That’s the real issue, Gina thought sourly behind her mild mask. Since he didn’t demand that she reply, she was happy to keep her mouth shut.

“It was very foolish of you to risk yourself like that. Your mother has explained it to me. When you were told of the great plans I had for you, you were overwhelmed with maidenly shyness and ran.”

Gina couldn’t help a quick glance at Major Ellis. He noticed of course.

“Is your mother right, my dear?”

Curse it, she had to answer a direct question. “Yes, sir.”

“Well.” He tapped his fingertips together under his chin. “I have changed my mind. You will not marry Stanton Ellis.”

A gasp of relief almost escaped her.

“He is young and handsome and one of my most promising young officers. I had thought you two would be a good match, but I believe you have made it plain that you are too flighty to be his wife.”

Thank you, thankyou, thankyouthankyou, she chanted silently.

“I have another plan for your future, one that suits me very well. I have allies to whom I owe a great debt. How better to reward them for their loyalty that by marriage into my own family?”

Dread crashed over her. Involuntarily, her gaze slid to the side, to Jon’s self-satisfied face.

Her stepfather beamed again. “You are such a clever girl! You’ve already deduced the plans I’ve made for you. You will be the jewel of the Brotherhood Commune as Mrs. Allersen.”

Gina clenched the edges of her chair to keep from jumping up and screaming, but she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She gazed with horrified eyes at the Allersens. Jon, so prissy, like he had a stick up his butt, round face smug. Tanner, always so sure he was right, and no woman was worth much. “Which one?” she blurted.

Her stepfather’s smile turned sweetly vicious. “Why, all of them, of course.”

Well, I’ve been giving little snips from here and there in the story. I’ve decided it’s time to start at the beginning. This is unedited, so it might change a bit here and there, but I like this. This story releases on January 17 2018.

WARNING: strong language.

STRONG HEARTS

copyright by Maddy Barone

Chapter One

Brutus would have pounded that asshole into a pancake if the bouncers hadn’t stopped him. It took both to drag him off.  The blood dripping from the little shit’s nose made him smile. Smiling hurt his split lip, though, so he settled for a sneer.

“That’s what you get for disrespecting the United States Marine Corps,” he said, allowing the bouncer to pull him a little further away. He knew the bouncer, Matt Martinez, was a Marine himself. “Did you hear what that little rat said?”

“No, and it doesn’t matter.” Martinez sighed. “Come on, Doc, you know what Billie said last time you got into a fight here.”

“That was three months ago!”

Brutus shot the rat who didn’t give honor where honor was due one last dirty look and followed Martinez to a stool at the end of the bar. Along the way they passed several patrons at the bar who seemed to be pretending to be deaf and blind. One caught his eye, a platinum blonde who had to have had breast implants. The Dolly Parton wannabe didn’t impress him. He plopped himself down on the bar stool Martinez pointed him to and waved for Jerry, the bartender.

Before he could order a beer, Martinez spoke. “Coffee or a coke, Doc. When your buddy gets here, you let him take you home.”

A cold spot spread in Brutus’ throat. “You’re cutting me off? It’s only ten o’clock!”

Martinez thumped a fist on his shoulder. “That’s Billie’s rule. If you fight, you leave. And you’ve had too much to drink to drive home yourself, so you just sit here and wait for your ride.”

Brutus slumped on the bar. “Who’d’ja you call?”

“Wolfe. Who else? You gonna cause any more trouble?”

“No.”

He’d drink his coffee like a good boy and let his friend take him home.  Brutus rested his forehead on a fist and stared morosely into the black coffee Jerry brought him. He heard the jukebox switch to a different song, something slow and melancholy. The clack of pool balls reminded him that he’d been having a good night, downing a few beers, shooting a few games, and relaxing after a long shift at the station house. Then that little ass wipe invited him to play. He was probably twenty-one, barely legal, and thought he was a hustler. Whatever. They were playing for almost nothing, so Brutus didn’t care if he lost. Everything was cool, until that guy started talking about how useless Marines were. Things went downhill fast after that.

He tried a sip of coffee. It hurt his split lip. With careful fingers, he gingerly explored the injury. Damn.  The swelling had better go down before his next shift. Three days. It should be gone by then. If not … Hopefully, Captain Stewart wouldn’t be around to notice. Brutus didn’t need another lecture from his boss. He reached for the bowl of pretzels on the bar and had to hide a wince. His ribs were sore from a right hook. That kid had some good moves, at the pool table and away from it. Brutus was going to feel this tomorrow. It was a lot like that fight he’d had back in Camp Fallujah. Or was he thinking about that fight in Camp Dreamland?  Or Camp Dakota? His service days in Iraq were more than ten years ago, so it hard to keep that straight.

“Gunnison.”

Brutus jerked his head up. His partner stood there, looking down at him with a small frown. “Hey, Wolfe. You got here fast.”

“I was already out.”

That’s right, Wolfe was taking his latest piece of arm candy to a movie or something. “Damn, did this mess up your date?”

“No, Cherilyn wanted an early night. I just dropped her off.”

“Aw, too bad. So, you havta sleep alone tonight?” Brutus looked his partner up and down. Wolfe was everything Brutus was not: handsome, light on his feet, tall and muscular without being a hulk, and charming. A real chick magnet. Women went crazy for Wolfe’s pretty boy face.  “Well, it has to happen to everyone sometimes, right?”

Wolfe blew out a breath and shook his head with a half-disgusted, half-affectionate smile. “Shut up. Ready to go?”

“Yeah, sure,” Brutus pushed the still full coffee cup away and lurched to his feet. He had to catch himself on the bar. Maybe he’d had more than he’d realized. He straightened and testing his walking ability. Wolfe watched him without offering to help. Yeah, his buddy understood a man’s pride. “Lead the way.”

He did okay until he tripped over the pointy toe of a sparkly high-heeled shoe and landed nose first in a bountiful cleavage. Brutus might not have the polished manners of some men, but his mama had whupped common decency into him.  He jerked upright and staggered a step back.

“Sorry, ma’am,” he blurted. “Are you hurt?”

The platinum blonde gave a throaty laugh and made minute adjustments to neckline of her low-cut dress.  “Why, I just don’t believe I know.”

Her accept was deep south, not Texas, and her sex kitten purr was directed at Wolfe, not him. Brutus took one long look at her and decided his buddy was welcome to her. She was beautiful but fake. Too much makeup, and too much of her body on display. Billie’s Bar & Grill was one step above a dive, and that short, sequined dress should be worn in a place where fancy cocktails were served.

He glanced at his friend to see his reaction. Wolfe, as usual, showed little. He liked living up to his Native American ancestors’ reputation for stoicism, but Brutus had known him since the old days in Iraq. Behind that coolly polite façade, his buddy was laughing his ass off.

The blonde flicked her foot. The sparkly shoe landed at Wolfe’s feet. “Why, look at that,” she cooed. “My shoe just plumb fell off.”

There was a pause in the noise as the jukebox switched songs. From the other side of the blonde came a sigh. Brutus stepped a little to the right to see who was sitting next to the blonde. For a full five seconds, his lungs forgot how to work.

This was how a woman ought to look. Brown hair pulled up in a bouncy ponytail. Blue jeans neither too baggy nor too tight, and a plaid shirt worn open over a white T-shirt. Her cleavage probably wasn’t as impressive as the blonde’s, but it had a perfect curve. He followed the long line of her leg and saw she was wearing cowboy boots. Worn out cowboy boots, not the pretty, shiny kind city cowgirls wore for show. If she was wearing makeup, Brutus couldn’t tell. Her face was pretty. Not Miss America beautiful, but pretty. Damn. She was Brutus’ prefect woman. Right now, she looked annoyed. Even that looked good on her.

“Stella, for crying out loud.” She turned on the barstool to Wolfe. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

Brutus sighed. Now that she’d gotten a look at his buddy, she wouldn’t have the time of day for him.

But she remined slightly apologetic, not even blinking at Wolfe. No gasp. No staring worshipfully, no blush or smile. She took the shoe Wolfe held out to her. “Thanks,” she said briefly, and thrust it at the blonde.  “Put your shoe on, Stella,” she said in a furious whisper.

“Relax, Sissie.” The blonde pouted and turned slipping her shoe on into a languorous tease. If she wasn’t careful, those tits were going to pop right out of her dress. The pouty smiles and bedroom eyes were directed at Wolfe. The ponytail girl sighed again. Wolfe didn’t respond except to punch a light fist into Brutus’ bicep.  “Ready to go?” he asked.

Brutus couldn’t resist one last look at the pretty brown-haired girl. Her eyes, large and blue, looked at him with a hint of disapproval. His back went up.

“What are you looking at?” he demanded.

Her cool blue eyes ran up him, and then down him. “Nothing much,” she said, turning back to the bar.

“Ouch,” murmured Wolfe, hidden laughter in his voice. Probably no one else heard it, but Brutus did. “Come on, buddy.”

Outside, the air was hot and laden with humidity. Normal for Dallas on the first day of September even at ten at night. Brutus took a lungful of the thick air in before climbing in Wolfe’s pick up.

“Man, did you see her?” Brutus sighed happily. “If I dream about her tonight I’ll be a happy man.”

Wolfe drove out of the parking lot. He stopped at a red light and raised a dubious eyebrow. “I didn’t think she was your type.”

“What? You kidding?” Brutus closed his eyes and remembered the sweet curve of breasts against a white T-shirt half covered by a western style shirt. “She’s exactly my type. Such perfect tits.”

The light turned green and Wolfe stepped on the gas. “Yeah, I guess they were pretty spectacular. Big enough to fill even your hands.”

Brutus’ eyes popped open. “I’m not talking about the blonde!”

“Oh?”

“No. The little brunette gal sitting next to her. The cute one who looked like an actual person.”

“Oh,” Wolfe said with a note of comprehension. “Sure, she was pretty. Looked nice, too. Someone you could really talk to.”

The truth of that hit Brutus’ drunken mind like a sledgehammer. The blonde looked like a man hunter, the kind you took to bed and that was all. The brunette looked like the kind you took home to meet mom.  A girl like that wouldn’t want anything to do with a big brute like him.

Wolfe must have misunderstood his silence, because he went hastily on. “I don’t know that blonde lady. For all I know, she’d be great to talk to. We shouldn’t judge someone by the way they dress.”

Brutus snorted. “Right. We should judge by the way they act. I’ll bet my next paycheck that blonde wished you’d have been the one to trip and land on her tits. Her shoe fell off right in front of you, and that didn’t happen on its own.”

“Thank God your little brunette saved me from having to put it back on the blonde’s foot.”

His little brunette. Brutus reveled in the sound of that. “Yeah. Lucky you.”

Wolfe pulled his pickup into the short driveway in front of Brutus’ house. “Look, give me a call in the morning and I’ll give you a ride back to your truck.” He turned to study him, eyebrows pulling low. “You’ve been partying a lot lately, even when we have back to back shifts. You okay?”

That Indian had always been a little too perceptive. “Geez, Wolfe, you want to talk about our feelings now?”

His buddy snorted a laugh. “Get out of here. See you tomorrow.”

Brutus unlocked the front door and tossed his keys on the table in the front hall in time to catch his dog, Rowdy. The brown mutt was big and mean looking, but loyal and even loving with the right person.  Just like him.

“We’re a lot alike, boy,” he whispered, scratching behind the floppy ears. “One thing is different, though. You had your balls cut off, but the lady dogs still like you. I still have mine, but the ladies don’t like me.”

With that happy thought, he went to bed.

Here is another little snip from my current work in progress.  I feel like I’m really making progress on this one.  And I really, really love Brutus and Denise.

The great thing about Billie’s Bar and Grill was that no one ever dressed up. Denise, wearing jeans covered with dog hair stuck to the dog slobber embedded in the denim, pushed opened the door, and stepped to one side. She paused there for a moment to let her eyes adjust. After the bright sun, she was nearly blind in the lower light in the bar. The delicious smell of greasy burgers hit her nose and woke a growl in her stomach. The clack of pool balls and the whoop of men told her at least one game was in progress. She might head back that way later, but for now she wanted a beer, a burger, and some information. All of those could be found at the bar. She made her way through a scatter of tables and parked her butt on a tall stool.

Billie herself was working the bar and she greeted Denise with a nod and something close to a smile. For Billie, that was a warm welcome. The bar owner was a trim fifty-something with short salt and pepper hair and a brisk, no nonsense manner. Even if Denise hadn’t known it, she would have guessed Billie was retired military. Billie had put in her twenty-five in the Marine Corps, and was now enjoying retirement as the owner of a neighborhood bar. Military and ex-military were always welcome here.

“Hey, Chickie,” she called as Denise hooked the heels of her boots over the bottom rung of the stool. “What’ll it be?”

“Beer and a burger basket,” Denise replied. “You know how I like it.”

Billie hollered the order to the back where her husband, Big Joe, manned the grill. She grabbed a longneck out of the case and placed in on the bar in front of Denise. “We haven’t seen you in here for a couple of months. What have you been up to?”

“Just the usual. Work, school, and more work.” She downed a swallow and let it roll, fizzing, down her throat. “That’s good.”

Billie nodded. “Nothing like a cold beer on a hot day. So, what’s up with you and what’s-his-face? That sailor you were seeing last year.”

Denise drank some more. “That’s done. He wanted me to spend more time with him, but you know.” She shrugged wryly. “Work, school, and more work.”

Billie didn’t say any of the usual sympathetic words, just nodded. “When will you be done with school?”

“This is my last year. God willing and the crick don’t rise, I’ll graduate in the spring.”

“You will.” Billie sounded sure. “You work harder than anyone. That’s just who you are.”

Another patron down the bar waved for Billie’s attention. Alone, Denise nursed her beer. The big, flat screen TV mounted in the corner showed a baseball game. The Rangers were down by one in the bottom of the eighth. She hadn’t been to a single game this summer. She loved baseball. Why hadn’t she made the time before school started?

“Hey, sweet cheeks.”

She turned to see Dale, one of the regulars, slide onto the stool beside hers. “Hey, Dale. You do know that anyone else who called me sweet cheeks would regret it, right?”

He laughed and raised a finger to catch Billie’s eye. Billie nodded and went to the cooler. Dale turned to grin at Denise. “I know, but you like my wife too much to hurt me.”

That was true. Dale might act like a flirt, but he was a safe flirt. He was utterly devoted to Marilyn, and had been for the last twenty years. “You’re lucky to have her.”

The creases that age and sun had put on his face shifted in a small, soft smile. “Don’t I know it.” The smile grew. “I saw you here last night, with some high stepping looker.”

“My sister,” she confirmed. “She’s moving to Dallas from Mississippi. She’ll be staying with me for a little while until she finds a job.”

Billie joined them and gave Dale his beer. “Yeah, I heard you were here last night with a woman in a cocktail dress.” Billie shook her head. “A cocktail dress,” she repeated, in something between disgust and wonder.

“I know.” Denise winced. “My sister asked me to take her to my favorite place to hang and get a drink. I guess she meant a club.”

Dale hooted with laughter, and Billie chuckled.

“I don’t go to clubs.” Denise waved her arms around to indicate her surroundings “When I want to go out for a drink, I want to go somewhere that I can relax, maybe shoot some pool or throw some darts. Somewhere like this.” Denise took another sip of her beer. “Last night was interesting. There was a fight back there.” She jerked her chin toward the back where the pool tables were. “The guy who was in it tripped over my sister on his way out.”

Billie muttered something that Denise didn’t catch. Trying to act casual, she asked, “I don’t think I’ve seen him around here before. Is he a regular?”

Billie’s expression was a mix of exasperation and fondness. “Gunnison. He’s trouble. No one you need to know.”

Denise’s mind went to armed robbery, drug dealing, and breaking kneecaps for a crime lord. “Trouble with the law?”

Billie shrugged and wiped her towel over the bar. “Not that kind of trouble. He fights. The man will fight at the drop of a hat. Hell, he’ll drop the hat himself.”