The time at the florist was unbelievably boring for Parker.  After an hour and a half of waiting on a stool in between displays of roses and carnations, he was beginning to think he should meet up with her once she was done here.  This was about flowers for a gala that didn’t matter to her, not the cure for cancer. At least she didn’t have him babysitting her purse as women liked to do while shopping.

He cracked his first smile since parking next to her car in the flower shop’s parking lot. Skylar probably thought he’d snatch her wallet if she let go of her death grip on it. Read more »

When the door opened, a pair of untrusting blue eyes greeted Jackson.

“Can I help you?”

“Are you Skylar Montgomery?”

“I am.  What can I do for you?”

He flashed his badge.  “I’m Special Agent Caldwell.  Can I come in for a moment?  There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.” Read more »

I left Yvette’s just after one o’clock that afternoon. I was grateful the committee meeting wasn’t until six-thirty.  My mind was racing and I knew I would need every millisecond of the time to pull myself back together.   It figured that the first time I chose to try and get my social life back that Eric would be somehow involved.

Pulling one over on Michael was hard enough, but no one on the planet knew me the way Eric did. Read more »

Monday, April 5

Love is a fickle bitch. That’s right. I said it. Someone had to.

It’s not that I have anything against love, per se. I just…It’s complicated. Suffice it to say that she and I have met and parted ways. A few times. Each time, she sucker punched me then kicked me while I was down. Read more »

I didn’t realize until I already exited 190 and was a few miles away on another highway that Jenna was the frantic woman waving her arms from the stalled van I passed.  It would take too long to exit and get back to them and I knew I could already be too late.  I glanced in my mirrors to make sure no one else was on the road before I slammed on my brakes and U-turned.  Traffic was nonexistent on my drive up until this point.  I prayed my luck would hold long enough to get me back to Jenna. Read more »

“Sara, what’s wrong?”

If her life were a Michael Bay film, this was the point where the camera would swing around her and Paul in a slow, full circle. Just like the phone call in Bad Boys II that let Will Smith and Martin Lawrence know that things just got real, Sara could feel the decided shift. It was a moment where it felt like nothing would ever be alright again. Read more »

All the highways in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Irving, and Dallas were shut down, but the Addison tollroad was ignored.  Of course, Chad was long gone before they thought to do anything.  He could anticipate everything now before it happened. Read more »

Everything was as good as Sara could ever hope for it to be. This was the best time to make things right with Michael. Now or never, right? He was adamant about his feelings for her and the fact that he wanted to spend forever with her. It might be one thing if she didn’t feel the same about him, but she did. Read more »

Sara didn’t know what to say. On some level, she knew this could happen, that it probably would happen, but she didn’t think beyond that. Those blue eyes held so much pain and anger and she didn’t have a clue what she could say to make it better.

But nothing she could say would make it better because Read more »

“Are you going to answer me or look at me like I’m insane?”

“Look at you like you’re insane.” Read more »

She didn’t know what to think anymore. Michael didn’t abandon her in the way she thought. Did that make things any better? Sara couldn’t decide. In the end, he did abandon her, just not the way she thought. And he cheated on her, erm…with her. Read more »

“We find them.” Paul was already changing out of his bowling shoes. “There’s nothing else we can do right now.”

Sara followed his lead and switched shoes. “They could be anywhere right now.”

And Sucre could be doing anything to Nika. Read more »

Trinity Erickson felt her way through the darkened corridors of the abandoned building, apprehensive.  It was many years since she was last summoned by the most exalted member of the Daughters of Isis.  Things hadn’t gone well then; probably wouldn’t go well now.

Beside her, Aaron squeezed her hand and she could hear his voice inside her head.  It’s okay, sweetheart.  She only has power over you if you let her. Read more »

Chad looked at the clock on his dashboard for what must have been the tenth time that hour.  He’d been waiting Read more »

Years Before…

Fervent chanting wafted up from the earthen temple in offering to the moonless night sky, floating higher and faster than the sage smoke burning all around.  Months of ritual and careful preparation were about to pay off.  In this one perfect night, new moon and winter solstice became one.  The power of their union cascaded from the depths of creation, bathing the hooded figures in the very same energy present at the moment the universe came into being.

Tonight, against all the odds, his child would come into the world, soaking it all in at birth.  In that single instant, his status would skyrocket from that of the general membership to that of the leaders.  Most spent the whole of their lives attempting to reach the coveted respect of Elder.  Yet, after only being granted full membership a few years before, he would soar to that rank with a single breath of the child.

Unless the damned Doula continued taking her time with the delivery, that is.  Precious little time remained until the window would again close.  There was no time to fear for the health of the mother.

She was doomed to die from the moment of conception… Read more »