LeightonIt's a slow day at The Café. After the lunch rush, we haven't had any of the stragglers we normally have. They usually help pass the time, but today there's only been one or two customers. Given that it's a rainy Wednesday, I can't say I blame everyone for wanting to stay at home and take a nap. If I was given an option, I'd probably do the same thing.Since it's slow and I've already taken care of what I need to, I sit down at the bar and pull my laptop from the bag I carry with me everywhere."What are you doing?" Violet, a waitress newer than me, asks as I wait for my MacBook to boot up. She's a little older than me, maybe by a couple of years, but I think we could be friends if given time. There's a kinship you can instantly recognize with people who seem to have had hard lives, and I recognize it within her. It's the dark moons that mar the space below her eyes, the way her eyes dart back and forth when the bell rings, and the way she looks up when anyone new comes
HavocI'm a glutton for punishment. I think I've said those words before, but they've never been truer as I sit here tucked into a booth with Leighton's body pressed so far up against me that I've had to turn sideways and wrap my arm around her shoulders. These booths were obviously not made for grown men and women. She's sharing my hamburger and fries with me, so I can't complain."How's Stella doing?" she asks Renegade, unknowingly opening up a can of worms the rest of us had effectively closed shut earlier in the day."Aww hell." Ace throws his burger down on his plate. A look of resigned disgust on his face. "Here we go again."Ryan beams as he looks at Leighton, already moving so that he can stuff his hand into his pocket, to grab his cell phone. "She got pictures made the other day, wanna see?""Say no, for the love of God, say no," I tell her, holding her closer to me. "You're gonna go down a rabbit hole of the cutest pictures of a toddler you've ever seen in your life
LeightonMy face burns as I watch Holden and the rest of the MTF guys leave The Café. I guess I've been naïve thinking he doesn't know how I've been waking up ninety percent of the time.It messes with me, since I've never really been a sexual person. But Holden? He brings out every carnal thought I've ever had as a woman and completely makes me wonder if I even know myself."They're nice." Violet has a seat next to me at the counter again.I chew the tip of the pen I have in my hand, a nervous habit I've developed over the past few months. "Yeah, they are. One of the best group of guys I've ever met in my life.""How did you meet your husband?" She asks out of the blue.It throws me off guard that she doesn't know, but then I remember she's new to town, and not everyone is privy to the history of Laurel Springs. I shift in my seat. "My maiden name is Strather, and he's spent the last few years arresting various male members of my family for making moonshine."Her eyes ar
HavocI'm tired, and still a little soggy as Renegade and I head back into the station, almost three hours after we had our lunch. The amount of rain that's fallen on the county in the last few days has caused so many traffic accidents, we're all working overtime in our main capacity as officers of Laurel Springs instead of the Moonshine Task Force. I don't mind either way, but I don't like when we get too far away from the MTF side of things, it starts making me nervous for Leighton."How are the roads?" Ace asks from where he sits at his desk, laptop open in front of him. He came on shift a few hours after Renegade and I did, so he's got a few more hours to go."Not bad." I tiredly sink into the chair at my own desk. "Most of the water is starting to recede. It hasn't rained since this afternoon, but they're calling for more overnight. It's going to be up in the air, depending on how many people are out on the roads tonight." I pull the forecast up on my phone. "And temps are f
LeightonIt's freezing cold tonight, temps dropping low enough that it's gotten chilly in the house. I just checked the thermostat and it reads fifty-nine. Which wouldn't be so bad if I knew how to work the heat.Central heat wasn't something we had at my house. Everyone assumes moonshiners are rich, and to an extent they are, but most of them are greedy, too. And instead of doing things like giving your kids central heat, you go out and purchase a sixty-thousand-dollar truck for a teenage kid who doesn't understand responsibility and gets put in jail a year after getting it. None of my family has a sensible bone in their body, and they suffer for it.My grandpa yells to anyone who'll listen that he makes moonshine because his social security isn't enough for him to live on, when the fact of the matter is, the man's never learned to budget a day in his life. He has no savings, and he wouldn't know what to do with it, if he did. Same goes with my dad and brother.I'm not really
HavocI'm calling myself a ton of words, none of them good, as I all but agree to her plan. I'm not disagreeing, but maybe that's worse. If I were disagreeing, at least I would be putting up a fight and not just letting this happen. I've wanted her for too long, and I'm starting to lose the fight.Fact of the matter is though, I feel awful, and if the only way she's going to let me take a shower is with her, then I'll do what needs to be done. I'm sore, tired, achy, and perpetually horny. Any one of those things would be enough to put someone in a bad mood, but all of them at once? Shit, I'm gonna need the patience of a saint.Another cough rattles my chest, pulling against the not-yet-healed bruised tissue. It might be time to face the music and admit that I'm sick. Sick isn't a word I have in my vocabulary – I don't have time for that. But when it happens, it's awful and it takes the wind out of all my sails. I don't suffer from man flu like some of my friends do; when I'm sick
Leighton"No! Get back from the wall!"I'm having the weirdest dream. Holden is telling me to get back from some wall, and screaming at me to take cover. I feel a huge weight on top of me, strangling the breath out of my lungs. My eyes pop open and I realize quickly I'm not having the dream, Holden is.It's a nightmare. He's on top of me, his hands on my head, protecting me from some unknown flying object he's seeing in his dream. I try to get up."Stay the fuck down, we don't know when they'll come back around. We've got to radio in and let them know we're under attack.""We're good, Havoc." I purposely use his call sign. "We're good." I grab hold of his hand. "They won't be coming back around tonight."He opens his eyes, but he's not seeing me. They aren't focused, and he's not locked in on my face. "How do you know?" There's a tremor in his voice, and his face is pale, white with the flush of fever and fear.This man needs me, and by God, I'm going to be the person he
Havoc"You look even better in my clothes this morning."Lame. The words I spoke were so lame. Usually I'm much smoother than this. When I woke up, I'd been disoriented, wondering why I was still in bed with it being so light outside. Then bits and pieces of the night before had come back to me, and then I'd made the mistake of trying to swallow and almost come off the bed. Right now, it feels as if there are shards of glass working their way out of my throat and tonsils. Leaning against the wall, I cross my arms over my t-shirt covered chest, surprised at how warm it is in here."Sorry." She ducks her head. "It's cold out there, and I've been helping Ryan salt the porch.""Renegade?" I'm more confused than ever. How fucking long was I out for? And why in God's name are they salting the front porch?She nods. "Yeah," she replies, before she reaches down to take her boots off. "Why don't you come to the kitchen and I'll fix you something to eat? We need to get some more medici