AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know,” Cassie said, nestling into his embrace. “You’re going to be an amazing father, Rage. I can already picture you teaching our little son all about motorcycles.”
“A son,” he murmured in amazement. “Have you told Breaker the news? That he’s going to be a granddad?”
Cassie shook her head, amused. “Not yet. I wanted you to be the first to know.”
“I love you so damn much, babe,” Rage said. They started off as enemies. A year ago, Rage couldn’t even entertain the thought of Cassie and him tying the knot. The idea of the two of them had been a reckless gamble and yet it paid off.
“Love you, Rage,” Cassie murmured, leaning in for a soft kiss.
The End
www.evernightpublishing.com/winter-sloane
CONFLICTION
Roe Valentine
Copyright © 2024
Chapter One
Anya Sanchez
I parked my car at the only spot available in the small lot near the criminal justice building. My hands were so shaky on the wheel I could barely keep hold of the darn thing. I was anxious the whole way to the university from my apartment.
You got this, Anya. Did I, though?
I was normally one of those annoying people who always tried to dig the silver linings—the positive—out of every situation. But I struggled this time. And it was because for six weeks, during the summer-one session, I was in Ursin Miller’s class. I never thought I’d meet this man, and I didn’t realize he taught summer terms at the university. He was the only DA to ever take six weeks off to teach a summer session at the university. But I knew about him for many years. It was personal.
He put my father away. And I didn’t blame him at all. Would I mention it? No way. I just wanted to have an easy six weeks and get my last three credits to graduate with a degree specializing in investigative journalism. See, I was going to tell true crime stories and shine light on the truth of what the bad guys did. All of them. Cartels, traffickers, swindlers, murderers… It was the only way I could feel better about what my father did to people, and why I changed my last name. I wanted nothing to do with him.
Ugh. Snap out of it. I was too in my head.
I drew in a long breath, expanding my lungs to capacity and getting enough nerve to open the car door. I stepped on the pavement, one Teva sandal then the other. My bohemian maxi dress fell down my legs, dancing along my skin. Damn, it was hot. The sun overhead was aggressive, forcing an acknowledgement. I see you, sun. I feel you, damn it. And with a light touch of my finger on the sunglasses resting on my head like a tiara, my sunglasses fell forward and shielded my watering eyes.
I grabbed my backpack from the trunk of my sedan and shut it. There, I said a little prayer to get me through the two-hour class without any issues, and off I went to the building conveniently close to my rock star parking spot.
As I walked onto the cement sidewalk winding through the beautiful landscape of my university, I scanned for friends or classmates I might have had before. I didn’t notice anyone. But I smiled and waved as I passed others. And they smiled back and waved, too. Good sign. First-day-of-school jitters got the best of me. When I arrived at the large auditorium classroom, I paused at the threshold of the double metal doors opened and ready to receive students for the nine in the morning class—the first lecture of the day.
“No coffee?” A voice came from the side.
“Huh?” I turned to face Reggie. He had been in my political science class in the spring. “Oh, hey, Reg. I didn’t know you were taking summer-one session.”
He sighed, sipping from his Starbucks cup—there was a kiosk in the food hall. “I have to make up this class. I dropped out of it last semester. I was too stressed with trying to graduate at the end of summer.”
“Oh.” My heart warmed. He did look stressed. “How many credits are you taking?”
“Six this sesh, and six for summer-two.” He drank again and glanced at his large-faced watch. “Shit. Class is about to start.”
“Thank goodness I found a good parking spot.” I shifted my backpack. “Or else I’d probably be ten minutes late.”
“Right on.” He took another sip of his coffee. “See you inside.”
“Right behind you.”
And I did sit right behind Reggie in the huge auditorium. Almost every seat was full by then. The noise was at a maximum, as students unpacked and got ready for the lecture. I also made some noise, talking to other classmates I recognized and hadn’t seen in a while. Things started to look up. My anxiety was down a lot, and I was feeling more confident.
Until the metal doors shut—more like slammed—and the room went silent. Eerily silent. And the taps of dress shoes moved down the cement steps and there he was. Ursin Miller, District Attorney.
