by Melinda Minx
I rotate the beer in my hands, looking it over. It’s so cold it doesn’t feel real.
“Shit, man,” he hisses, “Thirteen years? You didn’t get to take any leave?”
I let out a dry laugh and shake my head.
I look up at him, and I lock eyes with him. “You got something to keep you anchored?”
“My wife,” he says,
“You getting shipped off?”
He nods. “Yeah, Syria.”
“You always think you’ll want to go back as soon as you get the chance,” I say, “But sometimes the things that you most wanted to see again keep you away. Don’t be a dipshit like me. Don’t be a fucking coward, remember why you want to go home, and go home.”
He looks at me and holds his glass out to me. I clank my bottle against his glass. “Prost.”
“Prost, man,” he says, “I’ll listen to your advice. It sounds like it’s coming from real experience.”
I nod and chug down the rest of my beer.
The only reason I’m going home now is because they’re making me. Each time I decided not to go back, it felt like “one more time,” but then each time it got harder to go back, until it was fucking impossible.
I couldn’t protect Eric. It wasn’t like an IED snatched him away from me, it was my own fucking fault. He got cut down right beside me. If I had kept a better lookout, if I had been more on point, I could have saved him. I’d have brought him home to Mom and Dad.
He got shot right next to me--the bullet could just as easily have hit me--and I dragged him to cover, then watched him bleed out in my arms. I couldn’t even stop the bloodflow. I was fucking worthless.
I pop open another bottle and stare into it before taking a swig.
And I stopped writing to Sophie. I stopped even opening her fucking letters. If I couldn’t protect Eric, then what good was I to her? I shake my head. Bullshit logic. Coward logic. Maybe I was punishing myself, or maybe I felt that I just didn’t deserve anything good after fucking up everything so bad.
All I know is I threw it away. I threw my life away. I traded the woman of my dreams away for a decade and a half of scars and ink. I was strong before, but now I’m hard. Each scar is an experience, a trial, and I passed all of them.
I’ve been stabbed half a dozen times, I’ve been shot, I’ve taken shrapnel in my shin--but still I’ve been too fucking chickenshit to go back home? To face my parents again? What am I really afraid of?
“Nothing,” I mutter to myself.
“What’s that?” The bartender asks.
“Nothing,” I say, “I didn’t say anything.”
He walks off.
I’m not afraid of anything now. I’ve been through enough shit, it’s time to grab life by the balls. To go for what I want, even if I don’t deserve it anymore. Even if I don’t deserve her anymore.
This ends the free preview. Stay will be available on Amazon sometime in early January or late February.
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Also by Melinda Minx
Stone Hard: A Secret Baby MC Romance
One look, and I'm stone hard. One night, and she's carrying my baby.
When I’m not riding my bike, I’m riding a woman, and no one does it better than me. If they want more than a night, they can hit the road.
Until I meet her.
Joanna Jensson. She’s everything I’m not. Innocent. Good. And her faintest smile gets my c*ck rock hard. I want to feel her soft skin beneath my calloused hands, and I want her screaming my name into her pillow.
One night with her was all I got before my own MC set me up and landed me in prison.
But when I learn she had my baby, it’s going to take more than a few metal bars to keep me from protecting my family.
I’m coming back. And I’m coming hard.
Buy on Amazon or read free on Kindle Unlimited!
Also by Melinda Minx
Smolder: A Fake Marriage Navy Seal Romance
Guess who’s on the f*cking naughty list?
I live for three things: Hunting, fishing, and fighting. Once a SEAL, always a SEAL. But if there’s one thing I do best, it’s making women scream for more.
Tough luck, because all they ever get is one night.
But when Andrea winds up numb and freezing on my doorstep, I can’t keep my f*cking hands off her. I warm her up, from her full lips down to her long legs, and I don’t stop there.
Then she’s gone in the morning, just the way I usually like it. But I can’t forget those gorgeous, lust-filled green eyes.
When I see her again, some prick’s fingers are wrapped around her throat. Everything goes red.
The next thing I know, I’m in the back of a cop car. Some asshole’s blood is on my hands, and the only way out of jail is a fake marriage to Andrea. But that’s not even the craziest part.
...I want to make her my wife, for real.
Like Scifi Romance? Check out my sci-fi romance pen name
For a limited time, all six books of my Mating Wars series is available in one huge bundle. Get it now while it’s cheap, or read free in Kindle Unlimited!
Buy Now on Amazon or read free on Kindle Unlimited
The Marauders are coming. And they're coming hard.
Aura never thought she'd be the first human in history to mate with a big, purple alien with a big, teal d*ck. She also never thought her hybrid children would go on to form a lasting dynasty within the solar system. But Cygnus's arrival changes everything. He's as tall as Olympus Mons, and his shoulders are as wide as Valles Marineris--and his ego may be too big for the solar system.
Cygnus and Aura's story kicks off a six-book epic. Follow the first generation of Marauder and human romances, and then see what happens when their Seraphim children--human and Marauder hybrids--grow up and fall in love themselves. These fierce and protective aliens will stop at nothing to be with their human mates, even if they have to betray their own kind.
Each full-length story is full of love, action, laughter, and steamy sex. Each book has a happy ending with no cliffhanger--and absolutely no cheating.
About the Author
Melinda Minx lives in Denver with her loyal Corgi. She writes late into the night with a hot cup of Earl Grey. Like her page on Facebook and join her mailing list to stay up to date on new releases and free promotions.
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