He closed his eyes as he gripped the steering wheel. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Thank me?” Replacement scoffed. “After everything you do for me?”
Jack shook his head. “You’re always doing stuff for me.”
He turned to look at her, and she sat down in her seat. She folded her hands, and he could see her pressing her fingernails into them. He reached over to place his hand on hers.
She kept looking down as she spoke. “In the emergency room…I was pretty messed up. Did you know they announce it? They say ‘code blue.’ I didn’t know what it meant. A nurse told me. I sorta pushed into the room and…I saw you. Kiku took me away. She wanted me to know what your last words were.”
“She told you?”
“She thought you were dead. We all did.” Replacement turned to look at him. Her eyes searched his. “Forget every stupid thing I said. I’ve loved you since I first saw you, and I don’t want another second to go by without letting you know that.”
Jack smiled.
Replacement looked down for a few moments and looked up again. “This is the part where you’re supposed to say something back, Jack.”
He chuckled nervously, but as he gazed at her emerald green eyes, he knew.
“I love you, too, Alice.”
Epilogue
The shiny, two-seater sports car pulled into the parking lot of the Boar’s Butt. Kiku opened her door. The four guys who had just exited the restaurant stopped dead in their tracks. With three-inch heels, a clingy black dress, and long hair streaming down her back, she was every drunk’s fantasy come to life.
They watched as she crossed the parking lot and sauntered up the steps. After exchanging a look, they silently agreed they had left a little too early. They jostled one another as they scrambled back to the bar.
Kiku opened the door, and all the guys’ mouths dropped and the women’s eyes narrowed. Dressed to kill would be an understatement, but so would drop-dead gorgeous. A faint smile played on her lips as she crossed the floor to the bar.
“Whiskey—neat.” Her voice was low, and the two men on either side of her leaned in, drawn like metal to a magnet.
She sipped the drink and waited. Man after man tried to summon the courage to approach her. But like knights trying to draw Excalibur from the stone, each was met with failure.
Some she cut down with a look, others with a shake of her head, but each left dejected, and one by one, the smiles from the men in the room grew fewer. Finally, the man she’d been waiting for approached.
Ralph Waller was a beefy man in his late twenties. Divorced and recently fired from his job at the car wash for theft, he had a lot of time on his hands, and most of it he now spent doing one of two things: drinking or hunting. Ralph was a bow hunter but not a very good one. Drunks usually aren’t. Ralph had been deer hunting recently, but there were two things wrong with that. One, it wasn’t in season. Two, he’d shot a deer and only wounded it. Ralph, being Ralph, had been too lazy and heartless to chase the deer down, so he’d left it to suffer and die in the woods.
Kiku turned to smile at him.
Ralph practically drooled as he offered to buy her another drink, which she gratefully accepted.
It had only taken Kiku a trip to the local sports store to get the name of the man who hunted around Woodlawn Drive with the bright red, razor-tipped arrows no regular hunter would use. Ralph’s reputation and big mouth had made it easy for her to find him.
Kiku would take her time talking to him tonight. Slowly, she worked the conversation around to hunting and let Ralph brag. She’d let him ramble and boast until he confessed his sin.
She raised her glass and drained the shot. Her smile broadened until her red lips revealed her pearly white canines. She bit her bottom lip and leaned closer to him; her foot ran up his leg. “How would you like to go hunting?” she asked in a voice loud enough a man two seats over fell off his stool.
Ralph’s chest rose and fell rapidly. He licked his lips, swallowed, and nodded spastically.
Kiku left a twenty on the bar and sauntered toward the door.
Ralph excitedly hopped off the bar stool and pounded two men next to him on the back. “I’m going hunting, boys. I’ve gone and bagged me a hot one.”
Kiku held the door open for the eager man, and her eyes gleamed as he raced past her and into the night.
Ralph was right about going hunting, but he was wrong about one thing. He wasn’t the hunter; he was the prey.
Here’s a preview of the next book in the Jack Stratton Collection:
Jack and the Giant Killer
“You said people were safe, so he wanted to let them know they’re not. He wants people to be afraid. He wants them to be scared. If you want to catch this killer, let him know he accomplished his goal. You need to let people know he’s right—they should be scared, because they’re not safe.”
Jack Stratton is back in another action-packed, thrilling adventure. While recovering from a gunshot wound and the loss of his job on the police force, Jack’s romance with feisty Replacement continues to develop. When Replacement gets a seemingly harmless private investigation job—locate the owner of a lost dog—Jack begrudgingly assists. Little do they know it will place them both into the crosshairs of a merciless serial killer.
5.0 out of 5 stars Even Superior to the Other Jack Books October 30, 2014
By Rick Mitchell VINE VOICE Amazon Top 1000 Reviewers
This one [Jack and the Giant Killer] eclipses the others in content and form. It puts Mr. Greyson in the upper echelon of mystery/thriller writers writing today. He has given even more depth and sophistication to the characters without sacrificing any plot. It is as if his writing has matured with his characters, especially Replacement’s (aka Alice).
Click the link below to purchase:
Jack and the Giant Killer
You could win a brand new
HD KINDLE FIRE TABLET
when you go to
ChristopherGreyson.com
Enter as many times as you’d like.
No purchase necessary.
It’s just my way of thanking my loyal readers.
Novels featuring Jack Stratton in order:
GIRL JACKED
JACK KNIFED
JACKS ARE WILD
JACK AND THE GIANT KILLER
DATA JACK
and coming soon…
JACK OF HEARTS
Epic Fantasy
PURE OF HEART
Now Available
Looking for more romantic suspense?
Be sure to check out Katherine Greyson’s best-selling series:
EVERYONE KEEPS SECRETS
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank all the wonderful readers out there. It is you who make the literary world what it is today—a place of dreams filled with tales of adventure! To all of you who have taken Jack and Replacement under your wings and spread the word via social media (Facebook Twitter) and who have spent the time to go back and write a great review I say THANK YOU! Your efforts keep the characters alive and give me the encouragement and time to keep writing. I can’t thank YOU enough.
Word of mouth is crucial for any author to succeed. If you enjoyed the series, please consider leaving a review at Amazon, even if it is only a line or two; it would make all the difference and I would appreciate it very much.
PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW HERE
I would also like to thank my wife. She’s the best wife, mother, and partner in crime any man could have. She is an invaluable content editor and I could not do this without her! My thanks also go out to my family, my fantastic editors: Faith Williams of The Atwater Group and Karen Lawson and Janet Hitchcock of The Proof is in the Reading, my fabulous consultant—Dianne Jones, Kay Bloomberg, the unbelievably helpful beta readers, including Megan Mason and Michael Muir, and the two best kids in the world.
About the Author
My name is Christopher G
reyson, and I am a storyteller.
Since I was a little boy, I dreamt of what mystery was around the next corner, or what quest lay over the hill. If I couldn’t find an adventure, one usually found me, and now I weave those tales into my stories. I am blessed to have written the bestselling Jack Stratton mystery series. The collection includes “Girl Jacked,” “Jack Knifed,” “Jacks Are Wild,” “Jack and the Giant Killer,” and “Data Jack.”
My background is an eclectic mix of degrees in theatre, communications, and computer science. Currently I reside in Massachusetts with my lovely wife and two fantastic children. My wife, Katherine Greyson, who is my chief content editor, is an author of her own romance series, “Everyone Keeps Secrets.”
My love for tales of mystery and adventure began with my grandfather, a World War I decorated hero. I will never forget being introduced to his friend, a WWI pilot who flew across the skies at the same time as the feared, legendary Red Baron. My love of reading and storytelling eventually led me to write “Pure of Heart,” a young adult fantasy that I released in 2014.
I love to hear from my readers. Please go to ChristopherGreyson.com. In the next coming months, I plan to add free content, including side stories and vignettes involving the characters from the series. Please sign up for my mailing list and receive periodic updates on this and new book releases. Thank you for reading my novels. I hope my stories have brightened your day.
Sincerely,
Christopher Greyson
JACKS ARE WILD
Copyright: Christopher Greyson
Published: March 20th 2013
The right of Christopher Greyson to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.
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