by Paul Neuhaus
“Anyway,” Quinn added. “We’re not ragging on Tanya right now. She’s getting the help she needs and she’s making sure you’re taken care of in the meantime. I have a feeling she’s gonna get her shit together.”
Taft wiped her eyes and smiled at her two funky aunts.
After another moment of silence, Blank turned to Quinn. “And how’s the Aja feeling about how all this turned out?”
The redhead winced. “I didn’t like being called that before and I sure as hell don’t like it now. The Aja wasn’t a messiah. She was a sleeper agent. A Manchurian Candidate. A monster. All that reverence crap got grafted on later by men who didn’t realize they’d been played for saps.”
Josie looked at Molly, then back at Quinn and then she smiled. “Wow. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Henaghan shook her head. “I’m not being hard on myself. I just don’t believe in job titles. I’m not Batman. I’m not the Aja. I’m just Quinn.”
“And that’s more than enough,” Blank said, raising her empty glass.
Josie and Quinn raised their own empty glasses and the three women clinked the rims over the table.
Molly spent a good part of that evening researching her catering business. When she finally came to bed, Quinn was already there. The older woman kicked off her shoes and slid out of her jeans. “I have just one question,” she said.
“Yeah?”
“Am I gonna have to wear this stupid eyepatch to bed?"
Henaghan grew sheepish. “Could you? I mean you’re the sexist woman alive, but if I have to look into your eye socket, I’m gonna get woozy and pass out.”
Molly shook her head and said, “I figured you’d say that.” She disappeared into the bathroom and, a moment later, reappeared in a short, powder blue nightie. On her face she wore a matching powder blue eyepatch complete with frills around the edges.
Henaghan laughed. “Did you get lingerie for your face?”
Blank came around and got under the comforter on her side of the bed. She also put on her lensless glasses. “It’s hot, isn’t it?”
“It kinda is, actually.” The two joined hands under the covers. Quinn took a deep breath and summoned a memory. “Remember when we were at the Friar’s Club? At that mixer? And you totally swindled me out of a coffee?”
Molly’s eye rolled back into her head and she adopted an attitude of mock persecution. “Okay. I’ll buy you a damn cup of coffee. Let it go already.”
“I don’t want a coffee. I was just thinking about it. About how life is little moments like that and you never know what’s gonna lead to something. Turns out it was the best four dollars I ever spent.”
Blank rolled onto her side facing Quinn and she adopted an attitude of adorable coquettishness. “Go on…” she said.
“I was alone in a big city, I was going through some… unusual changes and then I met you. Now I’ve got a partner and a—I don’t know what you’d call it—a daughter, I guess—and I’m not unhappy and I’m not resentful. Not like all the people that settle and wind up with a spouse they hate and life situations they never asked for. Sometimes I wonder why everything came to me so easily.”
Molly grinned from ear-to-ear. She then reached over casually and flicked her girlfriend hard on the nose.
Henaghan gripped her nose and cried out. “Ow! What was that for?!”
The older woman began counting on her fingers. “Well, you’ve fought three—count ‘em three—Babylonian gods. You were almost murdered by an agent slash serial killer. You got turned into the Human Torch and made the slave of a sex-crazed light-lady. You had to rescue your aforementioned daughter from the horrors of drug addiction. You’ve lost many people along the way. You had your own powers rebel on you. You— Let’s see, what else?”
Still holding her red nose, Quinn smiled. “Okay, okay. I get it.”
“Easy my ass. Don’t you say easy to me.”
“Fair enough. From here on in, I’m gonna obsess over the drudgery and the hardship.”
Molly rose up and pulled the redhead’s hands away from her nose. She kissed the nose by way of making amends. “Good. Now. Would you consider it a drudgery and or a hardship to get freaky with me?”
Quinn spoke, and she punctuated every word with a kiss. “I’m. Certain. That. Would. Be. Truly. Truly. Terrible.”
Molly reached over, took off her glasses and turned out the light.
THE END
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The Quinn Henaghan Chronicles
Company Town - Book 1 of the Quinn Henaghan Chronicles
Magic! Monsters! Mayhem!
All the things mousy Quinn Henaghan didn’t want in her life. But now, thanks to a long-hidden power, Quinn is fast on her way to becoming the world’s most powerful sorceress.
Can she master her gift in time to save Los Angeles from the demon who’s been ruling it for a century?
A paranormal adult romance thriller! In the tradition of The Dresden Files and Doctor Strange!
Aeon of Horus - Book 2 of the Quinn Henaghan Chronicles
A priceless artifact! A dark conspiracy! An approaching apocalypse!
Quinn Henaghan is again embroiled in a situation not of her own making. Thieves, witch-hunters, demons and rival wizards all want a totem she acquired but didn't ask for. As she weaves her way through this collection of rogues, she learns the statue she holds is the only thing that stands between life as we know it and the total destruction of the earth!
About the Author
Paul was born long, long ago in Cincinnati, Ohio. He had a normal childhood and did moderately well in school. When he came of age, he went to numerous colleges, starting with Ohio State University in Columbus and culminating at Kennesaw State College north of Atlanta, Georgia. That’s right: mid-college, he moved South where he indulged in fatty cuisine and intolerance for his fellow man. He received a BA in English which, sadly, benefited him little. Paul, in his early years, lacked a teacher’s temperament and professional writing jobs were few and far between. Undaunted, our hero returned to school where he received a degree in Computer Animation. For the next decade, he worked in the video game industry. During that ten year span, he relocated from Georgia to sunny Southern California. He also took a wife and — much to society’s regret — he produced twin offspring. In addition to his stint as an artist for games, Paul has also worked in fast food, retail, writing (some fifteen years after getting his English degree), video editing, and — most recently — teaching.
Paul enjoys reading, writing, and watching movies. He is, to this day, shockingly intolerant of his fellow man.
Visit Paul at www.paulneuhaus.com.
