The Obsidian Collection

by Rebel Adams

  “Not only are you married, but you have kids. You were there for their birth you’re their daddy?”

  “Yes, Abigail. Where are you going?” Benton asked as she was moving towards the door.

  “Goodnight, Benton.” She ran out the door feeling better than she had in a while. She was over him now. He had children with someone. It made it all different for her. She was relieved now that she’d managed to get the information she needed without having to sleep with him. Up until that point she was struggling with whether she wanted him back or wanted to get him back, now she knew the answer. She wanted her revenge.

  That night was the best night’s sleep she had in a long time.

  She met up with Scott the next day at the bar so she could tell him what she’d learned. He looked pissed off. He had reluctantly met with her after she had called him right when she woke up to tell him she had good information for them.

  “I take it last night was a good one for you, the way you are smiling and all.” Scott tried to conceal his jealousy and anger, but wasn’t doing a good job.

  “I got just what we needed, Scott, and it’s good,” she told him. He was being a jerk, but she couldn’t really blame him.

  “So what did you get from him?” He emphasized the word get as if it were dirty. Abigail ignored him and his jealousy.

  “He’s meeting up with the drug producers at a warehouse outside of town this afternoon. He didn’t come out and say that to the gentleman who called while we were at his office, but I know his code words. Of course, I wasn’t supposed to be ease dropping.” He was nodding, but it seemed like he was trying to determine what happened before she got the information and wasn’t listening to her like she wanted him to.

  “Okay, Abigail, what’s our plan of attack?” He was ready to quit talking to her and catch the bastard. When he thought about the son of a bitch and all the trouble he had caused for the locals and his family, he just wanted him taken down. When he thought about the asshole having his hands all over Abigail, he wanted to kill him. Scott was pissed at the lengths Abigail had gone to for Benton to fall, knowing she was going to be visiting him in prison like he never did for her. Their visits would probably be conjugal visits as well, which gave Scot a slight twitch in his eye.

  “Did you hear what I said at all?” Abigail was giving him a funny look.

  “No.” He hadn’t heard a word she said; he was too wrapped up in his own head.

  “We go to the meet up. I’ll make a 911 call, and since every deputy in this town responds to every call, they will all show up and catch him in the act. The fact it’s in the next town yet involves the mayor means both jurisdictions will respond so they’ll be safe.”

  Scott thought about it for a minute; it seemed like a good plan. There were ways it could go wrong, but that was true of any plan. “I don’t think you should be there when it goes down.”

  “I’m absolutely going to be there when it goes down. If he doesn’t know it was me, then revenge isn’t as sweet. Come on, Scott, at least let me watch from afar with binoculars.”

  He laughed, “Did you really just say afar? Sometimes the way you speak you would think you were a college professor.”

  “I could be. I’m smart enough you know.”

  “Smart enough to stay out of sight, and not confront him at all?”

  “I guess.” She crossed her arms in front of her and pouted. Playing along with him was fine, but there was no way she was going to stay quiet and out of sight when Benton was finally caught.

  Gathering the items they needed to go on a stakeout was a shorter process than Abigail anticipated. They didn’t really bring much except for two pairs of binoculars plus Scott’s gun.

  “Can I have a gun?” Abigail hopped from foot to foot with excitement. He gave her a look, which said no and continued getting ready. The sheriff didn’t even move from his upright sleeping position at his desk. He had to be getting up there in age, Abigail thought.

  “Since you insist on being there we should lay down a few ground rules. You can’t call the police until we actually see the drugs or it won’t work.”

  “I’m not actually going to be the one to call the police. I was worried I might not have signal or we might be in a situation where we should be quiet, so I met up with Thomas and he is going to call them as soon as I text him.” Abigail gave Scott a determined nod and he looked at her like she had just grown flowers out of her ears.

  “I’m not even going to ask how you made that happen,” He said as they drove toward the silly straw factory and cracked jokes about the location.

  It was a big area with woods to the side, which they were able to hide the car behind. They had to walk a little ways to get to where they could see the building and it would be difficult to see inside. If they hid in the bushes lining the back of the warehouse, they could see through a side door.

  The side door was where they took out the waste from the factory, so it was a sliding glass door for an easier exit. The only thing Scott and Abigail could hope for was whatever action was going to go down would happen where they could see it. Things almost never worked out that perfectly in these situations. The binoculars were kind of unnecessary, but fun to use. Abigail looked through them and turned them towards Scott, making his face huge and giggling at the same time. He wasn’t amused, so she put them down.

  They could see the road coming into the front of the warehouse and would be able to tell when someone was approaching. Scott pulled out his phone and began recording so they could document the stakeout.

  “Location, the silly straw factory in Brucestown, South Carolina. We’re waiting for the arrival of our suspect within a suspected drug-dealing ring. My partner and I have taken cover in the foliage of the rear entry.” He turned the recorder off and put his phone down for the time being.

  Abigail burst out laughing at him. “What the hell was that voice? You sounded like a tool, Scott.” He glared at her, choosing not to acknowledge her poking fun while on such a serious mission and thinking she would be glad for his documentation later. She wasn’t done though as she held up a fake walkie-talkie and started to mock him.

  “From the undergrowth of the puerile sipping utensil industrial unit, we anticipate an assemblage of perilous delinquents.” She started giggling and couldn’t continue with her joke.

  “Smart ass.” Scott was trying not to laugh as he scowled at her. He was impressed with her and the way she sometimes amazed him.

  “You graduated high school?” he asked.

  “I didn’t. I was a drop out. I know it was dumb. I got my GED in prison, though. Then I read everything I could get my hands on. I wanted so badly to be educated,” Abigail revealed.

  He started to tell her how smart she was, and how the reading had paid off, when something moved inside the warehouse. There weren’t any cars in the parking lot, so whoever it was had to have been there when they arrived. If they weren’t quiet, they might draw attention to themselves. He suddenly wished they had checked for cameras on the outside of the building. A place like this would probably have decent security to keep the meth heads from trying to sneak in and steal from them. There was a guy loading boxes of clear crystals into cardboard boxes.

  Almost squealing, Scott realized the meth was present. Now all they had to do was wait for Benton to show up.

  They had been on the stakeout for a while when Abigail began to doubt the ringleaders were actually coming. It was past three o’clock. She knew it was the time they were supposed to be there.

  Scott was right up against her in the hiding spot, and it was almost cozy and comforting. She felt safe with him next to her, which was a great yet confusing feeling. After what seemed like forever, she saw a black van coming down the road.

  ”That must be the cookers,” she slapped Scott’s arm with nervous excitement as she spoke. He smiled at how amped up she was, but felt nervous she might take off running towards the scene at any minute.

  The van took it’s t
ime getting down the street and then sat outside the warehouse for a long time.

  Finally, the door opened and several men got out first, with Benton falling out behind them. He hit the ground hard and the other men jerked him to his feet. This was a new development and not one they had foreseen when they made the plan.

  Through the binoculars, Abigail could see they had Benton tied up. His eye was bleeding and he was walking with a slight limp. Could they be preparing to kill him? What had he done? She started to panic and turned wide-eyed to Scott.

  He held his hands up to keep her from talking. They weren’t too close, but they weren’t that far away either. If they staged anyone outside of the warehouse, they would certainly hear them. Watching, Scott noticed there were five men surrounding the mayor and it didn’t look promising for him. There didn’t appear to be anyone with any drugs in the vicinity, which wasn’t good for the busting business.

  “How do you think he was hurt, they had to beat him up right?” Abigail whispered and couldn’t quite read the look Scott was giving her.

  “Was he injured during your wild sex, you think?” Scott’s jealousy seeped out of his pores, and he couldn’t help how nice it felt to be next to her, even on a stakeout of her lover.

  “We didn’t have sex, you dumbass.” She hadn’t told him that yet because it hadn’t come up. Knowing Scott had been struggling with that fact for a little while made her smile a bit.

  He didn’t have time to respond; someone started yelling inside and he could see it was the mayor. Somehow, he didn’t think this was something a person should do when being held hostage. The sound of guns firing startled them both and they tried to see if they could tell who had been shot.

  Abigail whipped out her phone and texted Thomas, who was waiting at a safe location to call the police for her. She told him to tell them they saw the mayor in town and they heard gunshots. Neither she nor Scott moved while waiting for the police to arrive. A couple of times Scott thought he better do his job and go in to try and keep anyone else from being shot.

  They couldn’t see Benton from where they were, but they could see four men inside walking around. One shorter man stood outside the door as a guard with a very large gun. When Scott went to stand up, Abigail pulled him back down.

  “Don’t be a hero; just wait for the rest to get here.”

  It took forever until they finally heard the sirens coming, and even longer for the first of the police cars to show up. She hoped Thomas had been able to convey the dangerous situation they were driving into and no one would get hurt.

  All of the cars swung into the front of the warehouse and officers stationed themselves behind their car doors.

  There was a megaphone brought out which one of the police officers spoke into.

  “Come out with your hands up, you are surrounded.” Nothing happened, and for a minute, all the police looked around at one another. They decided talking wasn’t doing any good and started knocking down doors to gain entry.

  They ran in with guns out and started yelling. She couldn’t hear what anyone was saying, but after some convincing, the gang members put their guns down. Benton put on some amazing theatrics as she watched. He threw his hands up to the sky and then brought them into a praying position, telling them what an ordeal he had been through.

  Scott looked over at her, and Abigail could tell he was anxious to get in there and start arresting people.

  “Go ahead.” She touched his arm and smiled, releasing him from the bush. He hopped up and ran towards the chaos. It was going to be hard for Scott to explain what he was doing if anyone asked, but, with the ensuing chaos, they probably wouldn’t even notice. It would be even harder for him to explain why she was there, but there was some unfinished business she had to attend to, so it would be impossible for her to stay out of sight.

  “Awesome.” Scanning the yard, she saw Benton still throwing his hands around and telling them what an ordeal he had been through. The funny thing was he had shown up on his own; it just didn’t go his way once he got there. He was limping even more now because he had been shot in the foot. As she left her hiding space and moved a little closer, she could hear him.

  “They shot my toe off. They were trying to get me to tell them where my money was. I had no clue we had meth dealers in Alkapine. Something will have to be done.” He was so full of crap. Abigail laughed as she walked towards the scene and the officers had him sit in the back of the police car as they ran back inside the warehouse.

  Benton sat in the back of the sheriff’s car with a blanket wrapped around him like some type of trauma victim. Abigail decided it was as good of a time as any to make herself known and walked up to the car.

  “You have turned into quite the ruthless criminal, lover. When did you become so cold and dumb? Pissing off a street gang to save your own reputation seems pretty stupid.” She figured it could have gone a lot differently had she not had the police come in. The gang could have considered him a liability and killed him. It seemed like there was a lot to be said for being the mayor, even if it was for such a small town.

  “You know one day you will be taken down by your own arrogance, Benton. It’s just a matter of time,” Abigail taunted.

  “What could you possibly have against me, Abigail? I’ve been kidnapped by members of a street gang and exploited for my money. You can’t touch me, and you know it.” Benton gave her a look, with the sheriff right behind him ordering the rest of the deputies to take out the kidnappers, there really wasn’t much they could pin on him. He would live in fear of the gang bangers though; that was for sure. He had cried foul on a deal and gotten them arrested.

  “It’s not what I have against you, Benton; it’s what they now have against you.” She pointed towards the gang members being taken away by the police cruisers on the scene. They had called in backup from neighboring towns to help them.

  Scott was talking to one of the police officers beside his car when she spotted him. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he shook his head as he saw her out in the open. They walked back out to the car together with Scott deciding the rest of the deputies could handle it for the time being while he kept her out of the way.

  “You were supposed to stay hidden, Abigail.”

  “I know, but I couldn’t resist saying something clever and smart assed to Benton.”

  “Did you succeed?”

  “I think so.” She grinned, knowing it didn’t really matter anymore.

  “Sorry, you didn’t get your revenge. It is going to take a while to build a case against him. My step-father will have to retire eventually, and then I can run things the right way.”

  “Revenge doesn’t seem as important to me anymore. There is something I’ve been meaning to tell you, deputy.” Abigail leaned against her car in front of him.

  “Really, what’s that?” She pulled him to her, pressing him against her and wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “You look good in that uniform.” Abigail laughed and pulled Scott in for a deep, passionate kiss. Since being released from prison, being here with Scott was the first time she truly felt free. Benton’s time would come, but she could wait for it.

  Hesitating for a minute Scott was in shock, but soon wrapped his arms around her tightly and returned the kiss.

  A fresh, meaty, sink-your-teeth-in-and-hold-on-tight new adult fantasy series kicks off with King Hall…

  King Hall — where the Mysticals go to learn their craft, get their degrees, and transition into adulthood. And where four new Rulers will rise and meet their destinies.

  Lily Ruckler is adept at one thing: survival. Born a Mystical hybrid, her mere existence is forbidden, but her nightmare is only about to start. Fluke, happenstance, and a deep personal loss finds Lily deeply entrenched with those who would destroy her simply for existing — The Mystical Kings. Being named future Queen of the Shifters shoves Lily into the spotlight, making her one of the most visible Mysticals in the world. But with risk comes a certain solac
e — her burgeoning friendships with the other three Rulers: a wicked Vampire, a wild-child Mage, and a playboy Elemental. Backed by their faith and trust, Lily begins to relax into her new life.

  Then chaos erupts as the fragile peace between Commoners and Mysticals is broken, and suddenly Lily realizes the greatest threat was never from within, and her fear takes on a new name: the Revolution.

  * * *

  Find Scarlett on the Web:

  http://scarlettdawn.net

  Stephen has lived most of his life believing he was an unassuming Cranford, son of Anne, a housewife and Douglas, a local family practitioner. He has finished college, begun a career, and is engaged to a swimsuit model. What more could an All-American Boy ask for?

  On his twenty-eighth birthday, Stephen learns he is the sole heir to the fortune of Étienne François Masson, the legendary philanthropist and CEO of Masson Enterprises. To claim his fortune, and guard it against a hostile takeover by his father’s half-brother, he has to move to Paris to learn all the ins and outs of the empire his late father left him. The company hires an assistant for him before he arrives, one who is fluent in both English and French, and is someone with whom he shares an intimate past—someone he’d sooner forget.

  American born Nicole Parker has studied abroad since she was in grade school, and is an MBA and expert linguist. She is excellent at what she does, but for some reason she rubs Stephen Cranford, entirely the wrong way.

  Will this Parisian assignation prepare Stephen to be an international tycoon, or will his assistant drive him to distraction, in more ways than one?

  Coming Fall 2014

  * * *

  Find Bev on the Web:

  Bevelle.wordpress.com

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  Luciano Morelli has perfected a plan to get revenge on his runaway wife; confronting her at the opening gala for her father’s hotel. What he didn’t plan on was the flaring of emotions the moment he sees her again.