“You can bet your bottom dollar I did.” She nods. “Or better yet, Manny Moretti’s bottom dollar.”
My body seizes just hearing his name. “What about Manny Moretti?”
“Yeah,” Charlie grouses. “What about Manny?”
Rooster gurgles out a dark laugh. “Now, now, honey.” He takes a step closer to Charlie. “Don’t go getting testy on me. You know how much I love it when you get feisty.” He bites the air between them, but Charlie doesn’t flinch.
Carlotta grips me by the arm. “I had a brainstorm, Lot. I thought—who could I shake down next to help me get rid of this scumball, and KABOOM!” she shouts so loud half the people around us let out a whoop as they look at the sky, positive that the fireworks show has started early.
“Kaboom?” I narrow my eyes over hers. “What exactly is about to blow up in our faces?”
She waves me off. “I just bumped into Manny Moretti, and I told him I’d get Cha Cha to go out with him again—for a month straight if he gave me the big ones to make Rooster disappear.”
“That’s right.” Rooster cocks his head to the side. “And I’m taking the money and running. All you gotta do, Charlie, is put on a snazzy little dress and let the gentleman show you a good time.”
Carlotta nods. “There may have been something or other in there about a penthouse suite and a whole new lingerie wardrobe, but what girl couldn’t use a little more variety in her naughty stitches collection?”
Charlie takes in a huge breath. The look of fury in her eyes is one I’ve never seen before—not even in mine.
“Carlotta,” I hiss. “There’s no deal. How dare you treat my little sister like some high-priced call girl.”
Charlie holds a hand up my way. “Where’s Manny, Mama?”
Rooster chuckles. “That’s my girl. She’s looking to negotiate. I say let’s not get greedy. I’ll cut both you and your mama in on the deal. You’ll each get a cool one thousand dollars for the trouble.”
Both Charlie and Carlotta choke on the offer—as they should.
Carlotta should choke on the fact she started this pricey party to begin with.
Charlie lifts her chin. “I get fifty K. Mama gets five hundred.”
“Five hundred?” Carlotta snorts. “In your dreams, Miss Hoity Toity. I think you’ve been hanging around your sister a little too long.”
“Never mind you,” Charlie tells her. “I’ve gotta find Manny.” She bolts for the lake with both Rooster and Carlotta shouting for her to slow down.
“Manny is here?” I look out at the crowd as the sun dips behind the evergreens and the scenery looks murkier by the moment. “Oh no…Everett.” I don’t take but a few steps toward the lake before spotting a couple of men in dark suits heading into the woods. “Oh God, help Everett,” I pant the words out as I speed that way after them. “Everett,” I call out, but a loud boom goes off just as an explosion of light ignites overhead. Every last person at the lake howls and screams with approval.
Evie runs up with her bestie Dash. “Where’s the baby?” she asks, hopping with glee.
“Glam Glam has her,” I tell her. “Evie, the diaper bag is under the table. Put the earphones on Lyla Nell. I’ll be back.”
I bolt into the woods without thinking twice as one loud boom after the next goes off.
A loud pop comes from the forest, and I head that way without hesitation. I pull Ethel out from her sheath and hold her in front of me with both hands, my heart beating wildly inside of me with atomic force. Another round of horrific booms emits in front of me, and I see a spark of light to go with it. The woods swallow any light from the moon above, and it’s hard to see the trees in front of me. A couple of men in dark suits move up ahead. Their white dress shirts glowing in the dismal light act as homing beacons.
“There they are,” I whisper as I inch in that direction.
Voices murmur—men’s voices—as I strain to listen.
“Fire on sight,” one of them says. “We’ve got ten minutes, tops.”
Ten minutes?
Another loud boom goes off overhead as a spray of red and blue sparkles fills the night sky.
They’re timing the hit to the fireworks show. I have to find Noah and Everett. I reach for my phone and come up empty. I must have left it in the diaper bag.
My hands close around Ethel once again, finger on the trigger.
There’s only one thing left for me to do. I have to incapacitate those men before they hurt Noah or Everett. A shot to the knee wouldn’t be lethal, but it’s dark, and let’s face it, I’m not that good. I’m going to have to do my best to stop them both, no matter what the cost may be.
My feet move quickly in their direction, and I see their white dress shirts threading through the woods as they head in this direction.
This is it.
Kill or let Everett be killed.
Ethel shakes in my hand as my finger squeezes the trigger and the intrusive blast of a gun firing fills the air.
The sound of men shouting comes from up ahead. They’re still there, so I fire again, and again, and again.
“Freeze,” a familiar, deep voice booms, and the next thing I know, I’m staring down the barrel of a gun with Noah at the helm. “Lottie?” he barks my name out as he runs my way with a wild look on his face. He lets an expletive fly before pulling me with him as he trades his gun for his phone and begins shouting into it. “We’ve got a man down just north of the lake, about ten paces up from the picnic tables and into the woods. Run in until you find us.”
“Noah,” I pant. “I shot them. It was me. I heard them threatening to kill you, to kill—”
Noah drops to the ground, and then I see him.
“No,” I expel the word in less than a whisper.
Everett lies motionless with his eyes open as he looks to the sky, his shirt soaked with crimson liquid.
I drop to my knees next to him and let out an unearthly cry.
I did this. I brought on this nightmare. I am fully culpable.
I had the power to stop it, and I didn’t.
I caused it.
“Everett,” I call out as my body falls over his.
Oh, Everett. It was me who was a danger to you all along.
Noah says something, but my mind can’t process it.
A smattering of dark stars rises from the nexus of the melee, and my mouth falls open.
“No.” I shake my head as I attempt to charge that way, and Noah holds me back. “No, no, no.”
Those dark stars swirl into the shape of a navy tornado as they illuminate the night, and sure enough, the ghost of Essex Everett Baxter appears fully formed.
“He’s here,” I pant. “His ghost. I can see him.”
Everett offers a mournful smile my way. “Lemon.”
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed Lottie’s latest adventure!
Up next: The summer heat continues in Honey Hollow but not everyone lives to tell about it. Click to grab-> Honey Buns Homicide today!
Something terrible has happened to someone I love and my family may never be the same. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a wedding reception goes awry when a corpse hits the dance floor with a blade in his back. And the ghost that comes back to help solve the homicide? It’s that trouble maker extraordinaire, Florenza Canelli. As if she didn’t wreak enough damage in our lives the first time around—something tells me she’s about to outdo herself in a grand manner. Here’s hoping we survive the horror. And then there’s that mob war. It’s all going down in Honey Hollow this summer. Here’s hoping we make it out alive.
See you in Honey Hollow!
Click to grab-> Honey Buns Homicide today!
*Be sure to subscribe to Addison’s mailing list for sneak peeks and updates on all upcoming releases!
Recipe
From the kitchen of the Cutie Pie Bakery and Cakery
Lottie’s Blueberry Muffins
Hello there! It’s summer in Honey Hollow and we’re celebrating the bi
rth of our great nation. Mayor Nash requested that I bake some blueberry muffins for the event and he even requested that I frost them! Of course frosting is always optional when it comes to sweet treats. I’ll leave that entirely up to you. Hope you enjoy these delicious goodies as much as I do. Have fun baking!
Ingredients
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cups vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup butter (cut into cubes)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°
Prepare muffin tins by buttering them up or popping in cupcake liners.
In a large bowl mix 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ¾ cups sugar, and baking powder. Stir in vegetable oil, egg, and milk. Add blueberries and fold into the mixture. Fill muffin tins all the way to the top.
Crumble Topping:
Combine 1/3 cups sugar, 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, cubed butter, and cinnamon. Mash with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before putting them into the oven.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out dry.
*You may frost, dust with powdered sugar, or eat them plain! They are scrumptious any way you serve them.
Enjoy!
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Paranormal Women’s Fiction
Hot Flash Homicides
Midlife in Glimmerspell
Wicked in Glimmerspell
Cozy Mysteries
Meow for Murder
An Awful Cat-titude
A Dreadful Meow-ment
A Claw-some Affair
A Haunted Hallow-whiskers
A Candy Cane Cat-astrophe
A Purr-fect Storm
A Fur-miliar Fatality
Country Cottage Mysteries
Kittyzen’s Arrest
Dog Days of Murder
Santa Claws Calamity
Bow Wow Big House
Murder Bites
Felines and Fatalities
A Killer Tail
Cat Scratch Cleaver
Just Buried
Butchered After Bark
A Frightening Fangs-giving
A Christmas to Dismember
Sealed with a Hiss
A Winter Tail of Woe
Lock, Stock, and Feral
Itching for Justice
Raining Cats and Killers
Death Takes a Holiday
Copycat Killer Thriller
Country Cottage Boxed Set 1
Country Cottage Boxed Set 2
Country Cottage Boxed Set 3
Murder in the Mix Mysteries
Cutie Pies and Deadly Lies
Bobbing for Bodies
Pumpkin Spice Sacrifice
Gingerbread & Deadly Dread
Seven-Layer Slayer
Red Velvet Vengeance
Bloodbaths and Banana Cake
New York Cheesecake Chaos
Lethal Lemon Bars
Macaron Massacre
Wedding Cake Carnage
Donut Disaster
Toxic Apple Turnovers
Killer Cupcakes
Pumpkin Pie Parting
Yule Log Eulogy
Pancake Panic
Sugar Cookie Slaughter
Devil’s Food Cake Doom
Snickerdoodle Secrets
Strawberry Shortcake Sins
Cake Pop Casualties
Flag Cake Felonies
Peach Cobbler Confessions
Poison Apple Crisp
Spooky Spice Cake Curse
Pecan Pie Predicament
Eggnog Trifle Trouble
Waffles at the Wake
Raspberry Tart Terror
Baby Bundt Cake Confusion
Chocolate Chip Cookie Conundrum
Wicked Whoopie Pies
Key Lime Pie Perjury
Red, White, and Blueberry Muffin Murder
Honey Buns Homicide
Apple Fritter Fright
Christmas Fudge Fatality
Murder in the Mix Boxed Sets
Murder in the Mix (Books 1-3)
Murder in the Mix (Books 4-6)
Murder in the Mix (Books 7-9)
Murder in the Mix (Books 10-12)
Murder in the Mix (Books 13-15)
Murder in the Mix (Books 16-18)
Murder in the Mix (Books 19-21)
Mystery
Little Girl Lost
Never Say Sorry
The First Wife’s Secret
Romance
Just Add Mistletoe
3:AM Kisses
3:AM Kisses
Winter Kisses
Sugar Kisses
Whiskey Kisses
Rock Candy Kisses
Velvet Kisses
Wild Kisses
Country Kisses
Forbidden Kisses
Dirty Kisses
Stolen Kisses
Lucky Kisses
Tender Kisses
Revenge Kisses
Red Hot Kisses
Reckless Kisses
Hot Honey Kisses
Shameless Kisses
The Social Experiment
The Social Experiment
Bitter Exes
Chemical Attraction
3:AM Kisses, Hollow Brook
Feisty Kisses
Ex-Boyfriend Kisses
Secret Kisses
Naughty By Nature
Escape to Breakers Beach
Breakers Beach
Breakers Cove
Breakers Beach Nights
Escape to Lake Loveless
Beautiful Oblivion
Beautiful Illusions
Beautiful Elixir
Beautiful Deception
A Good Year for Heartbreak
Someone to Love
Someone to Love
Someone Like You
Someone For Me
A Totally ‘80s Romance Series
Melt With You (A Totally ’80s Romance 1)
Tainted Love (A Totally ’80s Romance 2)
Hold Me Now (A Totally ’80s Romance 3)
Paranormal Romance
(Celestra Book World in Order)
Ethereal
Tremble
Burn
Wicked
Vex
Expel
Toxic Part One
Toxic Part Two
Elysian
Ephemeral Academy
Ephemeral
Evanescent
Entropy
Ethereal Knights (Celestra Knights)
Season of the Witch (A Celestra Companion)
Celestra Forever After
Celestra Forever After
The Dragon and the Rose
The Serpentine Butterfly
Crown of Ashes
Throne of Fire
All Hail the King
Roar of the Lion
Acknowledgments
Big thanks to YOU the reader! I hope you had a wonderful time. I can’t thank you enough for spending time in Honey Hollow with me. I hope you enjoyed this bumpy ride with Lottie and all of her Honey Hollow peeps as much as I did. The MURDER IN THE MIX mysteries are super special to me, and I hope they are to you as well. If you’d like to be in the know on upcoming releases,
please be sure to follow me at Bookbub and Amazon, and sign up for my newsletter.
I am SUPER excited to share the next book with you! So much happens and so much changes. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking this wild roller coaster ride with me. I really do love you!
A very big thank you to Kaila Eileen Turingan-Ramos, and Jodie Tarleton for being awesome.
A special thank you to my sweet betas, Lisa Markson, Ashley Marie Daniels, Amy Barber, Stacie Bucholtz, and Margaret Lapointe for looking after the book with their amazing beautiful eyes. And a shout out to Lou Harper for designing the world’s most beautiful cover.
A mighty BIG thank you to Paige Maroney Smith for being so amazing.
And last, but never least, thank you to Him who sits on the throne. Worthy is the Lamb! Glory and honor and power are yours. I owe you everything, Jesus.
About the Author
Addison Moore is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author who writes contemporary and paranormal romance. Her work has been featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine. Previously she worked as a therapist on a locked psychiatric unit for nearly a decade. She resides on the West Coast with her husband, four wonderful children, and two dogs where she eats too much chocolate and stays up way too late. When she's not writing, she's reading. Addison’s Celestra Series has been optioned for film by 20th Century Fox.
For up to the minute pre-order and new release alerts
*Be sure to subscribe to Addison’s mailing list for sneak peeks and updates on all upcoming releases!
Red, White, and Blueberry Muffin Murder Page 21
