by Michael Todd
Kennedy laughed and punched him in the shoulder. “In your dreams, Jacobs. You gave it to me, remember. This has been a good day, wouldn’t you say?”
Sal nodded. “I have to agree with you on that. I’ll see you tomorrow, Kennedy.”
Epilogue
Sal drove the Jeep to his apartment, and a sense of quiet elation filled his body. He’d felt iffy about striking out on his own, and about he and Kennedy standing up for themselves in this brave new world. In the beginning, he’d had moments of uncertainty about Kennedy, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember why. For some odd reason, she seemed to have his back. Things would probably get tougher over the next few weeks, but he felt he could handle it now. They had the supplies, armor, weapons, and tools they would need to last, and were both competent enough to use that leverage to reach great new heights.
He could barely keep the grin off his face as he drew the Jeep to a halt outside his apartment and pressed the dashboard button to clock himself out. They would charge him extra to send someone to pick it up, but he could afford to splurge now.
The apartment was blissfully cool after the blistering mid-afternoon heat. He sighed and drew in slow, deep breaths as he moved to the bathroom, peeled his clothes off, and turned the water to lukewarm. He stepped into the stream, closed his eyes, and let the shower strip his worries away. Not all the stress from the past few months would go. There were things even a shower couldn’t cure, but on the whole, the sense that things would work out well restored his peace of mind.
He sighed softly as the water cascaded over his body and relaxed his sore muscles. They had noticeably improved over the past few months. Gone was the skinny, vitamin-D-deficient genius who had complained about being dragged from his miserable existence in California. He still wasn’t the stud that the male personnel on the base seemed to be, but he would get there. Baby steps. He had something that resembled a six-pack, and where there had once been flab, sharp definition had begun to sculpt his hips and chest. He wasn’t a soldier yet, but one day, he might be.
Sal smirked at the thought, turned the water off after what must have been at least thirty minutes, and stepped out. The bathroom was filled with steam, and he took a moment to shave. He’d been too tired to do it the night before, and although he’d tried, he couldn’t grow a real beard.
He finished and heard someone knock insistently at the door. As distracted as he’d been, he couldn’t be sure how long they’d been knocking. He dried his face quickly and headed through the living area.
“Okay, chill out. I’m coming.” Sal yanked the door open and raised his eyebrows. Kennedy stood there with a bemused smile on her face and bit her bottom lip as she ran her eyes shamelessly over his half-naked body. She had a duffle bag slung over her shoulder
“Well, let’s hope you’re not coming too soon,” she purred and stepped inside.
“Kennedy?” he asked, shutting the door quickly behind her. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I’m here to spend the night. I don’t want to have to rush out in the middle of it like last time,” she explained nonchalantly and looked around the living room. “Huh. This place looks smaller in the daytime.”
Sal raised an eyebrow. It was the first time she’d actually acknowledged that night almost three months ago. He still wasn’t sure what she meant by spending the night. Well, he had an inkling, and she had been fairly forward about what she wanted the last time.
“I…. You… Well, we… I don’t think…” Kennedy stopped him when she stepped close enough for him to feel her fingertips running lightly over the hem of his towel. He realized how close to naked he was.
“Stuttering isn’t a good look on you, Sal,” she whispered and stood on her tiptoes to press her lips lightly to his. He was distracted enough by it that when she pushed the towel down, he didn’t react in time. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure he wanted to either.
“Agreed,” he mumbled and let her guide him to the couch. He sat and watched as she yanked her white tank top over her head and tossed it aside. He didn’t see where it landed, distracted as he was by Madigan’s lack of a bra.
“I’m here to get my panties, Sal,” she whispered, ran her hands up his thighs, and dropped to her knees between them. “And I’m willing to work very…very hard to get them back.” She punctuated her words by wrapping her fingers around his cock and stroked it a few times. It drew an immediate response from his slowly growing member.
“Oh…fuck,” was all Sal could say as he leaned back. Her lips took the head in as her tongue ran over it slowly. They were business partners, but if this was how she wanted to spend their off time, it was an arrangement he could come to terms with.
She smiled. Sal closed his eyes as a moan escaped his lips.
She Is His Witness
Coming January 1, 2018
The story continues with, She Is His Witness, book two in the Birth Of Heavy Metal Series.
Order now at Amazon
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
November 29, 2018
THANK YOU for not only reading this story but these Author Notes as well .
(I think I’ve been good with always opening with “thank you.” If not, I need to edit the other Author Notes!)
RANDOM (sometimes) THOUGHTS?
The book you just finished, the first ZOO book (Birth of Heavy Metal Book 01) comes out in just four (4) days and I’m feeling anxious.
Is it going to work? Will the story (not my typical main character at all) resonate? Will readers go further into the book to see whether Salinger redeems himself?
Will he learn not to stick his foot in his mouth? (A big ‘if’ as he is a precocious 21 year old.)
As a father with three sons, two of them just about to hit 20 years old, it seems kids NEVER grow up and just ‘adult.’
Yet, I’m sure my father looked at me three decades ago and wondered, ‘Will that kid ever grow up?’
It took me fifteen years longer than you wanted, Dad. But yes, I did finally grow up.
HOW TO MARKET FOR BOOKS YOU LOVE
We are able to support our efforts with you reading our books, and we appreciate you doing this!
If you enjoyed this or ANY book by any author, especially Indie-published, we always appreciate if you make the time to review a book, since it lets other readers who might be on the fence to take a chance on it as well.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
One of the interesting (at least to me) aspects of my life is the ability to work from anywhere and at any time. In the future, I hope to re-read my own Author Notes and remember my life as a diary entry.
Today, I’m back in my condo in Vegas having just finished a conversation with collaborator Laurie Starkey talking about ZOO projects, Protected by the Damned projects and a whole new Universe we (mainly she) are releasing starting in January.
I’ve asked Judith for a sanity check on responses to Matia from Publishers Weekly and to pick out some photos from a photoshoot we did down in Cabo earlier this year.
Why Cabo? Because the photographer here in Vegas went (in my opinion) nuts after finding out who I was.
We asked, and received confirmation that we would be getting photography done where we would own the rights once the shoot was done, and what was the price etc. etc. She quoted us (I believe) around $600.
Then, we send her links about myself and the contract comes to us WAY higher than that amount, with re-use pricing and all sorts of stipulations. We point out this wasn’t what we asked for and she was adamant nothing would change.
Oh yes, something could change. Our choice of photographers could change.
So, we were going to Cabo anyway, and Judith found a photographer who could rent out the top level of a restaurant for the morning.
Now, I have headshots that are a bit unique.
AROUND THE WORLD
I sincerely hope (and pray, and worry) that you are enjoying these books and the ZOO project overall. It is v
astly different than some of my other work, and I hope to use the project to allow new authors (including those in other countries) access to a new Universe as they can bring fiction to life from a completely new perspective.
Imagine if a Spanish, or German author wrote a series using other encampments? Or Russian or Chinese? Or Israeli? I hope (one day) to meet authors from other countries who have written stories set in our ZOO Universe and have American readers who love it.
The ONLY way this will work, is if we please fans with what we have, and therefore…
As we say in America -The buck stops with me.
FAN PRICING
If you would like to find out what LMBPN is doing and the books we will be publishing, just sign up at http://lmbpn.com/email/. When you sign up, we notify you of books coming out for the week, any new posts of interest in the books and pop culture arena, and the fan pricing on Saturday.
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
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Books by Michael Todd
PROTECTED BY THE DAMNED
Torn Asunder (1)
Killing Is My Business (2)
And Business Is Good (3)
Sit Down, Shut Up, And Pull The Trigger (4)
Welcome To The Jungle (5)
Metal Up Your Ass (6)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (7)
For Whom The Bell Tolls (8)
WAR OF THE DAMNED
Resurrection Of The Damned (1)
No Quarter (2)
Dark Is The Night (3)
Dim Glows The Horizon (4)
Waking The Leviathan (5)
Subversive Giants (6)
Juntto (7)
DAMIAN’S CHRONICLES
Crucifix (1)
Renegade (2)
ZOO
DEATH OF HEAVY METAL
He Was Not Prepared (1)
Books written as Michael Anderle
For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit:
www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/
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