Afterglow
Four Corners Series, Book One
Artemis Anders
Copyright © 2018 by Artemis Anders
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.
All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.
Cover design by Angela Haddon Book Cover Design
Also by Artemis Anders
Afterglow - Teagan and Aaron
Wild Inside - Diana and Asher (coming June 2018)
Going the Distance - Hannah and Cain (coming July 2018)
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Chapter One
Teagan took one last peek at herself in the mirror. Jeans on, hair streaked pink but not too pink, and blue eyes no longer showing the angst they had just a few weeks ago. Yeah, she could be seen in public, even next to beautiful Hannah. She left her place and locked the door behind her. She jumped when she heard a voice.
“Where you going, little lady?”
Teagan looked over to find her neighbor Ben lounging in his hammock, back on its hooks after a long winter in storage. “Jesus, Ben. I didn’t even see you there.”
He picked up his bong. “I’m ninja like that.”
Teagan laughed. “You are quiet, for being such a big guy.” When he looked at her like he was waiting for something, she remembered. “Oh, where I’m going. To lunch. With Hannah.”
Ben’s eyes widened. “The hot blonde?”
“Yes, the hot blonde.”
“Hook me up, will you? Put in a good word for me?” He grinned.
Teagan shook her head. “I will do no such thing, Benjamin.”
“You’re full-naming me for that?” he cried. “And why not?”
“Um, because you have a girlfriend. Because Hannah runs ultramarathons and you smoke more weed than anyone I know.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Tell her hi for me…”
“I will.”
Teagan stepped off their porch into the May sunshine, their duplex’s tiny patch of lawn now velvety green and the scent of blooming lilacs filling the warm spring air. She ventured down her narrow city street, past craftsman brick bungalows and gorgeous new townhomes that would sell for absurd amounts of money.
As she drew closer to the row of neighborhood restaurants, bars, and boutiques, she spotted people out walking, biking, and enjoying a sunny Saturday. It wasn’t long before she saw Hannah sitting on the patio at a funky taco place they both liked. Hannah looked her usual gorgeous self in jeans, sandals, and a white top, her long blonde hair in a ponytail. Teagan approached the patio, hopping the fence instead of entering through the restaurant.
Hannah smiled. “You rebel,” she said, standing up to give Teagan a hug with her wiry runner’s body. “You look great. Love the pink.”
They sat down. “Thanks. I needed a change.”
“How’s teaching? Is it finals yet?”
Teagan sipped her water. “Almost. Thank God.”
“And the writing?”
“Not bad. I’m working on my second book series. Hopefully it will help my pathetic financial situation.”
“Sales aren’t that great?”
“They’re okay,” Teagan said. “Just not what they need to be.”
“They’ll get there. At least you had the guts to follow your dream.”
After their server took their order and brought their drinks, Teagan took a sip of her raspberry lemonade, perfect on a sunny day. “So how are you? How’s running?”
“It’s good. I’ve got some races planned this summer.”
“And how’s living in the mountains?” Earlier that year, Hannah had moved from Denver to Evergreen, a town about forty minutes away, up in the mountains.
Hannah smiled. “I love it. It’s beautiful, it’s quiet, and it’s closer to the trails, which means more time to train.”
“Perfect for you. I’m beyond jealous. I love my place, especially now that it’s all mine, but you know I’d dump it in a heartbeat and live up there if I could.” Teagan dipped a chip into the salsa. “Any interesting guys?”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “No. I met this guy online who’s a runner, and he kept bugging me about going running with me. It became this issue. You know me, I don’t like running with other people. Running is my therapy and my alone time, and most of the time they just slow me down anyway. I know that sounds arrogant, but it’s the truth.”
Teagan nodded. “I know it’s the truth. The right guy will either keep up with you or he’ll appreciate alone time as much as you do.”
“I hope so. What about you? Find yourself a good rebound fuck yet?”
Teagan laughed at Hannah’s blunt humor. “You’re bad. But no. Hell no. I can’t bear the thought of even dealing with men right now. I did meet this guy out hiking and we got a drink, but he lives in Montana. Even if I could be bothered, what’s the point? He lives a thousand miles away.”
Hannah nodded. “I’ve had my share of LDRs, and each one was its own special disaster.”
When their tacos came, they ate and chatted about their summer plans. Teagan planned to get as much time as possible hiking and camping in the mountains. Hannah planned on doing her usual, running the trails in preparation for her long-distance trail races.
“Let me know when you come up on a weekend,” Hannah said. “I’ll camp with you. We could probably get Diana to join us too.”
“Sounds awesome.” Teagan looked forward to a fun summer, her first in years as a single woman.
Hannah looked past Teagan for a moment as something on the street caught her eye. When Hannah’s smiled faded and her stare grew dark, Teagan stopped chewing.
“What’s wrong?” Before Hannah could answer, Teagan turned to follow Hannah’s gaze, wondering what could have bothered her that much. When she saw what captured Hannah’s attention, Teagan felt a stab to her gut.
It was him, right across the street. Shawn, her ex-husband. Cute, bearded, in great jeans… and not alone. Next to him walked a petite brunette in a purple flowered dress. Teagan looked away quickly, her face burning. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Of all the great neighborhoods to stroll in throughout Denver, why did he have to come to hers? Teagan suddenly wished her hair wasn't pink. She liked being different, but at that moment she only wanted to disappear.
“Please tell me he didn't see us,” she said.
“I think he saw us. And he’s got Harry.”
Teagan closed her eyes for a moment. Their dog. His dog, now. “Are they gone yet?”
“They’re gone.” Hannah’s green eyes clouded. “Are you okay?”
Teagan nodded, working hard to shed the lousy feeling that hovered like a raincloud, the one she’d grown so tired of. “I know it's over and I'm okay with that. I'm glad for that. But seeing him with her… on my turf…” She shook her head.
“What a dick.” Hannah’s lip curled. “And her? She looks like the poster girl for that ugly store in Boulder, the one with all the bright-colored, fruity-looking clothing…”
Suddenly, Teagan burst out laughing, to the point where tears came to her eyes. That was Hannah. She spoke her mind. And sometimes it was devastating in the best possible way. “Coming from you, that’s a serious insult. And one I appreciate very much right now.”
Hannah smiled. “Anytime. And don’t worry, T. You’re beautiful and you’re smart. You’ll meet somebody way better than him.”
Teagan shook her head. “I’m done with guys. My disastrous divorce only confi
rmed that I’m an asshole magnet. I want nothing to do with dating or men. In fact, maybe I’ll just pack up my stuff and move to the mountains after all. I’ll become one of those writers who churns out horror novels, or maybe romance novels about burly mountain men with big dicks. I could even get five or six cats and they can be my children.”
Hannah snorted. “Shut up! You know you’re a dog person… although the burly mountain men sound promising. And you’ve always been a mountain girl at heart, even more than I am…”
“Believe me, if my books take off like I hope they do, I’m selling my place and buying one up there.”
There was a pinging sound. Then another. Both checked their phones. Teagan had gotten a Facebook invite for a birthday party.
“Delia’s birthday?” Hannah asked.
Teagan nodded, excited. “I ran into her a couple weeks ago and she told me to expect the invite. I said I’d be in town and would definitely come. I could probably use a little socializing.”
Hannah studied the invite, a tiny furrow between her perfect brows. “You might want to rethink that.”
“Why?” And then she realized. “Shawn’s invited?”
“They both are. And he just RSVPed for two.”
Teagan buried her head in her hands. “Shit. Now I’m stuck facing those two?”
“Don't go.”
“I have to! I told her I would. And if I back out now, she’ll know why. She only knows we split, but she doesn’t know the whole story. She’ll think I’m not coming because I’m petty.”
Hannah sighed, sipping her lemonade. “I’d say who gives a shit, but I know you care about things like that. You don’t have to answer right now. We’ll figure something out.”
After finishing lunch and saying goodbye to Hannah, Teagan walked back to her red brick duplex. She and Shawn had taken a risk by purchasing half a duplex without knowing anything about the people who owned the other half. It was all they could afford, even back when Denver’s housing market was still somewhat affordable. Their first set of neighbors had loved electronic dance music and the occasional late-night screaming match; but everything changed when Ben moved in last year and turned out to be a great neighbor and friend.
The place was small, but it had character, the kind modern homes lacked. Real hardwood floors, cove ceilings, oak trim around the windows, and French doors that led to her tiny backyard with its redbud tree and garden. True, the wood floors needed resurfacing, her kitchen was outdated, and living there alone meant paying the mortgage alone, but she loved the place.
Later that evening, when she checked her email, she had one new message.
Dear Ms. McAlister,
This is Willy Malloy, the exhibitor manager for Tucson Comic Con. One of our authors had a family emergency, so we have an open slot available. Would you be interested in taking his table? I know it’s last minute, but this will be our biggest year yet with over 80K attendees. I’ll need to know by Monday if you want the table.
Sincerely,
Willy
Before she could even consider the offer, she heard a knock at her door. She went over and looked through the peephole, smiling as she opened the door to Ben.
“I need Tio’s,” he said.
“Are you that hungry?”
“Does a bear shit in the woods?”
“Depends on the type of bear.”
He rolled his eyes. “Science teachers.”
At Tio’s Burritos, they ordered and sat down at a table overlooking downtown, the Rocky Mountains rising majestically in the distance.
“Did anything ever happen with that Montana guy?” Ben said, sipping his beer.
“No.”
“Good. He seemed like a douche.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m done with men.”
“Don’t be done with men. Just pick better next time.”
Teagan sighed. “What would I do without your sensitivity, Benjamin?”
He shrugged. “I’m not so good with the sensitivity. But if you want me to go kick the shit out of that dog-stealing fuck-nugget with the hipster jeans, I’m your man.”
Teagan started to laugh. “Even better. So, how’s Beth?”
“She’s good. She’s finishing up another semester and hopes to graduate next year.” He paused. “How was lunch with Hannah?”
“Well, good… although we saw the fuck-nugget and I’m pretty sure they saw us.”
Ben arched an eyebrow. “They?”
“Yeah. He wasn’t alone.”
He shook his head. “Shit. Did he have Harry, too?”
She sighed again, nodding. “It’s fine. It’s done now. The problem is that Hannah and I got a birthday invite from a good friend. And he’s going, with her. I already told the birthday girl two weeks ago that I would go, never considering that she would invite him. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Just go… and look as hot as possible. I’ll even go with you if you want. That will mess with his head.”
Teagan smiled at that. That would mess with his head. Or, he would see right through it. “I don’t want to deal with it at all. It’s too soon.”
Their giant burritos arrived, and Ben’s cannabis-induced hunger had him digging into his beef burrito right away. Beth always wanted him to eat vegetarian, but they had an unspoken rule that Ben could eat meat as long as Beth wasn’t around to see it. “How are the books? Any conventions coming up?”
Teagan cut into her chicken burrito smothered in green chili. “I got this last-minute invite to exhibit at Tucson Comic Con. I haven’t done that one before.”
“You going?”
“I don’t know. On the one hand, TCC is a decent-sized convention and I could really use the publicity. And the money—I have credit card debt now, thanks to my fridge failing on me. Plus, no teaching income for the entire summer. On the other hand, it’s a thirteen-hour drive through the godforsaken desert—”
“And it’ll be hotter than shit.”
“Exactly.” She took another bite of her burrito.
“Which weekend is it?”
“Two weekends from now.”
“When’s that party?”
Teagan stared at Ben for a moment, then searched her phone for Delia’s invite. She broke into a grin. “Oh, Ben. You are a genius.”
He shrugged. “I try. Those Tucson folks need you down there. It’s for your career.”
Teagan nodded. “Tucson, here I come.”
Chapter Two
Teagan pulled her truck into the Kartchner Caverns State Park campground at dusk on Thursday evening. Her brain hurt and her body ached from the long drive. She probably should have divided the trip into two days instead of subjecting herself to such a long haul, but she had no interest in extending her time in the southwest desert. Meeting readers at comic con was one thing, staring at endless brown landscapes dotted with sagebrush and creosote bushes was quite another.
Especially now, when Colorado was so beautiful, not too hot and not too cold, and the foothills were green and dotted with wildflowers. But the dark, literary side of her thought it was fitting that she would spend a few days in the lifeless, drab desert. That’s how she’d felt for the last few months, since the “incident.” She hid a lot of it from her friends, not wanting them to look at her with pitying eyes. But the hangover still lingered, and she hoped a summer of fun in the Rockies would cure her. It had always cured her suffering in the past.
When she found her campsite and got out of her truck, an intense heat consumed her. Welcome to the Sonoran Desert in late May, she thought, where daytime highs easily reached the triple digits. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky to protect a cold-weather girl like herself from the scorching sun. A few “but it’s a dry heat” jokes ran through her mind. She chuckled; she’d have to save them for future books. Some claimed that the dry heat seemed less hot, but Teagan didn’t agree. To her, dry heat felt hotter, even if it lacked the stifling discomfort of a summer day in the Midwest or the Sou
th.
She grabbed her toiletries and headed to the campground restroom. Once she reached the shade, the temperature felt much more comfortable. When she checked her watch, she realized why. The campground stood at 4,800 feet above sea level, more than 2,000 feet higher than Tucson. Maybe she would sleep without roasting to death after all. Feeling grimy from her long drive, she took a quick shower and changed clothes. By the time she finished, the sun had set.
Ben told her she was nuts to camp. Most Coloradans moaned and groaned anytime the temperature rose above 85 degrees. In Colorado, she and her outdoorsy friends worried about cold, not heat. But given her woeful financial situation, camping was the only way she could afford to attend the convention.
An hour later, Teagan sat in her collapsible chair under the desert sky, her feet resting on the built-in footrest as she sipped a silver margarita on ice. She may be stuck camping in the desert heat, but she’d be damned if she’d go without the little pleasures. Intense heat aside, the dry air and remote mountain locale made for decent stargazing. The Big Dipper. The North Star. The W of Cassiopeia. A hint of Scorpio to the south. How much more she’d see later that weekend, when she drove up Mount Lemmon with her telescope.
As a child, she’d loved the sky, especially at night when stars appeared from what seemed like nowhere. It was her Grandpa Larry who first showed her a telescope. He explained that the stars didn’t just appear, but were always there, even during the day when she couldn’t see them. He showed her the moon, Jupiter and its moons, and the rings of Saturn, and he explained that Earth, as big as it was, existed only as a tiny grain of sand among a sea of sand dunes. That’s where Teagan’s love of science, and science fiction, began.
She’d grown up reading Madeleine L’Engle, Tolkien, and even Heinlein when she got a little older. Her parents hadn’t understood her at all; Teagan’s father only read nonfiction, and her mother, an English teacher, preferred literary fiction and never approved of Teagan’s “genre” books. Her parents hadn’t understood comic con, either, that geeks and nerds alike needed to gather in one place and share in their nerd-dom. Her father had quipped more than once that Teagan was the mailman’s kid. There were times when she’d thought the same thing.
Afterglow (Four Corners Book 1) Page 1