Lock, Stock, and Feral by Addison Moore (free e novels .txt) 📕

“I guess it’s a match made in mushroom heaven,” I say.

Sherlock barks. I’ll come visit, kiddo.

Fish pats Clyde over the top of her head. And I’ll be there, too.

Devan laughs and cries and rocks Clyde as if she were her brand new baby, and for all practical purposes, she is just that.

I’m about to offer her a cold drink on the house when I spot a redheaded bombshell traipsing over in an itty-bitty bright red bikini and a pair of cherry red heels to match.

Here comes trouble, Fish murmurs, and I agree with her completely.

“Jasper!” Hadley’s eyes light up as she waves and heads this way.

“Come on,” I say as Jasper and I take a few steps in her direction.

Hadley lunges at Jasper and collapses over him with a firm embrace. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you for your bravery.” Her hands swim up and down his back, and don’t think the fact she’s pressing herself into him as much as possible has slipped by me. Any harder, and she’s going to leave a dent.

He pulls back and looks my way Sorry. I wanted no part in that.

“Oh, Jasper.” She curls her finger under his chin, forcing him to look at her. “How did I ever let a man like you slip through my fingers?” I’m not holding back anymore. Bizzy is just going to have to find another man. “I’m glad we’ve reconnected. I’ve missed our friendship.” Among other things. “We’ll have to get together. I still have so much to tell you about the baby, the pregnancy.” And that’s one lifetime bond that will hold us together. Not even his dizzy busybody wife could lay claim to him in that way. Sure, the baby was a figment of my imagination, but desperate times call for fictional babies.

“What?” I squawk so loud, a couple of seagulls overhead squawk right back. “You lied? You lied about losing Jasper’s baby? Because there was no baby!”

Hadley’s mouth rounds out as she looks from me to Jasper. “I didn’t say that. She must be jealous. I’m so sorry, Bizzy. But I would never make up something so heinous.”

Jasper groans as he looks at her in a whole new light. “Hadley, you lied?”

Her mouth opens that much wider. “I can’t believe you’re just going to believe whatever she says.”

“She’s my wife, and unlike you, would never make something like that up,” he tells her. “Why did you do it?”

She shakes her head. “No, it was true. I swear it.” What are they going to do? Ask for proof?

“Yes.” I give a wild nod. “Give us proof.”

Hadley gasps as her eyes widen my way. “Well, I—”

“Leave,” Jasper says it harsh like a reprimand.

“But Jasper”—she grabs ahold of him in desperation—“I saw what a mistake I had made. I never should have left. It was stupid. I thought I loved someone else for a hot second, but over the years I’ve come to realize it was just you who my heart belonged to. We could still have it all. We can make an entire tribe of babies. We’re right for one another, you and me.”

“No, we’re not. You did me the biggest favor when you left that day. I may not have seen it then, but I do now. Bizzy is the one and only woman for me. Please leave.”

Fish yowls at the woman, and Sherlock barks until she turns around and struts off with a huff. And both Sherlock and Fish escort her right off the property.

“Jasper.” I pull my handsome husband in hard and mourn with him one more time over a child that never existed. “That was cruel. But I promise you we’re going to have children one day.” I pull back with tears in my eyes as I look at my sweet husband. “As many as you want—as long as it’s under five.”

His chest rumbles with a quiet laugh. “As long as you’re by my side, I’ve already got all the family I need. But a couple of miniature versions of yourself would be adorable, too.”

“And a couple of miniature versions of yourself would be pretty cute as well.”

We share a mouthwatering kiss that says I love you as we assure one another the future is ours alone.

“Ree?” a husky male voice shouts from behind us, and we pull back to see a tall, muscular man with an ear-to-ear grin waving at my mother from the sand. He has a head full of black hair, comely features, a navy suit on and a bright red tie that sits slightly askew. There’s something familiar about him, but I can’t pinpoint just what.

“Romero?” my mother balks in disbelief, and soon everyone in the vicinity gasps in disbelief as well—with my brother, sister, and me leading the pack. “You’re here!”

“That’s right.” He jogs over to her and pulls her into an embrace before spinning her in a circle.

Huxley staggers their way. “What in the hell?”

I shake my head at the sight as we watch, amazed, as my mother and her mystery man share an embrace for the ages.

Romero, the man-hungry scam artist, is not only real—he’s right here in Cider Cove.

My mother pulls back and laughs as she looks to all of us gathered around them.

“See?” She points his way. “I knew he wouldn’t let me down. He’s almost too good to be true.”

That’s exactly what I was thinking.

Something tells me he’s about to prove to all of us that he is, in fact, too good to be true. A shiver runs up my spine as I inspect Romero’s cheesy grin.

Trouble has come to Cider Cove, and I have a feeling it’s going to be a long, hot summer.

***Thank you for reading!

Need more Cider Cove? Grab yours here —> Itching for Justice (Country Cottage Mysteries 16)

My name is Bizzy Baker, and I can read minds—not every mind, not every time but most of the time and believe me when I say it’s not all it’s