Clipped: A Blue Falls Novella Read online

  The music starts and Barbara makes her way down the aisle. She’s blushing like a virgin and smiling like a crazy person. It’s fucking wonderful. I peek up at the handsome man sitting in the front row and give him a wink. He holds Trace and Sophie’s precious baby girl in his arms. He takes his role as God father very seriously. It took these two fellas some time to warm up to each other but eventually Sophie and I forced them to spend time together by bribing them with hockey tickets. They’ve practically been dating since then. Seriously, it’s equal parts adorable and annoying. When I’m feeling particularly frisky I like to refer to Trace as Walker’s “piece on the side,” this usually gets me a red ass and a deliciously thorough banging. Walker and I have been blissfully unwed and child free since the day he showed up at my apartment and we declared our glorious love for each other.

  I turn back to my dad and Barbara who speak their vows and seal them with an eager kiss. A little too much tongue for my liking but I’m willing to endure it if it means that he is truly happy. We celebrate under the starlit sky and as I sit at a table amongst our family and friends I can’t help but feel my heart fill with love. See? I am totally a bad ass romantic now. I quite enjoy it.

  Walker

  4 years after that…

  I sit at the bar of the busy Vegas nightclub and sip my whiskey. The music is loud, the place packed with people. We are in town for the weekend to check on the new club that we opened at one of our hotels. My eyes scan the room and look for the only person I’m interested in. The crowd on the dancefloor parts slightly and there she is. She walks towards me in her sexy fucking shoes, her hips swaying in time with the beat of the music. Her short black dress matches her silky hair, her red lips parted slightly. This woman. My woman. For six years I’ve loved her with a ferocity I never knew possible. She loves me, challenges me, and gives me everything she has to give. She is my match in every way possible.

  After living without her and being miserable for those two weeks all those years ago, I knew I could never be without her again. I can work from anywhere so we decided to make our permanent home in Blue Falls. We hired Stone Contracting to build our house and made sure to add extra space to accommodate our growing herd of nieces and nephews who come for sleepovers twice a month. Over the last few years I began selling off some of my properties and working less. We are down to two hotels in Vegas, The Astoria in Blue Falls and the resort in Maui where Earl and Barbara were married. Travelling is still necessary at times, but I won’t go anywhere unless Mona can come with me. I will always be a part of what I have built, but I won’t sacrifice time with my wife for anything. We eloped three years ago and she is my world. Speaking of which.

  She makes her way through the crowd and wraps her arms around my neck, I can feel her breath as she speaks against my ear.

  “Ya know, Slick, I think I’ve had enough of this club. Why don’t we head back up to our room and you can fuck me on the desk again.”

  This woman.

  The End

  About the Author

  Stella James enjoys reading, yoga and beer/wine. Not necessarily in that order. She writes in her limited spare time for your reading pleasure and also to silence the various characters that have taken up residence in her cute little head.

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  The Blue Falls Series

  Worth the Chance – Book one/Cole and Lily (available now)

  Worth the Risk – Book two/Trace and Sophie (available now)

  Worth the Fight – Book three/Kate and Asher (coming soon!)

  Exclusive excerpt

  Worth the Fight

  (Kate and Asher’s book)

  Coming December 2016

  Written By Stella James

  Copyright © 2016 Stella James

  All rights reserved

  Chapter 1

  Kate

  I stand at the end of the hospital bed and stare at the man I hardly recognize laying on top of the crisp white sheets. I’ve been in Germany for just over a month now but it feels like a lifetime. His right arm and most of his torso are wrapped in white bandages, his usually clean cut jaw is covered in dark scruff. The body of the eighteen year old boy I once knew is gone and has been replaced with the solid muscles of a man. Swirls of dark ink cover his chest and most of his uninjured arm. But that’s not what makes him unfamiliar to me. It’s the distant and often angry look in his dark brown eyes when he’s awake. It’s the way he turns from me when I speak to him and the fact that he’s hardly spoken a single word to me in return. I’ve spent the last month quietly observing while his mother fusses over him and his dad tries to sell him on the idea that now is the perfect time for him to join the family business. I’ve watched him pretend to care. I don’t blame him for that, or for any of it. I can’t blame him because he’s hurting and all I want to do is take it away, but I can’t. No one can.

  My focus is blurred as I continue to stare. This man before me isn’t the same person who I’ve known since I was five years old. I fear that version of him is lost, perhaps never to be found again. I am selfish to stand here wondering if I’ll ever hear his laugh again, selfish to even feel a tiny bit sorry for myself over the fact that my best friend wants nothing to do with me. I know I am. But I can’t seem to help myself.

  “Katie?”

  I step closer to the bed and reach for his hand. I can’t not reach for his hand. He pulls his back instantly and denies me the simple act of attempting to give him comfort.

  “I’m here Asher.”

  “I need you to do something for me Katie,” he opens his eyes and I can see his barely contained discontent as his gaze falls upon my own.

  “I’ll do anything Asher, you know that.”

  “Get the fuck out of my room, and go home.”

  “But-“

  “No. No more Katie. If you want to do something for me, pack your bags and get the fuck away from me.”

  I want to fight his certainty. I want to reassure him that everything will be okay. But I don’t. Because for the first time in nearly my whole damn life I feel completely lost. I honour his request and simply nod my response. I hold back the tears that so desperately try to escape and as he turns his head away from me, I turn my back on him. I leave because this is the first time in just over a month that he has asked me for anything.