The Second Chance (Inferno Falls Book Three)

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Authors: Aubrey Parker
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where Clinton is originally from, but his slight accent makes everything he says a whole lot sexier. The things Clinton says and does would be stupid coming from most people, but they fit him like a Texan’s hat.  
    “Hi, Clinton.” I nod at the pretty woman across from him. “Hi, Taylor.”  
    “So,” he says, doing something with his chiseled, stubbled face that reminds me of chewing on straw, “who do I lodge my complaint with?”  
    Clinton comes in here often enough that I can play with him — asexually, of course, though he never fails to rev my motor.  
    “For the bloodbath earlier?”  
    “Naw,” he says. “For the fact I’m gonna have to have a shit dumpster for a few days on account of you.”  
    That might be the oddest thing anyone has ever accused me of. My forever-present lust evaporates, and now Clinton is a man who’s said something I don’t get. His expression bothers me. Looking over at Taylor, I see that this is a shared joke. On me.  
    I look from Clinton to Taylor. Taylor to Clinton.  
    “’Cause of the dickhead coming home to tend his uncle’s final affairs and clear out that ass house of his on Celebratory Court. Guess he needs the big bin more than Stuffy’s does.”
    “What are you talking about?” I came to take their drink order, but I’ve already forgotten the pad and pen in my hands.  
    “She doesn’t know,” Taylor says.  
    “’Course she knows.” But then Clinton looks right at me, and something softens in his charming blue eyes. He’s a lovable loudmouth, and part of going to Stuffy’s is understanding that Clinton is going to shout ostentatious hellos to everyone as they enter, that he’s going to drink with those who can hold their liquor and sometimes fight with those who can’t. But right now, I can see that he feels he’s put his foot in that big mouth of his. He’s spoken out of turn, assuming I was in on whatever this is, but now sees that he’d blown it.  
    “What don’t I know?”  
    “Aw, I’m sorry, Sweetheart. I guess he’s meaning to surprise you. I figured you’d know, or I wouldn’t’a said anything.”  
    Something about that makes my heart beat double. I look at Taylor, all thoughts of serving forgotten.  
    “Who’s going to surprise me?”  
    “Just a rumor, Sweetie,” Taylor says, giving me a little head tilt that apologizes for the town, how it gossips, how it is with information that’s none of its business. “But after Ernie Harglow died last week, we figured you’d … ”  
    She trails off. Ernie Harglow. Why do I know that name?  
    Then it hits me because few people know many Ernies, outside of Bert’s roommate.  
    “What did you hear?” I ask. “Is … ”  
    “Well, old Ernie didn’t really have nobody to come back and clear out for him,” Clinton says, now almost timid, “’cept for your old guy, Grady.”  

CHAPTER 9

Maya

    And of course, Chadd shows up again.  
    I manage to competently juggle my tables, I think, after hearing a bombshell like the one dropped on me by the Deanes. The diner’s a mess, and to my delight, Roxanne seems to have acquired a table of jerks who are immune to both her death stare and her feminine wiles. Usually, intimidation and sex appeal blend to give Roxanne superpowers over anyone, but I’m seeing none of it today. She seems pissed, and for once it’s not at me.  
    I go about my job, trying to keep Grady from my mind. I honestly don’t know how I feel. Part of me is excited, for sure, but the larger part of me, wielding dignity as a weapon, finds that part weak and pathetic. Most of me is angry, jilted, annoyed, enraged, righteous, indignant. All Grady did to me, in the end, was rub salt in my wounds. When I needed him most, he decided to be selfish, so he ran without looking back. It doesn’t even matter that my parents, when they find out, will likely forgive him. Because that’s logical. Because hey, doesn’t the Bible teach forgiveness? Something

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