Meet the Friends!

Now that you've read about them, I'm sure you'd like to meet Emmett and Rose.

Belles of St. Mary's

BPOV

I read the words on the gray piece of granite in front of me.

“This We’ll Defend”

They were the words that my brother had lived and died by.

As I sat there in the cemetery, like I had every day since his death, I wondered for the millionth time why. Why him? He was the kind of guy people couldn’t help but like, loved his country enough to fight for it, and was the best friend I’d ever had. Nothing ever brought him down, and he always had a kind word to say. Yet God had seen fit to take him away from us and leave behind a vacuum.

Chapter 2 Teaser #2

I fought the urge to stomp off as I went to the back room. I needed a few minutes to calm down.

“Hey, girl,” a voice said from behind me.

I jumped and spun around. James was standing behind me, laughing his ass off. Prick. He loved scaring me and did it often. One would think I’d be used to it, and my guard would be up. But no, idiot got me every damn time.

“What the hell, James? Why do you always have to do that?” I asked in a huffy voice.

“Because it’s easy,” he teased, staring down at me. “Plus, it’s not my fault you’re unobservant.”

“Fuck off,” I scoffed, hiding my smile. Truth was James had grown on me since he had started working at the bar. At first, I was nervous because he was a decent looking guy, and I was afraid he’d get a wild hair up his ass and try to pursue me. We’d lost a few bartenders before him for that exact reason. It didn’t take long to see that James was different.

Meet the Family!

Before chapter 2 posts, we'd like to introduce you to a few more people important to the story!

9/24/2011

Belles of St. Mary's

1 1/2 oz (45 ml) Gin

1 oz (30 ml) Triple sec

1 oz (30 ml) Apricot brandy

2 tsp (10 ml) Lemon juice

Mixing Instructions:

In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine all of the ingredients. Shake well and strain into glass.

Bartender guide suggests using a cocktail glass.

Chapter 2 Teaser

I stood outside of a small house and knocked on the front door. A warm summer breeze caressed my skin, causing my hair to fly into my face. I pushed the strands back and tucked them behind my ear. Knocking again, I wondered if anyone was home. They’d said they would be, so I was beginning to worry.

As I raised my hand to knock for a third time, the sound of footsteps sounded on the other side of the door. They were followed by a thud and a feminine voice cursing. I chuckled softly, not being able to help myself. Honestly, I loved the girl, but walking most of the time was a challenge for her. She liked to say she was so clumsy that she was practically disabled.

A few seconds later, the door swung open, revealing my best friend. Even with her clumsiness, she was one of the most loyal people I knew. She didn’t trust easily, but when you earned it, she would fight for you to the end. At the same time, though, she was shy and would blush at the drop of a hat. She was awkward around new people, but if push came to shove, her protective nature would override her bashfulness.

The one thing that drove me absolutely bat shit crazy, though, was her extreme insecurity. I had never understood her self-doubting, because she was gorgeous. She hid her figure behind grandma clothes—I told her she would be a fox if she’d lose them—but she would always brush me off and say I was crazy. One day, I vowed, I was going to get her to say she was beautiful.

Army Special

EPOV

The heat was unbearable. The dust was fucking everywhere. The sun was giving me the illusion that I was a goddamn pie baking in a goddamn oven. I was hot. Tense. Dirty. Overwhelmed with thoughts that I wanted nothing more than to evict from my head forever. I really had no time or use for thoughts about my sorry excuse for a family now – I was too busy being miserable.

“Morning, Cullen. Nothing like a beautiful April day, huh?”

9/15/2011

Army Special

 1 oz. (30 ml) Vodka
1 oz. (30 ml) Gin
1 1/2 oz. (45 ml) Lime juice cordial
1/2 glass ice

Mixing Instructions:

Pour Vodka, Gin and Lime cordial into glass and top up with crushed ice. Wait for ice to melt slightly and sip without a straw.

Bartender guide suggests serving in a cocktail glass. 

Meet the Players!

Before we post the first chapter, we'd like to introduce you to a couple of the featured characters. Go ahead and say hello to them - they rarely bite.

Story posts this week here! 

Chapter 1 Teaser #2

“So hey, I’ve got cookies for you,” Jake said, thrusting a plastic container into my hands. “You know, my sister insists on making everyone in the squad their favorite cookies at least once on this tour. Well, you’re up, Rusty!”

He grinned. ”Considering how you always stuff yourself when I get peanut butter cookies, I figured they were your favorites, so here ya go – compliments of the best sister in the world.”

Jake’s sister was legendary in our squad. She sent cookies, cakes, candy – hell, Jake even talked her into sending issues of Playboy as long as he swore that they weren’t for him. She really didn’t know her brother as well as she thought she did, especially if she expected him to be honest about porn. She also had a way of twisting her words in such a way that every day events became the greatest source of entertainment when Jake read her letters out loud at night to the whole squad.

“Thanks, Chief. They look great. Please thank her for me,” I said, looking down at the most delicious-looking cookies I had seen since I was a kid and believed in goddamn Santa Claus. A cold glass of milk, and I would have been in fucking heaven. Though, with my luck, the milk would be full of sand like everything else was.

Chapter 1 Teaser

The fact that I was a goddamn jaded bastard meant that I skipped right past the shock that hit the others momentarily. I had been in similar situations before, and I barely needed to think before I started barking out orders.

I then registered two things at the same time. Jake had been hit in the neck and was bleeding on the floor. And Jones, who was driving the vehicle, had also been hit and was slumped over the steering wheel. He must still have had his foot on the gas, because the vehicle was moving. I yelled at Crowley to take over the driving before we ended up in a ditch and became a stationary target for the motherfuckers still shooting at us.

I was sure that Tyler Crowley did his best because that was the kind of man he was, but we did end up in the ditch. And just as I heard a chopper overhead coming to help us out of the mess we had ended up in, the world around me exploded.

Again my jadedness made me register something faster than should have been possible. Only this time I wasn’t sure I had wanted to know what was happening before everything went black. It was a fucking rotten last thought to have.

Roadside bomb.

Posting soon!

Summary:
The war in Afghanistan takes away everything that matters to Army Sergeant Edward Cullen. Alone and broken, he has to find a new path in life, but he doesn’t know where to start looking. Unexpected encounters form bonds that last and instead of dodging bullets in the desert, he fights to keep his sanity and heart. A romantic tale full of humor and canon twists.
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Story will be posted soon. Put us on author alert here.