Apprehension Read Online Free PDF Page A

Liza giving Steve a kiss on the cheek before rejoining the group at one of the back booths.
    "So, Thor, you starting to adjust to small town life?" Jack's voice pulled him away from Liza.
    "Yeah, it's quiet for the most part and I like that." He took another sip of his beer.
    Jack chuckled loudly. "Yeah, quiet. Excluding tonight."
    "I noticed when I walked in there were a few more people than usual at this time of night."
    "The baseball championship," he confirmed.
    Thor nodded.
    "How was work tonight?" Jack wiped down the counter.
    "It was alright. I spent most of it following a tip on some drug runners we were expecting through here."
    "Any luck?"
    Thor shook his head. "Nope. Maybe they've found a new route."
    "Wouldn't that be nice? Then we wouldn't have to worry so much about our teens in Claremont getting that junk."
    Thor took his last swig. "Sad thing about it, if they don't get it from these guys, they get it from somewhere else." Thor pushed aside his empty bottle.
    Jack moved with years of efficiency at tending bar and grabbed Thor's empty bottle and replaced it with a fresh one, cap removed.
    "That's true." Jack changed the subject. "So are you missin'
    the military?"
    Thor laughed. "Did you miss it when you hung your BDU's up for the last time?"
    "Shit, no. And every day I'm here I miss it less and less."
    "Exactly." Thor couldn't resist peering over at Liza and her friends at their booth. She now sat next to Steve in the booth and another chair had been brought over for Dale to rest his heavy frame in.
    28

    APPREHENSION
    The lazy arm Steve had slung over the back of the booth that Liza's head was leaning against slightly raised Thor's hackles. He hated feeling possessive of her. She wasn't his. Had never been his. Hell, he didn't even truly know the princess.
    Shaking his head, he shifted away from them.
    Thinking about the events of the night, he watched as Jack saluted farewells to each customer as they began to trickle out the door. He admired his friend. Jack was happy. He had the job he wanted and the family he desired. Thor envied the peace his friend had found. Over the years of being in the military, he hadn't met or dated anyone whom he'd even considered for a moment marrying and raising a family.
    His eyes drifted again to Claremont's princess. Shaking his head, he forced himself to turn away.
    "Be right back, Thor, I need to get the stuff to restock the shelves for tomorrow." Jack tossed his towel over his shoulder and walked to the back of the bar.
    "I think I can find something to occupy my time while you're gone." Thor tilted his beer up to his mouth.
    "I'm sure you can." Jack yelled from the back.
    At that moment, Thor heard a melodic laughter coming from behind him. Turning, he noticed Liza and some of her group had moved to one of three pool tables four yards away from him. Steve sat on a stool by the table. Liza was playing pool against Harvey Carter, one of the supervisors at the local peanut plant. Dale must have finally remembered he was on duty tonight and left. Out of the corner of his eye, Thor spotted Stephanie and Wyatt on the dance floor grinding and swaying to Melissa Etheridge's My Lover , and doing an excellent job of ignoring everyone else around them.
    Thor could hear a few people around him murmuring how the couple needed to take their sex act from the bar floor to one of their apartments.
    Disregarding the pair, Thor turned fully around in his seat and leaned his back against the bar as he drank his beer and watched Liza. She flirted with both men equally. Steve appeared to take it good naturedly, but Harvey's face was lit up as if he really hoped to spend the remainder of the evening in Liza's arms.
    29

    YVETTE HINES
    As he continued to observe them, he heard Jack bring in empty crates to begin removing the alcohol from the shelves preparing the bar for closing. Checking his watch, Thor noted the time. Fifteen minutes 'til one. Just as always. Jack was a family man, he never