Valerie

”If no one has anything else to add, then I think we’ll wrap this up,” Tina announced with a tired smile. When received the nods of agreement, she continued, ”Thank you for coming, I’ll see you next week.” […]

Bette’s first thought as she emerged from a deep sleep was whether it was raining, and with this concern she was immediately awake. She sat up, looked around drowsily, then swung her legs out of bed and s […]

Crouching against the wall, Bette was sitting on her heels as she stared at the door before her, a bunch of keys rattling in her hand to fill the quiet. She had arrived to visit her old apartment, but half an hour […]

Sitting at her office desk, Tina was holding her head in her hands. She kept her eyes closed as she focused on her even breathing while a loud pulse painfully pounded through her head. There came her migraine […]

The next month had passed quickly. Bette had found herself a job as a bartender at one of the restaurants in Silver Lake and had been busy working there daily, every so often staying for two shifts in one workday. […]

Bette pulled on her jeans and zipped up her sweatshirt. She raised her hand to her nose and smelled the sweatshirt’s sleeve. The clothes still smelled of prison. She needed a new set of clothes. Contemplating on d […]

Bette looked up at the August sun, squinting, feeling the sun’s heat on her face. She closed her eyes and took a soft breath. Somehow the sun felt brighter and the air felt fresher. The grass was greener, the t […]

Four months had passed since Bette’s arrest. During the whole time she had been held in a county jail while Melvin Porter and his team of qualified criminal defense attorneys worked with her closely, getting c […]

The next day, as Bette lay in bed at six in the morning, she couldn’t sleep. She had been blinking at the ceiling for hours as she tried to send her mind into unconsciousness, but to no avail. Her eyes were g […]

”I know it’s hard, Bette…” Shane said quietly, her head hung low. ”I get it, I really do…”

No sound came from the woman that lay motionless on her side with her face turned away from Shane, toward the sofa’s ba […]

”Welcome to my humble abode,” I say as I hold out my hand, inviting Tina in.

She ushers the dogs inside and commands them to sit. Straightening her disheveled hair, she follows me further into the apa […]

Sitting in her leather executive chair in her office, Bette looked fixedly at the clasp-knife that she was twisting in her hands. She opened and closed the knife over and over again, her mind so obsessed by it […]

The first week of recovery was tough on Bette. After coming back home from Mexico, she had slept two days straight, only waking up to take medicine. Tina had been by her side all the time, worrying about her […]

Sometimes I wish inanimate objects were able to speak with people. Or at least hear what they say and do what they say. Right now I wish my phone was just that – able to hear how I tell it to shut the hell up a […]

Doyle Bogan, the man who was supposed to transport Bette and her partners through the Mexico-US border, arrived to pick them up at their secret location soon after Marcus summoned him. He got out of his van and […]

”What’s going on?”

Shane and Helena turned their heads to the sound of Tina’s quiet, but shaky voice.

”Fuck…” Shane breathed out, closing her eyes.

”Sweetheart, everything will be fine. There’s no need […]

So I’ve held out a week of inaction in order to give Tina time to cool off after our intense, but kinda failed date. Let alone too short.

On Friday at lunchtime I had my assistant drive over to the cafe where T […]

The sky flaunted the exquisite golden glow of desert sunrise when Marcus drove up to an old middle-sized hangar that was surrounded by chain link fence. A helicopter was parked outside, ready to be exploited. […]

”I hate you.”

”You’re calling to tell me that you hate me?”

”That’s correct. And also to tell you that you’re a backstabbing motherfucker.”

”Oh?”

”And a self-centered bitch.”

”Am I?”

” […]