Renee Stevens

W_L!

Thank you, everyone! I hope I didn't miss anyone! This was great to come home to, and while we had a blast camping, it's good to be home.

Mikiesboy! I love it Cynus! Wayne! Bill! Yep, camping. Saw lots of bunnies, a herd of antelope ran down the road in front of us when we were on the four-wheelers, saw a doe and a fawn deer, even saw a badger. But nope, no snakes and no ticks Glad to be home though Krista! Hunter! It was a great day Sandrewn! I really enjoy helping out, but sometimes it's good to just take a break. We did have a great vacation, but unfortunately, the fish just weren't biting. Most likely because it was just too dang hot! Cole! It really was!

Suvitar! Reader! Cia! Gary! Dughlas! Sacredlove! Graeme! Hey! My name is in my favorite color! Sly! The carebear is so cute!!!

AJ! Love the cake! Daddydave! Carlos! It was great and we had a wonderful time. CB! Defiance! It was a really great day Puppilull! Caz! Cute cake! Parker! I love it GlitterAntlers!

Mann! This was a great thing to come home too! Eminent! It was a great day drpaladin! Tim! Nick! I had a great day Fieldy! Val! That cake is soooooo cute, and sooooooo me! And yes, I had a great time camping, just wish it hadn't been so dang hot! Aditus!

I hope everyone is having a great week! It's time for this weeks prompts, supplied by our prompt guru, Comicfan. Just a reminder, and for those who haven't worked with the prompts before: prompt responses under 1,000 words must be posted as part of a collection. Hopefully you'll find something in this weeks prompts to spark an idea and get you writing! Prompt 514 – Creative Tag – First Line “Where on earth did you find that?” Prompt 515 – Creative Tag – Fairy Tale This morning you woke up and knew something was wrong. As you’ve gone through the day, you realize you are in a fairy tale. The problem is the sex of the characters seem reversed except a few. Do you decide to play out the story or change it to become your ideal fairy tale? For this week, I decided to feature the responses from Prompt # : 512 & 513

I hope everyone had a great weekend, but now it's time to start off a new week. A great way to start the week is to take a look at a story that can be found on Gay Authors. Today's feature is A to Z by Parker Owens. Aditus was nice enough to provide us with this great review. If you haven't already done so, maybe it will inspire you to take a look. If you do, don't forget to leave Parker some reviews. Enjoy! A to Z by Parker Owens Reviewer: Aditus Status: Complete Word Count: 276,084 A to Z is one of those lucky finds, a story I stumbled over and now won’t forget for the rest of my life. Stefan lives with his father, who treats him like his personal slave and human punching bag. He blames his son for his wife walking out on them. Stefan was only eight. On top of this, Stefan is being bullied at school for wearing secondhand clothes, having to scrunch school supplies, and just being different. After something bad happens, he runs away with nothing but his journal, and the clothes on his back and an odyssey across the country is about to begin. Some may say, “It’s nothing I haven’t read before.” It’s the little things that make A to Z special. We get to know Stefan by reading his journal, which gives us a very personal point of view. When he says he deserves what his father and others do to him because he is stupid and worthless, he actually means it. But as we listen to him, we learn that Stefan is thoughtful, smart, and an all-around nice guy, which makes reading this so much more painful. While reading on, we hope he can finally shine, but instead, he just longs to fade into the background, to be invisible. For him, not being seen equals no suffering. This journey isn’t a joy ride and not for the faint of heart. To quote the story note: ‘This story contains episodes of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse of a teen. There are episodes of violence. There is also sex between teenagers. Please don't read this if these things bother you. If you continue, be aware of them, and read with appropriate caution.’ It may sound contradictory when I say the bad things that happen to Stefan are beautifully written, incite compassion in the reader, as well as fury on Stefan’s behalf at those who harm him. Parker Owens skillfully walks the fine line of almost too much, but not quite. I was constantly between hope and despair, always praying for Stefan to make it through just one more hurdle. If you’re going to read A to Z, have a box of tissue at the ready and some beverages of choice to refill the fluids. One last thing: A to Z has one of the best epilogues I have ever read…and a very clever title. Category: Fiction Genres: Adventure, Romance Tags: Abuse, Adopt, Under 18, Rape, Love, Dark Rating: Mature

I fixed it for you Dark

I can't believe it's already July and that the year is half over!!! Not only that, but it's the first Wednesday of the month, which can only mean one thing. It's time for another Ask An Author feature provided to us by Dark. If you have questions you want to ask your favorite authors, but don't want to ask the questions yourself, you can always send your questions to Dark for inclusion in the Ask An Author feature. Ask an Author #40 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #39, we had questions for authors Billy Martin, Dayne Mora, and Mark Arbour. In AtA #40, we hear from authors Cole Matthews, M.A. Church, Riley Jericho, and Carlos Hazday. Just shy of his three-year anniversary on GA, Cole Matthews joined the ranks of our Signature Authors. While this may be his first appearance in this blog, his new story Third Shift is already generating discussion and interest in the forums. Which, by the way, is where Cole has posted a fantastic intro to the story, so go check it out. With more than 5,000 likes and 26 stories, this boy is not slowing down anytime soon! I remember when he first started posting on the collaborative project Gaia Town. Setting up and organizing that project was fascinating to watch. What you may not know about him is that he’s something of a gardening maniac who has recently experimented with making his own jam/jelly. Those cookies he posted in his blog from the antique cookbook are also pretty good, but if you really want to know Cole, then you’ll read The Second Fifty, an autobiography of his life. It’s a must-read. To Cole Matthews: Did you enjoy writing your most recent murder mystery, and do you plan a second? I love murder mysteries, thrillers, and suspense stories. In fact, they are my favorite stories to read. I always thought my first novel would be that genre. I realized early on, I needed to practice writing dialogue, exploring characters, and establishing a voice first. Creating Barbed Wire Heart was a wonderful experience which allowed me to exercise those skills. I learned how to craft the clues and false leads more easily after becoming more proficient. I am working on more thriller shorts for anthology stories. In addition, I'm working on a suspense novel called Perdido Key, which will be set in Florida and not in Minnesota for once! Next up is popular fiction writer M.A. Church. She has been a member of GA for about five and a half years now, but early on started branching out into the online publishing genre. You may remember her from her original nom de plume “nomoretears.” She only claimed herself on GA two years ago and though she’s never said, I think it had to do with her rising popularity in the published world. Did you know she’s been mentioned in the Rainbow Awards twice now? She can also be found at Dreamspinner and All Romance Books. Check out her profile on Goodreads or her blog to see what she’s been up to lately. Of her five stories on GA, my favorite is In Enemy Hands. Of course, I’m a huge sci-fi fan, so those who know me will not be surprised by that. Like many, my favorite character is Adler. I think a lot of my love for him comes from the way MA Church writes his interactions with his brother. I also love the slow build-up between the main characters and between the supporting cast. There’s a lot of cleverly-hidden details and it’s always fascinating to see how characters navigate culture differences. There’s a lot M.A. Church has planned for 2016, so check-in with her often to see what’s new! To M.A. Church: Did someone have talk you into posting your stories for the public to read or did you decide yourself? I decided after reading several stories at a place called Literotica to try my hand at writing. After a few stories were posted, comments were left encouraging me to publish. I finally decided if the Christmas story I’d written for their Winter Contest placed, I’d try to find a publisher. A Tah’Narian Christmas came in first, lol. Not long after that I submitted a story to Dreamspinner Press. So basically, thanks to the encouragement from my fans at Lit, I started down the path as a published author. While it did not work out to include the next question into special edition #33, British Author Riley Jericho remains popular here on GA. He promises that his long-running narrative An English Teen... is finished! He’s just got to add the last chapters to the site. I’m sure his fans will be both relieved and disappointed. As with many people, real-life can often find a way to interfere with writing, but Riley has persevered, a feat not to be undervalued. Andy Q Gordon continues to work with Riley on ET, and at over 100,000 reads, it’s a partnership that’s definitely working. I wonder what Riley will work on next? To Riley Jericho: What made you decide to write m/m fiction? That's a good question, and I'm not sure I know. I guess I just thought I'd have a go. I read a lot, I love words. I thought, 'Well how hard could it be?' Jeez—what an idiot! Starting with this blog entry, I decided to shake things up just a little and feature 4 authors every month in honor of this being the 4th year of the blog series. Today’s 4th and final author is Carlos Hazday. He says that his blog question and answer will expire soon, so it made sense to start here. When I asked him this time if he wanted to participate, he said, “How could I not be up for it? I was the one who complained when your blog was pre-empted this month, remember?” Which of course I had forgotten. We’ve had a couple of questions for Carlos over the years; you might remember him talking about reader feedback, but those of you who frequent his forums already know how interactive they are. But for those of you crying over the ending to the latest in the CJ series, see below: To Carlos Hazday: I love the CJ series. What's next for CJ and his crew? There are two timelines concerning CJ running parallel in my mind. One is the story being posted on GA which is currently two years behind the real world. Spring ended as summer vacation was about to start in 2014. The second timeline is the one which tracks events taking place afterwards and through today. I have those events chronicled in outline form and will flesh them out into a story. Soon. I dislike stories which are abandoned or are posted on a very irregular schedule and don't want to fall into that pit. I am working on TRAVELS, the fifth book in the series but will not begin posting until it's entirely written. My fearless editor is also quite busy over the next couple of months, and not wanting to train a new one, I've decided to give him a break. I'm all heart, aren't I? Mann was fearless when he agreed to work with a rookie like me and his assistance has been priceless; the story is much better than it would have been without his input. I'll beg him to continue helping me once the book is at least halfway written. So no promises on when you'll read about the trips most of the major characters embark on during the summer of 2014, but rest assured there's more to come. That’s it for now! For more info on these authors, go check out their stories, post in their forums, and/or catch them in chat! See you next time, with authors Headstall, mikiesboy, Sammy Blue, and Sasha Distan. I’m always in the market for new questions! Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark

I hope everyone is having a great week! It's time for this weeks prompts, supplied by our prompt guru, Comicfan. Just a reminder, and for those who haven't worked with the prompts before: prompt responses under 1,000 words must be posted as part of a collection. Hopefully you'll find something in this weeks prompts to spark an idea and get you writing! Prompt 510 -Creative Tag – First Line “Do you really think he did it?” Prompt 511 - creative Tag – The Child The neighborhood has gone strangely quiet since the new neighbors moved in down the street. Even the nosey lady across the street has stopped talking and seems to keep her blinds closed now. You have no idea why everyone is acting so odd ‘til you meet the neighbors child. What is so odd about this child? For this week, I decided to feature the responses from Prompt #508:

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. Just a reminder: Tomorrow is the CSR Discussion Day for Things We Lost by Dabeagle. If you want to participate and haven’t finished the story yet, there’s still time! Now, let’s see what happened this past week in the various GA News Blogs. To start your week off right, we featured Thaw by Puppilull. If you haven’t already read Thaw, you can get a little insight into the story by reading the review provided to us by Timothy M. Have you thought about purchasing a Premium subscription? If so, then Wednesday’s post is for you. We like to occasionally take a look at some of the various stories that can be found in Premium. This week, we took a look at the Galactic Conspiracies Series by Rob Colton. To help inspire you to write and explore new ideas, we finished the week off with a couple of new prompts. For our featured responses, we took a look at the responses to Prompt #506. Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team 2016 Fall Anthology: Blindsided / The Forgotten - Due October 28, 2016 All Pre-2016 Anthology Themes - Due December 14, 2016 Premium Updates: Journey's End by M.A. Church; Book 2 of The Harvest *Premium* Signature Updates: Jessie-101: Online Celebrity by Comicality New Kid In School by Comicality Mental Games by Bill W The Secret Life Of Billy Chase 9 by Comicality; Book 9 of The Secret Life Of Billy Chase Mine! by Cia Fearless by Cynus Third Shift by Cole Matthews Promising Updates: Promptings from Valhalla - 2016 Edition by Valkyrie Falling Apart by craftingmom Life Seed by albertnothlit Wini and the King of Someplace by AC Benus Morningstar: The Malaise by Headstall My Twentieth Year by AC Benus One Hundred and Fifty-Five Sonnets by AC Benus Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

Happy Friday, Y'all!!!!! Hope everyone is looking forward to the weekend, I know I am! To help start your weekend off right, it's time for some new prompts. Hopefully one of these great prompts will inspire you, and don't forget to share your responses (at least a link) so that they can possibly be featured next week. Also, as always, remember that prompt responses under 1K have to be posted as part of a collection. Prompt 508 -Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following in a story – a blue coat, a large animal, a crutch, a new house, and an evergreen tree. Prompt 509 – Creative Tag – The Tire Your were called away for a business trip to the middle of nowhere. On the way home you blew a tire. When you go for your spare you remember you were going to get it fixed, but you forgot. You call the auto club and they send out a repair truck to help you. When it arrives you find yourself facing someone from your past. Who is it and what happens? For this week, I decided to feature the responses from Prompt #506:

While the majority of the site is free, Premium Stories are available to members for a small fee. Premium access can be purchased in increments of 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. We'll take a look at each of the stories that can be found in Premium to give you an idea of what is available. Some of our Premium Stories are part of a series. Today we're looking at the Galactic Conspiracies Series by Rob Colton. Galactic Conspiracies Series Rob Colton The Degan Incident Book 1 Complete Lonely spaceport worker Devin McSmith meets Bastian Drago, an exotic and beastly alien from the planet Dega, and begins an adventure that takes him to the stars and beyond. Category: Fiction Genres: Romance, Sci-Fi Tags: Aliens, Gay, Alternate Earth, Off-planet, Future Rating: Mature Words: 57,349 The Cassini Mission Book 2 Complete Former Union Navy scientist, Dr. Aron Adler is ordered on a rescue mission to an outer rim research colony located on an uninhabited planet. He reports to the USC Cassini along with two other scientists and a Union Marines unit. Dishonorably discharged for failure to obey orders, the Cassini crew shuns Aron. He finds comfort in the arms-and bed-of Marine Corporal Kane Robertson. At the colony it becomes apparent all is not what it seems. Once again, Aron must decide: follow orders or his heart. Category: Fiction Genres: Adventure, Romance, Sci-Fi Tags: Military, Aliens, Space, Anal, Love, Future Rating: Mature Words: 36,881 The Degan Paradox Book 3 Complete Peri McSmith is aboard the U.S.C. Cassini. A routine medical exam reveals a startling link between Peri and the Cassini's last mission. Beshel Drago, Chief Investigator for the Degan Federation, searches for leads on the rogue scientists conducting illegal experiments using Degan citizens. He hits another dead end—until the rescued embryo's human parent is identified. Category: Fiction Genres: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi Tags: Medical, Military, Aliens, Space, Future Rating: Mature Words: 50,883 Series Excerpt: From The Degan Incident I stepped off the magtrain and made my way up the concourse, pushing my way through the crowds of people. I looked up at one of the wall displays and noted the time. I was cutting it close, but I still had a few minutes before my shift. While weaving between a trio of blue-skinned aliens speaking in a foreign tongue, I reached into the pocket of my uniform and pulled my headset out. I looped it over my ear and pressed the silicone nub into my ear canal. I pulled my comPad from the side leg pocket, then slid my finger across the razor-thin flexi-glass screen. The screen came to life with colorful graphics, waiting to scan my thumbprint to log me in. Pressing my thumb against the indicated area flashing on the screen, it dinged with a chime that indicated success, and automatically linked up my headset and signed into the Spaceport network. After the chime, the pleasant female computer voice announced into my ear, Devin McSmith; login successful. With another swipe of my finger, I flipped through my day’s manifest and headed to the first gate on my list to start work. It was the start of my last shift of the week at Spaceport Prime. I loved working at the spaceport. In operation for nearly thirty years, Spaceport Prime was the largest spaceport on Earth’s North American continent. The Spaceport serviced regular shuttles to Spacedock Luna in orbit around the moon, various Union Navy cruisers and shuttles, as well as ships from other star systems. Since Earth joined the Galactic Planetary Union which ended the bloody war with the Mirans, the space trade industry here has grown by leaps and bounds. I feel like I am part of it, right in the middle of everything. Since I was a little boy, I wanted to join the Union Navy. More than anything, I dreamed of flying through space as part of a crew of interstellar explorers. Unfortunately my scores weren’t high enough to qualify entrance and the Union Navy recruiter denied my application.

Happy Friday, Y'all!!!!! Hope everyone is looking forward to the weekend, I know I am! To help start your weekend off right, it's time for some new prompts. Hopefully one of these great prompts will inspire you, and don't forget to share your responses (at least a link) so that they can possibly be featured next week. Also, as always, remember that prompt responses under 1K have to be posted as part of a collection. Prompt 512 – Creative Tag – List of words Use the following in a story – a snake, a thunderstorm, a muffled cry, a pink flower, and a towel. Prompt 513 – Creative Tag – Marked for Death You have been having issues with your roommates. It has only gotten worse when you won the lottery last week. Needing some time to yourself you go for a drive. As you begin to head toward the mountains as you usually do, your brakes fail. Luckily, you just had a minor accident, but the mechanic tells you the brakes were cut. Who is trying to kill you? For this week, I decided to feature the responses from Prompt #510:

Being the start of a new week, Monday's are also a good time to take a look at some of the different stories that can be found on Gay Authors. With so many great works, it can be easy to overlook one and Monday's provide an opportunity for us to help make one of them stand out and maybe catch your interest. Today, we're bringing you a review by Timothy M. of Puppilull's story Thaw. Enjoy! Thaw Puppilull Reviewer: Timothy M. Status: Complete Word Count: 59,856 I like blond hunks with blue eyes, and even better if they’re upright and silent men in uniform. Naturally, I was hooked immediately when I started reading Thaw which is set in the northern part of Sweden and features a strong, tall, lonely policeman named Joel. After the first chapter readers were wondering who Puppilull would find for the man who’s also a talented hockey player. If I had been 25 years younger, I’d volunteer to travel to Kiruna near the Polar circle. The second chapter introduces chatty, charming Lucas, a lawyer from the US, who ends up in Kiruna after a string of unlucky circumstances. I’m not going to tell you how he meets Joel, but there something very Scandinavian involved. As a Dane I can understand the few Swedish phrases Puppilull has sprinkled around the text to give it that unique local flavor, but don’t worry, you’ll be fine even if you only know the word IKEA. At first, Joel and Lucas dance around each other, wondering whether the other man is gay and attracted too. It takes a hot sauna and some determination on Lucas’ part to get things going, and then the scene is set for various surprising developments. I’m not going to tell you any details, to avoid spoiling the story, but there is snow, a dog, beer, lube, hockey, painting, Northern lights and boots involved. The boots and other interesting matters are included as a courtesy to or teasing of the GA author who inspired Puppilull to write Thaw. She even managed to make him blush ! There are several reasons I like this story, apart from the fact it was written by a fellow Scandinavian, Meta Wolf addict and GA friend. The contrast in character in the two men, although they both have the same core of ‘lawful good’ inside. The fact they are both out and accepted by family, friends and colleagues, but still manage to fumble around when it comes to flirting and relationships. The writing is good, sensible and without unnecessary angsty drama – in spite a couple of cliff hangers which made us fans moan and grumble. The sex – well, I’ll let you discover those parts for yourself, but at least one reader had to buy a new laptop because the hotness made her old one melt. Go make the acquaintance of Joel and Lucas, I promise you won’t regret it. When you are done with Thaw, you’ll be happy to know the sequel Frost has already started to post. There is a joint story topic where you can ask questions, discuss with fellow readers, and give Puppilull ideas about what you would like to see in the ongoing saga of the Swedish policeman and his playful American visitor. She loves getting reviews and always replies, and I think she deserves them too, what with being 9th on the list of Most Prolific Reviewers. But of course most of all for writing a story which engages our hearts, making us laugh, cry and rant. Category: Fiction Genres: Drama, Romance Tags: Police, Adult, Gay, Anal, Oral Rating: Mature

It's once again time to take a look at what has happened here on GA this past week. Emotions have run high after the news about the tragic shooting in Orlando, Florida. While many of us couldn't find the words to say how we felt, Steve managed to do what we couldn't, and shared some thoughts on what happened in Orlando. Some authors, both here at GA and others, are putting together a Poetry Anthology to benefit the victims of the Pulse shooting. If you're interested in participating, you can check out Cazpedroso's blog. Now lets look at what else happened in the blog this week. This week was signature week, and this months Signature Feature is Krista's story "Standing in Shadows". There were quite a few comments from Krista's readers on Monday, and if interested, you can download a banner for the story. Then on Wednesday, we shared a short excerpt from Krista's story. Check it out if you haven't already, and just maybe you'll find something you haven't read yet! New prompts were released on Friday. Writing prompts are great if you're suffering from writer's block, if you want to take a break from your current story, or if you're wanting to write something for the first time. If one of Friday's prompts doesn't catch your attention, you can check out all the past prompts in the prompt forum. Don't forget to share your prompt responses in the thread, and remember that prompt responses under 1K need to be posted as part of a collection. Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team 2016 Fall Anthology: Blindsided / The Forgotten - Due October 28, 2016 All Pre-2016 Anthology Themes - Due December 14, 2016 Premium Updates: Journey's End by M.A. Church; Book 2 of The Harvest *Premium* Signature Updates: Leopards Leap by Graeme; Book 3 of The Lilydale Leopards Mental Games by Bill W Mine! by Cia Thwarted by Renee Stevens Third Shift by Cole Matthews Classic Updates: Grip by Topher_Lydon Promising Updates: Falling Apart by craftingmom Life Seed by albertnothlit Wini and the King of Someplace by AC Benus The Hollow Hills by Valkyrie Morningstar: The Malaise by Headstall Headstall's Reflections by Headstall My Twentieth Year by AC Benus One Hundred and Fifty-Five Sonnets by AC Benus Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

And it's the end of the week again. Sorry about being so late in posting the writing prompts for this week, I haven't been home all day. Since it's already late, let's not delay any further and get right into the prompts! Prompt 506 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in a story : a dirty plate, a nurse, a green hat, a puddle, and a squirrel. Prompt 507 – Creative Tag – The Choice Your life has been easy, but now you have to make a choice that will determine your whole future. You are having to choose between not only two dream jobs, but two very different partners. The first job pays well, and leaves you with one of the two people you love most, it is also in deep space and will keep you from seeing or really talking to anyone else for eight years. However, you will be paid approximately ten million dollars. The other job keeps you in the countryside, never far from anything, with other partner you love. The big drawback is you will paid $30,000 a year, but will be given a small home to live in for the length of the project. What do you choose? Let's take a look at those who took up Prompt #504:

Keep your eyes out, I'll have a new story coming to Gay Authors Premium in the very near future! Marc got what he’d wanted for years, but it’s enough to tear apart his friendship with Casey. Marc tries to avoid Casey, but that’s not always possible. A series of incidents puts both of their jobs on the line and Marc and Casey have to decide whether or not the resulting consequences are worth continuing their feud. Or can they put the past behind them and learn to work together as the team they used to be? Excerpt “Earth to Marc, come in Marc.” Rick made a show of waving his hand in front of Marc’s face. He waited until he had Marc’s attention.“Did you hear anything I said?” “Sorry.” Marc glanced at him, but the lure of Casey Morgan was too strong to ignore. He returned his gaze to linger on the blond that had walked through the doors of the bar a moment earlier. “I was distracted.” Half of the bar separated them, but he knew from experience that the chances of avoiding a confrontation were slim to nil. “Obviously.” Their companion, and coworker, Jason snickered. “What is it with you and him?” Rick’s gaze danced between the two men. “You two can’t be in the same room together without going for the jugular.” “It has nothing to do with you.” Marc didn’t want to get into it and was desperate to stop the barrage of questions before they could start. “You concentrate on yourself and let me handle my own problems.” Marc tracked Casey’s progress through the bar until he sat at a table with two of the hired hands from the Del Rio Ranch. As the foreman for the Del Rio Ranch, Casey was the direct counterpart of Marc’s position of the Circle R. The owners of the two ranches were close friends, and up until the previous year, so were Casey and Marc. It was amazing how one thing could cause friends to become bitter enemies, and it was nothing more than a misunderstanding. “We lost him again.” Jason needed to wipe the smirk off his face. “Knock it off.” Marc forced his attention away from Casey and back to Rick and Jason. “What were you asking?” “Never mind.” Rick shook his head. “Since we have tomorrow off it can wait until Monday. No sense in talking ranch work if we don’t have to.” “Sounds good to me.” Jason finished off the beer in front of him. Marc swallowed the last of his own drink and headed towards the bar for the next round. Despite being the sole bar in town, it wasn’t busy and within a couple of minutes he was turning to head back to his table with three fresh beers. As he turned he felt his shoulder brush against a newcomer and turned to apologize, and found himself face to face with Casey. Had he realized Casey had the same idea he would have stayed in his seat and let one of the other two go.

LOL! Thanks, Lisa! We will definitely be visiting these guys again. It might only be a 5 or 6 chapter story. It might be a 20 chapter story. We'll have to see when I get it written. Thank you for all the great reviews throughout the story and staying with me to the end!

Thanks for the review, Gary and for joining me on the journey! I'm glad you've enjoyed the story, but this is only the end of this part of their story. This won't be the last of Mark and Trey, and trust me when I say we will be revisiting those things that didn't get resolved.

Only this part of their story is over. I will be revisiting these guys in the future. I'm not sure what part you're talking about that is short, the story or the chapter? This chapter was actually the 2nd longest out of all 56 of the chapters. The reason behind the short chapters, is that this started out as a flash fiction story. I thought about wrapping everything up in a nice neat package, but there are some things I'm planning to explore in the next part of their story, and to do that, it had to end how it did. Thanks for reading and commenting to the end!

Thanks, Geemeedee. There is more to Jackie, just not in this story. I do plan to revisit these guys in the future, and when that happens, we'll learn more about what drove Jackie to do what she did. I already have some thoughts, but the story line I have needs a bit more smoothing.

Thanks, Gary! I'll be sad to see it end too. With the few breaks, this story has been going on for a while. It'll be hard to let them go, but they'll be back

Thanks for the review, Lisa. I know, it's sad to see it end, but this is really only going to be a break. You'll see these guys again, just not sure when.