Anton_Cloche

SHC (Spontaneous Human Combustion) 🔥 would work if it were a real thing. Supposed only leaving shoes behind.

Karen on steroids 😉. I've met a few (okay Many!) like that. "My way or the highway" types that usually lead to divorces. And while some were "princess / spoiled" daughters, others just turned that way. If I know why or how they are that way, maybe I could create an antidote, sell it 💰💰 😂 , (or make a spray for use in outdoor circumstances when they approach, like 🐻 spray). Might also work on skinwalkers.

Thank you Preston for this chapter. Dalton is such a good big brother, looking after Brodie, without any complaining. Would that all big brothers were like him. Now he's graduated. Planning for his future seems to be in place. But first: "my friends and I would be going on a six-week overseas backpacker trip to explore some amazing places around the world". What could possibly go wrong? Oh wait, this IS a @quokka story. But it's not like any of his other protagonists (the lead characters) ever run into problems. 😳😉 ... " For now"

While people often say: "Not a day goes by without thinking of them" ('loved' ones taken too soon), it is in the quiet moments where some memories come back stronger than ever. 💔 If Uncle Joe is right (and who says he isn't) , "the heart bleeds for our brothers but the Great Father in the sky heals the heart in time. He fills the emptiness with memories created by love. You will see him again.” Trust, and Hope. Thank you @CLJobe for another insightful chapter. 🫂

With all this building going on, (that Orion wants) it's a shame none of these 3 are handy enough with tools (stop it) to include a workroom to build some of their own specialized items to carry the weight of there. Like an adjustable multi-position bench, table or anything else that crosses their minds. Like a customized picnic table for the private deck. With padded rubber cushions to 'rest' on. Or a climbing wall with numerous 'grips'. Hmm 😳🍌🍑

@mrbossmant and @Cane23 were both correct (7 and 6 hours ago) when they responded to my comment 8 hours ago (zero dark 30) where I misinterpreted @empath last two paragraphs of this chapter, and assumed the boys that walked into the Las Vegas FBI Field Office were the De Luca twins Em and Elio, when in fact they are Roland and Miles, who while now 'safe' are forever damaged. 💔 In the clear light of day, I remember that Rocky and Orlando are working for 'Don' De Luca to remove the evil of child / boy sex trafficking from being in any way connected to him and his 'organization'. The 'Dons' decision a direct result of being responsible for his own twin great-grandsons who are the same age of many of the boys harmed (or worse). Thank you @empath for this story, and I eagerly look forward to coming chapters, and, with the many, many loose threads 🧵🧶 from each person's story in this book, to be woven into the tapestries that form the next book(s) that follow Kept Boy to Made Man.

Oli's transformation in this chapter is more than I thought could happen to a young boy. Let's hope his abilities to adapt, mostly in terms of protecting and helping his 'brothers' now includes helping himself. The last portion of this chapter, when SAC Daniel Janick receives a call from his counterpart in the FBI Las Vegas office, with Daniel replying: “They just walked up to the front door and asked for me by name?” immediately had me thinking Roland and Miles had gotten free. Then my heart sank when I read the remaining two paragraphs and realized it was the De Luca twin boys Em and Elio that had walked in to the Vegas FBI office seeking help. Not that they aren't deserving of assistance, but they are coming in very well off and provided for (at least from a 'clean' legitimate business run by their 'Bisnonno' the mobster 'Don'), but they haven't suffered as Roland and his younger brother Miles had been: kidnapped, raped and threatened with death; or the suffering of all the other young boys in this sad story (based on real life occurences that continue to this day in January 2025). 😩 💔

Thank you @Connectwriter 🤗 for this wonderful conclusion of Mickey and Drew's lives to this point - at retirement - but you've created and left many loose threads of this tapestry. Colourful threads of the children's (and siblings) lives, enough to weave into other rich tapestries of lives still unfolding. "The best is yet to come" We'll be here, waiting. 🤞

Thank you @Bill W for this chapter and the reminder of the differences between good and evil skinwalkers, and how the evil ones came to be. I recall those explanations from Devin and Mac's conversations and training with the Shaman who helped them.

I guess I should consider adding a "content warning" before making any chapter comments going forward lest someone take umbrage. 1st Amendment Rights only exist when permitted? Apologies ??

Jimmy (allegedly) still under the old Machus Red Fox (now called Andiamo Italian) restaurant wine cellar concrete floor on Telegraph Road in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Exact same building, lightly renovated. Old sayings that still work: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Let sleeping dogs lay (undisturbed). As for "evil skinwalkers", did what happens to them turn them evil?

Seriously @irivera, don't leave us hanging like this, waiting to learn if the two cars collide head on, killing Jonah' s parents Marcus and Tori, leaving Jonah an unwanted orphan. Or does his parent's car careen off the road into a tree or ditch with the same result? And of coarse, Jonah being shunned as a homosexual by the BAC (Born Again Christian) Alt Reich after being found "together" with his friend James in a compromising position. More please, and the sooner the better. As for your "I'm trying to get back into writing and thought doing this could help exercise that part of my brain"? Your "exercise" has shown success. Or to quote a learned elder: IMHO, Just "Do"!

As great as it was to learn of Kage's return (from whence he originated) it was nicer to see that just before returning to earth, we see his tether to Elijah (as Eli's protector and platonic lover of sorts) sever as the thread from Kage's former heart to the actual heart-shaped scar on Elijah's chest quivers one last time. And in that moment, when Cage sheds a tear for Elijah, we also see that Elijah and Tyler are still together with their mates (and twins) Ashton, and Austin, and their children. HEA, thank you @kbois. As for your "brain vault"? I'm beginning to think of it like Italian Wedding Soup. A little bit of a lot of things thrown together in a pot to heat, and miraculously turn into a wonderful treat. In time, René and Kage's story will be ready for us to consume. In the meantime, more breadsticks and butter please. Healthy and Happy New Year @kbois.

Hmm. Interesting end to story @Lee Wilson. New lawyer in the DA's office, Nestor Medina, cops to the tanning bed murder of Adrian Keller, but lies about the reason, before dying in a hail of bullets when he gets in a gunfight with Det. Gennaro and other police. He also lied about his wife Hannah having left him and taken their 10-year old son Russell, when in fact he killed his wife with two gun shots. Thankfully Russell was on a New Years Eve sleepover at a friends, and escaped the murder suicide by his father, but still leaving Russell an orphan going into the New Year. Will Det. Saggio adopt Russell when no other family are found to claim him? So a 'Death by Cop', Murder Solved and a few loose ends for the next installment of Saggi Old Detective stories? Ooh. 🙄 HNY

Great way to light a fire under this courtroom story. A cliffie would have been a hung jury. This jury's decision may be just the spark needed to get things roaring. (Okay @Lee Wilson I've may have used up my allotment of bun puns in the Prologue, or are there still some left to spark up in the next / last chapter? And why a suicide note for Adrian Keller, if he's to be done up rotisserie style in a chained shut tanning bed? NB: (Full disclosure, I owned a small chain of tanning salons back in the day, with Uncle Buck as a client and investor. And yes, we did have to import a extra large bed from Germany to meet his needs).