BREAKING BAD
14 TALES OF LAWLESS LOVE
A.M. GRIFFIN BILLY LONDON BRIDGET MIDWAY CAITLIN DARE EVE VAUGHN KOKO BROWN LAQUETTE NIA FOXX SHARON C. COOPER SHYLA COLT S.W. FRANK THEODORA TAYLOR VICTORIA H. SMITH XYLA TURNER
Copyright © 2017 Breaking Bad: 14 Tales of Lawless Love by A.M. Griffin, Billy London, Bridget Midway, Caitlin Dare, Eve Vaughn, Koko Brown, LaQuette, Nia Foxx, Sharon C. Cooper, Shyla Colt, S.W. Frank, Theodora Taylor, Victoria Smith, and Xyla Turner.
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Formatted by Visions by LaQuette
Cover Art by EDH Graphics
CONTENTS
SHARON C. COOPER
Indebted
Blurb
Acknowledgments
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
The End
About Sharon C. Cooper
Other Titles by Sharon C. Cooper
Newsletter Signup
________________________
EVE VAUGHN
His Favorite
Blurb
Acknowledgments
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
The End
About Eve Vaughn
Other Titles by Eve Vaughn
________________________
CAITLIN DARE
Notorious
Blurb
Acknowledgments
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
About Caitlin Dare
Other Titles by Caitlin Dare
Newsletter Signup
________________________
A.M. GRIFFIN
Dangerously Theirs
Blurb
Acknowledgments
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
The End
About A. M. Griffin
Other Titles by A. M. Griffin
Newsletter Signup
________________________
LAQUETTE
Bedding The Enemy
Blurb
Acknowledgments
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
The End
About LaQuette
Other Titles by LaQuette
Newsletter Signup
________________________
BRIDGET MIDWAY
Drive Her
Blurb
Acknowledgments
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
The End
About Bridget Midway
Other Titles by Bridget Midway
________________________
BILLY LONDON
Hideout
Acknowledgments
Blurb
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Twenty-four
Twenty-five
Epilogue
The End
About Billy London
Other Titles by Billy London
________________________
SHYLA COLT
Debt Collector’s Due
Blurb
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
The End
About Shyla Colt
Other Titles by Shyla Colt
Newsletter
________________________
THEODORA TAYLOR
His To Possess
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
The End
About Theodora Taylor
Other Titles by Theodora Taylor
Newsletter Signup
________________________
VICTORIA H. SMITH
One Hit
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Epilogue
The End
About Victoria H. Smith
Other Titles by Victoria H. Smith
________________________
NIA K. FOXX
His For The Taking
Acknowledgments
Blurb
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
The End
About Nia Foxx
Other Titles by Nia Foxx
________________________
XYLA TURNER
Rectified
Acknowledgments
Note To The Reader
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
The End
About Xyla Turner
Other Titles by Xyla Turner
Newsletter Signup
__________
______________
S.W.FRANK
BAD THINGS GOOD KILLERS DO
Warning to Readers!
Good People, Bad Things
Glossary
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Epilogue
About SW Frank
________________________
KOKO BROWN
Star-Crossed
Blurb
A Time To Be Born
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Time To Kill
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Playtime
Twenty-three
The End
About the Author
Other Titles
Newsletter Signup
INDEBTED
SHARON C. COOPER
Indebted
Even when he does good, he’s bad…
Detective Lazarus Dimas doesn’t play by the rules. On the streets, he’s a force to be reckoned with, a dangerous man with a badge and a gun. But he does have a soft spot — the sexy Assistant District Attorney Journey Ramsey. There is something about the woman he can’t shake. She’s irresistible and off limits. At least that’s what he keeps telling himself, but one kiss leads to others and well…so much for limits.
Journey plays by the rules, normally. But she can’t deny the sexual tension that sparks whenever Laz is near, even when he puts her professional integrity at risk. Laz is complex. The type of man fathers warn their daughters about. Yet, there’s a gentle, vulnerable side to Laz that he lets no one see except her, and she can’t resist him.
Can Laz prove he’s the man for Journey before a reopened case exposes his true colors? Or will the danger they face show that the love they share knows no boundaries?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to my amazing husband, Al, my hero! Thank you for your continued support. I love you, my dear!
I’d also like to thank my critique partners and beta reader – you know who you are! This writing journey wouldn’t be as much fun without you guys! Love you all!
Always,
Sharon
ONE
Detective Lazarus Dimas had no tolerance for anyone who sold drugs—foot soldier or a drug lord—but he wanted to send thugs who beat up and stole from defenseless people to a special hell.
Scott Buckner, the wiry nineteen-year-old with blond hair and gray eyes stared back at him, defiance in his glare. The moron had been arrested three times for selling weed to kids and had now graduated to beating up and robbing old folks.
“Come on. Hit me back. I have no weapons on me and there are no cameras in here. You want to fight someone so bad, fight me. Here’s your chance to take out all of your frustrations on someone else.”
“I didn’t do nothin’!”
“Then why yo ass run when you saw us?” Laz balled his fists and put up his hands. “Now come on. Let’s get this over with.”
“Man, you’re crazy! I already told you guys, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Scott slowly moved away from Laz, only to back into a wall. They were in an old warehouse that Laz used on occasion to distribute his own type of whoop-ass on young punks who needed a little fear beat into them.
“Do you hear this guy, Ashton?” Laz asked his partner who was standing a few feet away shaking his head. “Scott must not realize that we have video footage of some of his beating incidences.”
It sickened Laz to watch the videos, but especially the most recent footage. Senseless. In each of the situations Scott could have taken the money without doing physical harm, but no. He either punched, kicked, and in the last occurrence, slammed an old man against the ATM. Laz planned to inflict the same pain on Scott as he’d done on his victims.
Laz punched him in the chest, and surprise registered on the kid’s face. “What, you thought I was kidding? Come on, fight me back. This will be your one and only time to hit a cop and not get into trouble.”
Scott glanced at Ashton.
“Go for it, man. Not too many people get a chance to knock Laz around. It’s now or never.”
“Oh, I get it. I hit you and you try to charge me with resisting arrest or some shit like that. Not interested.”
Laz popped him in the jaw. Not hard enough to break it, but hard enough to sting. Then he shot an uppercut to the kid’s lip, drawing blood.
“Did you know the woman you attacked last week is someone’s grandmother?” Laz punched him in the stomach and then in the face again, connecting with his nose.
“Man, you need to back up off of me,” Scott seethed, wiping his bloody mouth and nose with the back of his sleeve. “I’m sorry, alright. I didn’t mean to hurt them.”
This only made Laz angrier. “What did you intend to do then, asshole? Did you think knocking them around didn’t hurt?” He punched the kid again.
Scott hunched over holding his stomach. “I said I was sorry. I won’t do it again,” he croaked.
“Damn straight you won’t do it again.” Laz hit him two more times, sending him crumbling to the ground sobbing.
“All right, Laz. That’s enough.” Ashton pulled him off of Scott.
“It’s not enough until I know for sure he’s not going to do it again.”
“I said I’m sorry,” Scott groaned. “I’m sorry. Just arrest me already.”
Ashton grunted and helped the kid up. “Now how are we supposed to take him in looking like this?”
Laz shrugged. “We handcuff his ass and then read him his rights.”
“Well, I’m not writing this one up. This is all on you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
Laz and Detective Ashton Chambers had been partners for three years, and friends even longer. Ashton didn’t agree with most of Laz’s tactics, and didn’t hesitate to call him out on his bullshit. Passionate about his job and getting as many criminals off the streets as possible, Laz was a by-any-means-necessary kind of guy. Since losing his long-time girlfriend nine years ago to violence, he had made it his mission to wipe the streets clean of as many miscreants as he could, especially drug dealers.
In Scott’s case, there was still a chance to save him from the streets. Getting arrested over and over, and then released just as fast, hadn’t taught the kid anything yet. Maybe now he’d think twice before beating up anyone else.
While Ashton escorted Scott to the unmarked police car that Laz had parked inside the warehouse, Laz re-holstered his 9mm gun. He also pulled the gold police badge, hanging from a silver chain around his neck, out of the collar of his long-sleeve T-shirt and let it drop against his chest. Now he was ready.
Ashton shook his head, climbing into the passenger seat. “You know you got issues, right?”
“So I’ve been told.”
This wouldn’t go well with their sergeant, but Laz didn’t care at the moment. The video of this guy punching a sixty-five-year-old grandmother over and over in her face, ignoring her cries, kept flashing through his mind.
Laz knew his actions weren’t right, but he’d deal with the fallout when it happened.
“Laz! In my office…now!” Sergeant Duane Ford’s thick, smoker’s voice
carried across the bullpen from his office door.
Laz tried not to groan, but one slipped out and he didn’t miss the knowing glances and smirks coming from other detectives sitting at their desks nearby. He garnered a speech at least once every other week about his arrest procedures. As far as he was concerned, his actions in all of his cases were justified.
“Why does he always call me into his office and not both of us?” Laz asked Ashton, sitting at the desk facing his. “We’re partners.”
Ashton chuckled. “Because you always push the limits. One of these days, man…” Ashton didn’t have to finish. Laz knew. His sergeant always went to bat for him, but there was going to come a time when Laz wouldn’t be able to talk or negotiate his way out of the messes he willingly created.
“Go get your scolding and then hurry back. We need to follow up on that downtown store robbery.”
Laz stood and shoved his cell phone into the front pocket of his jeans. “If I’m not out in ten minutes, come and interrupt.”
A tingling started at the base of Laz’s neck and crept higher. He didn’t have to look around to know the cause because if that hadn’t signaled him, the stirring in his gut would have. It never failed. Whenever the tall, leggy prosecutor was within thirty feet of him, whether he saw her or not, his body responded. Atlanta’s Assistant District Attorney Journey Ramsey had an impact on him that he’d never experienced with another woman.
And there she was, as gorgeous as ever.
She followed a short distance behind another detective to one of the interrogation rooms. Her graceful, long stride enhanced her seductive walk as she strolled through the bullpen. Everyone took notice.
Laz willed her to look in his direction. Just one look.
As if sensing his gaze on her, she turned her head slightly and their eyes met. Air lodged in his throat and his pulse did a giddy-up as he took in her dark, almond shaped eyes that enhanced her smooth, lovely face. After her gaze lingered, she gave a slight nod at him before diverting her attention.
“Lazarus! Get in here!” his sergeant yelled again, ruining the moment.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming,” he mumbled, his attention still on Journey as he glimpsed her perfectly round ass and those long legs that he’d dreamed about having wrapped around his waist. He was a leg man and hers stood out beneath her fitted skirt, tapering down to a pair of tall, sexy-as-sin shoes. Today her footwear was royal blue with a thin strap around the ankle, pulling out the royal blue accent color on her flawless, tailored black suit.
Always dressed to the nines, she commanded attention not only in the courtroom when prosecuting a case, but also at his precinct. She never failed to have every man in the building, married or not, taking a second look.
“So have you seen the ADA’s shoe collection up close and personal yet?” Ashton whispered, now standing next to Laz. “Seeing that I haven’t seen her wear the same pair twice, I’d say she has quite the collection. At least a hundred pair.”