Honkytonk Hell: A Dark and Twisted Urban Fantasy (The Broken Bard Chronicles Book 1) eden Hudson (best book club books txt) 📖

was expecting from Colt, but I guess crazy hadn’t been on the list. The guy had spent the last thirty-six days getting his head fucked with and he’d just come back from the dead—the least she could do was cut him some slack.

But Desty walked around behind me and over to Colt’s side.

“I know who you are,” she said. “Colt, right? It’s nice to meet you, um, formally.”

“We met before?” he asked.

“Sort of. While you were—”

“With Mikal?”

Desty nodded.

I could feel the heat swamp Colt’s face and hear him grit his teeth. His cheeks turned dark red and he glared down at the floor.

“We didn’t talk or anything, so it’s not like you should remember me,” Desty said. “Really, it’s not a big deal.”

She held her hand out—not like for a handshake, but like you’d do so someone could hold your hand. Colt looked at it for a second. As soon as he took her hand, I could hear his heartbeat calm down.

Desty’s my girlfriend, I told him. I didn’t mean to sound territorial, but that’s how it came out. I guess maybe I’m the jealous type after all.

“Yeah right,” Colt said, but it didn’t look like he was talking to me. He was looking at the window. “I’m the last guy he’d have to worry about. Give it a rest.” Then he scratched the back of his head and looked at Desty. “Sorry. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s okay,” Desty said. She smiled at him. “You’re actually doing a lot better than most of the castoffs I’ve read about.”

“Yeah, I remember reading some stuff about the effects fallen angel essence has on human brains,” Colt said.

“I actually meant—” Desty looked from me back to Colt. “You haven’t tried to— I mean, you’re not trying to think of a way to kill yourself right now, are you?”

“Not right now,” he said.

Desty didn’t know whether to laugh or not, which was kind of the way it went with Colt. Sometimes he was joking and you couldn’t tell. You had to know him, and even then it wasn’t easy.

“All right,” Harper said. She crossed her arms and looked at me. “So, what now?”

I really wanted Colt out of the house. If Harper and Jax both knew about him coming back from the dead, then Scout knew, and maybe the Witches’ Council did, too, since Jax went to bother them about some prophecy or other. It was only a matter of time before it got back around to Mikal.

Couldn’t hurt to hide Desty out, too. By now Kathan had probably figured out that I wasn’t giving her up without a fight.

The cabin would probably be the best place. It was west of town, stuck way back in the sticks. The couple who’d owned it had been killed in the NP-Human Conflict and didn’t have any kids, so after Kathan burned down the farmhouse and killed Dad, Sissy moved us out there. Colt had still been living there when Mikal enthralled him.

I checked out the window. The shadows were getting long and the temperature was probably dropping below boiling. Before too long, the sun would be down and we could go.

“Out to the cabin?” Colt asked.

Is the arsenal still there? I asked.

“Unless Mikal had somebody go and confiscate it all. It’d be like her to leave it, though.” Colt shrugged. “Hell, she could’ve had me take her to it and load it up for her. I’d never know.”

“You’re talking to each other,” Harper said. I could hear the skin of her arms rub together as she twisted them tighter around her stomach. She looked at Colt. “You can hear Tough.”

He nodded.

Harper threw her hands up.

“That explains it. That explains everything,” she said. “I knew God wouldn’t bring him back crazy. He would’ve been all right—totally okay—if God had really brought him back.” She pointed at me. “You made him a zombie.”

Bullshit! I wished I could’ve yelled it at her. She saw the miracle happen, she got to feel it, she should know. No one would recognize the real thing like the guy who had to stand by watching it and knowing he never got to feel that kind of love or power again. Just remembering it hurt. I shook my head, hard.

“Prove it,” Harper snapped, cocking her body at me. “Give Colt an order.”

Colt locked eyes with me.

“Try it,” he said in that voice that always reminded me Colt was a stone-cold Soldier of Heaven all the way down to his bones.

Take it easy, Commando. I’m not going to give you an order, I told him. Harper’s just freaking out.

“I won’t have a damned zombie in my house,” Harper said.

Desty tried to help. “Harper, Colt’s not a—”

“How would you know?” Harper said. “He hasn’t started to decompose yet.” She looked at me. “I don’t want him here, Tough. If Jax was home you know he’d vote with me.”

I kicked the coffee table so hard that the corner stuck in the wall. All of Jax’s games that we’d picked up earlier went flying again.

Harper didn’t back down. She pointed back and forth between me and her.

“One of us—who is not me—had damn well better fix all these holes in my house.”

I went into the kitchen to get the shopping list and pen off the fridge so I could write her a note.

I’m taking Colt and Desty to hide out. When Jax gets back, you and me and him are going to talk. As a last minute thought I added, And don’t fucking call my brother a zombie again.

Desty

 

The worst place to ride in a pickup truck is the middle, especially in a stick shift. There are some exceptions—when your boyfriend is driving, for example. But when your boyfriend’s brother is sitting