Mazie sipped her water, hacked off a bit of cake and stabbed it with the fork then handed the fork to Ariel. “Yummy cake, eh?”
Ariel nodded with her mouth full.
Cullen texted back and forth with someone who did a better job of making him happy than Mazie was doing. After the fifth chime, she sighed.
He glanced up at her. “What’s your problem?”
She looked at the table. “Nothing.” She took a breath. “Just that, whoever it is, maybe the texts could wait until after dinner?” She lifted her eyes to his.
His one eyebrow shot up and he squinted. Mazie looked away.
“Daddy, can we get ice cream on the way home?” Ariel to the rescue.
He smiled at her. “Sure we can. It’s my birthday, after all.”
~~~~
Ariel slid the side door of the van closed, chocolate ice cream stained her upper lip and dripped from a waffle cone.
Mazie clicked the passenger door shut and waited for Cullen to pass in front of her before falling into line behind and heading for the front door.
“Evening, Reynolds clan.” Rachel’s husband, George, stood on his front lawn in checkered shorts and a ratty old T-shirt. He held the garden hose and sprayed a fine mist over Rachel’s beloved rose bushes.
Cullen ignored him.
“Hi, George.” Mazie waved.
Rachel jumped out through the front door. She was like a damn jack-in-the-box and Mazie’s presence was the hand crank. The second she was in range, surprise! Rachel popped up.
“Beautiful evening!” she yelled. “Ariel, want to come play with Polly?”
Cullen spun around. “No, she doesn’t. It’s my birthday and she’s spending it with me.”
Rachel cocked her head. “Well, sooorry, birthday boy. I didn’t know this was the day the world was graced with your presence.” She jerked her chin at Ariel. “Maybe another day that isn’t so special, ‘kay sweetie?”
“Okay, Mrs. Simpson. Thanks.”
Ariel took her ice cream into the living room and turned on the television.
Mazie clicked the front door shut. “Don’t drip on the carpet, bug.”
Cullen went straight to the cupboard over the fridge and pulled out the bourbon. He sloshed a few ounces into a tumbler and turned to her. “I swear, one day I’m gonna kill that bitch.” He kept his voice low.
Mazie placed her purse on the kitchen table. “She’s snoopy, but harmless.”
“And for future reference, who texts me and when I choose to reply are none of your damn business.”
She looked at her feet. “Sorry. We don’t get many nights out. Just thought it would be nice to focus on that.”
“I don’t care what you thought.” He snatched her purse and rummaged inside. “Let’s see who you’ve been texting, huh?” He pulled her phone out and slid his grease-stained fingers all over the screen. The same thing he did at least once a week. He pressed his lips together and threw her a withering look. “Good. Just me.” He tossed the phone on the table, took his drink, and joined Ariel in front of the television.
At ten, he sent Ariel to bed. At ten-thirty, he took Mazie by the arm. She followed him up the stairs, her wrist aching in his grip.
In the bedroom, he stripped and tossed his clothes on the floor.
Mazie got undressed, hung her pants in the closet and put her shirt and underwear in the clothes hamper with the other dirty laundry. She picked up his clothes from the carpet, along with his filthy work shirt and jeans that lay where he’d dropped them after work — shag the colour of applesauce had seemed the right choice thirteen years ago — and tossed them into the laundry basket she kept in the room for his things. Kept them away from her clothes so his filth didn’t infect her.
He stood by the head of the bed, hard and anxious. “Hurry up already.”
She approached from the other side and lay on her back.
He crawled on top of her, ran his sweaty, stinking, sticky skin all over her. She closed her eyes and turned her head. He wouldn’t care. He never kissed her on the mouth anymore.
He pushed her legs apart with his knees and forced himself inside. The weight of him knocked the breath from her.
She clamped her lips closed, shut her eyes, and imagined an idling river, a quiet meadow at the base of the mountains, the scent of daisies and pine needles. Ariel played in the distance. Molly, their golden retriever, frolicked in the grass. The dog she’d always wanted. A dog they’d never owned. Ariel tossed a stick to Molly and the dog fetched and returned flawlessly.
Cullen’s breathing became laboured. He shifted his body until he loomed over her and encircled her throat with one hand.
As the air left her, she opened her eyes to glare at the monster he had become.
He grunted and groaned and thrust into her harder and harder, his grip on her neck tightening with each creak of the bed, each thud of her head against the headboard, the headboard against the wall.
Creak, thud, gasp, thud, creak.
Sparks of light exploded in her periphery. She clawed at his arm.
“No! I’m not done fucking you yet.”
Mazie gasped for air, prayed for his grip to falter, to allow just one small slip of oxygen through. Her vision blurred and she closed her eyes. He was going to do it this time. She was going to die. Tears dripped onto the pillow.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julie Frayn pens award-winning novels and short stories that pack a punch. She has published three novels and one short, short story collection. Her work has won two gold medals in the 2013 Authorsdb cover contest, and the Books and Pals 2014 Readers’ Choice award for women’s fiction. A bean counter by day, Julie revels in the written word. When she is not working or writing, she spends as much time as possible with her two children (grown adults, really), while they still think she’s cool.
Follow her at www.twitter.com/juliefrayn and subscribe to her blog at www.juliefrayn.com.
The Five Star Trivia Quiz Book
By
Rich Meyer
Copyright 2014 Rich Meyer
Cover design by Rich Meyer
Five Star Trivia is a family-friendly fest of forgotten knowledge for all ages! Every aspect of pop culture is here: Movies, television shows, sports, literature, music, cartoons, comic books, old time radio ... along with many more mundane topics like science, geography, history and politics! 600 questions plus 600 answers equals hours of fun!
Please press “Next Page” on your e-reader for the first chapter of The Five Star Trivia Quiz Book.
The Five Star Trivia Quiz Book
by Rich Meyer
QUESTIONS 1-25
Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto was outed by Newsweek magazine in 2014 as being the reclusive and supposed inventor of what online currency?
According to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, what exactly was “a date that will live in infamy”?
What comic strip featured characters such as Steve Dallas, Michael Binkley, Bill the Cat and Opus the penguin?
What sport is played on a field that is 300 yards long and 160 yards wide?
Who portrayed the Man of La Mancha in the big screen musical of the same name?
What name was given to the Roman God of War?
In what year were Pretzel M&M Candies originally released?
What was the name of Don Quixote’s horse?
Who wrote the children’s tale The Ugly Duckling?
Which one of the original Marx Brothers promoted Prom Shampoo in early television commercials?
Harpo, Inc. is the production company of what television impresario?
What is the capital of Finland?
What was the performing name of Joe Yule, Jr.?
What novel was adapted by radio’s Mercury Theater on the Air in 1938 and caused what many called a nationwide panic?
What are the first names of the two brothers known as the Hardy Boys?
The 1922 classic silent movie Nosferatu almost didn’t m
ake it to our era, as a court ordered most copies of the film destroyed due to a copyright infringement lawsuit from the estate of what famous horror writer?
What company and product was promoted with the catchphrase “Let your fingers do the walking”?
What favorite of children’s literature follows a very lucky day in the life of young Charlie Bucket?
Tiny Goodbite, Justin X. Grape, and Benny Da Sun are all examples of what?
What was the usual profession of TV’s Ralph Kramden?
Everything You Know is Wrong was a popular album by what comedy troupe?
What is the title of the oldest continuously published periodical in North America?
What was the name of the lame cowpoke, created by Clarence E. Mulford, who tended the Bar 20 Ranch?
What is the name of the tallest National Landmark that can be found in the District of Columbia?
What entertainer is perhaps best remembered for both a series of popular “Road” movies with crooner Bing Crosby, and his lifelong efforts to entertain the troops overseas during wartime?
Please press “Next Page” on you e-reader for the answers!
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 1-25
1.Bitcoin.
2.December 7th, 1941 (the bombing of Pearl Harbor).
3.Bloom County.
4.Polo.
5.Peter O’Toole.
6.Mars.
7.2010.
8.Rocinante.
9.Hans Christian Anderson.
10.Harpo Marx.
11.Orpah Winfrey.
12.Helsinki.
13.Mickey Rooney.
14.The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.
15.Joe and Frank Hardy.
16.Bram Stoker, the author of the original Dracula.
17.AT&T’s Yellow Pages.
18.Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
19.California Raisins.
20.Bus driver.
21.The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
22.The Firesign Theatre.
23.Hopalong Cassidy.
24.The Washington Monument.
25.Bob Hope.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rich Meyer is a trivia geek, comic book fanboy, old time radio researcher, science fiction aficionado, pseudo-independent publishing pundit, and a random reviewer and blogger. He has written over 35 trivia quiz books, several short stories and is continually working on the “Great Arcturan Novel.” He also runs Quantum Formatting Service, providing affordably priced book formatting and image manipulation.
He lives in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania with his wife Mona and their furry children Emiko Marie, Maxwell Doodle Marie, Liam Marie, Tallulah Marie, and Baby Ruby Xev Marie.
Rich can be found online at:
Balls Deep and Crying Like a Baby (blog): https://ballsdeepandcryinglikeababy.wordpress.com
Quantum Formatting Service: https://quantumformatting.weebly.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rich.meyer
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Table of Contents
NanoStrike by Pete Barber
The Broken Saint by Mike Markel
Hoodoo Money by Sharon Pennington
Quintspinner: A Pirate’s Quest by by Dianne Greenlay
Terms of Surrender by Lorrie Farrelly
Trucking in English by Carolyn Steele
The Reluctant Hero by Jackie Weger
Sisters of the Night by Linda Lee Williams
Return of the Runaway Bride by Donna Fasano
Mazie Baby by Julie Frayn
The Five Star Trivia Quiz Book by Rich Meyer
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