Welcome to the monthly round up of all my #ThursThreads tales. We made it to May, which means the end of school is just around the corner, and the Muirlettes are ready. Me too, frankly. Hopefully the weather will remember it’s supposed to warm up rather than leave us cool and windy. But I’m writing and that means more books soon.
As usual, most of these bits are of upcoming tales, written to prompts from the #ThursThreads #flashfiction challenge I host each Thursday. We’re starting with Week 507 through Week 510 and I’ve collected them in one place.
February had four Thursdays and we got over our technical difficulties. So, here are the four tales along with their dates and prompts. Happy reading!
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Week 507, April 7, 2022
Prompt: “Boy, do we have a lot of work to do.”
Terim frowned. What’s she looking for?
Before he could join her, she turned her attention to the open space around the cave. She cleared away any debris that showed their occupation before she returned inside and removed the rocks from the fire pit to the base of the walls. She poured water on the pit and thrust her hand into it to be sure it was cold, before rinsing off the soot.
“Are you ready to leave?” She fixed him with sharp scrutiny as she shouldered her pack.
“Yes.”
She nodded once. “Good.” She handed him his much lighter gear and struck out for a trail up the mountain.
“Shouldn’t I take the heavier pack? I’m bigger.” He followed behind her, uneasy with their distribution of weight.
Kulastri snorted. “You’ve just recovered your strength from your journey here. You’re going to need all of it to make it another ten kilometers over rough terrain. If you’re weighed down, you won’t make it to our next destination.”
“But—”
“Do you understand that women are full people?” She didn’t look back.
“Yes, of course.”
“Do you believe that women are equal to you in skill and expertise?”
“Well…”
“Boy, do we have a lot of work to do to fix that. Try to keep up. It’s a long hike today, given your lack of strength.”
Terim wanted to protest her dismissive response, but he found keeping up with her sapped much of his energy after only a few minutes.
248 #WIP500 words
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Week 508, April 14, 2022
Prompt: “How’d that work out for you?”
“I wanna know who hired the hitman and if he’s still lookin’ for Viper.” Trigger crossed his arms over his chest. “They might be hopin’ the cops can find her, but if they come up dry, they might send someone else after her. We gotta be prepared for that.”
“We’ll keep her safe, Trigger.” Michael nodded.
“Hey, real human, standing right here. Stop talking around me.” I met their gazes. “Here’s the thing. The only connection they have is for Aeryn Carter, the witness to the murders. The driver’s license in their records has my face on it and if they’re half as good as Neo is at facial recognition, someone is going to put my face with my old name and realize I’m not as dead as they thought. What we have to do is make a plan for when they come looking for my old alias.”
Loki tipped his head. “Why do you think they’ll come looking, Viper?”
“Because Laurie Stratton never let anything go willingly and he now runs a bounty hunting shop.” I scowled. “He’ll be coming for me, with or without Backlog’s help.”
“You disappeared before and he didn’t look for you,” Trigger pointed out.
“Yeah, and how’d that work out? For you to just blithely say he won’t find me now, after he knows I exist, is foolish. Hell, you found me without even trying. Plus, I was “dead.” Now I’m not. More than likely he’ll show up here sooner or later.”
249 #ConcreteAngelsMC words
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Week 509, April 21, 2022
Prompt: “What do you think?”
“Look for the names of the Marshals. We need to add them to the list. Also find out which case put the Grossmans in hiding and see if we can learn who might have hired the hitman and who he might be. Then we’ll have Anubis or Luke pay him a visit, ja?”
Neo nodded. “I’m on it.”
I let out my breath slowly as I kissed Harley’s head. I hadn’t realized how much it bothered me that Laurie probably knew I was alive and would come after me. Oh sure, I was much older than I’d been when I “died,” but my maturity didn’t stop the old fear from taking over.
“I’m gonna go change Harley.” She didn’t have a dirty diaper, but I wanted an excuse to leave the Lair without company.
Despite that, Trigger leaned close. “Do you want some help?”
“No, that’s okay. You stay and work out a plan with Loki and Neo.” I waved him off and headed back to the main room.
“What do you think? Should we get the 9mos or the 12mos jacket?” Dollhouse stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Karma, looking at something on her phone. “I don’t want to get one that’s too small. I want something she can wear right now.”
“What are y’all lookin’ at?” I stepped up next to them and Dollhouse had the grace to blush.
“Uh, we were gonna get Harley a baby biker jacket.” She held up her phone. “They’re vinyl but they’re so cute!”
249 #ConcreteAngelsMC words
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Week 510, April 28, 2022
Prompt: “Something’s wrong.”
Moriah stepped out of the restrooms and raised an eyebrow.
“Are ya all right? You look like something’s wrong.”
Riley shook his head. “Nope, just me making a fool outta myself. Again.”
She raised an eyebrow as she held the door open for him to proceed in front of her. “Again?”
“Yeah. I’m not known for my tact or social niceties. In fact, I kinda suck at them.” He grimaced ruefully. “It’s why I’m better at SAR than being around people for normal situations. I always say something wrong or rude or badly, and then people get pissed off at me.”
Moriah tilted her head. “Did ya piss off someone recently, then?”
Riley wrinkled his nose. “The owner of the café. I asked why they don’t require tips for the servers. Apparently, she pays them a living wage and I just stepped in it.”
She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry yerself. Tatiana will get over it as long as ya remember the next time yer in. So where are ya headed for the rest of yer day?”
“Home to shower before going to the clinic. You?”
She nodded. “Same. I’d give ya a ride except we ran down into town, so…” She shrugged.
He laughed. “Then I guess this is where we part. I’ll see you at the clinic, yeah?”
“Brilliant. See you then, Riley.” She winked and set off back up the hill.
Riley enjoyed her ass headed away from him before turning for home.
248 #ElementalHearts words