Slash & Burn

By Julie Harrington

Ex-con John Stark knows all about crime and punishment. As far as the State's concerned, he's paid his debt to society, but John's still paying for the night he broke all his rules. The night he gave in to his desire for Sara Keegan.

Now the only mother he's ever known is dead. Murdered. The cops are useless. The case closed. If John wants Justice, he'll have to get it on his own, and there's only one person he trusts enough to have his back.

Sara Keegan's always known what she wanted and never apologized for it. That includes her one night with the only man she's ever loved. When tragedy brings her home and face-to-face with John again, neither can deny their attraction burns hotter than ever.

Together, John and Sara must tackle the past while taking on the most dangerous man in the city—a deadly foe who'll stop at nothing to bury the truth...and them right along with it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Julie Harrington
• Release date: Oct 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370872817

Julie Harrington

A love of reading led to a love of writing for Julie Harrington. With eclectic tastes in genres (not to mention music, hobbies, and purses), her writing career produced a mystery/paranormal/horror and mystery novel before bringing her full circle to her first love: Contemporary Romance. Her first and second romance novels, "Ship Shape" and "Tinsel", take readers from the beautiful, sunny, sexy islands of the Caymans to the cold, dark, winter streets of Chicago. "Something To Talk About," her third novel - and finalist in the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart Contest - was released in April of 2012 by The Wild Rose Press. Julie believes that falling in love should always be an adventure, and that reading a book should always take readers on an adventure they'll love.

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SLASH AND BURN

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

An Original Publication of Julie Harrington at Smashwords

Copyright © 2017 Julie Harrington

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author, Julie Harrington.

Smashwords eISBN: 9781370872817

First Smashwords Edition October 2017

Smashwords Edition License Notes: This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Fonts used: Garamond

Cover design & eBook formatting by StormCloud, Montana, USA

Cover photo 28443488 © Pixattitude | Dreamstime.com

Visit Julie at JulieHarrington.net

Slash And Burn

Table of Contents

Cover Page

Copyright

Inside Cover Page

Chapter 01

Chapter 02

Chapter 03

Chapter 04

Chapter 05

About the Author

Other Books by Julie Harrington

Connect with Julie Harrington

Chapter One

Grief made men stupid. Pills. Booze. Women. Fights. All four if a guy really wanted to fuck up his life. The drive to block out pain always came with a price. That, John Stark figured, was his only excuse for being such a fucking hot-headed, short-sighted idiot.

He should have expected a double-cross instead of information when he followed Marcelo Karbowski—childhood friend and street-level snitch—into the alley behind Jake's Bar.

He should have considered that an old friend might not be a current friend.

He definitely should have considered that said ex-friend might have made some newer, more profitable friends. Friends who took exception to John's questions about who murdered Jake, the woman who'd raised him like a son.

Those people might not like his not-so-subtle interrogation methods. They might also object to the string of broken fingers, missing teeth, and fractured skulls he left in his wake as he made his way across New York, from the airport to the waterfront, over the last few days.

The bar door banged shut behind him. Garbage steamed in the shadows of the frigid December midnight. John jammed gloved hands into the pockets of his black leather coat. Well?

Karbowski sniffled. Shuffled his feet. Glanced around.

Then Tommy The Fist Granger and Eddie Gallagher Jackson emerged from behind the dumpster, the hiding spot of most rats, and stepped forward.

It didn't take much imagination to figure out how Tommy got his nickname. Eddie, on the other hand, earned his at the altar of the local carnival's strongman game the summer of their sophomore year. He spent every night trying to prove he was the bigger man by swinging that damned sledgehammer to win a jumbo stuffed panda for his girlfriend.

By the time he'd collected enough tickets for the bear, the girl had wandered into the Tunnel of Love with Eddie's best friend, Rick. Two nights later, the carnival cops found Rick, head caved in, facedown in that canal. Nobody ever found out what happened to the girl. Rumors had her knocked up and run away, but whenever he got drunk enough, Eddie would laugh and say they got the knocked part right.

Since then, Eddie's fondness for the sledgehammer was both legendary and feared.

John dropped his chin to his chest. He gave his head a small shake as he rubbed the back of his neck. Ah hell, Karbs. You, too?

Karbowski retreated. It's nothing personal, Johnny. You shoulda stayed away, man. You shoulda known better.

Eddie whistled. The sharp note bounced off the brick walls. He wagged a thick envelope at Karbowski, who hurried over to take it. Eddie slapped the money into the other man's hand and then shoved his shoulder, making Karbs stumble. Now get lost.

Karbs never looked back.