Free Vignettes of a Master by Jason Luke

pulled out a piece of paper. On it was an image. It was a photo of a grave, and a woman dressed in black standing nearby. “Here’s the other option,” he said. I turned the image around and Leticia and I both went white with shock. The title on the image I held in my shaking hand read,
    “Ungrateful Characters Killed Off! Author returns to peaceful private life.”
    I put the page down slowly, and Leticia and I left the office.

The Book Bellas
    April, 9 th .
     
     
    Jonah runs into Claire after all these years.
    I recognized her instantly – the same feline grace, the same exotic almond shape to her eyes. It was Claire Moreland, and she looked as though she hadn’t aged. She still exuded the same sexual energy that she had all those years ago when she had made me her sex toy… and then I had made her mine.
    She was sitting at a table with an older man. The guy was overweight, with thinning hair. He had the useless, harmless look of an accountant or a middle-level manager … which is what he was.
    I waited for the music to end and people to leave the dance floor. The band launched into a cover of a U2 hit and I strode across the room and leaned close to Claire.
    “Hello,” I said softly. “I think I’ll take you home with me tonight.”
    Claire looked up and sudden shock spread across her face. Her eyelids fluttered like beating wings, and then she began to smile.
    “Hello, Jonah Noble,” she purred. She reached for my hand and made to stand up. The guy she was with looked furious. His face turned red and a sheen of sweat blistered across his forehead.
    “Who the fuck are you?” he growled.
    “I’m the man who is going to take this pretty woman home tonight. I’m going to strip her naked and make love to her till the morning. I’m going to leave her exhausted and satisfied in my bed. That’s who I am,” I said, and then pointed a threatening finger at the man. “And you will sit there and finish your drink.”
    The guy got up, flung himself out of his chair. I grabbed his meaty arm and pulled him close so that my voice was nothing more than a harsh whisper. “I’m Jonah Noble, you fat bastard,” I hissed, “and you’re Tom Smith. You work for me downtown as a mid-level accountant. Now, if you want to keep your job, and your wife, and lovely home, you will sit down right now and smile. Otherwise you will be standing in an unemployment line on Monday morning. Got it?”
    The guy sat down. He was white.
    I left the bar with Claire. She was red hot.

The Book Bellas
    April, 9 th .
     
     
    Jonah at his father’s grave trying to make amends .
    I crouched down in the soft grass and ran the palm of my hand across the headstone, feeling the lettering inscribed there as though I were blind, reading brail. My fingers played over the ridges and hollows.
    I knew the words by heart.
    ‘HERE LIES JACKSON NOBLE…’
    Weeds had begun to grow near the grave. I pulled them from the earth and tossed them aside.
    “I haven’t been here much,” I confessed, talking aloud, talking to my father. “I’m sorry about that. I guess after all this time those things that happened between us at the end… those things should have faded, hurt less… but they haven’t.”
    I thrust my hands deep into the pockets of my pants and stared down at the marble slab. There was a small glass vase near the headstone, with a couple of plastic flowers inside. The flowers had faded and drooped from the sun.
    I looked up into the blue clear sky, and then one last time down at my father’s grave. “I’m glad you’re dead,” I admitted. “It’s the truth, painful as it is to say. You weren’t a good man – you weren’t a good father… and I can’t forgive you. But I love you, dad, regardless…”

The Book Bellas
    April, 9 th .
     
     
    Jonah gives Leticia a spanking in the kitchen .
    There was a hot flush of defiance in Leticia’s eyes, and the fine peppering of freckles across her nose glowed like flakes of gold from