Free The Fire Still Burns by Crystal-Rain Love Page B

respected in the community.  It made it hard to get anyone to spill dirt on Zeke, even after his death, maybe especially because of his death.  People tended to envision the deceased as far better people than they truly were, maybe it was a guilt or remorse thing.  Brynn didn't know the psychology behind the annoying tendency, she only knew it didn't help her one bit.
    “Looks like I'll be spending more time in Black Bear Gorge,” Brynn complained to herself as she located the medicine aisle, seeking out allergy relief for her son who had just called her complaining of watery eyes and an itchy throat.
    She glanced over the assortment of allergy medication, deciding between capsules or easy tabs when she heard something plop into the small basket she'd grabbed at the store's entrance.  Looking down, she saw a box of condoms.
    “So you don't make the same trouble you made last time you were here,” a voice full of self-righteousness said from behind her.
    Brynn swung around to find Doris Good staring her down with pure hatred in her dark eyes.  The look was the same as she remembered, but the woman had put on a good fifteen pounds over the last decade and her face was full of new wrinkles although she wasn't even quite sixty yet.  Brynn tightened her hand around the handle of her basket, suppressed fury clawing at her insides, begging her to attack.
    She sucked in a calming breath, reminded herself to be the better person.  “I beg your pardon.”
    “Well, you know how you are, Brynn Harlot.”  Doris smiled saccharine sweet.  “We wouldn't want any more little bastards born, now would we?”
    “The name is Harlow.”  She corrected the older woman as the handle of her basket dug into her palm.  “And my son is not a bastard.  I know who his father is, and so do you.”
    Doris's nostrils flared, her face reddened so intensely the color stood out starkly against her hairline where her forehead met with salt and pepper curls.
    “Don't you dare tell Adam about that boy.”  She pointed her finger at her.  “You tried to ruin his life once, and I will not allow you to bring that abomination into his life now.  I know you were with him last night at Red's Tavern and if you're thinking Adam can help you to raise that little—”
    “Who the hell are you calling an abomination?”  Brynn knew her question came out as an attention grabbing snarl, but she was too incensed to care.  She may have made mistakes in her life, put her faith in the wrong people, but there was no way anyone was going to call her child an abomination, no matter her personal sins.
    “I'll say it loud and clear, Brynn Harlot , any child born to a whore is an abomination, and I'm warning you now to keep your filthy hands and your filthy child away from my son.  The best thing you ever did was leave this town with Calvin Wylie.  You shouldn't have come back.  Your kind doesn't have any place here.”
    “Excuse me.”  A disembodied voice came from Brynn’s left.
    Brynn turned toward the voice and noticed Doris snap her head around to see who had intruded upon their verbal sparring, their equally heated glares landed on a teenage girl with short dark hair, deep wine lipstick, multiple ear piercings and a red apron, obviously an employee of the store.
    She held a box in her hand, shaking it a bit for emphasis.  “I found that cream you wanted, Mrs. Good, the one for that burning, itching sensation you’ve got going on down there in your nether parts.”
    Brynn's mouth gaped open, her anger receded a fraction as she caught the sly grin on the teenager's face and realized what she was doing.  She nearly broke out into a chuckling fit herself as she watched the other discount store shoppers stare at Doris, all of them slack-jawed and dying to make a snide comment at the haughty woman's expense.
    “I, I…” Doris sputtered, her face turned a deep shade of crimson as she looked at the small group of people who had formed around