Where There’s Smoke by Terra Little

JUNE 2009 BOM (Alternate)

“See that picture? I bet you’re probably looking at it, shaking your head and thinking we look like a couple of gang-bangers, but that’s not entirely true. Well, not for me anyway. My name is Isaiah, but my friends call me Zay, and the guy behind me is Justin. We call him Hood, short for hoodlum, because that’s exactly what he is. That fool ain’t never up to no good and me hanging out with him drives my moms crazy, which is precisely why I do it. I figure, if I cause her to lose a little sleep, then we’ll be even. It’s the least I can do, since she went to all the trouble of telling me about how she used to be a drug addict and all. What did she think, I was going to give her a prize because she straightened out her life? Yeah, right. A heart attack is more like it…”   ~ Isaiah

“I’ve seen that picture enough to last me a lifetime, thank you very much. That’s my son, Isaiah, and his idiot so-called friend, Hood, whose name fits him to a tee. I have talked to that boy until I’m blue in the face, trying to get him to see what I see when I look at Hood – a cretin. But he doesn’t listen and I’m tired of talking. Actions always did speak louder than words, so I think it’s about time I do some acting out of my own. I just hope I’m doing the right thing by tracking down his long lost father…”  ~ Anne 

“Take a good look at that picture, because when I’m done you won’t be seeing it anymore. My son is front and center, looking just like me when I was his age and trying to go down the same path of criminality that I went down. If I had been around when he was growing up, he wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing, but that’s neither here nor there. I’m Alec, but some still call me Smoke, because of who and what I used to be, and I’m about to put some heads to bed. For sixteen years I didn’t know I had a son in the world, but now that I do know, keeping him out of the game is my number one priority. To do that I have to go toe-to-toe with Hood and I’m actually looking forward to it. It’s been a minute. Apparently Hood ain’t never heard that, where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and I’m a little hot under the collar right about now…”  ~ Smoke

Find out what happens when Alec “Smoke” Avery walks back into Breanne “Anne” Phillips’s life and turns everything upside down, including the son he never knew he had. Isaiah is under the impression that he’s in control of his own destiny, but he soon finds out that destiny isn’t something that can be easily controlled. Come to think of it, so does Anne…

Visit Terra’s site at www.terralittle.com or her blog at www.terralittle.blogspot.com.