Azriel Johnson is cautiously optimistic about the future of the Human race, Dragons or no. He believes in prophecy and the Dragon’s Bane Series comes straight from a part of himself he believes probably exists… somewhere….
Well, with that, let's get right to it. Today Azriel is giving us Part Two of our Contemporary Realistic track, and his challenge words are: tight, palmetto, shock, I-beam, and wrench
Doll-Face
Part 1, by Rue AllynPart 2:
Van slapped on his hard hat to cover his premature balding head. He’d tried the saw palmetto herbs to resist the hair loss, but to no avail. His alpha-dog persona was fragile when it came to how he looked. He didn’t like to admit it around the other guys, but Arielle knew all his deep, dark secrets, his insecurities. This made her more dangerous than a broken bottle in a bar fight.
He followed her tight ass to the rust stains she was pointing out. He’d always appreciated her body. She had a wrench slipped into the belt over her jeans in the middle of her behind. The metal tool swayed back and forth like a grandfather clock. The last thing Van wanted to think about was his grandfather, Angus Herald, the founder of Herald construction, the company Van now ran. Angus had like Arielle.
There was no shock in Arielle’s eyes as she caught his lecherous stares at her body. “Look,” she snapped her fingers in Van’s face. “Here.” She pointed at the rusted I-beam supporting the house.
“So, what?” Van said, condescendingly. “It’s only a little rust. It’ll be fine.”
“It is not up to code,” she replied. “This needs to be replaced. This isn’t just a preservation project, the building also has to be safe.”
“It’s fine. The building will be safe.”
“Oh. So you’ll take responsibility when the supports crumble and the floor caves in. That’s millions of dollars in lawsuits that I can wash my hands of with a call to the network explaining your unwillingness to do the job.”
“What’s this really about?” Van asked accusingly.
“What do you mean?”
“This inquisition. You know perfectly well that beam will hold for centuries. Why are you even here?”
“I’m here for this inspection, nothing more. The network has no idea we were ever engaged. No idea that you’re a cheating bastard. Though if they get a load of this rusted metal, they’ll be sure you cut corners at least.”
“That’s not fair, Arielle. We were on a break.”
“A break? You call me going to Massachusetts to visit my family a break?”
“You know why. Your ex, Baxter.”
“Seriously?” Arielle huffed, putting her hands on her hips. “We were a thing in high school. That’s it. You had nothing to worry about.”
“Had?” Van asked. “What about now?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know, Doll-face?” Arielle threw over her shoulder as she turned away to look at the stain again.
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I'm pretty sure that Van's potential as a romance hero just lost some significant ground. Maybe Doll-Face will be a mystery instead... will someone end up dead? Or maybe Baxter will arrive to put our fragile Van out of his misery. Or maybe Arielle will find a girlfriend and run for Governor... anything can happen in the Five Words game!For more information about Azriel Johnson, check out his webpage.
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