Read an Excerpt
Copyright © Jessica Jayne 2016. All Rights Reserved, Totally Entwined Group Limited, T/A Totally Bound Publishing.
“All right, ladies and gentlemen,” Natalea Jones crooned into the microphone. She stood on the tiny black stage in the far corner of her small venue. “Ahem, perhaps I should say ladies because I’m pretty sure the women outnumber the men by a landslide. Another thirty minutes, girls. Show starts at eight-thirty. We need to give some of the guys time to clean up after their shift.”
The women erupted into cheers and a few men moaned, though Natalea was confident they didn’t mind being in a confined space with a bunch of soon-to-be hot and bothered women. She placed the microphone on the stand and observed the crowd.
Another busy Saturday night. This one was especially busy given the fact she’d agreed to host the Gamble Park Firemen’s Calendar reveal. Women went crazy over firemen. She understood why. There was something about a guy in a uniform—particularly a fireman’s uniform—that kicked a woman’s libido into gear.
She glanced around with pride at the rectangular building she called hers. This place wasn’t just her career, her means of survival—it was her home. Her studio apartment upstairs was the first solid and stable roof she’d ever had over her head. Hers—mortgage and all.
Memorabilia of famous female outlaws covered the brick walls—hence the name of the bar, The Misbehaved. Old photographs of Calamity Jane and Lillian Smith hung in rustic frames. Unloaded rifles from the late 1800s resembling those her favorite women of ill repute would have used during their hair-raising days were mounted on wood. At one point, Natalea had won an eBay auction for a pair of boots worn by none other than Annie Oakley herself. Those, of course, sat in a locked glass display behind the bar. Yep, The Misbehaved was her baby and she was proud of it.
As the saying went, Well-behaved women seldom make history! She agreed wholeheartedly. She’d done some things in her past that would not be described as ‘well behaved’. Stealing—whether money or food—in order to keep from starving or relying on friends to feed her. A couple rounds in juvie for shoplifting had taught her some hard-learned lessons. Thank God those days were in the past.
