Any Other Name

Contents Contents title pg copyright pg Prologue A Stiff Drink and a Soft Woman Turtle and Thumbknuckle Pinpricks of Discomfort Maelstrom Creepily Devout Crash into Me Cat & Cocoon Where Did I Land? Duck Duck Goose A Flaw in the Logic By Any Other Name So It's True Closets & Cubbies Foraging The Journal Food for Thought The Countess Trepidation and Temptation Novel Feelings Jo of All Tides Adrenaline Liquid Heat Mind Blown The Courtship It’s So Squishy Nookshelf Game Trail Ducks Don't Chase You Hard-Wired You've Been a Very Bad Girl Way to Go Power Drunk Crosshairs Warrior Princess with a Side of Fur Mayday Evidence Houses in Order I'll Have You Epilogue DearReader After Words About Me (KJB) About Me (MWB) Other books Guide Contents Start of Content Any Other Name Kelli Jae Baeli Melissa Walker-Baeli Any Other Name Kelli Jae Baeli & Melissa Walker Baeli Cover Design & Creation © 2022 Kelli Jae Baeli https://www.facebook.com/kellijaebaeli https://twitter.com/KelliJaeBaeli http://kellijaebaeli.com [email protected] https://www.facebook.com/MelissaWalkerBaeli [email protected] License Notes The right of Kelli Jae Baeli and Melissa Walker Baeli to be identified as authors of this Work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format. This is a work of fiction. Had it actually happened, it would have been cataloged as "non-fiction" but since it did not, it was not. All events, locations, institutions, themes, persons, characters and plot are completely fictional, except when they are not. Any resemblance to places, persons, or entities living or deceased, gender and species notwithstanding, are the inventions of the authors, or maybe they are not. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form whatsoever. Yadda Yadda, Void where prohibited by law, batteries not included, don't feed the monkeys. Micro-Summary: Jolene Winters only wanted to be left alone, but her new-found safety and contentment will be both challenged and shattered. Categories/Genres: Lesbian Fiction, Lesbian Romance, Romantic Suspense, LGBTQ Fiction, Adventure Fiction, Women's Psychological Fiction, Domestic Suspense, Women Authors Created and Printed in the United States of America, which is not so united these days, but still where we can freely create and print things. Prologue Jolene September 2021 I'd been under lock and key for a week when Giselle decided my punishment was over and opened the door. After she left, I started packing my bags. She'd come back into my room and caught me. I should have just crawled out the window with nothing but my resolve. The punishment for my attempt to leave her was even more severe. One I wouldn't soon forget. Now, having demonstrated to me in no uncertain terms what would happen if I defied her again, she allowed me the honor of leaving the house with her to fetch coffee. Her two bodyguards usually did it, but they were off on some other assignment from her, and she certainly couldn't stoop to getting her own morning beverage. Giselle pulled the Lexus into a parking slot at Starbucks. The same one I used to work at all those months ago. "What are you waiting for? Get my coffee. You may not get one for yourself." This is my chance. Maybe the only chance I had left. "I'm still sore, and the line is long today." I knew this would appeal to her. "And you will stand in that line until you get my coffee, Jolene." Dominating, cold, dead eyes bored into me. I dipped my head. "Yes, ma'am." Stepping into the Starbucks, I scanned the room, soon approaching the table where a young woman sat typing on a laptop, her cell phone next to it. "Excuse me. Sorry...I'm trying to get away from an abusive, controlling relationship. I need to call a friend to come pick me up out back. May I please borrow your phone?" After the shock seeped away, the young woman handed me the device. I had to punch in the number twice before I got it right, my hands were shaking so badly. Berta answered. "It's Jo." "Girl! Where the hell have you been? I haven't been able to reach you--" "Listen--" I cut her off in a controlled panic. "I can't explain, there's no time. It's Giselle. I'm in the Starbucks across from the courthouse. I need you to come to the back entrance and pick me up. Please." The desperation in my voice must have been enough. A sigh of relief left me when I heard keys jingling over the line. "I'm leaving now," Berta said. I handed the phone back to the woman. "Thank you so much!" The woman nodded compassionately, having heard my side of the conversation. I hid by a potted plant near the front window, peeking through the glass to the Lexus, where Giselle was reading through papers for court. It would take Berta fifteen minutes. I just had to hang tight until then. For endless moments, I threw furtive glances out the café window, making sure Giselle wasn't paying attention to me. Her ego wouldn't let her entertain the thought that I'd try to leave again, so soon after my punishment. I was counting on that. Berta must have blown a few lights, because I saw her turn into the alley leading to the rear of the store ten minutes later. Tina, my former co-worker, came out of the back room as I dashed toward the break in the counter. "Tina!" "Jo?" "I need to get away from someone. Can I please cut through and go out the back?" Eyebrows raised, she looked around the store, and then waved me through. "Thank you!" I gave her a kiss on the cheek and rushed through the room adorned