Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Instinct
    Instinct
    Instinct
    Ebook61 pages51 minutes

    Instinct

    By M.L. Bushman

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    "Why didn't you ever stop him?" Tom asked her. "Or at least tell me about it so I could?"

    She didn't answer Tom right away, you could almost see her picking through lie after lie in her mind, and he abruptly said, "Maybe you figured once he killed me, you'd have everyone working for you."

    Couldn't help wondering then if she hadn't helped in some way to drive Rosa mad, if only to get rid of her as well as Tom and Joanie. Sarah kicked my foot before I got more than a word of that out loud.

    "So you think he wants to kill you," Becky said.

    "Oh, yeah," Tom said, too casually. "He's had that idea in his head for a while now. That's why I took his gun after that fight with Dave. So he couldn't shoot either one of us."

    She averted her eyes, but we all knew who'd planted the seed.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJigsaw Press
    Release dateApr 17, 2015
    ISBN9781934340103
    Instinct
    Author

    M.L. Bushman

    A single mom, Ms. Bushman divides her time between her child, her horse, three cats and writing/editing for Jigsaw Press, not necessarily in that order. She is a novelist, a former newspaper reporter, a blogger, and a rabid patriot, again, not necessarily in that order. At present, Ms. Bushman is working on the Two Bit Western series Eli Stone. She and her small herd make their home just outside the tiny historical town of Sun River, Montana.

    Read more from M.L. Bushman

    Related to Instinct

    Titles in the series (10)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Western Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Mates AT HEART

      Apr 12, 2023

      Mates AT HEART
      2 min read

    • Article

      LOVE, Virtually

      Feb 16, 2020

      LOVE, Virtually
      5 min read

    • Article

      The King’s passion

      Aug 11, 2021

      The King’s passion
      11 min read

    • Article

      The King’s passion

      Aug 11, 2021

      The King’s passion
      11 min read

    • Article

      Night Music

      Aug 8, 2022

      Night Music
      5 min read

    • Article

      Me & Davey Waters

      Jan 15, 2023

      Me & Davey Waters
      4 min read

    • Article

      Belmonte

      Dec 28, 2018

      Belmonte
      5 min read

    • Article

      Choice

      Mar 10, 2024

      It was the whine of the mosquito that woke Ellen, but the slamming of the front door that made her get out of bed. Normally, the twenty-three-year-old would simply bat the pest away from her face, then dig herself under the covers so as to avoid gett

      9 min read

    • Article

      TOUGH Love

      Jul 14, 2021

      TOUGH Love
      2 min read

    • Article

      The 4thWrite Short Story Prize Winner: A Young Mother’s Chance Encounter With An Old Classmate

      Nov 16, 2022

      Wrinkled clear film around a forearm. A menthol super-king cigarette is carried to Amy’s mouth. She takes a long, considered drag then exhales a smoke stream into cold air. It’s October and the park is dying. Her other arm wraps tightly around her wa

      9 min read

    • Article

      Pink FLAMINGOS

      Aug 2, 2023

      Imogen could feel her cheeks reddening. ‘He is definitely checking you out!’ babbled her best friend Laura over the noise of the busy coffee shop. ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ Imogen replied. ‘He must be half my age.’ ‘Well, that’s as may be,’ Laura said.

      12 min read

    • Article

      Stump Of The World

      Dec 5, 2023

      At the stop sign before the library, Emma saw Gallo painting his yellow line as he had painted it for thirty years. The line highlighted a ten-foot-long crack in the road, a rogue speed bump that, unpainted, might do some damage to your car or your n

      18 min read

    • Article

      Stocking Full Of Coal

      Oct 28, 2021

      Stocking Full Of Coal
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Brief History of Violence

      Sep 10, 2020

      A Brief History of Violence
      8 min read

    • Article

      Under the Dome Questions & Answers: Killer Caterpillars and a Murder Mystery

      Jul 8, 2014

      We ponder who killed Angie, why there's so many caterpillars, how everyone is letting Jim off the hook and just how useless Sam from the woods really is this week. 

      4 min read

    • Article

      Thank God Nothing Lasts Forever

      May 21, 2021

      Thank God Nothing Lasts Forever
      16 min read

    • Article

      California Screaming

      Mar 24, 2021

      California Screaming
      5 min read

    • Article

      Lost In Time

      Oct 5, 2022

      Lost In Time
      5 min read

    • Article

      First Week Back

      Jan 20, 2021

      First Week Back
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Only Punishment

      Feb 10, 2022

      The floor of the room was white, but three of the walls and the ceiling were light blue. His own bland pajamas were light green. It was probably supposed to be calming, but it only angered Rats. He knew what this was—a fregging brainwashing facility,

      16 min read

    • Article

      The Eulogy

      Jul 13, 2022

      The Eulogy
      7 min read

    • Article

      Intervention

      Aug 10, 2023

      “An intervention?” Mary blurted out. “You can’t be serious.” Bill felt his face flush with anger at the flippant remark. “Yeah, an intervention. We’ve tried talking to him, but nothing ever changes.” Bill and Mary were having yet another discussion a

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Funeral

      Feb 3, 2020

      The Funeral
      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Instinct

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Instinct - M.L. Bushman

      Two-Bit Westerns presents...

      Instinct

      by

      M.L. Bushman

      Instinct© copyright 2015 by M.L. Bushman

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted by any means—including, but not limited to, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, audio or video—without express written consent by the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and/or used fictitiously. Any similarities to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.

      ISBN: 9781934340103

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author and publisher.

      Published by Jigsaw Press at Smashwords

      For the missing pieces of your reading puzzle

      www.jigsawpress.com

      Open a can of worms, you just can't put 'em back

      Holstered my smoking right revolver. Tom, I--.

      No, Eli. She would've killed us both, he said.

      His older boys--Jesse, Sam and Elliot--pushed through stunned kids at the door to get in the cabin.

      Tom helped Joanie to her feet.

      One of you, get something to cover her, please, she said.

      Elliot hustled to another room and returned with a worn patchwork sleeping fur.

      All those horrified kids at the door.

      Jeremiah spat at me, You murdering bastard.

      Shut up, Dave snapped, standing at the dining table.

      My dad wanted her dead.

      That's a lie and you know it, Tom said. Bleeding through the fingers over his left arm, he shook off Joanie's first attempt at the wound. Watching his first born like a hawk.

      No one wanted her dead, Jesse said soft like he does, Sam and Elliot nodding right along.

      You stay out of this, Jeremiah said. Even with a broken jaw that son of Becky talked plain enough when he wanted. "This is family business."

      You just get on a horse and go, Tom said. Now.

      From her corner, Becky cried, You don't mean that.

      He said to her, Try me, and everybody went wide-eyed. He turned back to Jeremiah. Threatening kids to get your way? You're lucky Jesse hasn't called that bluff yet. He paused, added, And no one told me.

      That scowling red-head glanced at his glowering mom, but Tom said to Jesse, Sam and Elliot, You three are better sons than I deserve.

      Those boys looked one to another, then Jesse said, Thanks, Dad. And meant it.

      No, I'm the one who's thankful. You three are the kind of kids that make being a parent worthwhile.

      But I'm not, Jeremiah said sullen.

      Tom said to him, You could be. You'll never know how bad I wish you were.

      Boy seemed surprised, until that nasty sneer come back.

      Recalled Eleanor and her scheming daughter, Sandy, then. Had to be hard to see all the work you put into a kid just ain't panning out.

      How would you ever know when to cut your losses?

      Everyone staring at me now.

      Oh, man, I muttered, disgusted with myself.

      Jeremiah gestured at Rosa and said, Losses, Eli?

      Back off, Dave said, that warning tone, just like his sister, my wife.

      Eli, everyone knows you can't help it, Tom said.

      Joanie nodded, Dave, too. Becky scowled, yet Tom's three stray boys ain't even close to upset, despite a dead woman on the floor at their feet.

      Jeremiah was pissed, any fool could figure that, even with only half a face for a clue. Eyeballing me, nasty as all get-out, Can't help killing either, can he?

      Dave said, Ain't telling you again.

      Shot her, didn't he? Jeremiah said.

      And I would've if he didn't.

      You can't shoot for shit.

      Dave glanced at me and shut up. Jeremiah grinned with

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1