The Epilogues: Part I: Badge of Honor (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 6) - Hailey Edwards (the best novels to read .TXT) 📗

Badge of Honor

Hailey Edwards

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Edited by Sasha Knight

Copy Edited by Kimberly Cannon

Proofread by Lillie's Literary Services

Cover by Damonza

Illustration by Leah Farrow

Contents

Badge of Honor

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Black Hat, White Witch

Chapter One

Join the Team

About the Author

Also by Hailey Edwards

Badge of Honor

The Epilogues: Part I

Hadley has worked her butt off to earn her title as Potentate of Atlanta. All that’s left for her is the gauntlet. A show of prowess for the citizens of Atlanta. A taste of what their new POA can do. She’s ready to dazzle them and bring home the prize.

Until an old friend gets kidnapped. The price of his freedom? Her flunking the gauntlet.

Either she gives up on her dream, or her friend.

For Hadley, there’s only once choice.

One

Star Trek was a mistake as far as wedding themes go. I could admit that now, as I watched Midas get fitted with a pair of Vulcan ears that tapered to delicate points. His golden-blond hair had grown out over the last few months. I should have gone with Legolas from The Lord of the Rings movies over Spock.

Mmm.

Legolas.

Talk about a missed opportunity.

Still, he made Spock sexy. I wasn’t offended by how he filled out his Starfleet-inspired tux even a little.

“Well?” Neely studied Midas from tip to toe with a critical eye. “What do you think, Mr. Groom?”

Deep grooves furrowing his brow, Midas spun the question around on me. “What do you think?”

Both men focused on me, eager for my reaction, but my tongue was tied in knots. Maybe my brain too.

“Honey.” Neely dabbed the corners of my mouth with a linen napkin. “You’re drooling.”

Neely Torres worked with me back in my days as a ghost tour guide in Savannah. Thanks to the charmed ring I wore that skewed my features toward Hadley and away from Amelie, he didn’t recognize me. I was grateful for that, mostly, but I was also a teeny-tiny bit sad I couldn’t hug him for old time’s sake without making it weird.

He was on loan to me from Grier, who also met him through Haint Misbehavin’ Ghost Tours. These days, he worked for her full-time. From hair to nails to shoes, he designed the facades responsible for making her appear every inch the High Society Dame she had become. As well as a kickass potentate. And every facet in between.

Lucky me, he was the man with a plan for my Trekkie wedding.

“I can’t believe how this tux screams Beam me up, Scotty,” I answered them truthfully. “I thought it would come off as tacky or geeky or—”

“Oh, girl.” A snort blasted out Neely’s nose. “It’s geeky as geeky gets, but I was aiming for geek chic.”

Dressed in dark wash jeans, a French-blue button-down shirt, and loafers, he was the definition of chic. His chunky black glasses made him look ten years younger, like a kid fresh out of college. He was aging in reverse. Our very own Benjamin Button.

“You nailed it.” I bit my bottom lip. “He’s gorgeous.” I cleared my throat. “The suit, I mean.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Neely’s gaze slid to where his husband stood. “I know exactly what you meant.”

Cruz wasn’t much of a people person, which made them an even more striking couple since Neely was downright effervescent.

His husband, every bit as human as Neely, wasn’t much of a shield against a gwyllgi or a necromancer, but you would never know it from his vigilant stance or how his keen eyes swept the room before landing on Neely each and every time, as if he couldn’t help being drawn back to him.

Here was a man aware that monsters existed, and that his husband had chosen to walk among them.

“It’s comfortable.” Midas rolled his shoulders, testing his mobility. “Not the ears, but the suit.”

“The ears make the suit.” I winked at Neely behind Midas’s back. “In fact, can we leave those on?”

Midas caught my eye in the floor-length mirror, and a grin ticked in his cheek. “No.”

“Aww.” I popped out my bottom lip. “Please?”

“Save it for the wedding night.” Neely leaned closer to whisper in my ear. “The glue we’ll be using on the big day is hell to remove.”

“I see why you’re so tight with Grier.” I linked my arm through his out of habit. “You’re an enabler.”

“Part of it is my job,” he confessed while spreading his hands, “but the rest is my nature.”

“Ten minutes,” Cruz said, checking his expensive-looking watch. “Then we have to go.”

“Client dinner,” Neely explained. “Cruz has to schmooze.”

His husband gave no sign of laughing at the joke, but his aura somehow lightened under Neely’s smile.

The Bubbly Accountant and The Beast.

An oversimplification of who they were, but I would so watch that movie.

“I appreciate you squeezing us in on short notice.”

“Midas was already on the books for his next fitting, so the timing was perfect.”

In addition to decking out my entire bridal party, he was also dressing me for my other Big Day.

“I’ve had two years to get ready for this.” I wiped my palms dry on my pants. “How am I not there yet?”

Concern in every line of his face, Midas pivoted toward me, but Neely narrowed his eyes on the gwyllgi. I might have laughed at Midas being cowed by the squinty designer, but I was too jittery. I also couldn’t blame him for