The Graveside Bar and Grill, page 1
part #137 of 1001 Dark Nights Series
The Graveside Bar and Grill
A Charley Davidson Novella
By Darynda Jones
The Graveside Bar and Grill
A Charley Davidson Novella
By Darynda Jones
1001 Dark Nights
Copyright 2022 Darynda Jones
ISBN: 979-8-88542-002-0
Foreword: Copyright 2014 M. J. Rose
Published by 1001 Dark Nights Press, an imprint of Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
Book Description
The Graveside Bar and Grill
A Charley Davidson Novella
By Darynda Jones
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Darynda Jones comes a new story in her Charley Davidson series…
When Donovan St. James’ precocious charge asks him—no questions asked—to tail the doctor who keeps their ragtag team patched up, he wants to refuse. Not because the saucy teen is getting too big for her britches, ordering him around like a mob boss, but because the woman stirs feelings in him he would rather not explore. However, when evil threatens the doc’s life, he realizes he has no choice. Sia saved his life once. He will try to return the favor. He just prays he can do it without losing his heart.
Running from the supernatural entity that has destroyed entire worlds to have her, Sia thought she’d found a haven on Earth with a motley team of warriors protecting the girl destined to save humanity. But when Sia’s found, she realizes something on this plane is more scrumptious than her: that very teen. So, she runs—and Donovan St. James follows. Nothing is more alluring than a scruffy biker with a lacerating gaze. And she vows to tell him that…if they survive.
**Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you'll enjoy each one as much as we do.**
About Darynda Jones
NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Darynda Jones has won numerous awards for her work and her books have been translated into 17 languages. As a born storyteller, Darynda grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, certain they went away the better for it. She penned the internationally bestselling Charley Davidson series and is currently working on several beloved projects, most notably the Sunshine Vicram Mystery Series with St. Martin's Press and the Betwixt and Between Series of paranormal women's fiction. She lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys.
She can be found at http://www.daryndajones.com
Also From Darynda Jones
CHARLEY DAVIDSON SERIES
First Grave on the Right
For I have Sinned: A Charley Short Story
Second Grave on the Left
Third Grave Dead Ahead
Fourth Grave Beneath my Feet
Fifth Grave Past the Light
Sixth Grave on the Edge
Seventh Grave and No Body
Eight Grave After Dark
Brighter than the Sun: A Reyes Novella
The Dirt on Ninth Grave
The Curse of Tenth Grave
Eleventh Grave in Moonlight
The Trouble with Twelfth Grave
Summoned to Thirteenth Grave
The Graveyard Shift: A Charley Novella
The Gravedigger’s Son: A Charley Novella
BETWIXT & BETWEEN
Betwixt
Bewitched
Beguiled
THE NEVERNEATH
A Lovely Drop
The Monster
MYSTERY
SUNSHINE VICRAM SERIES
A Bad Day for Sunshine
A Good Day for Chardonnay
A Hard Day for a Hangover
YOUNG ADULT
DARKLIGHT SERIES
Death and the Girl Next Door
Death, Doom, and Detention
Death and the Girl He Loves
Acknowledgments from the Author
Thank you soooo much, Grimlets, for being as excited about this story as I was to write it! I missed Donovan and the gang, so this was a super fun project.
Thank you, as always, to my incredible agent, Alexandra Machinist, without whom the Charley world would not exist to such a spectacular degree. And to my amazing film agent, Josie Freedman. I love working with you both.
Thank you to Lorelei King for bringing all things Charley to life. It’s been over a decade! Where would Charley be without your sexy-ass voice mesmerizing her readers?
And most especially thank you to Liz, Jillian, and MJ for putting up with me and being there through every step of this story. I’m so very honored to work with you.
And then there’s Chelle. I can’t even. You amaze me. I appreciate your talent more than you can know.
Thank you to my wonderful, amazing assistants, Netters, Dana, and Trayce.
Thank you to the lurves of my life, my family, who let me hug and kiss on them in public with very few complaints.
And again, Grimlets! You inspire me to do my very best. Thank you for sticking with Charley and the gang through thick and thin. Mostly thick. Lots of thick.
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Dylan Allen
Jennifer L. Armentrout
Kristen Ashley
Tessa Bailey
Sawyer Bennett
Shayla Black
Lexi Blake
Lauren Blakely
K. Bromberg
Claire Contreras
Tina Folsom
Melissa Foster
Heather Graham
Donna Grant
Liliana Hart
Larissa Ione
Alexandra Ivy
Lorelei James
Darynda Jones
Lisa Renee Jones
Laura Kaye
J. Kenner
Corinne Michaels
Elisabeth Naughton
Laurelin Paige
Carly Phillips
Jennifer Probst
Kristen Proby
C.D. Reiss
Christopher Rice
Carrie Ann Ryan
Kendall Ryan
Kennedy Ryan
Kylie Scott
Jill Shalvis
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Tijan
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Table of Contents
Book Description
About Darynda Jones
Also from Darynda Jones
Acknowledgments from the Author
Discover More 1001 Dark Nights Authors
Discover More Blue Box Press Authors
Foreword
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Nine
Discover More Darynda Jones
An excerpt from Betwixt by Darynda Jones
Discover the World of 1001 Dark Nights
Special Thanks
One Thousand and One Dark Nights
Once upon a time, in the future…
I was a student fascinated with stories and learning.
I studied philosophy, poetry, history, the occult, and
the art and science of love and magic. I had a vast
library at my father’s home and collected thousands
of volumes of fantastic tales.
I learned all about ancient races and bygone
times. About
myths and legends and dreams of all
people through the millennium. And the more I read
the stronger my imagination grew until I discovered
that I was able to travel into the stories... to actually
become part of them.
I wish I could say that I listened to my teacher
and respected my gift, as I ought to have. If I had, I
would not be telling you this tale now.
But I was foolhardy and confused, showing off
with bravery.
One afternoon, curious about the myth of the
Arabian Nights, I traveled back to ancient Persia to
see for myself if it was true that every day Shahryar
(Persian: شهريار, “king”) married a new virgin, and then
sent yesterday's wife to be beheaded. It was written
and I had read that by the time he met Scheherazade,
the vizier's daughter, he’d killed one thousand
women.
Something went wrong with my efforts. I arrived
in the midst of the story and somehow exchanged
places with Scheherazade – a phenomena that had
never occurred before and that still to this day, I
cannot explain.
Now I am trapped in that ancient past. I have
taken on Scheherazade’s life and the only way I can
protect myself and stay alive is to do what she did to
protect herself and stay alive.
Every night the King calls for me and listens as I spin tales.
And when the evening ends and dawn breaks, I stop at a
point that leaves him breathless and yearning for more.
And so the King spares my life for one more day, so that
he might hear the rest of my dark tale.
As soon as I finish a story... I begin a new
one... like the one that you, dear reader, have before
you now.
Chapter One
Sorry I’m late.
I didn’t want to come.
—T-shirt often seen on Charley Davidson
When the teenage daughter of two gods asks you to keep an eye on the beautiful doctor who takes care of her merry band of misfits—no questions asked—that is exactly what you do.
Not that Donovan St. James was whipped. He wasn’t. He’d never been whipped a day in his life. At least, not until the two most important people in his life came into the world. First, his son. A ten-year-old with more swagger than he had any right to. And then again when Elwyn Alexandra Loehr, screaming velociraptor that she was, decided to grace humanity with her presence. Before either of those entries, he never would have believed that something so tiny could render him powerless with a single glance.
But Teacup ordering him around like he was somehow in her servitude was too much. If not for the fact that said doctor—a gorgeous redhead with curves that screamed slippery when wet—walked into his bar minutes after he received the odd request, he would’ve texted the teacup back a hard no. He wouldn’t have sent it, but he would’ve typed it into his phone—probably in all caps—and smirked in satisfaction before deleting it and texting instead: When you say no questions asked...
I’m just worried about her, Elwyn messaged back. She seems distraught.
Distraught? Donovan huffed out a laugh from behind the bar and shook his head. What the hell kind of kid used the word distraught?
Distraught in what way? Brainiac.
She shot him an eye-roll emoji, then sent: You have to stop calling me that. I’m not a brainiac. I’m just well-traveled.
That was the understatement of the century. The kid had recently slipped onto another plane and then got lost there. While her journey had only lasted three days here on Earth, she’d been gone for years on the planes she’d traveled while trying to find her way back home. It was a tragedy Donovan had yet to come to terms with. She’d left a sassy, precocious, coffee-drinking five-year-old and returned a bossy teen with a god complex.
It broke his heart that he’d missed most of her childhood. They all had. And he questioned for the thousandth time why he stayed. Why he subjected himself to such strife and anguish. She had suffered. He saw it in the aging of her eyes. The sadness behind her smile. If he hadn’t sworn on his life that he would protect the girl destined to save humanity, he would’ve put Santa Fe, New Mexico in his rearview ages ago. But that promise, along with the fact that he loved the elfin more than the life he’d sworn on kept him glued to the area, no matter the turmoil. Or the apprehension.
But no one had told him he’d be taking orders from the little tyrant. He snorted aloud at her well-traveled comment, drawing the attention of his fill-in bartender, a last-minute replacement with long, chestnut hair, shimmering golden eyes, and a T-shirt that read: May my morning coffee give me the strength to make my mid-morning coffee. She was also a god and the mother of said tyrant.
Charley Davidson sashayed over to him and gave him a saucy wink. A saucy wink that Donovan ignored since her husband—a god, as well, as luck would have it—was sitting three stools away from him. Thankfully, a bar took up space between them. A bulwark, so to speak. A barrier that could give him a split-second advantage should he need it.
Not that he would, but it was nice to have options.
He turned and watched as the redhead wound her way through the sparse patronage to a corner booth. She slipped into it, the shadows sliding over her until they almost completely consumed her. He made a mental note to up the wattage on the lamp hanging over that particular table. All he could make out now was a shapely calf that spilled down into a red, low-heeled pump.
Charley broke into the seedier side of his thoughts that arose at the sight of the red pump by sidling up to him. She propped an elbow on his shoulder and said, “I like her.”
Donovan nodded, trying to make out the rest of the doctor’s outline. “Me, too.” Then he turned toward the radiant woman leaning lazily against him and realized that she was looking in the opposite direction. He refocused on the end of the bar. “You like who?”
Charley pointed to her husband, who sat with a woman on either side of him, each doing her best to flirt. Good luck with that.
“You like the women flirting with the man you vowed to love for all eternity?” And in this couple’s case, that was a real possibility. An eternity seemed like such a long time to be shackled to one person. But after being alone for so long, he’d take it.
“No,” she said with a snort. “I only like the one on his left. The raven-haired beauty with the Brazilian accent. She gives good aura.”
He squinted at the two women he’d noticed the moment they walked in—as had everyone at the bar. The dark-haired one wore a rust-colored T-shirt and a cowgirl hat, clearly trying to blend with the locals. The blonde wore a shimmering powder-blue cocktail dress, which was a little too fancy for his establishment, a biker den called The Graveside Bar and Grill. Apropos since it sat next to a cemetery.
“But you don’t like the flashy blonde who speaks fluent socialite?”
“Nope,” Charley said. “She’s about as batshit as batshit comes.”
“Ah. So you do still have it.”
She leveled those sparkling eyes on him, looking askance. “Have what?”
“It.” He gestured toward her with the towel he’d been using to dry glasses. “You know, that thing where you can read people’s minds.”
She crinkled one corner of her mouth. “I can’t read minds, boss.”
Every time she filled in at the bar, she called him boss. He couldn’t help but shake his head at the irony of it. She and her husband were rich-as-fuck gods as old as time itself. For real. He couldn’t make that shit up if he tried—he’d never been that creative.
“I can only read emotions,” she continued, her admonishing tone making it sound like he was a stone’s throw away from becoming the village idiot. “Of the living, anyway. And right now, she’s only pretending to be into Dr. Farrow.”
“Dr. Farrow?” He turned back to the trio. “When exactly did your husband have time to go to medical school?” Especially since the two of them had spent the last five years in celestial bliss, watching over their daughter from the heavens. They’d only recently decided to come back to Earth after the girl’s recent jaunt abroad—to be closer to their daughter should she need them.
