Chapter One

The question was whether to steal. Ginger Peet thought of the bottle blonde sitting on the yellow love seat and then focused on the purse full of money in her hands. She bit her lip and waited for the angel and devil tag team to show up and give her the finger. Nothing happened, and didn’t it just make sense? Her conscience crawled out of her chest and crossed the room to sit on the huge, unused stereo from 1992. She crossed her arms and shrugged, like she was saying, “It’s Union break, you get it.” Peet cocked her head, her imagination already making up for the absence of a conscience. She flopped down on the rickety carpet and pulled her knees to her chest and took a deep breath. It was a typical night in downtown Nashville, with the bachelorette party and frat boys from Vanderbilt yelling at her until 4 in the morning. Most nights she was screaming along with them, playing the role, laughing at the jokes she couldn't even hear over the honky tonk music, giving as much as

Last Updated : 2023-12-29

Chapter Two

He couldn't figure out who the other voice belonged to, so he started to back toward the apartment when the black-haired threat leaped up on the truck's horn, eliciting a shout from the other girl and Derek's head banging into the window. The icepick in his head twisted, and he saw stars twinkling behind his eyes. Before he could stop, Derek cracked open the window and spoke in his most commanding lieutenant voice: “Hey, not everyone has to be there on moving day!” and all the chatter stopped. He slammed the window shut, put on his hat, grabbed his keys, and walked toward the door. It was the end of the long hallway leading to his apartment, and he locked the door as he went by. Across the hall, the door stood open, propped up by a huge porcelain sculpture of a blonde woman with huge breasts. Derek thought: “Oh, my God, move to the other left! Put that down! I’m losing my hand.” He turned to see the horn-waving, black-haired threat staggering down the hall beneath the weig

Last Updated : 2023-12-29

Chapter Three

Ginger let go of the table and turned to the inquisitive lieutenant, prompting Willa to shout a four letter word at the ceiling: "Dolly! Dolly Parton! Dolly, Mommy, Dolly," she blurted out.The lieutenant's angry green eyes flickered to Willa, then darted back to the statue that was propping the door open.Ginger said slowly, as though speaking to a town idiot who was also hard of hearing, “I suppose you meant, who the hell is this?”She added, “Who are you, Willa? I don't understand.”When he didn’t react, Ginger waited, expecting him to shrug, but instead he just said, “Do I really need to know who this is?” and that was the end of it.Willa said, “Willa, dear, could you wait for me inside?”Ginger didn't actually see her sister roll her eyes, but she heard her noisily comply and stomp into the apartment. She was left alone in the bright hall with the sullen Lieutenant von A-hole, who had twice asked her to apologize after giving her a hard time, shot her dirty looks, then shrugged

Last Updated : 2023-12-29

Chapter Four

He couldn't tell who it was, so he started backing toward the door when the girl with the black hair jumped on the truck’s horn, causing the other girl to cry out and Derek to bang his head into the window.The icepick in Derek’s head twisted and he saw stars behind his eyes.Before he could stop himself, Derek cracked the window and said in his loudest, most commanding lieutenant voice, “Hey, you don’t have to be here on moving day, dude!” And all the babble stopped.He slammed the window shut and put on his hat and grabbed his keys and headed toward the door at the end of a long hallway that led to his apartment.As he walked by, he locked the door.On the other side of the hall stood an open door, supported by a large porcelain statue of a blond woman with enormous breasts.Derek thought, “God, move over to the other left. I’m going to lose my hand!”Derek remembered handing the invite to Patty, the long-time dispatch operator who was about to retire and the department's unofficial

Last Updated : 2023-12-29

All Chapters of Preserving His Obsession: Chapter 1 - Chapter 4

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four