Kissing Asphalt: A Short Story

In this adrenaline-charged prequel, Jinx joins a high-risk takedown of a meth kingpin with ties to the military—and a body count to match.

But when the raid spirals into chaos, one teammate ends up in surgery, another winds up dead, and Jinx is left with a head full of guilt, a body full of road rash, and a fugitive hell-bent on escape.

Torn between the rush of new love and the burden of responsibility, Jinx must confront her own limits and take justice into her own bruised hands—before anyone else gets hurt.

Fast-paced, gritty, and laced with gallows humor, Kissing Asphalt delivers a raw, unflinching glimpse into the violent world that forged Jinx Ballou.

Sitting in the back seat of the Lexus SUV, I racked the slide on my Ruger 9mm, secured the snub-nosed .357 revolver in my ankle holster, and adjusted the Velcro straps on my Kevlar vest. I tried to convince myself I was ready for action. But I wasn’t. 

My body was sore and heavy with fatigue from an all-night session of much-needed sex. Meanwhile, my mind bobbed like a balloon with the giddiness of newfound love. A voice in the back of my brain warned me to get my shit together and quit acting like a twelve-year-old with her first crush. 

It didn’t work. As I stared blankly out the window at Phoenix’s urban desert whizzing past, a highlights reel of the night before played in my mind, with the Go-Go’s “Our Lips Are Sealed” as the soundtrack. 

“Oy! Earth to Jinx Ballou! Are ya with us?” My boss, Conor Doyle, glared at me from the front passenger seat.