Bastard's Brew
Family Portrait Vol. 3
Series: Family Portrait Vol. 3
Paperback, 1, 160 pages
Published April 13th 2014 by GillianFx Publishing LLC
When L'Wren's ex-boyfriend Jeff suddenly disappears, she turns to Kevin to help her find him. With one phone call, Kevin makes sure that Jeff stays hidden and that L'Wren's heart is broken, leaving the door open for Kevin to pursue her. But Kevin is not as free as L'Wren thinks; she is in the dark about his affair with her stepmother, Savi. Savi constantly reminds Kevin of his devious ways and uses their secret to keep him as her toyfriend.
“You don’t deserve to be loved, and you don’t deserve to be happy. You and I are the same … we’re broken inside. Everything we touch, we destroy. We don’t get happily ever after … we don’t get to ride off into the sunset. You know who gets that? L’Wren … she gets it, she gets the guy, and she deserves a decent guy.”- Savi
Kevin desires to be the man that L'Wren deserves, but before he can assume the role of white knight, he brews one last plan to get rid of Savi for good. Will L'Wren, the innocent victim in their twisted game, become a casualty?
Kevin may have sold his body to the devil in stilettos, but he'd be damned if he let her have his heart.
Suitable for adults 18+
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Excerpt
L’Wren did her meet and greets after the show, chatting with fashion scouts and receiving compliments from everyone. As the place cleared out, she looked around for Kevin and spotted him assisting with the cleanup.
“Hey, you.” She beamed.
“Congratulations, that was awesome.” He smiled. “How did it go with the scouts?”
“I have two meetings set up for next week!”
“You did it!”
“We did it. This could not have happened without you. All the work you put in and in such a short amount of time.”
“It was fun,” he replied.
“A lot of work,” she pointed out.
“The fun is in the journey,” he replied, and their eyes locked.
“Thank you,” she said seriously, and he nodded.
“I’m gonna grab a broom.” She needed to get away is what she told herself, but really, she wanted to kiss him.
“No, don’t. I hired a couple of high school kids to clean up.” He stuck his hands into his back pockets to curb the desire to pull her into his arms.
“You thought of everything.” She tried to unlock her eyes from his, but for some reason, his eyes felt like a magnet pulling her in. Her phone rang, interrupting the moment.
“It’s Leighann. She’s stuck in her dress,” L’Wren said and turned to walk away. In a moment of courage she turned back around to face him. “You wanna hang out sometime?” She held her breath and waited for an answer.
He studied her for a moment. His silence almost made her regret asking. “No,” came the reply, which stabbed her heart like a blade. Feeling like a fool, she turned away.
“I want to cook you dinner.” His words came suddenly.
She looked at him questioningly.
“I don’t hang out. I’d rather cook you dinner, you and Leighann. Come by the manor tomorrow evening.”
L’Wren was pleasantly surprised; she walked over and kissed him lightly on his cheek and quickly headed to his office/makeshift dressing room to rescue Leighann.
Guest Post
Food … the variety of life
I am fascinated by different cultures and their relationship with food. In Iceland for example, one of their delicacies is rotten shark meat called Hákarl. We're not just talking 2 days past the expiry date here… we're talking about burying the shark for 6-12 weeks, then letting it dry for another couple of months until it forms a brown crust. Note folks this is not an Hors d'oeuvre for the faint-hearted. Famed international food lover Anthony Bourdain described it as the single worst tasting thing he has ever eaten (and he's eaten everything). The locals usually wash Hákarl down with a glass of cognac. Who could blame them?
East Indian verses West Indian Cuisine.
I was fortunate to grow up in the West Indies where food labeled 'exotic' in the US was part of our everyday diet. I took it for granted back then. West Indians are people from the Caribbean and East Indians are people from Pakistan, Asia, etc. So naturally their cooking style is different due to what is available on their continent. The thing we have in common is that we season everything. Seasonings consist of curry, turmeric, different spices, shadow benny, thyme that sort of thing.
In the Family Portrait series I wanted to give the characters an international flavor, so I made the matriarch of the family Brazilian. Since food is a part of the characters bonding ritual as a family, naturally mama Banovic opened up her kid's palette to international cuisine at an early age. In Bastard's Brew, eldest son Kevin uses what his mama thought him in the kitchen to get the girl.
“See, brother, that’s how you impress a woman. You cook them something exotic. The farther the continent, the more impressed she’ll be.” - Kevin.
Kevin proceeds to make chicken korma over basmati to impress his love interest. Korma has the flavor of ground coriander, cumin and spices. It can be made with yogurt as a base sauce incorporated with the juice from the meat.
A nice desert to go with this meal would have been gulab jamun. To Kevin's dismay he points out to his brother that he couldn't find gulab jamun at Gelson's. Gulab Jamun is a sweet, amazingly delicious dessert. You can find the recipe here http://indianfood.about.com/od/sweetsanddesserts/r/gulabjamun.htm. I can still taste it to this day.
In Bastard's Brew I sent the Banovic parents to Europe giving the kids more opportunity for mischief and mayhem, and they delivered. Kevin is left in charge of his siblings and his frenemies are surprised that he can cook. The first introduction we have of Kevin's culinary skills, he is making cassava dumpling stew. My mom made this for my birthday last year and all I can say is BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER! I loved it so much I did a post on my website about it. Check it out here: http://www.plaintalkbm.com/cassava-dumpling-stew/
About the author
Originally from the island of Trinidad and Tobago, I moved to the United States in 1998. Since then I have been involved in the entertainment industry for over ten years.
I am an entrepreneur and advocate for women and children’s rights and I enjoy being in nature and volunteering.
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