Read Yield for Free Online

any more than you do. ”
    “ Somehow I doubt that. ” Jonathon violently digs his finger into the remote ’ s power button and storms out of the living room. “ You ’ ve already proven how good you are at moving on . What was his name again, Tracy? ”
    The adulterous act should have made her feel guiltier, but it didn ’ t. She had never felt more alive. It was the blame that somehow this was all her fault that lit her like a fuse. “ Don ’ t you dare. You had your little fling at work a long time before my eyes wandered. That cute little Asian thing with fake boobs? Don ’ t think for a second I didn ’ t know. ”
    Memories flicker through his mind. His navy blue eyes soften. “ I … ”
    “ You know? I don ’ t want to do this again, Jonathon. ” Traffic is heavy on northbound I-5. Cars and trucks create draft lines of arcing water that splash wave after wave onto Tracy ’ s windshield. She turns the wipers up, wishing they could somehow wash it all away. “ If I don ’ t see those papers this afternoon, I will subpoena your ass and we can do this little song and dance in front of a judge. ”
    “ I said I ’ d take care of it. ”
    “ Fantastic. Gotta go. ” She taps her cellphone screen and tosses it onto the passenger seat, swerving to pass yet another impedance to her life.
     

Chapter 3
     
     
    7:12 a.m.
    “ Oil prices continue to climb as protests in the Middle East intensify, ” the CNN foreign correspondent says. His streaming video phone slowly begins to break up. The mosaic imagery stutters then stops. Screaming protesters behind him are distorted into silence. Their frozen faces enjoy just a moment of peace before the voices erupt into violence yet again. “ The United States has increased its troop-load in the area, drawing more criticism from leaders of OPEC who have threatened to reduce supply. ”
    Lights around the Clackamas neighborhood spring to life. Devin Bane shuffles into the kitchen and pours himself a steaming cup of coffee, kissing his wife ’ s cheek familiarly. Katherine barely turns. Her eyes are locked on the news instead as she sits at the island, nurturing a cup of her own. The video flickers from Middle Easterners rallying within broken cities to the swaying of machinery harvesting black gold from a dying earth.
    Devin scratches his matted red hair. He tries to yawn away the sleep in his abnormally upbeat eyes. “ Anything interesting, love? ” he says. His hearty, English accent makes him sound more intelligent than he really is. Cocky even. He leans in front of Katherine, staring into the glossy flashes of color at the corners of her gaze.
    “ Saber-rattling and finger-pointing, ” she says. Her eyes are transfixed, staring ahead but not really focused quite yet. Katherine blinks away the media ’ s grip, finally looking back at her husband. She lays a flirtatious hand on the muscles hanging just out of his favorite black t-shirt. “ You know. Politics at its best. ”
    “ Right, ” Devin says, rolling his eyes. His chiseled face sports fresh stubble the color of a fine Merlot. “ Each person bending the next one over ’ til we ’ re all eventually screwed. ” He stirs two spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee and watches as the crystalline purity melts into the shadows. “ Picked a bad time to quit drinking by the looks of it, ” he mutters, cloaking the idle desire with his usual quick humor.
    “ Oh, ” she chides lovingly. Katherine pulls him to her. “ But you ’ re such a ray of sunshine now. ”
    “ Is that what you call it? ” he laughs, trying halfheartedly to push her hands away. The surprisingly iron-grip refuses to let go. Devin ’ s emerald eyes widen.
    “ Oh, alright, ” he sighs, seeing the twinkle of desire on her face. He tries to give her another peck. But she latches onto the back of his head and pulls him in for something more.
    “ Down, love, ” Devin shouts. Color splashes his cheeks. “ Isn ’ t it a bit early for