Welcome to this Wednesday's Mid Week Tease. Thank you so much Sandra Bunino for hosting it.
My excerpt this time comes from my upcoming release, A Single Black Rose, which will be out from JMS Books on Sunday, November 17, 2013. It is my longest story so far, a novella of 16K. I was so happy when JMS accepted it. I still am.
Here is the excerpt. Hope you like it!
Nate is angry with himself, feeling like a failure even though he knows what happened wasn't his fault. There was no way he could have predicted that the pervert was going to put the flowers inside their SUV. He runs his fingers through his hair, ends his statement, and turns to go to Sean who is sitting slumped on the pavement with Osborn by his side. Sean is staring ahead of him, his face expressionless, his hands clenched tightly into fists. Osborn is talking to him but Sean seems to not be aware of him, or of anyone else around him for that matter.
“Excuse me, Mr. Matthews.”
A man stops in front of Nate, a reporter, judging by the tape recorder he holds in his hand, and Nate feels his temper rising. This is so not the time for an interview and how in the world did the media get to hear of this so quickly anyway? Fucking reporters.
“Yeah?” Nate asks impatiently.
“Scott, Eugene Scott from The Vancouver Daily." The man is tall, almost as tall as him, and Nate rarely meets someone who is the same height as him here in Vancouver. "Are these the first flowers Sean got from the stalker?"
“We don’t know if he’s stalking Sean or not.”
“But it’s obvious that he is, right?”
Nate frowns, looking at the reporter more closely, "No, it is not obvious that he, or she, is stalking Sean."
“Oh, it’s just -- but back to my question --”
“No, they’re not,” Nate cuts him short. He really wants to get this over with without being downright rude.
“Huh?”
“These are not the first flowers.”
Scott nods. “Any weird thing?” he asks.
“What do you mean?”
“You know, if there's something strange with the flowers or --”
“They’re just flowers, okay? Look. I’m tired and I really don’t have anything more to say. If you'll excuse me." Nate walks past Scott, going toward Sean who is still sitting at the same spot, alone. Nate glances over at Osborn who is now with the police, presumably giving his statements to them.
"Sean," he says softly as he sits beside Sean on the pavement. He puts his hand on Sean's knee, stilling it.
“Nate --” There's a tremor in Sean's voice.
Nate turns his head toward Sean who is looking even more agitated than before.
"Hey, man.” He puts his arm around Sean's shoulders, pulling him close, kissing him on the temple. He can feel Sean shaking. "I've got you."
“They found a picture,” Sean says abruptly. "Inside the flowers. The police showed it to me."
“What picture?” The police didn't say anything to him about that. Nate's stomach sinks. Sending flowers is one thing but pictures? Of Sean?
"It's one of me. Sleeping. Inside the house." Sean's voice is bordering on the hysterical now. "Whoever it is must have used a long-lens camera or something. How could they get through the gate, Nate?"
"Ssh, baby.” Nate tries to put as much reassurance as he can in his voice. Someone has to remain calm even though Nate is feeling anything but. He puts both his arms around Sean, can feel him trembling, and holds him even tighter. "Breathe with me, c'mon."
Sean stills and takes a deep breath. “Can we go home now? Have the police finished with us?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I think we can go home now." Nate stands up and holds out a hand to pull Sean up. They hold each other tight for a moment longer, both of them unaware of a pair of eyes watching them from a distance.
Check out other teasers from these amazing authors and why don't you join us in the tease next week? :)
No comments:
Post a Comment