Tuesday Teaser - Caged Chapter 25

Thank you Unimaginative Olena for reminding me what day it is!  I honestly had completely forgotten it was a Tuesday, and she caught me just before I headed off to bed!

Here's a quick teaser for Caged Chapter 25!

***

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.  “I mean, I fucked up your son’s wedding, and I don’t think we’ve said ten words to each other in ten years.”

Chelsea’s brow furrowed.

“You’re Aro’s nephew,” she explained with simplicity.  “I’ve been waiting to do this for you since you went away all those years ago.  We’ve even talked about it…”

“Talked about it?”  It was my turn to be confused.  “What do you mean?  Who’s talked about it?”

“Aro and I have,” she told me.  “When he would worry about you, we’d talk about how someday you would come back to the family.  Aro thought you might come back here first, and we knew you had been in such a bad way…well, we figured you would need a little TLC when you decided to ask for it.  It was so hard for him to stop asking you to come home, but it made you so angry when he brought it up.  Aro was afraid you would get really hurt out there, and it made him feel better when we’d talk and plan for this day.”

Chelsea’s eyes glistened as she looked at me.

“He loves you so much, Edward.”

I stared at her blankly.  I remembered how often Aro used to come around and try to get me to talk to him – open up, come back home, take a job offer – but I had always told him to fuck off and leave me alone.  Eventually he didn’t come around as much, and ended up with visits once or twice a year with a much more subtle approach.

I had always been a total dick towards him when he came around.

“No one ever gave up on you, dear,” she said like she was reading my mind.  “When you pushed everyone away, we knew it was just a matter of time.  You can’t drag someone back from darkness until they’re ready to go with you.”

***

No truer words...people have to be ready to be helped.

See you on Friday!

Tuesday Teaser! Caged Chapter 24

Happy it's-no-longer-Monday day!  It's time for a little glimpse into the next chapter of Caged.  There were a lot of mixed reactions and emotions from the last chapter, which I love!  Edward, Bella, Tanya - it's that word "should" that always gets them.  What the characters should do and what we want them to do is just not always the same thing, huh?

Let's see how Edward and Dr. Banter are getting along, shall we?

***

Still shaking, I curled up on my side and let the nurse run a cold cloth over the back of my neck.  Part of me wanted to punch him in the face, and another part of me wanted to at least tell him to go fuck himself, but I didn’t.

I was too exhausted to do anything.

Banner had let me take my time, and I had talked to him for a good three hours before I managed to get it all out there.  My stomach revolted, sweat poured out of my skin, my hands shook, and I honestly wasn’t sure if it was because my body wanted H or because my mind wanted to shut down and Banner wasn’t letting me.

I thought I was supposed to feel better after getting it all out there, but I didn’t.

I couldn’t even sleep that night.

Banner returned in the morning and handed me a brown paper sack.  I looked at him warily, and then slowly pulled out a small book with fabric covering.  I thumbed through it, but all the pages were blank.

Thank you Favnia for the banner!

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?” I asked.

“Write in it,” he responded with a shrug.  “That’s what you do with a journal.”

“You’re giving me a fucking diary?”  I asked.  “Do I look like a twelve-year-old girl?”

“No, you look like a completely destroyed grown-up man.”  He put his hands on his hips and looked down at me.  “I’m sending you home tomorrow.  I want you to at least write something in it before your first session with Irina Denali.”

I didn’t even pay any attention to what he said.  Probably should have.

***

See you all on Friday!

Otherwise Alone Out on Amazon!

I am really excited to have my first short story out on Amazon as an eBook for Kindle.  Even just buying my own copy of it (is that narcissistic?  I don't *think* it is...) was exciting.  Then with all of you sending me messages of encouragement and letting me know you have bought it or bought it for a friend...well, thank you so much for making my first day as a published writer extremely memorable!

If you haven't checked it out yet, Otherwise Alone is available at the following links:

For Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AP5NNWC

For Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AP5NNWC

For Amazon.de
http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00AP5NNWC

For Amazon.fr
http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00AP5NNWC

For Amazon.es
http://www.amazon.es/dp/B00AP5NNWC

For Amazon.it
http://www.amazon.it/dp/B00AP5NNWC

If you don't normally read with a Kindle, Amazon has a variety of free Kindle readers for PCs and smartphones.  One is bound to work for you!  Check theme out HERE. 

Again - thank you all so much!!!

Otherwise Alone

In blazing heat and almost complete isolation, I hide in the Arizona desert and wait for the day my boss tells me I can come back home.  My only companions are my Barrett rifle and a Great Pyrenees named Odin.

I check my email regularly – it’s my only link to what has become the outside world.  Everything in it reminds me of what is currently out of my reach, and I wonder if I will end up rotting here after all.

Maybe it isn’t exile.

Maybe it is an execution.

The days are long and the nights are longer, until a young woman suddenly appears on my doorstep.  I’m all for getting a little – it’s been ages – but she makes me long for more.


...

Coming soon in eBook format on Amazon!

All I Want for Christmas...

After writing off and on for what feels like my entire adult life, but is actually only about 20 years (oh wait...what is pretty much my adult life), I told myself New Years of LAST year that I was going to get something actually published before the end of 2012.

It actually looks like I might make it.

It's been a very interesting journey emotionally for me.  I've had kind of a crazy year with job changes and various other "real life" situations, but ultimately I have learned a really valuable lesson about myself - this shit scares me.  I don't know if it's fear of putting something out there "for real" and having people hate it, or maybe the fear of having people love it.  Honestly, both thoughts kind of make me cringe. 

I also think there is a good chunk of it that was just kind of "Ahhhhh!!!!  I don't know how to do this!!!!"  I know how to tell a story - getting the words down on the paper isn't the issue.  I average about 10k per week writing, which isn't bad for someone who works full time and has a family.  I just didn't know how to get a written story all ready to publish as an eBook, and kept telling myself I had other things that took precedent.

Well, I finally made a little progress, and now I'm kinda going "Damn, that wasn't so bad!"

I have a short story just about ready to put out there. I might even get it done this weekend.  Some of you may have already read it - it was included in one of the Fandom charity benefits last year (I did a few - can't recall which one it was in.)  If you've already read it, don't feel like you need to buy just for the sake of doing so.  If you WANT to buy it, by all mean - do! :)

For those who didn't read it before, hopefully you will be interested enough to buy a cheap, short story to read over the holidays.  If you do, please review it, rate it, recommend it - anything.  If you don't feel like buying it, I just ask you to please help me pimp it out.  Tell your friends, tell your coworkers, post it on facebook, twitter, your own blogs - I will accept any kind of publicity I can get!  If you buy it and hate it, hell, blog about that, too!

Ultimately, the only reason I'm getting the cojones to do this is because of the encouragement of those who read my work for free.  Seriously - I couldn't have gotten this far without each and every one of you - the people who read, review, post here, post on the FB group, send me PMs, tweet to me, retweet for me, email me, beta for me, offer to beta for me, beg to translate my work (sorry - the answer is still no :) ), and tell your friends to check out my latest post.  This wouldn't be happening without you.

So start watching for the hype, because you know I love to do that.  It's fun and exciting, and keeps me (and hopefully you) entertained.  

Otherwise Alone is finally coming.

Tuesday Teaser - Caged Chapter 23

It's Teaser time again!  All I can promise is that this one isn't near as bad as the last two teasers were.  If you survived them, you will survive this one. :)

***
“Can I see her?” I asked as I hauled myself back onto my feet.

“Get the fuck out of here,” Tanya growled.  “You are a lost cause.”

“I need to talk to her.”

“What, and tell her to kill the baby because you can’t manage to be a man?  You’re shit!”

She punched my gut again.  I cringed and rubbed at the spot before running my left hand up and over my head.

Mistake.

Tanya’s eyes widened as she grabbed my arm and twisted it.  Her eyes ran down the inside of my arm.

“You’re high,” she snarled as she practically threw my own hand back at me.

“Not now,” I said.  “I…I went a little crazy.  I’m straight now – really.”

“Lost cause,” she repeated.  “I’m done with you, Edward Cullen.  We’re done.  I’m not training you or helping you out with your shit anymore.  Fuck, Edward – I thought you had some real potential!  But you can’t get your head out of your ass long enough to make anything of it!”

“Please, Tanya,” I said, “I know she’s here.  I just want to talk to Bella.”

“No.”

“Bella!” I yelled over Tanya’s shoulder, and she shoved me back into the hallway.

“Get the fuck out of here,” she said as she moved herself to further block the doorway.

“Not until I see her,” I insisted.

“My building has actual security,” Tanya threatened.  “I’ll have them throw you out.”

“Do you think they can take me?” I asked, crossing my arms.  “I hope there’s more than one of them.”

“Get out!”

“I want to talk to her!”

“I don’t want to talk to you.” 

Instinctively, my head turned towards her voice.  Bella stood in the opening to Tanya’s guestroom, wrapped in a long purple robe which was tied around the waist.  It was dark in the hallway, and I couldn’t see her face well, but my heart started beating faster at the sound of her voice. 

“Please,” I begged, “just give me a chance.”


***
Sniff!

Until Friday!

Tuesday Teaser - Caged Chapter 22

Okay - you know all you people who read last week's teaser and you were all "OMG!!  I'm gonna go ballistic before Friday!!!"  Yeah, you.  I'm talking to you.  Don't read this.  It just gets worse.

JadaPattinson tweeted this out earlier - I have no idea where it came from, but I love it!

I told ya last time, and you didn't listen...

Just look at the pretty picture and then move on...

Wait until Friday...

I'm warning you...

Stop!!  Stop now!

You never listen...sigh...

***

The smell was exactly how I remembered it.  Sweat, urine, unwashed bodies – it was like a VW van in the middle of Woodstock if Woodstock was held in a nasty old swamp instead of out on a farm.  Max was sitting on a couch at the far side of the room with some strung out chick hovering around him, begging for a slam and offering to blow him for free if he just gave her a little.  I approached him slowly as she looked up to me with dead eyes.

“Eddie!” Max cried out as I came near.  “How ya doin’, bud?  Haven’t seen you in forever!  Damn, you look like you’ve been hitting the gym!  I thought you were all cleaned up or some such shit now.  You got a job at a bar or something, Eddie?”

Max had a tendency to ask a lot of stupid questions, none of which he actually expected to have answered.

“Hey,” I said, trying not to cringe at the use of the nickname, which had never been a favorite of mine.  “What’s been shakin’, bro?  I need a bit.”

“You know I’m your man,” Max said with a grin.  “Anytime, anywhere!  You name it, I got it.  Weed, blow, meth – what you want, bud?”

“Just some H, bro,” I told him.  I didn’t know why he was bothering to ask – I never touched the other shit.  I hadn’t even smoked weed more than a handful of times.  I was always about the smack.  I just didn’t see any point in going halfway on such shit.

Max shoved the girl off his lap and turned to the side.  He opened up one of those boxes that was meant to hold fishing lures or something like that and started rummaging around in it.  There was all kinds of shit inside, and he had everything I needed.   

Tyrannosaurus’ Tackle Box, I thought to myself.

My hand clenched at my side, and I had to swallow a lump in my throat.

The chick with the dead eyes watched me as I pointed out everything I needed, and Max named a price.  I swallowed, handed him most of the rent money, and walked away with a fresh needle, a rubber tube, and a little balloon of white powder.  I shoved them deep into my jacket pocket as I walked slowly back down the street.  I passed other junkies, hookers, pimps, and dirty cops without giving them a second glance as I made my way back to my apartment.

My apartment.

Not ours.

Not even the apartment anymore.

Just mine.

***

You didn't listen last week either, did you?

See you Friday!