Confused! - Romantic Friday Writers

Challenge #14

Today at Romantic Friday Writers the Challenge is..."Confused."  If you'd like to participate, hop on over and  join the Linky.


This scene is from my latest WIP, Whispers on Shadow Bay.  Its a Gothic Romance so it is supposed to have a bit of a darker feel.


Rosetta is stranded at Shadow Bay, an aging estate on Noble Island, and has gotten turned around on her way back to the house. She's come to the island to start over and to escape a scandal. Simon is the master of the old mansion with secrets of his own.

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Whispers on Shadow Bay

Threading through the tall grass, I took the trail to a clearing. Waves of purple and pink flowers swayed in the cool breeze. Their sweet scent drifted over me as they swished with the tumbling air. August back home was sticky and hot. Out here, the whispers of fall chilled the air. I shivered in my t-shirt and looked back over my shoulder at Simon. He wasn’t near the car anymore. I couldn’t see him at all. I’d never reacted so thoroughly to anyone before; blushing and stammering like a school girl with a crush. What was wrong with me?

Extending my arms over the waist-high blooms, I waded through the field and let the petals tickle my palms. The tourist website had described Noble Island as beautiful and foreboding. Given to sudden shifts in weather, it was unpredictable by nature. As if reading my thoughts, a sudden change from daylight to gray drew my eyes skyward. Dark clouds slid across the pale sun and whipped up a wind.

I hugged myself and hurried toward the other side of the clearing to the trees. Halfway there, sudden movement in the flowers caught my eye. I froze. A flash of raven hair rifled through the blooms and was gone. Heart ramming in my chest, I scanned the stems, squinting. Further away, a sound like a child’s giggle distorted by the wind echoed across the field.

“Hello?” I took a step back into the clearing. “Who’s out there?”

Straining to hear more, the field swayed in rivulets with the buffeting wind, but was silent. Thunder rumbled overhead, the dark clouds roiling with flashes of purple. If there was a child out here in this weather, they’d surely get chilled. Another step in to the grasses and I caught sight of a shock of pink material billowing over the flowers but it was gone before I could focus. The hair on my arms spiked with building static, a bright thread of light tore along the sky. It lit up the pale face of a child peering out at me from behind a tree across the clearing. It was gone with the flash.

“Lost?” A voice said over my shoulder.

Gasping with fright, I staggered back and turned to face Simon.

“Did you see that?” I said, hand to my chest.

“What?” He looked past me, his jaw set.

“I thought I saw…something.” Head pounding with a headache, I rubbed my temple.

“I found this in the car.” He held out my sweater and I turned to slip my arms in the sleeves. “With the weather turning, I thought you might be cold.”

“Thank you.” I shook my head. “You didn’t see anything?”

 “Come inside, Rosetta.” The teasing smile no longer at his lips, he extended his hand. “It’s not safe out here at once it starts to get dark.”

“But…there’s someone out there.” I glanced behind us as he pulled me into the woods.

The dark look on Simon’s face made my stomach flop. “There always is.”

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Thank you so much for stopping by! There are other challenge excerpts over at the Romantic Friday Writers site.  Don't forget to vote on the sidebar poll.


There are challenges every Friday and if you'd like to join in, all you have to do is follow and participate.


Until next time...Go Write!

Lost - Romantic Friday Writers

Link to Romantic Friday Writers

If you haven't heard of the Romantic Friday Writers then you're in for a treat. Every Friday, we post on a common theme. You can access the other member's posts either by clicking the picture of the rose above or the badge on my sidebar.  Its easy to join if you'd like to participate too!


This week's theme is 'Lost' and I'm so excited to post an excerpt  of my newest work, the Gothic Romance, Whispers on Shadow Bay.


We meet Rosetta who is lost in every possible way, both figuratively and emotionally. Running from a tragic crumbling of her life in sunny California, she finds herself in the dark forests. A little known island off the coast of Washington State, Noble Island is a place where dangerous mysteries, dark secrets, and deep romance reside.

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Chapter One

I stared out the windshield at the gnarled branches scratching through the thick fog. The black iron gate before me rose in jagged spires against the dusky sky, forbidding and stark in the sea of lush green foliage. I sank deeper into the seat of the leased sedan and chewed on a fingernail. This was my last chance to change my mind. I could still turn around, leave this dark and soggy forest, and fly back to the beaches of California. I told myself this even though I knew it wasn’t possible. My thumb went to my finger, to twirl the engagement ring that was no longer there and I stopped myself with a ragged breath.

Don’t let me fall apart again, Lord. Help me have faith that despite all that’s happened, You’re there for me.

“Keep it together, Rose.” I whispered. My hand went to the polished mahogany box on the passenger seat, the smooth wood comforting under my palm. “This can be a good thing if you let it.”

I’d flown the length of the pacific shore to this little known island off the coast of Washington as if distance from my home would lessen the heaviness in my heart. Taking a steadying breath, I rolled forward, gravel crunching underneath the tires, and drove up to the metal intercom box standing off the path. Rolling down my window, a cold mist blew in my face and I gasped.

Numbered buttons, yellowed and cracked with age, butted up against a round speaker. A tingle of worry raced through me. Am I supposed to know some sort of code? Reaching into my purse, I pulled out the folded acceptance letter. I scanned it, re-read the conditions of my employment, and sighed. Nothing. I glanced back at the keypad and bit my lip, thinking. Grey mist swirled around the metal pole of the speaker, a slow eddy of fog that sent me shivering in the lightweight coat.

“Don’t work,” a voice crackled behind me and I yelped.

A man, white-haired and crouched with age leaned on a shovel near the rear fender. His long brown coat, tweed hat, and black galoshes made him look like he belonged on the English moors.

“W-What?” I put my hand over my racing heart.

“Been broke for years,” he said in a thick Irish brogue and raised a shaking finger to the speaker.

Forcing a smile, I unbuckled and pulled myself from the warm car to face him.

“My name’s Rosetta Ryan. I’m here for the care-giver’s position. Mrs. Tuttle hired me.” I held out a hand. The stranger glanced at it and then back at my face without moving. Clearing my throat, I looked down at the acceptance letter in my other hand wondering if he really was scowling or just really wrinkly.

“Name’s O’Shay,” The old man said. Raising a bushy white brow, he shook his head. “And you don’t look like a Carl to me.”

---

Well that's it for my excerpt.  I hope to share more later. 


I encourage you to hop on over to the Romantic Friday Writers and take a peek at the pieces of flash fiction, excerpts, poems and other offerings. 


Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  
Until next time...Go Write!

He Didn't Bother Me Again - Back To School Daze Blogfest

Photohgraph by lemuelinchrist

Roh Morgon had the supremely delightful idea of hosting a Back-To-School Daze Blogfest.  Since I normally write adult romance books, I don't normally have scenes in schools.  However...I just happen to have a high school flashback in one of my finished novels.

Purple Knot is a contemporary romantic suspense. Rain's best friend, Summer, is mysteriously killed. Summer's twin brother, Jimmy is Rain's former love. They have to work together to track the killer and bring them to justice.  This excerpt is from early in the book. Its a flashback of how Rain first met Summer and Jimmy Corbeau.

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Purple Knot

My ninth grade year my dad moved us from Bainbridge to Seattle so I could go to a private high school. Westbrook Academy offered one academic scholarship a year for incoming ninth graders, and I wanted it. My guidance counselor did most of the application work, and I had managed to pull high enough grades and test scores to qualify for the position. I think my dad used up all of his strength to make the move because it was one of the last times he ever seemed to be holding on to life.

The day I walked onto the campus with my second-hand uniform and used books was the day Jimmy and Summer started as well. They’d just moved up from Louisiana and their big black sedan pulled to a stop in front of the school. Terrified I’d be put on the spot as the new kid in town, the beautiful Corbeau twins were all that anyone cared about. I was free to fade into the background, for a while, anyway. Turns out my hand-me-down life didn’t go unnoticed for long.

I didn’t feel comfortable at Westbrook, I knew I wouldn’t, but the exposure to college scholarships there was too great for me to pass up. I didn’t have nice jewelry or arrive at school in an expensive car. I didn’t arrive in any car actually, I took the city bus. I used to race out of my last class of the day because the bus I took home left at exactly five minutes after school got out. If I missed it, there wasn’t another one for almost an hour. To further motivate me not to dawdle, the bus stop didn’t have an overhang, so if I missed the bus I had to stand in the rain. I never lingered after school to talk because of that.

It’s hard to make friends when your nose is either in a book, or you’re rushing out of the room the second the bell rings. I had acquaintances, lab partners who smiled at me in class, but ignored me in the lunch room, that type of thing. I was happy not to have to make excuses for not having them over. I was flying under the radar. At least until Eric Roxan decided to pay attention.

Eric Roxan was a golden boy. All state basketball and football, he acted like he owned the school. It was apparently just the library that his family donated. Eric decided he liked to make fun of me when I walked down the hall. He would follow behind me and mimic my walk. It was easy to ignore, so I did. This only encouraged him to try harder. Soon Eric started making fun of my answers in class, and mime my hand motions as I spoke. The teachers knew to ignore the behavior of their benefactor’s children, so I tried to as well, though the snickering from the other students unnerved me, and I stopped volunteering answers. By the end of my first month at Westbrook, Eric went out of his way to walk across the grass field during lunch just to kick over my soda. Then he started kicking my soda onto me. Then he just poured his drink into my backpack. I began to skip lunch and stay in the library.

The day before winter break someone broke into my locker and dumped urine all over my books and folders. A photography project I’d spent weeks working on was ruined. I stood at my locker fighting back tears because I didn’t know where I was going to get the money to replace all the books. The books smelled, my homework stank, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Eric stood down the hall and stared at me with an evil grin plastered on his face.

By the time January rolled along, Eric had tired of pranks at my expense. He decided that ramming me into the lockers during class changes was more fun. I was an inch over five feet tall, he was six-foot-two. I didn’t get support from the staff because, well, I was just a freeloader. I felt helpless and scared. My stomach churned on the ride to school everyday. Emotionally I was a wreck. I prayed for relief. Eventually I started to hide out in the girls’ bathroom, and make a run for my class seconds before the tardy bell would ring. I was pathetic and miserable. Then one day, Summer walked into the restroom where I was hiding.

She took one look at my frantic, tear streaked face and her cheeks burned red. She stomped out to the hall and yelled for Jimmy. Already in his class, he poked his head out into the hall, saw his sister’s face, and strode right into the girls’ bathroom without batting an eye. He was a tall kid, already filling out in the shoulders and arms, and he made me nervous just standing next to him.

Summer had been listening to the talk. She’d noticed the teasing. And yesterday, she saw Eric ram me into the lockers on the way to the cafeteria. I watched Jimmy’s expression go from confusion, to shock, to anger as he listened. His eyes grazed over me. I adjusted my torn sweater self consciously, hating the feel of pathetic that Eric had smeared on me. Jimmy nodded once and was gone. Summer smiled at me.


“You know,” she’d said. “Sometimes help comes from places you don’t expect.”


I didn’t know what to say to that so I just nodded and smiled back.

Later that day, Jimmy caught Eric pouring something in the grill of my locker. He yelled at him about picking on girls and when Eric tried to push Jimmy, he grabbed Eric and rammed him into the lockers on the left and then on the right. Eric squealed like a piglet. Jimmy yanked him by the uniform tie to where I was standing and made Eric apologize, and then Jimmy took the soda out of my hand and dumped it over Eric’s head. I was shocked speechless. I never saw Jimmy that mad again, not in all the years I’ve known him. Jimmy was suspended for a week. Eric never bothered me again, no one did.

---

Click to go to Blogfest

I hope you enjoyed my entry.  Many Thanks to Roh for hosting such a fun topic.

I encourage you all to click on the link below the blogfest button and check out the other entries.

Until next time...Go Write

I Should've Seen It Coming...

Michelle over at Beautiful Chaos had the most awesome idea...EVER. She proposed a blogfest in which we share our most favorite scene. She called it the "Share Your Darlings" Blogfest and it is Uber-Cool! 

So this is from a book I wrote last year called, Purple Knot. This scene is after a very emotional chapter in which the main character, Rain Cruz, signed off on an emergency C-section that resulted in her best friend, Summer's, death. 

Jimmy is the main character's love interest and the brother of the friend that just died. Mona made a scene upstairs not ten minutes ago...screaming and throwing medical supplies about the room in an outburst of violent grief.

Rain is not a fan.

I'll let Rain describe Mona in her own words:

"Mona was Jimmy and Summer’s mother. Big haired and perpetually tipsy, she was a southern belle of epic movie proportions. Given to sneaking cigarettes at inopportune moments, she never seemed to be around when they needed her. Mona and I never really hit it off. The only time she ever took my side was when I announced I was moving away from Seattle, away from her son."

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Purple Knot

Chapter Four

In retrospect I should’ve seen it coming. After signing papers with the nurse, I wandered down to the cafeteria to find some coffee, or arsenic. Either would have done, really. I stood in the aisle between the hanging packages of trail mix, and the steaming soup buckets wondering what I was even doing down here, when Mona yelled my name at the top of her lungs.

“How could you do this? That baby has no mother because of you!”

I froze with a bowl full of potato soup in one hand, a ladle in the other. Again, hindsight tells me I should have kept the ladle in my possession.

I was not sure what to say to a crazy person who was now suffering unbearable grief.

“I’m sorr-”

“Don’t you ever speak to me again!”

Mona bellowed and strode across the cafeteria toward me. People parted for her like they knew her, and made an open path right to me.

“You are the worst kind of…of…scum.”

I watched with morbid fascination as her hands came up again. Her long coral-pink nails flashed in the buzzing florescent lights. I saw Jimmy run out of the elevator, scan right then left, do a double-take and launch himself towards us. Alas, he always seemed to be a second behind the action. Mona grabbed my sweater with both hands and shook me like bag of dirty rags. Occupied by the bowl of now wildly sloshing potato soup in my hands, I was useless against her onslaught.

“You…did…this! You did this!”

Mona heaved with the strain of throttling me and I could smell the bourbon on her breath. Where did she get bourbon in a hospital, I thought madly? Jimmy yanked Mona off of me and sent her sliding on her butt through the puddle of spilled soup. His face was tight when he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me toward the door.

“You need to come with me.”

He carried me out of the cafeteria into the elevator. The bowl of soup was still in my hands. I could hear Mona shouting as the doors closed achingly slow on yet another crowd of disbelieving stares.

---

This is one of my favorite scenes because I've experienced dealing with grief and surreal craziness at the same time. Its strange the things you notice during moments like that...the coral nails are a detail ripped from my own reality.

I hope you liked the excerpt. I encourage you to go on over to Beautiful Chaos to catch some other great "Darlings"...Until next time -- Go Write!
Photograph by mukais.

Black Smoke and Death - Dream Sequence Blogfest

I love entering blogfests because it gives me a chance to stretch myself as an author.  Scenes that would not occur to me, or techniques that seem too hard challenge me to break out of my normal style...and that's a good thing.

Amalia T. over at Good to Begin Well, Better to End Well, thought of an interesting and difficult challenge. Today is the Dream Sequence Blogfest. I only have one dream sequence in anything I've written and I spent days on it.  I'm still not sure if I like it.

The excerpt is from my novel, Ruby Dawn. The heroine has been fighting for her neighborhood against a ruthless gang member.  He started out with vandalism, her car and clinic and when that didn't work...he tried to kill her.  He firebombed her clinic when she and Tom, her love interest were inside.  Paul and Tiny are street kids who abduct Ruby from a women's shelter to help their hurt friend, inadvertently saving her from the gang member coming to get her.  Sheila is her foster mother who died. The bowl of sea glass...represents Tom, his eyes are that color green. The dream is an a-ha moment...the character's epiphany when she realizes that through all that has happened...she wasn't alone.

Ruby Dawn

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The scenes in my dream flipped in rapid succession, like a movie on silent fast forward. I saw myself in front of my ruined car, walking through the wrecked clinic, and nailing up the plywood over the front windows. Talking to Mike in the parking lot with the paint splashed everywhere, glowing red under a bright yellow moon, I watched the flashes with startling calm.

I turned my head and I was in the clinic with Tom, watching in slow motion, as his face registered shock at the fireball flying at us. I felt the room jerk and swirl around me and suddenly I was outside the clinic, watching fiery bottles slam against the plywood windows, not going in. Then Tom and I were running down the hall, the fire licking at the walls but not touching us, never coming close.

An intense wind swirled around me, a silent tornado spinning me in circles. I stopped on a dime, instantly still, I watched two boys going through Dakota’s car, looking for something. My address. Angry, they brought guns up and fire flew out of them blinding me to the scene. I covered my eyes.

Another pull, deep in my core, and I rushed through waves of heat. I opened my eyes and saw that I stood in the shelter. All around me, mothers and children moved in slow motion, silently laughing and heading towards the back of the building. The front door opened achingly slow and I stared, panting at an approaching dark cloud.

Fear boiled in my gut and I felt a scream well in my throat, but a hand wrapped around my waist pulling me away. Tiny’s hands yanked me from the cloud, pulling me toward another door, a bright light. Behind us, the cloud receded. Billowing backwards frantically, it sucked itself back out of the door of the shelter.

Tiny walked with me and we took the room with us, spinning it like a whirling merry-go-round. Faster and faster we twirled, making me dizzy. Stopping suddenly, we stood in the Emergency Room. I saw myself wrapping Darnell’s arm. Beyond me, a dark cloud churned and slid across the walls; hungry for me.

My heart ramped up, dread squeezing my heart as I watched my dream self continue, oblivious. The cloud coalesced into the form of a man. Running he fired his gun at me. The scene jerked forward in flip book snapshots, the bullets tearing through the room in clear, rippling paths toward me. They missed as Paul pulled me down. I stared shocked as the rounds hissed by, a hair’s breath from my temple. The cloud receded again, swirling violently away, chased by Paul.

I watched, my heart ramming in my chest, as the room spun again. The wind whipping me in circles as walls rose up from the ground around me. I stopped abruptly, everything silently still. I heard my breath in my head, rapid, uncontrolled. Looking around I saw Sheila sitting at her desk in my old home. Her body lit from within. Next to her, a bowl of brilliant green sea glass sparkled with reflected light. Longingly, I walked towards her and she looked up at me and smiled. Overwhelming happiness washed over me and I reached my hand out to her.

Her voice echoed softly in my head. “This is a choosing moment, Ruby.”

---

I hope you enjoyed my dream sequence. Please check out the other entries at Good to Begin Well, Better to End Well.

Photograph by molesarecoming, Uploaded on September 19, 2009.

Poking At Tigers...Flirtfest Blogfest

The clever gals over at Critique This WIP are hosting a Flirtfest Blogfest today...say that three times fast!  The rules are simple: Post your favorite flirty scene...be it hot, awkward, or sweet.  So I decided to enter an excerpt from my book Ruby Dawn. 

Ruby's clinic was vandalized the night before and Ben, the cop she's just started dating drove her to the scene to inspect the damage.  Tom, a man from Ruby's past recently showed up to work a sting in her neighborhood. Her first love, Tom disappeared ten years ago after they were involved in the death of one of their school mates at a locked-down high school. Lilah is Ruby's receptionist and best friend.

Ruby Dawn

Last night, Ben told me that things were missing. He wasn’t kidding. A lot of supplies, chairs, and yes even the trash cans were gone. I stood in the middle of the ruined room and ran my eyes over everything, shocked. A muffled sob escaped my lips and I wiped at my eyes angrily.

“Ruby, are you okay?” Tom’s voice made me turn.

Startled, I gasped. “Tom, what are you doing here?”

He raised his eyebrows. “What am I doing here, really? I heard about what happened and came to make sure you weren’t hurt.”

I looked at him and flapped my arms at my sides speechless. Tom’s hair was cut, styled in way that made him look like he belonged in a country club. He still had the stubble though. It was a weird look, sort of high-end thug. He caught me staring, licked his pinkies, and used them to pretend groom his eyebrows. It was a move he used to do to make me laugh in class. I smiled.

“You know who did this.” Tom asked and nodded at the paint on the floor.

It wasn’t a question.

“Antonio Llave,” I whispered. “The gang-banger I was telling you about. I think he did this.”

Anger flashed across his face. “I’ve heard a few things about him. He’s busting through the ranks in La Eme.” Tom scanned the damage. “This looks like a threat from them; minimal damage, but a big warning. You’re probably right.”

In the front room, a second voice echoed Tom’s words.

“Minimal damage?” Ben repeated. “Are you serious?”

He walked in through the broken front window and joined Tom and I in the middle of the clinic lobby. My eyes flit from Ben to Tom. For some reason, I felt nervous with them in the same room.

Tom waved his hand at the room and nodded. “Yeah, I’m serious. Who are you?”

“I’m Officer Farrell, who are you?” Ben shot back.

The same height, Tom and Ben stood facing each other in a weird sort of standoff reminiscent of school-yard staring contests. I expected someone to double-dog dare someone at any moment.

I cleared my throat. “Ben, uh, Tom’s the guy from the alley that you helped me with.”

Ben eyed Tom with suspicion. Apparently no longer sure he believed he was in fact an officer.

Suddenly, Tom smiled and put out his hand.

“I never got a chance to thank you for that, Officer Farrell,” he said as he shook Ben’s hand. “Really, I appreciate you keeping my name out of this. I told my lieutenant about how great you handled that situation.”

Ben nodded dumbly, taken aback by Tom’s sudden change in demeanor. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, uh, no problem.”

Tom turned to me, shoved a piece of gum in his mouth, and winked. I forgot how disarming Tom could be if he wanted, from rival to brother-in-arms with one charming smile. I always used to tease him that he could sell ketchup ice-pops to a lady in white gloves.

“Ben, Tom is an old friend from…before I moved here,” I hedged.

Tom looked at Ben’s face, then at my awkward smile and grinned. He knew that Ben liked me. He took a step over to me, wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and kissed my hair.

“We’ve known each other for what, thirteen years?” Tom asked me.

Ben ground his jaw.

I blew my bangs from my eyes and frowned. Tom loved to poke at tigers. I pulled out of his arms, strode over to Ben, and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thank you again, Ben for being there, and giving me a ride. I’ll be all right now. I’m going to start cleaning up,” I said.

Ben nodded and then shot a triumphant look at Tom. “I’ll be going then,” he said. Then to Tom, “Try to keep from getting dumped in an alley again tonight. I’m not on duty.”

Tom smiled and nodded. He looked like he enjoyed sparring with Ben. “Oh, don’t worry. Ruby is really good at taking care of me.”

“Bye Ben!” I said suddenly and pulled him toward the door.

“I’ll see you tonight, then?” Ben asked in a needlessly loud voice.

“Yes, Ben. Pick me up here at eight, okay?”

He nodded and left. I watched him leave then turned and gave Tom a stern look.

He flashed me a look of complete enjoyment. “Let me guess, coffee?”

I rolled my eyes and pushed Tom down the back hall toward the rear door.

“Don’t you need to be somewhere dangerous?” I thought about his job and my heart wrenched with worry. “What about your cover, Tom? You’re not even supposed to be here, are you?”

“That can’t be concern I hear.” Tom turned and stopped himself with is arms across the doorway. He smiled down at me and my face flushed. He put his forehead against mine. “You’re not staying here alone, are you?” He whispered, breath brushing my eyelids.

Tom never liked any space between us.

I stepped back, my hands going to my hips. “What makes you think I’m staying here?”

Tom cocked his head to the side and folded his arms. He already knew.

“How…?” I asked.

“It’s my job to know about people, Ruby. I can’t believe you gave up your apartment to keep this place open.”

I took another step away from him and looked back down the hall toward the ruined office. Anger flaring, I shook my head. “I couldn’t just abandon these people, Tom.”

Pain flashed behind his eyes, and I regretted my choice of words immediately. I tried to backpedal, but I only managed to stammer incoherently.

“Shhh,” Tom whispered. He took my hand in his and kissed my palm sending a ripple through me.

“I, I didn’t mean…” I tried, my face flushed.

“Its okay, I know what you meant, Ruby. And you’re right about what you said the other night too,” he breathed and leaned closer.

Barely able to think, I stood frozen by his nearness. “What I said?”

He smiled, so close now that I could feel his lips move. “You said that I don’t know you anymore. That I need to get to know you all over again.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not what I said,” I breathed.

Tom’s hand slipped to my face, cupping my cheek in his palm. He ran his thumb over my bottom lip and it sent heat thrumming through me. I gripped his sleeves, my fingers digging into the material.

A wayward warning flittered somewhere in the back of my brain, but I closed my eyes instead of moving.

Tom brushed his lips against mine, barely touching, his breath soft.

Up front, Lilah shouted. “This place is a wreck!”

Startled, I pulled away from Tom. Lilah had either had rotten or impeccable timing. I hadn’t decided which just yet. “I – I’m back here,” I shouted back. “I’ll be right out.”

Tom groaned and let go of me. He looked up at the outer door with frustration. I followed his gaze to Lilah rooting through the debris.

Trying not to show my breath was ragged; I bent and picked up a broken mug off the floor. “I have to get started if I want to be done by eight.”

Tom already taking the shards from me flashed a crooked grin. “You’re gonna break his heart.”

I put my hands on my hips, indignation growing in my gut. “You don’t know that.”

Tom leaned against the door jam. “He’s not your type.”

I scowled. “And you are?”

He shrugged. “If memory serves.”

Anger at his teasing and my own weakness flooded my face with heat. “That was a long time ago, Tom. If my memory serves, we didn’t turn out so well.”

Sorrow momentarily flit across his perfect features but he recovered and smiled winningly. “A lot has changed since then, Ruby. You’ll see.”

I put my hand to my hot cheek and shrugged. “I don’t know if it matters anymore, Tom.”

He looked at me with sad eyes. “Don’t write us off completely just yet, Ruby.”

I shot him a look of shock. Poking myself in the chest I shouted. “Me…you’re telling me, not to write us off…you – you’re the one who left!”

Thrown his hands up in surrender, Tom backed up. “I can see that was the wrong choice of words.”

I pointed to the back door with a shaking finger. “Go.”

“Ruby—”

I grabbed a nearby magazine and hurled it in his direction.

Ducking it easily, he smirked and pointed it at me. “You still have great aim, I see.”

“Tom, I’m serious.” His amusement sent ripples of irritation through me. “Go.”

“And you don’t want my help?” He smiled again, clearly not intimidated by my reaction.

I rubbed tears from my eyes with the palms of both hands. “I need you to leave right now, Tom. I just can’t think with you in the room.” I looked at him with a deep sigh.

His smile faltered. “I’m sorry.” He took another step away from me. “I’ll leave.”

I blew the bangs out of my eyes and frowned upset with myself. I craved Tom. Like an essential component, my body ached for him. “That’s probably the best,” I whispered.

Pain darkened his green eyes, but he smiled at me gently. “I’ll see you soon.”

Crossing my arms over my chest I refused to feel bad. I couldn’t let myself get a taste for him again. Too much rode on my shoulders for me to abandon reason. “Bye, Tom.” I said softly.

“Dr. McKinney!” Lilah yelled again from outside. “Dr. McKinney!”

Reluctantly, I turned from Tom and walked back down the hall to the front lobby. “It looks worse than it is, Lilah.”

“What are you talking about? This place is jacked-up!”

She spun slowly around with her arms out at her sides. Behind me, I heard the rear door swing shut and turned to look for Tom. My heart sank. He was gone.

---

I hope you enjoyed my character's awkward angst.  Please check out the other wonderful entries at Critique This WIP.

Until next time...Go Write!

Photograph by Katie Tegtmeyer, Uploaded on April 6, 2006.

Bad Girl Blogfest

Andrew Rosenberg over at The Write Runner is hosting a Bad Girl Blogfest today.  I thought I'd enter Hayden James, the love interest in one of my earlier Thriller/Action novels, Chasing Darkness.

To set up the scene, she and August, the main character, work for Intelli-Trace Group as sort of bounty hunters for stolen corporate technology. From biotechnology to prototypes, if its stolen, Intelli-Trace employees track it down, steal it back, and destroy the competition's gains.

August, on assignment in East Africa, was in a small plane that was shot down a few hours ago. Worried and getting no information from August's handler, Marco, Hayden is out of patience.  She's tracking an intelligence broker in Greece but wants to be out finding August.  Marken, her partner, is with her...

Chasing Darkness

Chapter Fourteen

They sat on the bench waiting for Bootsy, the information tech, to call back.

“I heard about August,” Marken said quietly. “Any news?”

Hayden’s stomach flopped. She’d been trying not to think about it.

“He’s fast and he’s smart,” she said, determined to keep her voice steady. “He’s come out of worse situations without a scratch.”

“Yeah,” Marken agreed. “I mean, I’ve heard he’s one of the best guys out there. He’ll be fine.”

Hayden thought he sounded artificially cheerful.

“Sure, he’ll be fine,” she repeated and tried to believe it.

A minute later Bootsy called her back.

“The address is for Angelicos Packing,” He said. “He’ll probably either meet his contact there or get more directions from a land line. Get going. I’ll send you directions in a minute.”

“Let’s go,” Hayden said to Marken. “We’ve got his destination.”

Marken took the camera and stuffed it in his knapsack.

“I tell you, so many people have shades and don’t use them,” Marken remarked. “Honestly, it amazes me that criminals aren’t more paranoid.”

“Oh he’s paranoid,” Hayden said. They walked back down the trail to their car. “Just not enough. If he knew we were after him he’d be scared.”

Marken chuckled and pulled open the driver’s side door. “We’re on the same side and you still scare me.”

Hayden smirked and hopped in the car. “That’s the way it should be, my friend.”

Bootsy shot them over the directions and Hayden navigated for them. They pulled to a stop a couple of streets over and then made their way toward the packing building by foot. Halfway there, her PhoneLink vibrated with a text message. Thinking it was more information from Intelli-Bond, she pulled it out of her pocket. It was from the man who’d called before with information on August.

Rumor of hostage situation involving expedition team member. Report of explosion in vicinity of rescue path. Assignmet moved to ‘Evacuate’ status.

Hayden’s chest tightened with dread, threatening to send her into a panic. Unable to get back in touch with Marco, all the information she had was coming from an unconfirmed source. Hayden stopped and leaned against the building, her heart pounding.

“What’s the matter?” Marken whispered.

“Nothing,” Hayden said, trying to cover the fear in her voice. “Let’s get this done.” She pulled her weapon from the clip-on waist holster hidden under her sweatshirt.

“Whoa, whoa,” Marken said, reaching out to stop her. “We’re just supposed to follow this guy.”

Hayden shook her head. “Plans just changed,” she whispered. “I need that name now.” She pulled away from Marken and strode quickly along the street toward the rear of the packing house.

“What are you going to do?” Marken fell into step behind her.

“I don’t know yet.”

“What?”

“I said I don’t know yet!” Hayden hissed. They slid along the fence near the rear entrance. “I’ve never worked with Mr. Stavros before.”

She put her hand on the door lever but Marken stopped her.

“Do you expect him to just give up a contact ‘cause you asked?”

Hayden pulled away from Marken again. “Don’t get in my way again Marken,” she warned.

“Hayden,” Marken began but she was already through the door.

Stavros froze in the middle of the room with one hand stretched toward an old time phone on the table and the other hand in his pocket. His mouth flopped open and closed as if trying to speak but Hayden was already in his face, pressing her gun under his chin. Hayden put her finger to her lips in a ‘be quiet’ gesture. Stavros nodded and sat down on the chair next to the table. Marken ran in after her, then went to check that the place was empty.

“Waiting for a call?” Hayden whispered.

“Who are you?” Stavros demanded. “You have no right…”

Hayden hit him on the nose with the handle of her gun cutting off his words. He crumpled to the ground.

“I asked you to be quiet,” Hayden whispered hoarsely.

“My nose, you broke my nose,” Stavros croaked. He dripped crimson down the front of his suit.

“Ah great,” Marken moaned when he hurried back over to them. “I leave you for five seconds and you hurt him.”

Hayden ignored Marken. She pulled a chair over to her side and patted the seat.

“Have a seat Stavros,” Hayden said evenly. “We need to talk about your contact. Where are you meeting the Koreans?”

He swore at her in Greek.

“I know what that means, you know,” Hayden said. She pulled a silencer out of her sweatshirt pocket and screwed it onto the barrel of her gun. She knit her brows together and frowned. “And I take offense.”

Marken took a step back, his eye flit to her gun. “What are you doing?”

“I’m in a little bit of a time crunch here, so you’re going to have to work with me on this one,” she said to Marken. To Stavros; in Greek, “Did you already get the call?”

Stavros spit at her, and stared back defiantly and Hayden, losing her temper shot at his head. She aimed six inches to the right; her round thumping in a fifty pound bag of rice behind him but the effect was what she’d wanted. Stavros yelped and cowered in his chair.

“No, no call yet,” Stavros sputtered in English. He had his hands over his face, hiding. “Five more minutes.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Marken shouted. His face was flushed, wary. “We’re just supposed to follow him.”

Hayden reached out and felt the phone receiver.

“Phones still warm Stavros,” she said and brought her gun back up. “You were on that phone before we came in. She aimed her gun at Stavros’s knee. “Roll up your pant’s leg,” Hayden ordered.

“Wait,” Stavros stammered. “Wait.” He looked frantically at Marken.

“I am not kidding here Stavros,” Hayden said. She made her gun hand shake a little for effect. “I apologize in advance if I miss a little high. I’ve had a lot of coffee.”

“Hayden…” Marken warned. He licked his lips nervously.

“No more lying,” she said to Stavros in Greek. She cocked her head, closed her left eye, and pretended to have trouble aiming. “I don’t have time for this.”

Stavros stared at her wide eyed, but didn’t say anything.

Hayden shrugged and aimed to the left of Stavros’s knee, at another bag of rice, and fired a round. Marken swore out loud. Stavros flinched and raised his arms up over his head, trembling.

“No more lying,” Stavros stammered while nodding his head vehemently. “No more lies, okay?” He looked from Hayden to Marken and then back. “I receive call. You are right.”

Hayden put her gun down and looked at Marken. “You see what we’re dealing with here?”

Marken looked at her and nodded, his face pulled into a frown.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Crazy.”

---

I hope you enjoyed meeting my Bad Girl, Hayden...there are other great entries at The Write Runner. Take a minute to check them out.

I am at a Writer's Conference this week and might not comment right away...but I promise I will...I can't resist reading all of your great posts!

Photograph by honey-bee, Uploaded on May 17, 2007. Photograph by TaniaSaiz, Uploaded on April 23, 2010