Saturday, April 27, 2013

A-Z: X is for eXcerpt!

Yes, it's cheating. I know. But I'm up to my eyeballs in revisions and I've already blown the every-day posting requirement to bits, so hopefully I won't illicit too many tsks. I spent this morning compiling a few excerpts for a blog tour with Inspired Kathy this summer. After I sent them to her, I found a little section I wish I'd included. So I'll post it here instead!


15. Blueblood.
Waking up is a mixed bag. Because if today is real, if I get to shop the world’s most pedigreed horses without a budget, then last night was real. And I almost killed a man. The first thought makes me want to leap out of bed. The second makes me want to jump out the window.

I glance at the clock on my bedside table. Seven-thirty. Time to get moving. But the simple action of swinging my legs over the side takes everything I’ve got. I blink and John’s face is in front of mine again, smoke and beer on his breath. Another blink and all I see is red. Salty, warm, red that smells like rust and is every bit as corrosive, eating straight through my flesh and deep into my soul.

Even now I can feel the drops of blood that splattered my cheek the moment my fist made contact. I catch myself wiping at it, sure I’ll see stains on the back of my hand. But there’s nothing there. A man could be dead because of these hands but they don’t look any different. Shouldn’t they look different? They start to tremble all over again. I shake them at my sides, shake them until they hurt.

3 comments:

  1. Your forgiven, it's a hard letter. Visiting from A-Z

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  2. If it's cheating well it's an entertaining one.

    Sia McKye OVER COFFEE

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  3. Agreed with Sia and Marti. :) I guess you could have done X-ray. Tanzy needed an X-ray to see her injuries. . . :)

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Ramble on, y'all.