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Enjoy a short Valentine's excerpt from My Zombie Boyfriend!
Valentine’s Day.
I’d thought about buying Kit a box of chocolates. A teddy
bear holding a heart. A dozen roses. A diamond.
I did none of those things.
Reminders of What Had Happened Between Us were suddenly
everywhere, in the hearts and cupids decorating every surface. I felt as
though, wherever I went, people knew Kit and I had slept together and were
silently congratulating or judging me. Kit introduced me to a few of his
classmates-cum-friends, and to my surprise, I liked them.
I hoped they liked
me, too, and I waited for that infernal day to end so Kit and I could get back
to the comfortable awkwardness we had been living in since our night together.
My concentration in class suddenly tripled. I hadn’t
realized how much I had been coasting since I had found Kit, or how much I had
missed my professors’ praise. I felt like I was coming out of
hibernation and seeing spring happening all around me, and it was corny as
hell.
I didn’t care.
When we got home, Bone was standing on the sidewalk in front
of my house, smoking and leering at pedestrians and drivers as they passed.
I hurried him inside before he raised too many questions
from my neighbours.
“Bone, what a pleasant surprise. Would you care for a
drink?”
“Brandy, if you’ve got it. In coffee.” His voice was harsh
with cold and smoke.
I wrinkled my nose. The fact that he was a smoker might have
played a part in our separation. Health issues aside, I can’t stand the smell.
“Just the coffee.”
He shrugged, as if to say, it didn’t matter to him one way
or the other.
Kit was staring at Bone, warily. He’d only met Bone once
before, and under rather trying circumstances.
“Ah, Kit, you remember Bone. Bone, Kit.”
That just sounded peculiar.
I was happy to have the distraction of making coffee, so I
could turn my back on them for a moment and try to figure out why Bone was
here.
“Yeah, sure. That hospital guy, right?”
“That’s partially why I’m here. So I’ll be more than “that
hospital guy” to you.” Bone produced a rose and
held it out to Kit, smirking. “I asked Edward if I could borrow you, and he
told me to ask you. So here I am. Asking.”
“Borrow?” Kit was so outraged, he
could hardly get the word out. He shot Bone a nasty look, then turned it on me.
I held up my hands to show my innocence, and Kit and I had a
brief, silent conversation. I told him no, of course!
You should have told me!
I didn’t think it would come up, or that you’d want to
know…
I wasn’t at all surprised that Bone had such
a…fascination…with Kit. Bone is heavily into death, and about the only sexual
partner more death-related than a necromancer is a zombie. Still. That was no
excuse for him to upset Kit, especially on Valentine’s Day. When we might, just
possibly, have a thing. Whatever that thing might be.
“Bone, we’re kind of…ah…this is sort of a bad time.”
I passed him a mug of steaming coffee.
He drank some. This is one of the reasons I’m convinced he’s
not entirely human—no human could drink coffee that hot and still look as
though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. “I can come back.”
“Not really the point. I mean, it’d be great to have you
over sometime. We could watch a movie or play video games or something.”
And Kit could be conveniently absent. Though I would
probably tell him to leave earlier and stay out later than when Bone was
expected to be around.
“Here, why don’t I put that in a travel mug for you?”
I snatched the coffee out of Bone’s hands, pouring it into a thermos for
him. “You can keep that. I’ll call you. This is a bad time; did I say that
already?” I drove him toward the door, opened it, and
ejected him. Closing the door behind him, I leaned against it, letting myself
slide down until I was sitting on the floor. I felt astonishingly rude, but he
was gone, and Bone isn’t the type to take offence about social niceties, or the
lack thereof. I would call him later, if he didn’t call me first. I was sure he
knew Kit and I were now sleeping together and would feel the need to bother me
about it. Which seemed like fair payment for throwing him out like that.
“Kit?” I asked, from the floor. He
was wearing a pair of shoes I’d never seen before, which didn’t surprise me.
They were grey leather and looked very good on him.
“Mmm?” He leaned on the counter and peered down at me.
“I like your shoes.”
“Thank you, Edward!” He sounded genuinely
touched.
“Do you want to go out for dinner?”
“Tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“Valentine’s Day dinner? Like, a date?”
I shrugged, trying to copy Bone’s laissez-faire gesture and
probably failing.
“Yeah, all right. If you think we’ll be able to find a place
that isn’t packed.”
“I don’t care if we go to McDonald’s.”
“I’ll get my coat.”
We didn’t end up at McDonald’s, thankfully, but at a small,
quiet, out-of-the-way restaurant that had one table left. It was dim and there
were candles and fresh flowers on every table. It was very romantic and exactly
what I wanted, even if it was also a little embarrassing and tacky. We didn’t
confess true love, or even discuss whether our sex had been a one-time thing. I
ate, and we talked, and carefully avoided bringing up Bone.
The day finally ended, and our lives went back to normal.
Well, as normal as things had ever been between us.
Bone called the next day and made all sorts of extremely
graphic comments that left me blushing after we’d hung up. We went out to a
movie, sans Kit. It was nice to see Bone again, to just be friends with him.
Talking about Kit and sex and life with someone who wasn’t Mariel or my parents
was…refreshing.
Comment for a chance to win an ebook copy of My Zombie Boyfriend!
I bought it before Torquere Press and ARe went belly up and I loved the series. It was a cute read =D
ReplyDeletehumhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry it took me so long to respond! Please let me know if you need any of the files, I'd be happy to send them to you. Thank you so much, that means a lot to me to hear! If you have both MZB and MZF, do you have the two short stories (My Zombie Cat and My Zombie Mixup?)
DeleteIf not, I can give you those (or, if you're willing to wait a while, I can give you them when they're re-released with two brand-new stories)
Have a great week!
T.