Jude's Blog

Flash Fiction Friday

He watched the children playing, enjoying the golden curls of the girl bouncing as she ran with the others. His eyes never left her, never missed a movement, as if fearing she would vanish if he looked away. He sat on the bench on the edge of the park, keeping to himself and avoiding eye contact with anyone. He’d never been to the park before, but had to come today. He had to see her. The girl laughed, and his heart ached. He knew that soon he would be responsible for ending her happiness. He would make her cry, and the thought brought tears to his eyes.
“Sir, are you OK?”
He groaned inwardly and reluctantly shifted his gaze to the woman standing a few feet from where he sat. His irritation at the intrusion must have shown in his eyes, and the woman flinched. “I just want to be left alone.” He turned away from her, hoping his rudeness would make her walk away.
“It’s just that I know all these kids’ parents, but I’ve never seen you before.”
He sighed and pushed off the bench, walking toward the children. “No, you wouldn’t have.”
She grabbed his arm, but he spun on her and snatched it out of her grasp with a growl. She gasped and backed off. “I don’t want any problem here, but I’ll call the police if I have to.”
He grimaced. “Go ahead, call them, but I’ll be gone before they get here. Now leave me alone.”
With determination he walked toward the children, ignoring her shouts behind him. He’d just grab the girl and leave before they could do anything. It wasn’t their business why he was there or what he needed to do. It would certainly be the hardest thing he’d ever had to do.
The little blonde girl was only a few feet away, and he reached out for her, when a strong arm grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.
“Hey, buddy, you need some manners.”
He faced the angry man and tried to pull out of his clutches. “Release me.”
“You were rude to my wife, and you need to get your pervy ass away from the kids.”
His eyes widened at the accusation and then anger rushed through him. “It seems you’re the one being rude. Now take your hand off me before things get ugly.”
Without another word, the man struck him. He doubled over from the pain and hit the ground. The little blonde girl turned toward them and focused on the fallen man. Her face crumbled and she screamed, “Daddy!”
He caught her as she flung herself in his arms, and he tried to ignore the pain in his face, which wasn’t nearly as bad as the pain in his heart. His assailant backed away in surprise.
“Damn, man, I didn’t know Tammy was yours.”
As he hugged his daughter, they both cried. He’d never been in the park before because his wife always picked up Tammy after school. But she couldn’t make it today due to a thief breaking into their house and killing her. He’d just spent several hours dealing with the hospital and the police, and now he had to tell his six year old that she’d never see her mother again.

For my 2nd 6 Sentence Sunday I will post a few more sentences on Sierra Sky, which has been out for only a week. For those hold outs maybe this will convince you to head on over to Total-e-bound.

His lips met hers in an explosion of passion. Her tears wet both their mouths as tongues grappled in an age-old war. He groaned in pain and pleasure as his strong arms pressed her to him.
She sifted her fingers through his long coarse hair, gripping fistfuls to hold his mouth in place, as she feasted on him. He tasted as good as he smelled, and she could die happy knowing she had sampled him. Her tail instinctively wrapped around them both, the tip hovering, not sure where to go.

“Ouch!”
Mel put her finger in her mouth and sucked on it, tasting her own blood. That’s what she got for letting her mind wander while she chopped. She let the knife fall to the cutting board as she turned toward the sink to turn on the faucet, running her injured finger under the cool water. She winced and watched the blood washing away from the nasty gash, wondering if it would need stitches.
It wasn’t until she turned off the faucet that she heard him behind her and opened her mouth to scream. The gloved hand covered her mouth as his other arm slid around her waist to lift her feet off the floor.
Clawing at the hand over her face, she kicked out her legs.
“Stop fighting me, and you won’t get hurt.”
Finally freeing his hand over her mouth, she tried to pry herself out of his grip. “Let go of me.”
He chuckled and carried her to her bedroom. His arm around her waist tightened, and she elbowed him in the ribs. He grunted and threw her down on the bed. “I love it when a woman fights back.”
The wind knocked from her lungs, she sucked in her breath and tried to sit up, but he pushed her into the mattress. His arousal ground between her legs as she wedged her hands between them to push him away.
“Get off me.”
“Oh, you know you like it.”
He tried to kiss her, but she turned her head away, finally noticing the blood smeared on her hand and across his shirt.
“Cobra, damn it!”
He went still above her. “What’s wrong?”
Mel took a deep breath. “Get off me…please.”
Rolling away, he sat up beside her. “Hon, what’s wrong? You’ve never used the stop word before.”
She held up her hand, and his eyes widened in concern at all the blood.
“I think I need a doctor.”

I’m always looking for new ways to promote my writing, and I stumbled upon a site called 6 Sentence Sunday. Authors all over the web post 6 sentences from their work, either published or unpublished, and then link to that site. So here are my 6 sentences from Sierra Sky, which is being released tomorrow at Total-e-bound.com:

Expecting her fingers to get sticky and damp from her own blood, she held her breath as she explored where the snake was attached. When she felt dry skin and no sign of teeth or fangs, she deepened her exploration. She stroked and probed until she became certain that it wasn’t a snake…but a tail.

“I have a tail.” It was supposed to be a question but came out as a statement instead. “How can I have a tail?”

I’m going to start using this blog more often, so I’m adding new things. 6 Sentence Sunday starts on the 5th, and something I’m calling Flash Fiction Friday (or FlaFicFri) where I’ll be posting micro stories that I write off the top of my head. These will be mini stories that I will write every Friday. Hope everyone likes them.

Here we go with my very first FlaFicFri story:

Gemma stared out the window but didn’t actually see the outside. Her mind wandered to her loveless marriage. She knew it would be best to divorce her husband, but she didn’t want to disrupt the life of their daughter. Melly was too young to understand why her parents wouldn’t want to live together anymore, but could Gemma really stay with a man who drove her crazy?
“You OK?”
His voice startled her, and she glanced toward the door. Ken stood there with concern in his features. He knew how she felt about Mike, her husband. He had also recently dealt with his own divorce, so he knew all about what she was going through. Gemma shrugged and fought tears, not wanting to give in to that weakness, especially at work.
Ken frowned and closed the door to her office. It was something he had never done before, and she sat up straighter in her chair, blinking a few times to clear the moisture from her eyes.
“Gemma, I know what you’re going through and wanted to make sure you know that I’m a great listener. If you wanted to maybe get a drink after work, we can talk about what you’re going through.”
To distract them both she stood and approached her filing cabinet, pretending to look through the folders, anything to avoid eye contact. She knew that if she continued to stare into his eyes, she would burst into tears. “I don’t know if talking about it would help, but I appreciate the offer.”
“Maybe just a drink then?”
The nearness of his voice surprised her, not realizing he had moved away from the door. She gasped softly and looked up his chest to his face. Not having stood so near to him before, she hadn’t realized how his height dwarfed her. Ken’s breath warmed her face and an unexpected quiver went through her. It had been a long time since a man had been this close, and her body reacted. “A drink?”
He nodded and his gaze dropped to her mouth. Time seemed to stop as she breathed him in. He smelled so good that she licked her lips, and he watched her tongue. Butterflies erupted in her stomach and she dug her fingernails into the cabinet drawer beside her.
Fingers softly touched her cheek as he slid his hands up her face and into her hair. She released her breath and opened her mouth to object, but nothing came out. The air was thick with him, and his skin felt so good on her flesh.
“Tonight?” His whisper in her ear made her moan as she turned her face toward him. Then his lips met hers, gently at first and then his tongue possessed her mouth. As her knees went weak she realized this was what kissing was supposed to be, not the messy assault her husband always inflicted upon her. Ken was a man who knew what to do with his tongue. When she thought of where else she would like that tongue to go, her legs gave out, but his strong arms locked her against him.
As his arousal against her stomach thickened, she went wet between her legs. In that moment she forgot about Mike and her bad marriage. In that moment there was only Ken and his magic tongue.

I came across a site that showcases author’s sites that post 6 sentences of their work every Sunday. It can either be published or not, but it has to be six sentences. I’m going to start doing this every Sunday, starting on the 4th, which is the day before Sierra Sky is released with Total-e-bound. So be sure to visit at least once a week to read whichever 6 sentences I choose. It could either be snippets from upcoming releases, forum exclusives or even short micro stories written right then. Stay tuned…

6 Sentence Sunday

Sierra Sky was supposed to be released January 16th, but due to major delays in editing, it was pushed back.

Those edits are now concluded, and the new release date is February 6th. I’m still a bit disappointed at this delay, but they are accepting pre-orders. So be sure to head on over to http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1510 and place your orders. As soon as the book is released, it will show up in your VIP account ready to read.

Fellow romance author, Cynthia Wolf, just read and reviewed my Wicked short story, Pandora’s Box.  It’s short and sweet, just like the story, but here is what she had to say:

5 stars

If I have followed the site correctly, new releases come out every Monday. They then update their Coming Soon page to show what’s coming in the next 6 weeks. Once they do that on Monday, December 12th, Sierra Sky‘s cover will appear at the bottom of that page. It should also then have it’s own page with description and link to my bio. I’m so excited, and this has been long coming! So be sure to check out their Coming Soon page Monday night!

I will also be updating the main page of my site as soon as the book has its own page!

My newest review on an erotica novella was just published on NewsBlaze.com. It’s called Brief Encounters and is by dual authors Mouna Lott and T.H. Rusty.  You can read the full review here: http://newsblaze.com/story/20111120164922jude.nb/topstory.html