Saturday Snark Again

It's once again time for Saturday Snark on Marie Sexton's blog, and for the first time I KEENLY felt the lack of my old hard drive, because I had the cover art for this book on it, and I REALLY liked the cover art for Making Promises.  Mikhail looked JUST as adorable, snarky, and arrogant on that cover as I imagined him in real life, and I treasure that.  Anyway, so no cover art--and, in this clip, no Mikhail, because part of the lovely match up was that Shane could be just as snarky as his little Russian cohort, and I love that.   (I'm feeling better, thank you all of your concern--today is Zoomboy's last soccer day, and I'll be out there on the field for him and Chicken, and that'll probably zap me of all strength for the day, but I'll be there!  Oh-- and the picture?  A friend sent me the picture, and I thought it was lovely.)Anyway-- on with the snark!
They tookShane's car. Kimmy sat in back because Kurt held the seat of the two-doorforward for her and said, "Here ya go, babe." Then he refused to wear a seatbelt because it might crush his cape. If it hadn'tmeant hurting his baby, Shane might have hit a tree as they were driving(providing he could find one in Gilroy) just to watch the guy go flying throughthe window. Thequestions about money were incessant—how much he'd gotten from the settlement,where he kept it. His response of "in a bundle in my sock drawer" made Kimmygiggle, and Kurt ended up telling her to cut it out, the men were talking.Shane started wondering about how much bodywork would really cost. He was, asKurt kept pointing out, financially loaded. When hefound Shane unresponsive about the money, Kurt started talking shit aboutMikhail, and Shane actually had to watch his breathing as red spots danced infront of his eyes."I didn'tknow you were queer, bro—if I had, I would have warned you off the little dude.He's sort of a man-slut, you know? Never met a Faire hook-up he didn't like?" I don't do seasons, only days. Yeah, Shane knew. He also knew—with acop's bone-deep instinct—that there was a reason for that, but he wasn't goingto discuss Mikhail's sex life with this guy. "You know, Ithink you only get to use the word 'queer' if you actually swing that way," waswhat he did say. "Or if a queer person likes you as a friend." Kurt hadlaughed. "Well, it's a good thing you and me are tight, my man, am I right?""No." Kurt laughedsome more, and Shane patted his steering wheel sadly. He really did like thiscar. And Kimmy might get hurt in the accident as well. But it was oh-so-tempting."Shane'sbi," Kimmy said unexpectedly from the back, and Shane caught her eyes in themirror and smiled. "This istrue," he said, as though encouraging a child. The Kimmy who had squealed thatmorning when she saw him seemed to be in hiding. So was the brutally honestKimmy who had talked about being an addict and wanting a family. This Kimmy wasa frightened Kimmy, and she was huddling in the back of the car as thoughsaying "boo" was going to get her kicked onto the pavement and into the middleof nowhere. (Was this really the main road to Gilroy proper? Shane had seenmore metropolitan thoroughfares in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.) "I thoughtyou were really brave, Shaney," she said now, casting a furtive glance at Kurt."You took a chance on someone. Even if it didn't pay off, you… you know. Youcan find someone who won't be a cowardly weasel….""Oh come offit, Kim!" Kurt said dismissively. "The guy was only being smart. You've got tolook out for yourself, right—shit! Why'd you do that?""Squirrel,"Shane said with a straight face. Kurt had slid across the seat and smacked hishead on the window when Shane swerved, and now he was putting his seat belt onwith something approaching zeal. "I saw ittoo," Kimmy said seriously, but she met Shane's dry glance in the rearview withtwinkling eyes. 




(Oh, hey-- I've been guilty of guest blogging, and you can find a couple of my articles here and here too!)