Snippet Sunday: FALL TO PIECES #RomanticThriller #99cents
Lexiwoke slowly. The familiar feel of her bed, the comforting smell of her laundrydetergent lingering in the sheet pressed against her face, reassured her. I’mhome. I made it home. Head pounding, mouth dry and tasting like a barroomfloor–or how she imagined a barroom floor would taste–and with seven-hour old whiskeyroiling in her stomach threatening to reappear, Lexi opened her eyes. A man laysnoring beside her, his head down by her feet and his well-toned, hairy body sprawledon top of the sheets. They’d lost the duvet while tangling over it in thepre-dawn hours. Lexi remembered without embarrassment picking him up at the barand bringing him home with her, the vigorous sex she’d semi-enjoyed but couldn’tremember his name. Bending a leg, she planted a foot in his cute behind andshoved him out of bed.
“Time to go, Romeo.” Lexi stifled a laugh atthe distinctively female yelp as he tumbled to the floor. The sheet puddledaround her lap as she sat, but she didn’t bother with false modesty. Shereached for the water bottle she’d had the foresight to leave on her nightstandand watched with disinterest as her companion stood. Guzzling water, rinsingthe taste from her mouth, she assessed. He was good-looking, athleticallybuilt, and a decent lay, but dumb as a stump if memory served. Lexi had nointerest in learning more.
“How about we get a shower and somebreakfast?”
“You can shower and eat at your place. Getout.” Lexi capped the water and placed it on the nightstand. The foul stench ofsex and sweat wafted, and Lexi gagged. She needed a shower and solitude. Shewanted him out. His expression—disbelief and indignation—suggested he would notshake without some prodding. Lexi opened the nightstand drawer enough to reachinside, casually.
“Are you serious?” he asked.
“As a heart attack.”
“You bitch.” The oath was low and his tonenasty.
Lexi lifted her service pistol from thedrawer and held it pointed down, suppressing the urge to laugh as he grabbedhis clothes from the floor and hustled out of her bedroom. When the doorslammed shut, echoing through her condo, she laughed. Lexi returned the gun tothe drawer and stood. The room spun. She extended an arm for balance until theworld settled and staggered into the bathroom. Avoiding the mirror, avoidingherself, she twisted the knob to hot and stepped into the shower.
Lexi stood under the spray, forehead againstthe tile, while the remains of the night swirled down the drain. She shivered,though the water beat down on her at a punishing temperature. It couldn’t warmher. Nothing could. Lexi was hollow inside, carved out, numb, and empty in away no amount of sex or whiskey seemed able to fill. I’m not whole; I’m nothere. Her heartbeat sped up, and weight pushed down on her diaphragm. Lexipressed the heel of her hand between her breasts as she gasped. She welcomedthe sharp bite of anxiety. She welcomed anything that felt like something. Itwas proof she hadn’t died alongside Robert.
The pretty bathroom in cool shades of greenspeckled with blood, bone, and brain matter.
Her head spun, and she lunged, naked anddripping, from the shower to hunch over the commode and vomit. Lexi welcomedthat, too.
Winner ofthe 2022 RONE for best thriller/suspense,
FALL TOPIECES (Philly Heat Series book #2)
is onsale through Monday 16-January-2023
for only$0.99 exclusively at Amazon
