Unedited Sample – Frozen Heart (Chapter 1) – Part 1
I had planned to get this book finished by last Christmas, but one thing led to another and it got slightly delayed. To keep you going in the meantime, here is the first part of chapter 1 of Frozen Heart, one of my work in progress supernatural romances.
Why does everyone get so excited about Christmas?
That thought crossed through the minds of many people in the middle of December, but few could be looking forward to it less than Jason Fields. If it had been any other year, he would have been eagerly awaiting the coming of the annual holiday. But fate had dealt him a cruel hand the previous Christmas Eve. The day he found his boyfriend in bed with another man.
Nathan hadn’t seemed like the kind of man that Jason would spend the rest of his life with, but the fact he discovered the betrayal on one of the most treasured days of the year was almost too much to take. He had tried to pick himself up for Christmas Day, but the sting of his aching heart took its toll, so he spent the day alone. Well, apart from a large bottle of vodka that seemed to lose half its contents every hour.
“That will be five pounds please.” the woman at the counter said.
Shaking himself from his reverie, Jason handed a brittle five pound note to the cashier, and stepped out of the shop without waiting for a receipt. The crisp December air brushed firmly into his face, but he didn’t let it slow his momentum. After walking for a hundred metres, he swiped a small electronic card through a security device then walked into the block of flats that he called home.
“Mornin’ luv,” came the sultry voice of Marion, the local post-mistress. She noticed the bottle under Jason’s arm, but paid it no mind. After being on the sharp end of one of the man’s rants about how he didn’t have a problem with alcohol, she didn’t want to bring more suffering upon herself.
“Hi,” Jason replied, and brushed his short dishwater blond hair from his eyes. They were surrounded by slight rings, but it had been a long time since he cared.
“You had a rather large package today. I’ve left it in the storage cupboard, so you’ll have to ask Arnold to get it.”
If there was anything that could have grabbed Jason’s attention, those were the words. Since moving out of the flat he’d shared with Nathan, very few people knew his address. So it was either a parcel from his family, or a purchase from eBay that he had bought in a drunken stupor.
“I’ll get it later. Thanks Marion.”
He got halfway up the stairs, then turned back around.
“I’m sorry about the other day, I really shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”
Jason might have been many things, but he wasn’t ignorant of the times he had been an arsehole. Marion gave a surprised smile of her own, and nodded.
“No problem luv, just make sure you don’t do it to the wrong person next time.”
Smiling in spite of himself, Jason took the next two flights of stairs at a jog, hearing the front door close tight as the deliverywoman left the building. It took him next to no time to find the door to his flat, and with a swift motion of keys that would make a ninja flinch, the piece of wood opened wide. Jason walked quickly through, and with a swift kick, the door behind him shut with a resounding click.
“Home at last.” he said to no-one in particular, then proceeded to put his newly bought vodka in the fridge. With an unenthusiastic leap, Jason landed on the sofa, and proceeded to check all the channels. As he did so, he was reminded how Nathan used to shamelessly flick through the music channels, sometimes going through the same selection until he found a song he barely tolerated. Aside from the fact he didn’t know what songs were in the charts, it was just another reason why Jason hadn’t watched them in a while. Getting up from the seat, he considered going to the bedroom for a short sleep, until he remembered the parcel Marion had delivered.
His curious nature overrode his laziness, and before he could be stopped by negativity, Jason was leaving the flat. Taking the service lift for ease of travel, he went to find Arnold, who was usually in his office having a milkshake from the local greasy spoon. As he suspected, the large figure of the caretaker was drinking from a plastic cup, with a bendy straw that doubled as a spoon. Whether he had bought it from a shop, or it had come free with a cereal of some kind, Jason didn’t know, and he wasn’t particularity interested to find out.
Arnold noticed that Jason was standing in the doorway, and wiped his moustached face to remove the dregs that had splashed onto it.
“Hey kid, what you doing down here?” he slurred in a Yorkshire accent.
“Marion said you had taken a parcel in for me,” Jason replied, doing his best to remain civil, even though the two had not always seen eye to eye.
The caretaker looked around the room, and Jason guessed he was trying to remember if had taken one in. Nice as he was on most occasions, Arnold was not the brightest star in the sky, so it took him a while to remember something that wasn’t before his eyes.
“Ah yes, there was one, wrapped in a lot of parcel tape it was. Give me a minute, and I’ll get it for ya.”
With an enormous effort, the portly man pulled himself to his feet. The desk chair ached with relief, and for the first time in several hours reached the highest position it could, without being surgically adjusted.
Considering his size, Arnold walked fairly quickly across the room, and reached the door that lead to the storage cupboard. As the man searched through the contents, Jason hoped that whatever it was wouldn’t be too painful to deal with, because his day at work had left him feeling emotionally and physically exhausted. To his unfortunate surprise, it was a lot larger than he imagined.
The parcel was the size of the kind you would normally place one of the larger television sets inside, before they were replaced with the flat screen kind. As the caretaker put it down on the desk, Jason could see it must have been moderately heavy, as the man was sweating even more than usual.
Reaching into his pocket, Jason pulled another five pound note and gave it to Arnold with a smile that wasn’t matched by how he felt. Walking up to the desk, he lifted with his knees and held the parcel close to his chest.
“Happy Christmas Arnold, and thanks,” he said, and began to walk out of the room.
“You’re welcome kiddo, and have a good one yourself.”
Rolling his eyes at the well intentions, Jason went carefully up the stairs, making sure to not hit the walls on the way up. When he reached the front door, he pushed gently with his foot and opened wide. It might not have been safe to leave the flat unlocked, but it was a lot easier to get inside, considering the size of the box.
Putting the tape covered package in the middle of the room, Jason grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors, and made a long gash across the top of the tape. To his great annoyance, the sender had placed another layer of the stuff over the parcel. Frowning slightly, he looked down at the label, and the whole situation made sense.
Several minutes of careful unwrapping later, his suspicions were confirmed. Inside the parcel was a chest that had once belonged to his grandmother Agatha.
That’s all for now. Have a great 2015!
