In the Beginning There Was Darkness The fist hit my nose like a malformed sledgehammer. It hurt. And when I say hurt, I don't just mean in the physical way. It hurt my pride more than anything. The fist was withdrawn once more and the face of the ugly man wielding it showed through a swimming of stars. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't hit you again." I...
The next morning we drove down to New Orleans. We checked into our hotel, a little romantic place just outside of the French Quarter. I thought that since it was our honeymoon, we might do it again right when we got there, but Mark was excited to do some sight seeing, so we went and took a romantic carriage ride and went to a museum and spent the whole day s...
My beautiful wife lies besides me after a night of passionate lovemaking. Her name is Lasouda. And she is the Queen of the Bagayobo people of Mali, deep within the motherland of Africa. Anyone looking at her would see a six-foot-tall, dark-skinned young Black woman in her twenties. And that's fine because that's what they are meant to see. If only they knew...
"Up here in space I'm looking down on you My lasers trace Everything you do You think you've private lives Think nothing of the kind There is no true escape I'm watching all the time" ― Judas Priest As the bastard suffocated me ― wrapping my head in translucent rubber ― all I could think was: "This smells so good!" The aroma of new petroleum product...
I thought I had hit the jackpot when I saw an advert for a driver for Eternal Rest, a funeral parlour in the next town. I didn't need to relocate, I could get there on my bicycle and soon I would have a car. I was dating a girl called Sammy at the time. The new job didn't bring us closer, in fact it had the opposite effect and during the next few weeks we gr...
Chapter 4. --book-- Teagan watches Professor Jackson through hooded eyes as he orders food at the Chinese place in the food court. She hadn't expected to see him at the mall but when she'd caught a glimpse of his as she was headed to a table after grabbing her pizza from another kiosk she'd suddenly lost her appetite. So she was picking at the cheese on t...
Her head was pounding. Her life's flow pulsing, whacking bruisingly against her temples, each throb so minutely felt, she was certain the cranial bone was bowing under the rhythmic torture. There was no point in pressing sweaty, trembling fingertips to the points of agony. That only made it worse. She had tried a massage technique taught by her mother, but t...
While Kerri was hugging Di and J.T., asking after Meagan, Marty and Shauna's younger daughter, asking when we'd see all the grandkids, I ambled up to my corn-shucking friend. "Hey, ya boozebag, how ya been?" Such was my usual greeting to Marty. "Been better; been worse," my old shipmate replied. "Gettin' any these days?" He suddenly began coughing while Sha...
Peggy weighted her options even as her instincts acted without her. Being caught under Daniel Sousa's desk would be embarrassing. Being caught photographically at Spider Raymond's nightclub would be fatal. As Daniel limped his way to his desk, his crutch banging louder with every step, Peggy hurried her lockpick through his drawer, clicked it open, pulle...
Catherine Roman's chauffeur pulled in front of my house in a black Escalade to transport me to Mrs. Roman's country estate for a weekend visit. Because of a surprise snowstorm, I had canceled my Friday appointments. Nevertheless, I wore my business suit and traveled lightly at Mrs. Roman's behest. Climbing in, I nodded toward the SUV. "Strong and elegant, li...