Short story

0 comments on "Heroes & Villains: “Dinner For Two” by Harper Kingsley"

Title: Dinner For Two
Author: Harper Kingsley
Series: Heroes & Villains
Setting: post-The Wedding, pre-Allies & Enemies
Characters: Vereint Georges, Warrick Reidenger Tobias

Inspiration:

Walking into the penthouse, Warrick was greeted by bags of groceries on the counter and Vereint wearing an apron and nothing else. The sight of that devilish smile and those bare arms and legs made Warrick hitch his step on the way to the hall closet to hang up his jacket.

“What’s going on?” he asked slowly. He couldn’t help tracing his gaze over Vereint, seeing where the brightly colored fabric curved, bent, cupped, and what it did and didn’t cover. It took him an extra few seconds to get his jacket on the hanger and the closet door closed.

“I thought we’d cook dinner together,” Vereint said. “I saw this recipe for garlic butter steak.”

“Steak?” Warrick’s mouth salivated at the thought. “Butter… That’s going to be a calorie bomb though.”

“Tonight’s special,” Vereint said.

“Oh?” Warrick crossed the intervening space and wrapped his arms around Vereint. He peeked over Vereint’s shoulder and couldn’t help grinning at the sight of a bare back and buttocks. He let the fingers of his right hand drift off the apron and lightly brush against Vereint’s skin. He was always so warm.

Vereint obligingly pressed closer to him, one hand going into Warrick’s hair. “Mm.”

“Why’s tonight special?” Warrick asked. He tried to walk Vereint toward their bedroom, but Vereint didn’t move. Warrick stopped pulling at him, resting his whole weight against him instead. If Vereint didn’t want to be moved, there would be no moving him.

“It’s our anniversary,” Vereint said. He must have felt Warrick’s body stiffen with sudden panic because he laughed. “Don’t worry; it’s not our wedding anniversary. It’s the anniversary of the first time I took you hostage.”

“What?”

“You know, when we were in that bank–”

“And you were wearing that horrible shirt!” Warrick laughed and squeezed Vereint.

“That’s when you fell in love with me,” Vereint said.

“No way,” Warrick said. “You terrorized a bank full of people and took me hostage. I thought you were a brat.”

“A brat that you immediately fell in love with because that’s the kind of person you are. You thrive on adversity.”

“And you being a brat is what you consider adversity?”

“No. I call that ‘charm.’ The adversity part comes in when you try to resist jumping my bones as we sear the rib-eye I’ve got on the counter.” Vereint tugged himself out of Warrick’s arms and headed toward the kitchen. The flirty wink he tossed over his shoulder and the way he flexed the globes of his ass were a dare.

Watching him go, Warrick shook his head with a rueful grin. He could definitely feel the adversity now.

Uramichi Oniisan 01 at Amazon
0 comments on "Sneak peek: Complicit"

I was working on a drawing project and this idea popped in my head. It’s called “Complicit” and it’s a short story that will be on KDP Select. As such, expect a download link that will allow you to grab a free copy before it’s released to the public.

“When Hannah was young, she knew her father was a good man. He’d always told her so, and all she’d ever seen were the golden moments.”

ink drawing featuring the word 'Complicit'

* * *

Sent the original post via email from my phone. Several corrections were made and it was kind of a mess. So apologies for that.

Excerpt —

When Hannah was young, she knew that her father was good man. He’d always told her so, and all she ever witnessed were the golden moments: The hotel openings. The resplendent parties. The employees all perfectly pressed to corporate code.

It took years for her to notice that the smiles were forced. Her father couldn’t see it—his smile was always real, a fierce baring of self-satisfaction in a job well done—but she could.

By then, her own smiles were forced too.

People didn’t like her family.

Even though he told her “Don’t read that trash”—she couldn’t resist taking a peek. She worked for the company now. If there was a PR problem happening, then it was her job to fix it. All neat and legal to keep any backlash from happening.

Still, she helped change the narrative. That’s how she explained it to her father later. She was adjusting the media focus with a few philanthropic gestures.

And honestly, it felt good to help mothers and children. It made her think of her own mother—(beautiful face a mess of bruises. The split of her lower lip raw in a way Hannah had never seen before)—who she hadn’t seen in years.

Sometimes she missed the court-mandated visits of her childhood. At least then she’d had an excuse to give in the face of her father’s jealousy. Now if she visited her mother, he would view it as a personal betrayal and she didn’t want him to know that she’d been lying to him for years.

She missed her mother. Helping women and children in need eased the ache.

Even if she never stepped foot at any site, she was the one that authorized the release of funds. She was the one her father smiled at so proudly when she pointed out she’d cleaned up their PR problem and given them a good tax write-off at the same time.

He loved sticking it to the IRS. And sure, they’d caught him a few times before, but he’d always bounced back. “It’s all part of the game, honey,” he’d said after the third bankruptcy. And his laugh had been so loud it made her ears ache.

Sometimes she had to explain things to him carefully. Pointing out the pros and cons of every given situation with her chosen path clearly highlighted. And maybe it helped to dress in rich colors and low-cuts, but that was just business. She knew how the world worked.

Hannah enjoyed the philanthropic side of things. And after her father caused that little mess, she was finally able to start the charity she’d always dreamed of.

She wanted her family name to be remembered for both great and good things.

/EXCERPT

Small Gods at Amazon
0 comments on "New Release: Hesitate (short story, literary fiction)"

“Hesitate” is a literary fiction short story. It’s available from Kindle Unlimited if you’ve got a subscription and want to read it for free. Otherwise it’s $0.99 and will be published as part of a short story collection sometime around June(?) if you want to wait.

At 2060 words, it’s a short social commentary piece.

Trigger Warning: threat of noncon. character death.

Heroes & Villains at Amazon
0 comments on "FIC: Morning Song"

Title: Morning Song
Author: Harper Kingsley
Character: Neil Halsted, the Guy in 2D, Ben Hodgins
Note: Fill for Shower Buddies prompt

Neil “before Zod” Halsted was 32 years old, single, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He lived in an old apartment building that had been renovated several times over the years, going from The Shining-chic to something a bit more classic comfort. All he cared was that his apartment–apartment 2C–was a rent controlled two bedroom, two bathroom palace that he was going to live in until he died. They would have to pry the door keys out of his cold, wrinkled hands as they hauled him out on a stretcher, because he was not leaving otherwise.

He had a fabulous apartment in the city, and his neighbors were great. He’d never met them, and that was what made them great. He’d never had to complain to anyone about noise or cockroaches or mysterious leaks, and no one had ever had to complain about him.

His life wasn’t perfect, but it was good. He lived close enough to where he worked that he didn’t have to rush around in the morning, and there were plenty of restaurants and grocery stores within walking distance. There was even a bus stop on the street out front of his building, so on wet days he didn’t have to tramp very far in the rain if he had to get somewhere on the other side of the city.

His job wasn’t what he’d dreamed of when he’d put himself through college, but it gave him a nice enough paycheck. With the money he saved on rent, he was able to turn the second bedroom into the walk-in closet he’d wanted ever since he saw episodes of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and “MTV’s Cribs” as a teen. He was able to add to his wardrobe each month and still grow his savings account.

He had everything that he needed and a bit extra. He was even able to help out his parents when they needed it. Things were going good in his life.

And part of what made things pleasant was his morning shower. Where he stripped and stepped into the large stall and shared a song with the man whose shower was on the other side of the wall.

It had freaked him out the first time it happened. One minute he was singing alone, the next he was in chorus with the guy from 2D–who had a particularly pleasant baritone singing voice. And then it was kind of cool.

It became part of his routine. In the mornings as he lathered up, he’d sing along with his neighbor–songs he never would have shared with anyone else.

It was romantic, but in a nonsexual way. This was his singing buddy. This was his beautiful friend whose face he never wanted to see.

How horrible was that?

But he’d been hurt before. He’d fallen out of love with plenty of people when he got to see how they truly lived.

His step-sister had delighted in taking all of the magic out of his world when he’d been twelve years old. It was the one stark memory of his childhood that he maintained: that monstrous figure looming over him, spitting out poisoned words that burned into his brain. He’d thought she’d been demonically possessed.

Always so quiet and still, she’d leaped out of her chair and begun screaming out answers to every question he’d interrupted her with all night. Bulging eyes and raging mouth; he’d been completely terrified. And ever since then, his every bogeyman-moment was tied to that fear. (He wished he hadn’t posted his worst fear in his profile. It would have been better if he’d made something up.)

He couldn’t handle it if his singing buddy was horrible to look at. Not for any mean reason, but because he’d built up a fantasy in his head and he didn’t want to find out that the guy was the opposite of everything he’d expected. [B1-1] It would ruin the one good thing that he had.

Things hadn’t been going that great in his work life of late, ever since Ben Hodgins had joined the company. His happiness levels had gone way down. So there was something uplifting about starting each day with a song.

It felt good. It got him energized on even the most blah of days.

Starting the morning off with a song enabled him to keep his mind focused on work and not on how horrible his coworkers were. They were related to the owners, so he had to put up with their laziness and frequent absences while he did all the work. [B1-2] And if he didn’t start each day off with a cheery tune, he would have probably lost his shit dealing with them and all their baggage.

Having a shower singing buddy was a bright spot to his every day, one that he never wanted to lose. So even when he was feeling curious about the guy in 2D, he went out of his way to not run into him. Because if he lost the magic of his morning song, there was a good chance that he’d quickly lose his job as well. And without his job, he wouldn’t be able to pay his rent, which meant losing his fabulous apartment and having to move back in with his parents.

Neil was grateful that the guy in 2D had entered his life. But he never wanted to meet him and ruin the magic of what they had.

=The End=