Today’s snippet theme is Explosions. Below is a scene from a book that I wrote with authors Aliyah Burke and Taige Crenshaw for our free read site called Satin Notes. Enjoy.
An snippet from Osborne’s Shelter…
“Drive faster. Niccele is inside Blue Moon.” Her tone held a certainty.
“How do you know?” he asked.
“A message from death.” It was said in the same tone.
Her calmness scared him more than anything else. Jared pressed the gas. Nina said nothing as he drove. She was so still he wouldn’t have known she was there if he hadn’t kept glancing at her. They pulled up some distance away from Blue Moon Café. There were too many cars to get through. Nina opened the door and took off at a run. Jared got out behind her, running after her. She was moving so fast and silently, he couldn’t catch up. She ran straight for the building.
“Nina!” he screamed, afraid she would run right into the burning building.
There was so much noise, he was sure no one heard him. He sped up. She kept going. Suddenly, someone stepped out of the crowd and caught Nina. She fought them hard. They held her, not letting her go. Reaching them, Jared saw it was William. Nina subsided and looked between him and William.
“Niccele is inside,” she said in the flat tone.
“I know, Nina. I know. Sh-“
A loud boom cut William off. The earth shuddered under them. Jared grabbed Nina and held her. “Niccele!” Nina screamed.
Horror filled him as he took in the raining debris and blazing flames.
“Niccele!” Nina screamed again.
Jared held her as she went nuts trying to get away to go to the building.
“Nina, s-“
A loud voice cut him off. “Get off me! Don’t make me have to hurt you. I need to go to my sister. Let me go!”
Surprised, he let go of Nina and turned to where the voice sounded like it came from. Nina was already on the move. A path cleared. Niccele was arguing with an EMT. Nina stopped just before she reached her. Niccele stopped arguing and looked at Nina.
“Peanut,” Niccele said, softly putting out her hand.
“Mello,” Nina whispered.
She made a weird noise and went to Niccele. The sisters embraced fiercely. Jared
smiled. Nina and her family had nicknames for each other. They wouldn’t tell him why they picked the names they had. ”Mello” was short for Marshmallow. He wasn’t sure what Nash’s was. The sisters talked quietly.
“Nina cares very deeply,” a soft voice said beside him.
“I know.” Glancing at William, Jared eyed him up and down. “Why do you always seem to be around her?”
“I’m one of those she cares about.” William smiled.
“We’re together now, William. Back off.” He growled.
William blinked, then started to laugh. As suddenly as he’d started, he stopped. His expression was cold, and his smile even colder.
“I’m not going anywhere. You’ll have to deal with me.”
“We’ll be talking about this soon,” Jared promised.
William’s pale gray eyes were unwavering. “I’m looking forward to it.”
William walked over to the women. Jared’s eyes narrowed as Nina and Niccele glanced at William, then each held out a hand. He took their hands, and they pulled him into their circle. Jared gritted his teeth. Something about the way William acted around Nina was almost possessive. He didn’t like it one bit. They would talk, and he would get to the bottom of what was between William and Nina. He walked over to them. Nina glanced at him and smiled. She let go of William’s hand and took his. Jared glanced at William. William had a small smile on his face. Jared clenched his other fist. He could imagine how it would feel to break William’s nose. William’s smile widened. Jared focused on Niccele.
“Nina, I thought it was you. They had on the same clothing you were in earlier and waved me in. I wondered why you were working so late instead of out with the hot stud here.” Niccele winked at him, then continued. “It wasn’t until I was inside that I realized it wasn’t you, but a man. He moved so fast.” She shook her head. “Everything went dark. I think I was only out for a few moments. When I woke, I could smell the smoke. He had me tied up and behind the partitioned off area that Jared is building for the café. He was waving this big ass knife with a nasty grin on his face. It made the scar on the right side of his face stand out. I thought I was a goner.”
“It was just for show. How did you get out?” Nina asked.
At the certainty in her tone, Jared stared at her. She had an inscrutable look on her face. He glanced at William and saw the same look. Jared narrowed his eyes. They knew something which they were not saying. He noticed they didn’t ask Niccele if she recognized the man. Niccele’s reply caught his attention.
“Ziva. Damn, she’s one fierce woman. She came out of nowhere and kicked the man’s ass. They were moving so fast. Knives flying, fists going, back flipping, and cursing all over the place. Ziva cut him across the left cheek. I could see the bone. ” Niccele’s tone was awed. “The man ran, and Ziva looked as if she was going after him, but she came back. She lifted me up, threw me over her shoulder, and got me out of there. She’d make a hell of a firefighter.” Niccele smiled sheepishly. “Imagine, a firefighter being rescued.”
“Your rep is safe. You were tied up.” Nina winked.
Niccele laughed, then sobered. “What’s going on, Peanut?”
“You know better than to ask me that,” Nina replied.
Copyright © 2008 Aliyah Burke, McKenna Jeffries and Taige Crenshaw.
All Rights Reserved, Satin Notes.
Check out the rest of Osborne’s Shelter and more free reads at Satin Notes - http://satinnotes.com/
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