Josh stared at the back of the person standing in front of him in line. It was a busy day at his favorite book store, but he didn’t mind. He didn’t have anywhere better to be. Josh felt his red eyebrows pull into a frown.
Why think about Nellie now? he wondered.
He hadn’t seen her since the summer of 1982 at a demonstration in Central Park, protesting nuclear weapons. They’d had a fight, the first in thirty years of friendship, and parted ways. Josh didn’t even know if she was still alive. She had taught him everything he needed to know to be a successful vampire, and now he didn’t even know where she lived.
Oh well. Times pass and life changes, as she was so prone to say.
Life really has changed since 1952, Josh thought as he eyed the woman in front of him, her black hair done up in a faux-hawk, the spikes at least six inches tall. From where he stood, he could also spot three piercings in each ear. Not really his style.
Though I do okay with keeping up with the times, Josh admitted to himself, glancing down at his Black Sabbath T-shirt. Well, mostly.
The one thing that hadn’t changed was his love of music. He may not play anymore, but he still loved it. His little apartment in Olympia, Washington was crowded with old records and newer CDs. If only he had the space for a piano.
No. If you play you’ll want to perform, he reminded himself. And he couldn’t perform. Not anymore. He had tried it, once, in the sixties, and just like Nellie had predicted, he had become noticed. As a result, there was a tombstone in Green-Wood Cemetery marked “Joshua Francis,” the name he had performed under. Joshua Francis had died in a terrible car accident.
Never again would he touch the ivory keys and risk the same temptation.
Life just sucks that way.
Josh took another step forward as the person at the front of the line finished their transaction. Reading was a good way to pass the time, and, as a nearly immortal person, he had plenty of it. Even working from home trading online stocks (and not doing very well at it), didn’t take up enough of his time. You could only buy and sell so much. As a result of his innumerable free hours, he began reading authors he never would have touched otherwise.
Josh looked down at the book clutched in his hands. It was the latest release from one of his “guilty pleasure” authors. Most of her fan-base was made up of middle-aged house wives who had lost all the romance in their lives. He liked her books because they made him laugh.
As a real vampire, he found her renditions of the “fictitious” monster of the night to be rather funny. Her books were all sculpted men in torn shirts with super-model women molesting them on sandy beaches. None of the men in her books were under six foot two, and the women all had breasts the size of watermelons. Josh noted the author’s name in flowering script on the cover and chuckled just thinking of the last book.
What would Miss Ashley Hawn think of a five foot four, read-headed, freckled ex-pianist vampire?
Josh stepped up and plopped the book on the counter. The cashier picked it up and glanced over the cover.
“Love Seduces All, huh? Any good?”
Josh grinned. “No, Miss. I’m pretty sure it’s total shit.”
Look for the continuation of Josh and Ashley’s story in Sucked In,
Book 1 of the Series that Just Plain Sucks.
Whether you liked Josh’s story or not, please consider writing an honest review.
Thank you.
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Works by Charissa Dufour
The Series that Just Plain Sucks
Life Sucks (Prequel short story) https://amzn.to/1NJnlLy
Sucked In (Book 1) https://amzn.to/1OoIwGV
Sucked Away (Book 2) https://amzn.to/1Zie1Yr
That Sucked (Book 3) https://amzn.to/1MgUxdg
Or purchase in a box set:
The Series that Just Plain Sucks: The Complete Series (Books 1-3) https://amzn.to/1PNDLdo
Suck It Up (A little something extra. Can be read at any time in the series) https://amzn.to/1OoIAGJ
The Dothan Chronicles
Bought (Prequel short story) https://amzn.to/1OsWKpU
Torn (Book 1) https://amzn.to/1RwERds
Lost (Book 2) https://amzn.to/1OsXgEe
Alone (Book 3) https://amzn.to/1OsXDP3
Or purchase in a box set:
The Dothan Chronicles: The Complete Trilogy (Books 1-3) https://amzn.to/1PC3y2d
The Void Series
Cornered Magic (Book 1) https://amzn.to/1OufDZk
Misguided Allies (Book 2) https://amzn.to/1nAXIqz
The Echoes of Sol Series
Trust and Treachery (Book 1) https://amzn.to/1OoTN6l
Broken and Hunted (Book 2) Coming May 10, 2016
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