All First Chapter Samples

“It’s been a rubber ducky kind of day, and I’m out of here. My bathtub is calling me. I may or may not be in tomorrow. Who knows, maybe I’ll go to Asia or Australia. A cruise around the world is calling my name.” The barista who was at least in his mid-twenties swept past me in a whirl of drama and almost-sheer fabric as his flowy shirt moved around him.

I’d been standing in the back of the line long enough to have seen several customers get a little snippy with him, but nothing that was probably out of the ordinary. The woman with the bright purple hair he’d been speaking with just rolled her eyes and hollered after him.

“Drama queen! You’d better be here tomorrow. If you take that cruise without me, you’re a dead drama queen.” No one else in the room seemed to think the interaction was odd, so I tried not to react.

But it was…difficult.

I was starting to get the feeling that moving to the city hadn’t been such a good idea.

It was a rough bar in an even worse part of town and I couldn’t figure out what the little twink was doing working there. Well, I had an idea, but nothing that made sense. I had to be wrong. It’d been a few weeks, maybe longer, since I’d stopped in, but I knew I would have remembered him if I’d seen him before.

BJ’s was technically named after the original owner, but it was also a really big clue about what someone might find going on in the backroom most nights. It’d been a gay bar as long as anyone could remember, and most of the customers had come out in a time where you were either tougher than the bullies or you stayed deep in the closet. Most of them looked like they’d just gotten released from the state pen, even though I knew they all had regular jobs and were actually upstanding citizens.

However, when they walked into the bar, most of the trappings of civilization fell away. So I wasn’t sure what the hell Jake had been thinking when he’d hired the little twink. Pushing away from the wall where I’d been watching for the last few minutes, I headed toward the bar. I found an open spot in the corner and waited for Jake to wander over.

“You ask him. You’re the one who’s curious.” Bryan’s whispered voice held an edge of panic, but since it was Kevin egging him on, I thought that was to be expected.

“But you’re the one who’s little, so you should ask.” Kevin seemed to be trying to convince Bryan that his logic was sound, but there was obviously some debate over that.

“This isn’t my idea. I don’t even know why I’m listening to you.” Bryan’s voice was clearly stressed but since he seemed more likely to hit Kevin than pass out, I didn’t step in. “You’re a nuisance, and I’m going to tell Jeremy you’re driving me crazy.”

Kevin just giggled. “Good, I haven’t been spanked in days.”

Bryan groaned. “I don’t need to know that.”

Kevin giggled again.

“Let’s just go.” Evidently whatever Kevin was trying to talk Bryan into wasn’t sounding like such a good idea anymore.

But Kevin was persistent.

“You’re going to feel ridiculous if you chicken out now.” There was a pause, and I knew more than likely Kevin had hugged his still-nervous friend. “Besides, it’s just a question, it’s not like you have to do anything.”

“But what if he thinks it’s stupid or too personal?” Bryan’s voice dipped quieter, but I heard his nerves even more clearly.

“I’m not a stalker.” I thought getting that out first thing was important to establishing innocence just in case it went to court, but the group of guys standing around me all cocked their heads to the side like confused puppies.

They weren’t puppies.

Well, most weren’t.

“Santa has…tentacles.” There was a mix of surprise and confusion in his voice, but I wasn’t sure why.

The aliens that had settled on Earth had taken a variety of fun jobs and there seemed to be very little logic to some of them. If he wanted to explore being Santa for the holidays, who were we to tell him no?

“He’s got a great beard, though.” It was much better looking than last year’s Santa even if it was just as fake. “And he’s clearly having fun. Look at how they’re all wiggling.”
And the grin he was wearing… Santa was having fun.

“No, he got me a cute Build-a-Bear. It’s dressed up just like me at work…yeah…a little tool belt and everything. I don’t know how he did it but my Secret Santa is the best.” Sound cheerful but not too giggly. Happy but not devious. Not too loud because then he’d become suspicious and realize I was talking to no one. Phones really were amazing because no one could ever tell if there was someone on the other end or not. They also made it easy for me to look so distracted I wouldn’t notice my sexy and slightly nosy neighbor inching closer to the fence that separated our properties. “No, the first one was that card and the chocolates. Yeah, […]