When Bones met Timmie

Hi, all! I meant to post this yesterday, but the day got away from me. It’s been a while since I posted a new snippet from THE OTHER HALF OF THE GRAVE, so today, I thought I’d give you a look inside Bones’s head when he first met Cat’s neighbor, Timmie. As some of you might remember, Bones was not a fan of Timmie’s, heh.

To give you a visual for this snippet, here’s a photo that kinda looks the way I picture Timmie, and the poor guy has no idea what’s about to happen, lol.

Copyright Jeaniene Frost. All rights reserved.

Snippet from THE OTHER HALF OF THE GRAVE, releasing April 26th.

“Hi, Cathy!”

The chipper voice made both of them look up. A tawny-haired lad with buttercream pale skin waved at Cat from the second floor. His open door was right next to Cat’s flat, so this must be her neighbor. He looked about Cat’s age, and his gaze was the personification of “puppy love” as he stared at Cat.

Cat gave her neighbor a smile that ripped jealousy through Bones like a skillfully-wielded knife. He’d had to work months to get a smile like that from her, and she was bestowing it on this knobhead only days after meeting him?

Bones stared back at her neighbor, and the lad’s smile slipped.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had company,” the young man said, making the wise decision to back up into his flat. Then, Cat stopped him before he closed the door.

“It’s okay, Timmie. He’s not really ‘company’ anyway.”

“Oh?”

Timmie’s smile was back with reinforcements, and now he reeked so much of infatuation Bones could smell it from where he stood. More jealousy tore at him, until Bones felt every inch the green-eyed monster that the emotion was named after.

“Are you Cathy’s brother?” Timmie asked Bones.

Oh, that was it. “Whatever would give you the idea that I’m her damn brother?”

The words and Bones’s tone caused Timmie to leap back into his doorframe. “Sorry!” he managed before slamming the door shut behind him.

Cat turned around and glared at Bones before poking him in the chest.

“What the hell was that? Either you make a sincere apology to Timmie now, or you can slither back to your cave like the festering ball sack you just acted like. Timmie’s a nice guy, and you probably just made him pee his pants.”

Good, was Bones’s first thought. Then he might not act on what he feels for you. Save him a world of pain.

But the small, still-rational part of him knew that Cat was right. He had acted like a festering ball sack.

“I mean it,” Cat said, poking Bones again. “One…two…”

She was counting at him? Did he look two instead of two hundred and fifty?

“Three…” she said in a warning tone.

She wanted an apology? Oh, he’d give her a memorable one.

Bones went up to Timmie’s flat and knocked. The lad’s heart rate increased when he opened the door and saw Bones.

Don’t fret, I’m not here to eat you, Bones thought. Yet.

Bones gave Timmie his most charming smile. “Right, then, mate, terribly sorry for my rudeness, and I do beg your pardon. I can only explain that my curtness was caused by my natural affront to the suggestion that she was my sister. Since we’ll be shagging tonight, you can imagine how I’d be distressed at the thought of rogering my own sibling–”

“You schmuck!” Cat shouted, cutting off the rest of what Bones was going to say. “The only thing you’ll be shagging tonight is yourself!”

Bones turned around with feigned innocence. “You demanded sincerity. Well, luv, I was sincere.”

Steam practically came from her ears. “You can get right back in that car, and I’ll only see you later if you’re not being such an asshole.”

Oh, that wasn’t being an arsehole. This was.

Bones turned back to Timmie. “Nice to meet you, mate, and here’s some advice: don’t even think about it. You try anything with her, and I’ll neuter you with my bare hands.”

“Get. Out!” Cat shouted.

Bones grinned with teeth at Timmie, who blanched and scooted back into his apartment even though Bones hadn’t flashed fang. Then, Bones went back down to the parking lot, where Cat was still glaring knives at him.  

“Leave,” she said with an emphatic swipe at his car.

“Right now,” Bones agreed, swooping in to give her a quick kiss and then leaping back from her instant smack. Yes, he’d deserved it. No, he couldn’t bring himself to be sorry.

“See you later, Kitten,” Bones called out as he drove away.

All right, perhaps he could have handled that better, but he’d hardly challenged Timmie to pistols at dawn, had he? Back in Bones’s day, that was all the rage for handling disputes over a lady’s affections. At least now, the lovesick lad would remember that he’d been warned, and really, hadn’t that been the gentlemanly thing to do?

Very well. It wasn’t, but it was the best he could manage.

***

Hope you enjoyed the snippet! Once again, THE OTHER HALF OF THE GRAVE releases on April 26th, and you preorder yours at #Ad Amazon, B&N, Apple Books, Kobo, or your favorite retailer. (Audio preorder links and paperback preorder links coming next week!)