For the next few weeks, I’m going to be participating in an Author Blog-in, courtesy of Kate Policani, and her wonderful efforts to showcase indie authors, and help each other gain more exposure and a larger potential fan-base.
Today I’ll be featuring my book.
My book, Moments Collide, is available here on Amazon and CreateSpace, and more information can be learned about my writing on my Facebook Page, or this blog.
Moments Collide is the story told by Felix LaPage, a young man with huge musical aspirations. Growing up, Felix developed a love of music, and with his cello, worked his way through school to try and become a musical success.
However, that’s not the whole story. While working toward his musical dreams, Felix met a woman who would change the course of his life, but not necessarily in a good way. With this woman, Rayne, Felix learns that not everyone is kind or selfless. Struggling through Rayne’s verbal and emotional abuse, Felix also must face getting over her multiple affairs.
It’s one night, on a long train-ride home, where Felix meets a young woman who shows him a different path, a path that could lead to his own personal happiness, free of struggle and pain. It’s up to Felix, however, to choose whether or not he’s meant to walk the painful path with Rayne, or a path that allows him to be free.
Below is a short excerpt from the book. The book is available on the Kindle Library, which I highly encourage people to check it out. Any and all reviews are highly appreciated. Please enjoy the small bit of my story. Much love to all the readers and writers out there. Thanks for checking out my blog!
Note: this excerpt has had the language edited to keep it to a G rating for other bloggers. Please note that the actual text in the book consists of adult language. Thank you!
As I approached my door, my phone began to ring again, the bells piercing through my thoughts in an extremely unpleasant way. I was not surprised to see Rayne’s number and this time I answered it.
“Hello?”
“Uhg, Felix,” she hissed at me. “What have you been doing all day that you couldn’t answer my calls?”
“Oh, I was just busy,” I said, my voice oddly calm. “I did want to tell you, though; I had a visitor last night around midnight.”
“What kind of visitor?” she asked, her voice heavy with suspicion.
“Well, it was your friend Richard, actually. Before I go on, Rayne, is there anything you want to tell me? Anything at all?”
“Um… no,” she said. Her voice was suddenly small and scared. “Why?”
“Oh I don’t know,” I said, and the hard edge began to form around my words. “I thought maybe you’d like to confess to cheating before I call you out on it.”
“Felix,” she cried. “Is that what he said? He said he and I slept together?! I told you that he was going to try and pull this when I left! I told you he was in love with me!”
“He had pictures of the two of you… YOU CARELESS PERSON!” My voice went from calm to rage in a nanosecond. Fury rushed through me and I couldn’t stop screaming. “HE HAD PICTURES OF YOU AND HIM FROM THE SECURITY CAMERA, YOU DIRTY, DISGUSTING, LYING…! SO TELL ME AGAIN THAT HE’S LYING, RAYNE! TELL ME AGAIN!”
She was sobbing now, hysterically, and I didn’t care. She blubbered on behind her sobs, words that I didn’t understand. I caught an “I’m so sorry”, “made a huge mistake”, “went too far”, but none of it mattered. She was a liar, she was unfaithful, and above all she put me at risk because she didn’t bother to tell me the truth.
“Do you realize that I have to get tested now, Rayne?!” I shouted at her. I was still outside, not caring who heard me. I was pacing the grass, kicking around the towels that Richard had left out in the rain. “Do you realize that I could be infected with something because you slept around and didn’t bother to care about who you affected?! Are you proud of yourself, Rayne? Is this something you’re proud of!? Are you happy now, with what you did? Was he worth it?!”
“Felix, please,” she begged, her sobs still punctuating every syllable.
“No, shut up. You don’t get to talk to me. You don’t get to say my name. You don’t get to ask me for anything. When we get home you and I will discuss the end of our relationship, and at least this long drive you have ahead of you will give you time to reflect on whether or not losing an upright, honest man was worth your little fest with some dirty piece of junk. Good bye, Rayne.”
With that, I hung up. I was shaking, and my neighbor was outside staring at me. He gave me an ‘I’m sorry, man’ smile and went back inside as I opened my front door and walked in. My adrenaline was pumping and part of me wished she was there right now so I could keep screaming.
Screaming, however, was not going to make it better. Even in my state of mind I knew that, and the two hours it took her to get home allowed me to be calm. I was sitting on the couch when she walked in. Her face was white and she looked petrified. She set her keys down and started to sit next to me so I stood up and walked across the room.
The pictures were now on top of the TV, still unopened, and I threw them to her. “Enjoy the show,” I said as she opened the folder and pulled out the stack. I took care not to look at them but it was clear by her face that whatever the cameras captured was pretty graphic.
“I had no idea there was a camera,” she said.
“Well lucky for me then, isn’t it, or I might have never known,” I bit.
“Felix, if you’ll just listen to me for a minute-”
“Rayne, you don’t get to talk,” I snapped at her, my temper perilously close to shooting off. “You’re going to sit there, keep your mouth shut, and listen to what I have to say.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks and she let out a little sob, but she knew I had her. I would have felt sorry for how I was treating her if for one moment I thought her tears were because she felt bad for what she had done. Unfortunately, for both of us, I knew she was only upset because she’d been caught. She’d been caught in such a way that she couldn’t talk her way out of it.
“Rayne, I can’t afford this place on my own yet, so I can’t kick you out. I was already speaking with the office but because of your credit they won’t let me off the lease so I can move out to a place I can afford, so for now, you get to move out of our bedroom and sleep in the second bedroom. You and I will split bills down the middle, and you will carry the weight of the extra finances until I can afford to buy myself a car– a problem I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t insisted I sell my car to buy you a ring which you threw in my face just weeks later.”
“We’re both going to get tested, which you’re paying for, and if we need any treatments, you’ll also pay for those. You won’t talk to me, you won’t touch me, you won’t look at me. You won’t be spending any time with me, and if you ask me for anything, literally anything, I will spit in your face. Do I make myself clear?”
With tears pouring down her face, make-up smeared, looking devastated, hurt and on the verge of hysterics, she nodded. “I’m so sorry,” she breathed from beneath her tears. “I love you, Felix, I really do.”
“Don’t ever say that to me again,” I hissed at her, my temper boiling, my face going red and hot. “Don’t you ever dare!”
“But I do!” she cried in defense.
“I don’t care if you think you do, Rayne!” I bellowed. “Your sick, sick mind has no idea what love is! You have no idea what selflessness, love, or compassion are. You don’t get to use those words to me. You gave away that right when you opened your legs and let that slime-ball in! If I hear you say anything like that to me again so help me you will not like what happens.”
“Felix,” she wept, “what can I do to make it better?”
“Nothing,” I hissed, leveling my finger in her face. “Nothing, Rayne. It’s over. You disgust me. I can barely look at you right now without vomiting all over the floor. You cheated on me and you lied about it! You spat on everything that I thought was true about our relationship. Five years, Rayne. Five! You have no respect for anyone or anything and believe me if I could kick you out right now I would. I would not hesitate for a moment.”
At that point I was done. I didn’t feel like she’d had enough, but I was done listening to her sobbing, because it was all self-serving. If she had cared she wouldn’t have done it. If it was a one-time affair I might have believed she was sorry, but they had been screwing for months, and she had been hiding and lying and there was no excuse. There was no forgiveness for that.
I turned and went to my room, shutting the door and wishing desperately that we had a working lock. She gave me some space until around ten that night when she knocked timidly asking for her things. I grabbed a handful of clothes, not paying attention to what I had in my hands, and her pillow, and shoved them at her. I didn’t look at her and didn’t give her a second to speak.
I shut the door again and flopped down on the bed, letting out a heavy sigh. I wanted out so badly, but I was stuck. I didn’t know how to make it work so she could be gone and that was the part that was killing me.
Kate Policani 