BOOK EXCEPT: AFTER ANNA by Theda Black excerpt (m/m, non-explicit, language)

AFTER ANNA

coming MARCH 1 to eXtasybookS

EXCERPT (short, non-explicit—warning for language)

"Actually, I think I've heard of this before."

"Really."

"Yes, really. Copulatia fuckititus, pal. I remember it from college, now you mention it."

"I'd hate to waste good whiskey, but I'm about to throw it at you." Tyler stood and followed Will, swaying, still trying to use a napkin to pat at Will's blue shirt. He managed to slop some more on Will from his glass in the process.

Will glared at him. "If you don't mind, I'm trying to pontificate, here."

"So poontang all you want. I'm trying to wipe the booze off you."

Will laughed. "Shit. You said that on purpose." He bent over, holding his stomach, and laughed some more. "Poontang."

Tyler grinned hugely and gestured at Will's bent-over posture. "You have to take a piss or you getting friendly on me?"

Will laughed again and collapsed on the couch and then, just like that, the laughter was gone because all the fucking in the world, all the drinking and all the jokes weren't going to fix this. It hit him like a bag of sand right between the eyes.

"Will?" Tyler finally asked, a little thickly. Will sat there, head lying at a steep angle, resting it on the back of the couch. His throat moved as he swallowed. "Hey. Hey, Will. Talk to me."

"I had no idea about Anna. None."

"She didn't want you to know." Tyler slouched down beside him.

"There was this whole other part of her that I didn't know. Some detective, huh." Will shook his head in disgust. "Shit, I've been on the streets enough to recognize the signs. I didn't. That bastard fed her all the drugs she wanted and had himself an easy piece of ass for his troubles, didn't he? And I was oblivious, walking around with my head in the goddamn clouds. What an idiot."

"You weren't an idiot. I never saw her high, either. So you trusted her. Something you do with people you love," Tyler said with a gentle sarcasm.

"Love is blind, huh? Only if you're a fucking idiot."

Tyler tapped the back of Will's hand. "Do not do this."

Will raised his head up and blinked, trying to meet Tyler's eyes. "Do what?"

"Make me stare at you. I'm too drunk to hold my head steady." Will smiled a little. "C'mon, don't blame yourself. You know better."

"You have this idea of me, Ty, and I don't know who you're seeing, but it isn't anybody who knows better."

"The hell with that. I know what I see. It's you who's too busy blaming yourself to see how things are."

"Oh, really?" Will asked listlessly.

"You don't have any fucking idea how I see you, Will, so shut up."

"Just where the hell is this coming from?"

"Maybe you're right. Maybe you don't see things sometimes."

Will raised his voice. "I fucking know I don't, that's what I said. Why the fuck are you on my case?" Tyler didn't reply, his lips set in a tight line.

Will sat back again slowly and shrugged. Forcing his body to relax, he leaned back and dropped his head against the top of the couch again. The sofa creaked and the seat cushion next to him rocked downwards. Will's eyes flew open and Tyler's face hung over his, angry and determined and almost scared. His mouth lowered, touched Will's, soft, then harder, something unleashing from inside him, and he drove Will down into the cushion, pushing his weight into him.

*****

Theda Black's website: blackbara.net