We Are Family... (snippets and a reader Q)

Bunches of stuff today! The Blades and Books blog tour...next stop…A HIDDEN HAVEN. Don’t forget that some of the hosting blogs also have the rafflecopter widget up and those places, you can enter just by leaving a comment…MULTIPLE entries!

Today’s Saturday Snippet… it’s all about family. (there’s also been some questions about Broken, and since Fragile comes first…well, it’s a nice seque. Question is answered at the bottom!)

From Fragile…releasing in mass market in August

Set – up… Luke is former military…they just buried a friend. Quinn is his twin brother.

Luke found Quinn in his cramped apartment two miles away, soaked to the bone and sitting on the floor in the living room. He still wore his Class A uniform, the tie askew, jacket unbuttoned. His head rested against the couch and he didn’t stir even when Luke flicked on the lights and came to sit down beside him.

“You regret leaving?” Quinn asked after a while.

Luke shook his head, replied softly, “No.” He shrugged restlessly, his eyes roaming over the bare walls of the apartment. No pictures, no calendars, nothing but bare white walls. Empty. “I miss you. Sometimes the guys. But I don’t regret leaving.”

Quinn closed his eyes. “I’m glad you’re gone. Today, saying bye to Adam–kept thinking if you’d stayed, it could have been you we’d been burying. Four of us, man, four of us gone and I keep thinking I’m damn glad my brother ain’t with us any more.”

Luke snorted. “Yeah, and I keep worrying I’ll get a knock on my door. I don’t want to bury you, Quinn.”

“You won’t.” There was an odd edge to his voice and Luke glanced over, saw a weird light glittering in his brother’s eyes. “Dying’s too easy. I don’t ever get the easy way.”

“Jeb said a woman got killed.”

Quinn jerked like somebody had stabbed him with a branding iron, coming off the ground in one fast move. He crossed the room in long, erratic strides, coming to a stop by the wall where he braced his hands against it and lowered his head. “Don’t, Luke. I–I can’t……” his voice broke.

Grief swamped him, all but broke him. Luke could feel it radiating off his twin, could the echo of it swarming through him as he slowly stood. Quinn edged away as he heard Luke coming, spun around and gave him a wild eyed stare.

“Leave it alone, damn it,” he snarled. “Get the hell away from me.”

Luke shook his head. “You know I can’t. You want to get mad, go ahead. But I’m not leaving.”

Quinn abruptly sagged to his knees. Luke settled down beside him and as Quinn started to cry, he slid an arm around his twin’s shoulders, felt the sting of tears burn his own eyes.

For the longest time, there was no sound but Quinn’s low, harsh sobs. Then they faded away to erratic, unsteady breaths……and then silence.

“You find what you’re looking for, Luke? Did you ever find it?”

SHILOH WALKER

We Are Family… (snippets and a reader Q)

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