Published by Black Rose Writing on 7th July 2022
Amazon UK
Jude and Mercedez have kept deadly secrets from each other.
Jackson’s suicide haunts Jude. She burned all evidence of her brother’s depravity. One less monster in the world, right? Tech-savvy Mercedez is the last living witness to a teenage amateur horror film that ended with a gruesome death. She never told.
A viral video (thanks, Whiskers) brings internet fame — forcing flip -phone wielding Jude to choose between her job as the second female in the VP motorcycle motorcade or her mixologist hobby.Global visibility brings naked vulnerability — someone has subscribed to Jude’s channel.
Missing neighbors found dead in side - by - side freezers, viral drunk “I quit” videos, spammed porn magazine subscriptions, snail mail severed fingers, sabotaged cave trips, cryptic social media comments, and stalking photos push the codependent friends over the edge (literally, off the side of a bluff) when best friends find out secrets can kill.
So 2nd post for your today, and a slight change on the plan, mainly because I was a bit dozy! However, I am looking forward to reading this book, I mean look at the stunning cover! So check out this epic extract!
12 – SUICIDE SHOT
…
It’s a short “hike” and I cover the distance to the top of the waterfall in minutes. Recklessly, I sit at the rock ledge. Per safety rules—I shouldn’t go within a body length of a ledge. I dangle my feet over a 100-foot drop and look down.
“Quit that or quit this.” Boss had said.
The simple choice is to give up the videos and the Tippsy Kitty. Who cares about it anyway? But it is fun to do. I guess it pays. I just need to make enough to keep out of the sizable savings I earned selling Dad’s trucking school, and the house.
The house with Jackson’s brains soaked into the carpet.
It is rewarding. I don’t even care if people watch it or any of that. I enjoy making the drinks and explaining how to make them to people. What a silly thing to find rewarding, I guess.
Down below my feet, the water crashes and rolls into a stream. There is a dead dog down there; it’s sun-bleached ribcage peeks through weeds and wildflowers. Dark fur still on the hide. Gravel cutting my bare stomach as I look into the sewer. Matted fur clotted and pulled back to reveal bone. Viscera pulsing with lower forms of life.
I hope it wandered there by itself and died of natural causes, but my brain is filling in all the details and it adds up to bad business.
Jackson laughs as he points the flashlight at Fuzzy Bunny’s skull. It throbs and lulls. Dead eyes glare. Skulls and teeth bare.
Damn, someone threw a poor dog off the waterfall. Who hurts animals like that?
A mound of death coagulates into a new life form and threatens to inch its way up the mold-covered wall towards us.
He was going to pull the trigger with or without me. I wish I could throw him out of my head, let him rot on the rocks below. My bike looks sparkly in the small parking lot. A small mist, not even a rain, glitters on its paint. Wonder if there is a route back without the “W” road? Something clatters against the windshield as I lean against the bike to look at my phone.
Weird. A plastic disk wedges against the windshield. It couldn’t have been there this whole ride? It’s the disk I put under the kickstand—keeps it safe from sinking into gravel or hot pavement. Usually, I keep it in the bike’s bags. Maybe it fell out and one of the guys helping me lift the bike earlier placed it there? Odd.
Back at the camper, the black convertible and Mercedez is gone. She left a note, “I’ve gone to Nashville. Be back tomorrow.”
‘Left you room to think,’ implied.
…
“Bitch. You stole my idea.”— karenu.wxkejt6l0
“You got this, sister.”— gerrymander_alexander
45K similar unread messages and responses are posted including one buried response.
It contains five pictures of Jude posted by KingBarbour90:
- Falling off bike on the “W” Road.
- Getting back on the bike.
- Flipping the old lady off.
- Sitting at the waterfall.
- Patting a dog’s head outside of the Rolling Rock Cave.
SUICIDE SHOT
Recipe notes from Jude’s journal.
Equal parts:
- Curaçao Blue
- 151 Bacardi rum
- Dash of tobacco on top
Carefully layer in a shot glass. Blue on the bottom. PTSD may occur.
BRAVE BULL
Equal parts:
- Tequila
- Coffee liquor
Pour over ice. Stir.
- Half part Half and Half (Add on top, do not stir. Optional.)
What an extract!! I can’t wait to get cracking on this!
Until next time xx
Thank you so much to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the tour invite and the author for this exclusive extract.
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