Rage Excerpt 1

Originally posted to Tumblr February 20, 2018

“Gmorning sunshine!”

 I scowled at my phone.

 “Oh come on V, you know you are always happy to hear my voice,” his smooth baritone purred though the phone.

 “Yep, it’s always a pleasure,” I said flatly.

 “Well don’t get too excited,” he said with a laugh. “I brought coffee.”

 “Alright, alright, I’m up.” I ended the call and tossed my phone on to the bed. I slid to my feet and stretched, before padding to the front door in the oversized t-shirt I always slept in and flung the door open.

 “There she is!” James said in an annoyingly patronizing voice. “Look what I brought you! Some coffee!” 
He was standing at the bottom of the stairs leaning against the railing. His hair was tousled like it always was. He said it was a fine art to get it to look like that. I sighed at him and held out my hand, the coffee he brought me lifted out of his hand and drifted up to mine. 

 “Don’t make me slam the door in your face J. You know I will,” I said as I took a sip. He ambled up the steps and slipped passed me into the house, completely unfazed by the murderous look I was shooting him. 

 “Go shower, get dressed, and we can get going,” he said as he flung himself onto my couch. 

“How does Thomas put up with you?” I grumbled under my breath as I headed back to my bedroom. 

“He loves me just like you do,” he said matter-of-factly. “Well, a lot more than you do actually. In fact, last night…” 

“What meetings are today again?” I called out to the living room, cutting him off. I peeled the t-shirt off and tossed it into the corner of the room where the other dirty clothes were, and grabbed a clean bra and panties and traipsed into the adjoining bathroom, setting my coffee on the counter, “And come in here so I can hear you while I shower.” Leaving the bathroom door open I flipped on the shower. 

 “Vanessa, it always amazes me that you can’t remember your own schedule. We have a meeting with Donaldson first. That should be quick and painless,” he said sardonically.

I poked my head out of the bathroom, “Why did we schedule that first thing again?” 

“To get it over with,” he replied with a sigh. I rolled my eyes and stepped into the shower, tipping my head back, and letting the heat seep into my body. “We only have one other meeting, a new client, then we can go out and kick ass and take names.” 

 “New clients have a tendency to be a pain in the ass,” I groaned. 

 “That’s an interesting business model; ‘All new customers are a pain in the ass. Avoid whenever possible.’ That should really increase profits.” 

I scowled at the door, “You’re lucky looks can’t kill.”

**All excerpts are lightly edited from a first draft. The content here could change or be removed from the final product. **