Page 17 of Nightcrawler

“Yeah, okay,” he said. “Anyway, we called what we made hobo stew, but it’s also known as—”

“Mulligan stew, yeah, I heard Vonne telling you to make it earlier today.”

He smiled. “Yeah.” He bowed his head, kissing the top of Stanley’s head as the sleeping kitten lay in his arms. He looked so tiny against that big, strong body. A few years ago, my assistant Judy had given me a calendar with pictures of a different hot guy holding a kitten for every month of the year. I remember being sad when I got to December knowing my daily dose of completely hot guys holding kittens had come to an end.Trigg should have been on the cover. They would have sold a trillion copies.

The awkward silence once again filled the void between us. He was frowning a little as he glanced up. “How’s your pain now?”

“It’s good…I mean not great, but better.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Good.”

The silence returned and I realized how tired I really was. In the morning, I’d have to call Judy to let her know I was still alive and explain what had happened. She was going to have a shit fit over me being shot and honestly, it was the only reason I hadn’t called her until now. I heaved out a big sigh and Trigg looked up, having been slumping in that really uncomfortable chair while I sat over here feeling way too comfy in the only soft piece of furniture in the room. For a fleeting second, I wished I was at home where I knew thousand thread count sheets, my welcoming, soft suede couch, and my own clothes were. I put the thought out of my mind a moment later, feeling horribly guilty at my own selfishness.

I had to make another call too. She’d be worried.

“I’m going to go check on the laundry,” Trigg said, getting up. He looked uncomfortable in his own skin, and I knew the reasons behind it centered on having me here, crowding his space. I was an intruder here. He looked around, holding Stanley, and seeming undecided as to where to put him.

I held out my arms. “Give him to me. I’ll hold him.”

“Yeah, okay.” He walked over and handed the sleeping beauty to me. Stanley instantly readjusted himself in a new set of male arms, sleeping on as if he hadn’t missed a damned thing. I glancing at Trigg’s bulging muscles, Marine Corps tat poking outfrom under his sleeve, and the way his T-shirt stretched across his chest to show off his muscles. It made me realize I’d miss the loss of that man’s arms were I ever lucky enough to feel them wrapped around me.

I swallowed hard, burying my face in Stanley’s fur and breathing in his kitten scent as I ignored Trigg cleaning up my empty dishes and putting away the TV tray. I was embarrassed because I was unable to do even the smallest thing to help. I kept my face down, not wanting to look up and into those deep, brown eyes which might see too much, until I heard the door close as he walked out of the apartment.

I made my call, trying not to worry her, checking how she was before she asked about me. “I’m okay. Just got caught on a job. I love you. Get some good sleep. I’ll be home when I can.”

Chapter Seven

RAVEN

After the door closed behind Trigg, I noticed he’d left his tablet on the bedside table. I repositioned the kitten so I could hold it with one hand and reached for the device, surprised when it turned on right away, and wasn’t password protected. I nearly fell out of the chair when I spotted one of my older reviews on the screen. It had to have been what he was reading when I woke up this evening. He’d laughed and said Nightcrawler was his favorite reviewer. I could barely believe how ironic that was, and it brought a huge smile to my face.

Book title: Lord of the X-Files

Author(s): BR Murphy and BA Richards

Publisher: Self-published

Genre: Action/Adventure, Paranormal/Sci-Fi fiction

Review/rating by Nightcrawler: 1 star, DNF at 85%

Synopsis:

A pair of police detectives are drawn into the world of the paranormal and science fiction while out on patrol one night. They encounter a blinding light in the sky followed by a spaceship landing on the road right in front of them. When a tentacled monster deposits the corpse of a dead werewolf on the street before flying away, they are flabbergasted. The detectives stumble upon a series of aliens and paranormal creatures as the book goes on.

My Review:

My first thoughts were that this book felt almost autobiographical since one of the detectives is named BM Murphy, and the other, BS Richards. I decided to ignore the similarities to the authors’ names as I began to read, since it is listed as fiction, but two chapters in, decided that indeed these two authors must be writing about themselves.

I wanted to take a loose BM every time I opened this book…filled with BS.

Anyway, as your servant, dear readers, I slogged through nearly the entirety of this book to try to give you my honest opinion, only slamming it closed when my eyes started bleeding. After all…who doesn’t love paranormal and sci-fi combined with action and adventure? I never have a problem suspending reality when reading in this genre where worlds are contrived. My problem stems from the fact that the two detectives were so obtuse, they didn’t know what they were dealing with, half of the time. And, what I mean by that is…all of the time.

The authors would explain, with excruciating detail, what the creatures were, and then BM and BS would claim them to be humans in disguise, simply ignoring the fact that humans don’t have four feet or twenty-five toes on each. They treated them like any old perp…even when they had to use—in one case—nine sets of handcuffs after an arrest to bring the creature into the station. Once there, the creature—who has magically removed his handcuffs—declares himself to be Lord…of what…is never explained. Lord of the handcuffs is my guess. Hethen releases all the prisoners in the holding cells and kills everyone working there…except BM and BS. Go figure.

It's no wonder this book has such an incredible number of one-star reviews. Readers leaving them are pissed that the two main characters aretotalidiots. As revenge—I’d guess—other reviewers have shared the book’s ending and I confess to reading them. I’m almost disappointed that I didn’t read through to the end of the book where—

(Spoiler Alert Below)

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