Spotlight With Author Inger Iversen!
Meet The Author:
Inger Iversen lives in Virginia Beach with her tree-hugging boyfriend Joshua and her overweight lap cat Max. When not reading or writing she spends her time watching reruns of True Blood or killing zombies in Call Of Duty.
Excerpt: 3-Inevitable
Ice-cold air slapped Teal in the face just as hard as
Trent’s refusal to sit upfront. Her arms and ass were sore from the long drive
and she was ready to karate chop the shit out of this freaking country bumpkin.
“What the hell is wrong with the front seat?” She slammed the door shut.
“What the hell is wrong with the back
seat?” He countered, mimicking her tone.
Oh
hell to the mother fucking no. She didn’t have time for
this. Being maid of honor meant dealing with a bridezilla, not the ornery
country ass best man. Words bubbled to the surface. Words resembling, get your damn ass up in this vehicle or I’ll
leave you here to freeze your ass off alone. Instead, Teal opened the back
door to show Trent that there was no room in the back for him.
Her phone rang. She placed her finger
up, hoping to hush him from speaking as she answered the call. The indignant
look on his face gave her a bit of satisfaction.
“Didi, I swear to all that is holy, if
you give me any bad news I will flip out.” The wedding planner and close
personal friend was supposed to show up at South Hampton Inn on Wednesday—a day
earlier than everyone else. The weather had other ideas though, and had trapped
Didi on I-95, making her several hours late. When she’d finally arrived, she
crashed and slept. Teal couldn’t blame her. That’s exactly what she wanted to
do when she got there.
“I just got up and so far, everything is
good.” She paused to talk to someone, presumably a hotel employee. “Now, we are
missing a few things, but Jan-Erik says you have them with you?”
A few things? Shit, Katie forgot a bunch
of things. “Yeah,” Teal turned around to see Trent moving the boxes with the
stemless drink ware out of the backseat and placing it on the floor of the
passenger’s side.
Anger simmered over in her chest. “Didi,
I’m going to let you go. I need to kill a man.” She disconnected the phone even
as Didi stammered on the other end about a sheet cake and not having bail
money. “What the hell are you doing?” Teal screeched.
He made as if her voice was unbearable
placing his hands over his ears and wincing. “Are you always so loud?”
“Loud? Look, it is freezing out here.”
She watched as he closed the front door and got in the back. “So, let’s go . .
.” she finished, realizing she was
now the hold up.
As if she hadn’t even spoken, Trent shut
the door and buckled himself in.
She headed around the SUV and got in
while muttering under her breath. Teal wasn’t in the mood. She was hungry and
tired, and by the time she made it to South Hampton Inn, it’d be damn near
close to six in the evening if not later. Taking a deep breath, she removed her
gloves and started the SUV, turning the heat on full blast. After the vehicle
had a chance to warm up, she pulled out of the parking spot and headed toward
the road.
Deleted Scene :
It
was the last day of senior year and Trent walked past the guidance counselor’s
office, eying the line of poor souls who wouldn’t make it to graduation. A few
faces he recognized, but many he didn’t.
Tomorrow was not only his
graduation ceremony, but also his eighteen birthday. Trent’s mind raced with
the possibilities of being an adult and never having to attend another day of
school. His stepfather had promised him the day he turned eighteen, he was
putting Trent out. “Can’t have two men in
this house. Only one man and I’m gonna be that man, not you, boy.” Trent
didn’t give a shit. He turned the corner and headed for his last class of the
day.
He’d already been promised a job at
Sam’s garage, so he wouldn’t have to worry over making a steady income. Sam was
a lazy drunk, but that only added fuel to his fire. Besides his new job, Trent
had also lined up a place to stay, and was now the proud new owner of a
fixed-up junker he’d gotten from the Pick ‘N Pull junkyard. He was set.
Adding a cherry to the top of this
perfect day, his girlfriend, Harper, said she had a present for him. She’d been
really secretive about it, but Trent prayed to all the gods in existence she
was finally willing to give it up to him. She’d really made him work for it,
and he was more than ready to finally slide home.
Their relationship had been secret
since day one, but Harper promised to tell her dad about them as soon as she
turned seventeen—only five months from now. Trent couldn’t wait. He’d been so
shocked a year ago when Harper had approached him in the school parking lot and
asked for a ride home.
There was a hierarchy at Lincoln
and Trent sat proudly at the bottom with the stoners. He was even below the
theatre/band geeks. Harper, however, belonged to the upper echelon. Her daddy
was rich and she was beautiful.
That day, Harper could have asked
anyone for a ride home, yet she’d purposely side-stepped a jock and a group of
rich kids and walked right up to Trent. Her dark hair had flittered about her
round dark face as she asked if the car he was leaning on was his. When he’d
nodded, her dark eyes moved past him and eyed the car skeptically. She’d then
asked if it was safe to be on the road, and Trent had proudly proclaimed he’d
been the one to fix it up.
Her laughter at his words had
sounded so sweet and innocent, he’d found himself lost in it. She’d shrugged and
moved around the car, pulling open the passenger side door. Trent had watched
as made herself comfortable on the seat, crossing one dark leg over the other,
and placing her satchel on the floor. Instead of questioning her actions, he’d
gotten in the car and started it up. When he asked her where she was going, she’d
said, “Wherever you hang out after school,” so nonchalantly that Trent just
drove off without thinking.
Now they’d been secretly dating for
just over a year. No one, not even his best friend, knew about their
relationship. Speaking of his best friend, Trent glanced around the class for
Shawn, but he hadn’t arrived yet. Taking his usual seat in the back, he placed
his book on the floor.
Not thirty seconds later, Shawn came
lumbering into the classroom with his girl at his side. The redhead moved from
under his arm to sit with her friends at the front of the class, and Trent was
glad for that shit. It wasn’t as cool to have a secret girlfriend your senior
year as one would think it would be. His friends ragged on him calling him a
queer, but they were just joking and Trent knew it. Before Harper, Trent had
dated quite a few girls and he’d slept with plenty more, but his junior year he
was not ten minutes out of a relationship with Amber Hagen when Harper had
scooped him up.
“Hey, man. You heading over to
Scully’s after school?” Shawn folded his tall frame into the small chair. His
girl, Trent couldn’t guess her name if he tried, looked back and Shawn blew her
a kiss that set her into a fit of giggles. At the noise, her friend looked back
casting Trent a coy smile.
He looked away and to Shawn whose
blue eyes were trained on him. “Nah, I got to go to Sam’s and pay him back for
loaning me the money for my cap and gown.” At Shawn’s silence, Trent continued.
“Maybe after that, but I sure Sam’s going to make me pay it off by staying and
helping him rebuild that transmission.” Trent ran his hand threw his hair
hoping that Shawn didn’t ask him to come over after. He and Harper had plans,
well she’d made plans for him at midnight and he would just go wherever she
told him to go.
Shawn nodded. If he were upset
about the blow off, he didn’t show it. “Cool, man. Start the grown up shit now.
I get it,” Shawn leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the empty
chair in front of him. “But not me.” His carefree smirk made Trent laugh.
Oh, yeah?” Trent asked.
Shawn turned slightly to face
Trent. “Nah, man. I plan to go out with a bang and when I say bang, I man
banging a lot of chicks!” his friend stuck out his tongue and thrust his hips
up and down. Trent’s laugh turned into a scoff as Shawn’s bellowing laughter
brought unwanted attention to them. Trent knew that Shawn was signing up for
the Air Force during the summer and Trent couldn’t blame him for wanting to
relax and let loose a little before he became property of the United States
government. Trent wondered if the only way out of this town for people like
Shawn and him was through the military. While Trent was going to graduate, he’d
waited too long to get his act together so his GPA had suffered, but he’d still
managed to squeak by with enough credits graduate.
“Your dad forcing you to sign up,
or you finally realizing it’s the only thing your dumbass is good for?” Trent
asked.
Shawn gave a mirthless laugh. “Well,
listen to this shit. I said to him, ‘Dad, how’s about I forgo the military and
head to college instead?’”
“And?” Trent prompted at his
silence.
His smile faded. “Let’s just say .
. . I’m signing up.”
Shawn dropped his feet when the
teacher entered the class and commanded attention. Shawn was smart as hell and
had tutored Trent a time or two in Math. He confided in Trent that he wanted to
be a teacher, but the money for college wasn’t there. His father had given him
two choices: join the military or join the military. Trent assumed the choice
was made for him years ago, but that wasn’t Trent’s problem. His stepfather
couldn’t care less what Trent did after college so long as he did it out of his
house.
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