Hope you enjoy it as well:)
Chris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYgoI8Jh8mQ
Excerpt #2
Charlotte’s worries
regarding telling Atakan the truth and the negative dive with Nassor pressed on
her mind. Tired to the bone, she headed for the women’s dorm to drop her
backpack. From there, she couldn’t wait to shower. Maybe standing under the hot
water would clear her head and she’d know how to approach Atakan.
She was almost at
the dorm when the cook’s truck came to a quick stop next to her. Atakan was
behind the wheel. He leaned across the cab of the truck and flung open the
passenger door.
“Get in.”
“Now? I wanted to
take a shower. How about I meet you in twenty minutes?”
“Get in,” he said,
flatly.
Charlotte tossed
her backpack in the truck bed and climbed into the passenger seat. He pulled
away before she had the door completely closed.
“Where are we
going?” she asked, shutting the door.
Atakan didn’t
answer as he sped out of camp, spraying dirt and stones behind them.
“What’s going on?
Why are you in such a hurry?”
He stared straight
ahead, silent.
“Atakan?”
Tight-jawed, he
continued down the side road that paralleled the beach, ramming the stick shift
into place as he went through the gears and ignoring her questions. She’d never
seen him this tense, not with her at least. A bad feeling crept over her. She
had a sick sense his mood involved her plan to leave.
They’d gone a
kilometer from the camp when he came to a stop. He hopped out, slammed the
driver’s door shut and came to her side.
Opening her door,
he said, “Get out.”
She did.
“Atakan,” Charlotte
started to ask the same questions again, but he was already turned and walking
toward the sea.
She followed. He
finally stopped near the water’s edge with his back to the surf and faced her.
She stopped a couple of yards away.
“When were you
going to tell me?”
She knew exactly
what he was asking about. Who told him? It wasn’t Nick. He’d honor the
twenty-four hour rule.
“Who told you?”
“That’s not an
answer.” He stood still as a statue, arms crossed, feet apart.
She hesitated,
trying to choose her words so he’d understand and not be hurt. She gazed out at
the incoming tide. The blue-green waves, effervescent with bubbles, rushed
toward shore in rapid succession. White foam droplets filled the air as they
crested, framing him like a new, angry version of Poseidon.
“Answer me.”
“Today.”
“You weren’t going
to tell me until today, although you’ve been planning to leave me for awhile.”
“Not awhile.”
“Long enough to
send job inquiries to several museums.”
So that was how he
knew. One of the museums contacted MIAR and they must’ve sent the questionnaire
to Refik and he told Atakan. She hadn’t considered the possibility. She’d
thought any contact from the museums would be handled by MIAR’s headquarters.
“I’m so sorry you
had to find out this way. I intended to tell you if it looked like I’d
definitely leave. If none of the museums showed interest, then you never had to
know what I’d done.”
“And you believe
that is acceptable?”
It killed her to
see the look of disgust on his face with the question. “Yes...” she said low.
“Why?”
“Because I’m bad
luck for you—everyone can see it, even your--, it’s obvious. There’s something
about me, and God knows, I don’t know what, but I’m like a magnet for
Tischenko.”
She never cried and
she wouldn’t cry now, but she was close. “I can’t bear to see you hurt again,
or worse. There are people that bad luck follows, even Iskender thinks so.”
Atakan inhaled
deeply and let out a slow breath. Uncrossing his arms, he closed the short
distance to where she stood.
“It’s not forever,”
she offered, “I’ll return.”
He shook his head.
“If you go, you cannot return. You’re either in my life or out of my life.
There’s no in between.”
http://www.amazon.com/Byzantine-Gold-Dangerous-Waters-ebook/dp/B00B431BYQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t
http://www.chriskarlsen.com/
http://pinterest.com/chriskarlsen/
3 comments:
Quite an ultimatum. Wonder what she does!
Debby236 at gmail dot com
Hi Debby,
It is a tough situation for Charlotte. She's under a lot of pressure from an important outside source.
I loved having Atakan tell her, "you're either in my life or out of my life, there's no in between."
Chris
Thanks for the trailer, Chris. I went over and liked it.
I like this party so much better than a Superbowl party!
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com
Post a Comment