Pen Name - Doctor Chicken by KC Burn

Author:KC Burn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2013-11-21T23:00:00+00:00

VINNIE kept glancing over at his passenger. Stratford had been great with those kids, and Vinnie hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Stratford from the beginning of the reading. With every animated word Stratford spoke, and every minute Stratford had pretended not to see Vinnie, his anger grew. He’d wanted to wade through the throng of kids, pick Stratford up and shake him before kissing the stuffing out of him. It hadn’t taken long for him to realize Stratford wasn’t actually seeing anyone, and the periodic flashes of pain and panic in Stratford’s eyes washed away Vinnie’s anger.

The anger had returned, stronger than ever, while he watched Stratford sign. And sign. Then sign some more, well past the posted ending time. The store manager had stood there like a proud peacock, almost with dollar signs in his eyes like in one of Sienna’s cartoon characters. Greg the manager didn’t seem to notice or care that Stratford had stitches in his palm and was given an absolutely ridiculous chair and table to sit in. It wasn’t as though kids Sienna’s age never had to approach adults sitting in adult-sized chairs. This time, though, Vinnie’s fury wasn’t directed toward Stratford, although he wanted to know why Stratford hadn’t mentioned this aspect of his work. Even Vinnie could admire the brilliant simplicity in Doctor Chicken’s books. It was no surprise Sienna was hooked.

Just one more mystery to unwrap with that sexy little bow tie. Which wouldn’t be tonight, unfortunately. Not with Stratford curled up on himself and cradling his right arm as though it would shatter into a million pieces. At least he knew Stratford hadn’t been blowing him off yesterday when he’d said he wanted to see how he felt after his work event. It was too soon to expect Stratford to have called him and asked for help, and he doubted Stratford was going to easily recuperate without assistance. He sure as hell didn’t want Stratford calling anyone else for help.

As if on cue, a muted ring sounded from Stratford’s pocket. He struggled, wincing as he did so.

“Just let it go to voice mail.”

“I can’t. I’m sure it’s my friend Abby, and she’ll keep calling until she gets an answer.”

Even though they were only a couple of blocks from Stratford’s apartment, Vinnie pulled into the next driveway, threw the car into park, and pulled Stratford’s phone out his pocket. Sadly, this time, he couldn’t go fishing in Stratford’s pants; the phone was in a jacket pocket. Vinnie handed the phone off and pulled back out into traffic.

“Hey, Abby.”

Stratford paused a moment to listen and let out a weary chuckle. “No. No explosions or freak-outs. It just went longer than expected and I’m exhausted.”

This time, Vinnie heard a murmur of a woman’s voice but couldn’t decipher any words.

“No thanks, Abby. I’m too tired. I’ll call you later.”

Stratford made his goodbyes and clicked off his phone as Vinnie parked outside his building. Before Stratford had his seatbelt unbuckled, Vinnie was around the other side of the car, opening the passenger door, like déjà vu.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.