Here is a list of all the authors flashing this week, along with a brief snippet from their latest free work. Click the link after the snippet to be taken to the complete story on the author’s home page.

Playing House: by Sarah Hayes:

When it came to paying the bills in what was now known colloquially as Casa Desde Desmond, since the Los Angeles home had once been a property of Hume’s bitter father-in-law, Charles Widmore, the duty fell upon the shoulders of Miles and Richard. They were expected to sort everything out.

It made sense. Between Alpert’s off-shore bank accounts and stock portfolio that he’d maintained for his Jacob-related activities, and the profit Miles made off of the diamonds he took with him from the island, it was their money that would keep the house lights on for the next fifty years.

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Sunrise: by Victoria Adams:

J’dol blinked, opened his mouth to speak, closed it then blurted out, “Wife?”

Sian glanced around at the people seat on the deck, Aunt Mixy, Purple, Kiry and Dr. Zoltan. “Well…uh, I thought she was your wife.”

Mixy and Purple nodded. Dr. Zoltan looked confused. Kiry glanced at J’dol. “Yes, um…” She rubbed her forehead. “I can’t remember the name you said.”

“Odine.” Sian’s tone was sharp.

J’dol lowered his head and gave it a brief shake. “No. Odine is not my wife. I refused the one offered to me.”

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Double Trouble – Chapter 1: by Jon Keys:

Mitch was sitting by the open window enjoying the cool late October breeze that was a sign the heat of summer had finally ended. He was sitting for the twins today while Josh and Trent made a trip to Lawton for a major restocking of the pantries for both houses, and enjoy a few hours to themselves. Darrin was at work doing whatever it was tenured professors did to make administrators happy. That meant Mitch could sit down for a few quiet minutes to read through one of the ranch magazines he’d gotten almost three weeks ago.

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To Touch the Sky- #1.3: by; M.A. Church:

Chetan refused to let the women skin that buffalo. He did it himself. Although considered a woman’s job, no one had argued. The wild look in his eyes frightened many. He’d all but bathed in the animal’s blood. And even though it made the skin between his shoulder blades itch, he hadn’t given thanks to the animal for its sacrifice. His arrow had gone through the animal’s eye and straight into its brain, killing it.

But not before the animal killed his nephew. The celebration had now become a funeral rite.

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The Hollow: Soul Seekers: Becoming; by JC Wallace:

The possibility of rescue quickened his forward movement. The whining of the 2-stroke engine grew louder, and Levi prayed it continued until he located its operator. Another moment in time, running across a chainsaw-wielding stranger in the thick of the woods, would have brought Levi an uneasy feeling.  At this point, Levi would have sold his soul – maybe more – for any bit of warmth.

The brown, wood siding of a cabin broke through a clearing ahead of him. The screaming chainsaw wound down and stopped. Staring ahead with the goal line in site, Levi plowed through brush and thicket that threatened to stop him.

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Blood Scent: by Elyzabeth M. Valey:

He wandered into the room, nose in the air sniffing out that delicious scent he’d caught in the street. Where was it? The yummy fragrance mingled with the disgusting human stench of the disco: sweat, alcohol, tobacco, nauseating perfumes, sex and even vomit. Isaac swallowed the bile rising to the back of his throat. He hated these places and avoided them at all costs unless he was starving. They were, as his friend Fabiola liked to say, giant buffets of free meat. He moved deeper into the dark void illuminated only by flashing white lights that made the bodies writhing on the dance floor seem out of coordination.

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Bad Blood: by Avery Dawes:

Judd rolled over, kicking at the twisted bed sheets as his head pounded to the beat of the school’s drum line.

A groan escaped his cotton-filled mouth while he rubbed at his eyes, trying to recall what he’d done last night that left him feeling like he’d endured one too many spin cycles in the washer.

Think, Judd, think. Blow the lint out of whatever brain cells you have left.

Slowly, details of last night’s escapade came to him. Yesterday was Friday, the last day of the spring semester. Once he and his friends had completed their final exams . . .

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The Boys of Belsmeade – Chapter One; by Kazy Reed:

“You openly challenged Blake Becker?” Robbie yelled. He stormed around the dorm room, trying to make sense of his friends’ announcement. “Blake Becker, as in the son of the chief of the Belanni Clan, challenged by you, the son of the chief of the Ambrogis. Do you realize the problems this’ll cause between the clans?”

“There already is a rift between the clans.”

“No,” Rob shot back. “Right now there’s a hair-line fracture between the clans. You challenging Blake could open up the fucking Grand fucking Canyon between the clans! Oh my God, Aramis. Eliot’s a human, for Christ’s sake.

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Dallas in Wonderland II: Chapter Twenty-One: by Julie Lynn Hayes:

Oh jeez, now what?

A startled Dallas turned to find himself looking up at a familiar dappled charger and its white armored rider. He breathed a sigh of relief as he recognized Sir Metaphor and Lady Simile. Thank goodness it was nothing worse. Rather, they were a sight for sore eyes.

“Good evening to you, sir!” The knight opened his visor and greeted him.  He wrinkled his nose when he talked and his moustache fluttered. “And to you, young sir,” he added for Oz’s benefit.

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Growth, Part 23: by Grace R. Duncan:

His face burned and he tried, a little desperately, to think of something else. “Try not to worry so, Ghalib,” Nadir said gently. “You should react when someone touches you. Remember, your life now is about pleasure. It’s touch. It is both giving and receiving that pleasure. Even here, in the bathtub. We will not pleasure you deliberately, but as you settle into your life here, everything will take on a sensual tone.”

Teman nodded. “It is how you should be. Let yourself feel it. Let it go. You please others by allowing yourself to feel these things, by becoming this embodiment of that pleasure.” Teman smiled and Ghalib, despite the confusion he still felt, began to relax.

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Lost Inside: Chapter 25: by Cia Nordwell:

“Poking and prodding is all done, right?” Yuri and Benny surprised the doctors with how well they healed, and Yuri was eager to get to Benny’s surprise. Dr. Vancould was cautious about being too optimistic.

“I don’t think we need to give you another dose of venom,” Millie said. “Maybe in six months we can repeat the treatment. Right now, your brain is furiously at work, stimulated by the neurotoxin proteins latching onto the cell receptors in your brain at rates I’ve never seen before.”

“So I’m better? I know I remember better.” He’d remembered the doctor’s names, and that

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Hope – Chapter 34: by Chris T. Kat:

Shane picked his way over to me, and all the time I feared the black scale would slip from his mouth. It didn’t, though, and I expelled a shaky breath when he reached me. I extended my hand with the deep scarlet scale.

“I hope they don’t taste the way they smell,” I said.

Shane laid the other scale on my palm, stared at them and then at me.

“Go on, Shane. Eat them.”

He licked the scales off my hand and swallowed. I held my breath.

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Love Across Time – Chapter 11; by Jim Dunaway:

Liam knocked on Duncan’s office door. “Got a minute?”

Duncan sighed and looked up from his computer screen. “Sure. What’s up?”

Liam shuffled through some of the papers he was carrying and selected one, laying on Duncan’s desk. “Since Ryan’s tribunal, I’ve been pouring over the timeline logs to see if there was something -anything- there that could help him. I found something very curious. Look at this log chart. The current timeline skew started back in the 1980s and has been skewing continuously.”

“Why didn’t our equipment pick it up?”

“Our equipment can only sense radical skews in the timeline.”

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A Change of Scenery – 1 ; by Johayan:

A tall lanky kid, standing 6′ 5” and weighing about 170lbs, Jaysin was stronger than he looked. Eighteen years old with pale skin, dark hair and dark brown, almost black, eyes; Mike had an exotic look when combined with his tall mohawk and goatee, earned a wide berth when he walked down the street. Put a soccer jersey on him and he would have passed for a typical English soccer hooligan. Even though it was the end of summer, Mike was wearing a t-shirt with a flannel shirt over it and worn blue jeans. While most people gave him a wide berth on the street but for some reason, married women found him hard to resist and they paid well.

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Radio Static; by Shelly Schulz:

Jackson went back to the table and took his seat opposite Cade. A small pile of brown paper shred was on the table in front of the other man. Cade looked up when Jackson plopped down, a guilty smile crossing his face.

“Everything okay?” More shred were added to the small stack.

“Yeah, he’s out of surgery and driving my other buddy crazy.” Jackson said. His coffee was lukewarm, but tasted all the much better knowing that Killen was okay.

“Can I ask you for a favor?” Cade sat back in his chair, tipping it onto two legs.

“What’s that?”

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Second Shot – The Senior Year, Chapter 34: by Andrew Q. Gordon:

Dinner had been the raucous event Blake expected. Ethan added a weird energy when he was around Jason and the others that he didn’t display when they were alone. Even though they’d only been dating a few weeks, Blake recognized Ethan’s outgoing, extroverted behavior was something he turned on when he was nervous.

Blake heard someone scream “no” just as Jason handed him a plate. He didn’t need to turn to know Darryl and Ethan were going at it—again. This time it the topic was Pearl Jam versus Linkin Park and which band would sell out Yankee Stadium faster. When Peter interjected that neither would sell out faster than REM, Jason snorted.

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The Comforts of Home: by Lily Sawyer:

“Explain that one more time, please?” Ben spoke into the phone that was hanging out of his ear.   In the real estate game you lived on your smart phone.  The only time Ben wasn’t glued to his phone was when he was home with his husband, Tom.  They had an agreement, when they were together no work was permitted.   It was easy for Tom, being a firefighter he left his work at the firehouse.

When they were first together, Ben often brought his work home with him.  There was a time when they almost broke up over Ben being absent in their relationship.

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