Oh Ilona didn’t want the black room. Oh Ilona is so bad.
Well, I stole this from Gordon’s computer when he wasn’t looking. That will be my revenge. Enjoy. I think it’s awesome. (He banged it out in half an hour, so he’ll probably fuss at me because it’s “not ready”.)
Nick Chapter 1
I don’t know if people believe me when I say I can’t recall huge chunks of my childhood. I know I don’t care. I remember my Dad, Greg, being gone a lot. I never met my mom. That don’t make me special. A lot of kids raise themselves. I can remember eating microwaved chicken pot pies by myself in front of the T.V. That electronic stuff still worked pretty regular back then. I guess that makes me old, but it sure beats the alternative. There ain’t a lot of people who’ve done the stuff I have and are still around to talk about it. Though mostly I don’t talk about it either.
Sometimes smells trigger memories. I can walk into a room and the scent will stop me in my tracks. Blood and brass or sweat and steel, for instance. I did not say they were good memories. I don’t have too many of those. Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t whining. I am not one of those grown men who blame their parents, because they’re fuck-ups. When I was very young, I decided who and how I wanted to be. Well, maybe it’s more accurate to say I knew who I did not want to become.
Greg, as I called him, epitomized (yeah the Order gave a decent education, I know what the big words mean and when to use them) everything I hated about adults and their world. He was intellectual, aloof and condescending. It was as if he’d studied parenting in one of the Order’s manuals and then blamed me when things didn’t go according to plan. Maybe it was my fault, I know I aint quite right, and maybe he did the best he could. Maybe.
Still what I remember most clearly is being certain from a very early age that he resented me and hating him for it. When you’re a kid, you don’t have any real power. All I could do was what they now call “acting out.” I got into fights – didn’t matter if I won. I liked the violence, the feeling in my stomach before, the urge to run away. I could control that. I also learned a very valuable lesson. You don’t have to win every fight. You just have to be willing to fight, no matter what, no matter who. Most guys don’t really want to fight. They want to stick out their chest, talk shit and hope the other guy backs down. I never backed down.
I stole what I could and broke what I couldn’t. Found I was good at that too. It was not the having – Greg gave me every material thing I could want. It was the taking without getting caught. Mostly I didn’t. When I did, his reaction was always the same. He never yelled, never hit me. He always looked puzzled and disappointed, he wanted to talk about it. I only wanted to beat that stupid expression off his face. When I was thirteen, I though I was old enough, so I ran away. On the street – that’s where my story starts.
oh, this is awesome!!! love it. and it sure ‘feels’ ready.
Good to get some background on Nick, as I am interested in how someone becomes a Crusader of the Order.
Is it just coincidence that his father has the same first name as Kate’s guardian (Greg Feldman)?
Yay something to read. That was really good!
Looks ready to me.
Thank you!!!!! And I do think you can steal from your spouse. You can only share / borrow with the intention of not bring it back.
oohh aaww. is this nick?
sorry i meant Greg Feldman or just the same first name.
Ilona says that is a spoiler and I reckon I can’t answer that question, sorry.
Oh it is Nick from the first and third book, she said I could do a Male POV and Nick is my favorite character, so I get to tell his story.
and we know you love Nick, i was glad you guys brought him back to the story in the 3rd book.
And this way we get to annoy both of you for snippets, yey for the double stalking!!
Squeeee. That was fun. And I, too, am curious about Daddy “Greg.”
Thanks for sharing!
absolutely love nick. gordon, you did a great job…. and hmmm greg…. i wondered about it too
OMG! that was awesome Gordon.
Ilona, thank you for sharing. Revenge is sweet, you should do it more often, how about once a week? x
That was great!
Maybe we could help..I mean push…ah maybe Gordon will do something to get us another.
Thanks for this great snippet!! Will we get more of NIck?
I like Nick’s ‘voice’ already.
Will we be getting more of this? Like, say, it being the beginning of a new novel set in Kate’s world? Please? With sugar on top?
Great job Gordon! Nick sounds like a really interesting kid… hope to find out more about him!! Thanks Ilona for “borrowing” this from Gordon and sharing!
Gordon, that was awesome! Nick intrigues me – so I loved getting bits about his past. I hope you continue!
Awesome! Thank you!
It was a quite different writing than usual. The style is different and I love it, it is fresh and gets you more into the head of the character than the surroundings of the events. I realized I wanted to keep reading at the ends, please continue and keep inspiring us all Gordon!