“Mom?”
“No, Ginge. It’s me,” Dad said. “…Linda, I will. Sorry, your mother is trying to talk through my head…Linda, I’ll ask her…
Sorry. How you doing, sport?”
I looked over at Camila, completely confused about what to say. She just shrugged, the same shocked look on her face. “I-I’m fine. Um, are you and Mom…”
“We’re fine. Linda…Okay. Hold on. Your mom has to speak with you immediately.” There was a space filled with some affectionate arguing, before my mom came on the line.
“Gingey?”
“Hi, Mom,” I said, my voice shaking.
• 335 •
reBekah WeatherspOOn
“Hi. Sorry we’re late calling. We were supposed to meet that Dalhem man last night, but I got the time mixed up. Anyway, everything’s all straightened out. Did you go by the post office yet?”
“No. Wait. Mom, what do you mean you were supposed to meet Dalhem last night? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. We were going to call you earlier, but we went into the city to meet the people we’re supposed to feed. We had to pick up Todd on the way, and then your father got lost on the way back and then there was traffic. It was a big mess. Anyway”—she sighed dramatically—“I don’t know when you’re coming home, but I’ll call the chancellor’s office this afternoon and we’ll withdraw you from your classes…Ginger, honey, what’s wrong?”
I seriously had to stop crying. “Nothing, Mom. I—”
Camila was nice enough to take the phone. She pulled me closer, wrapping her arm around my waist. I buried my face in her shoulder, sobbing like a baby.
“Hi, Mrs. Carmichael…Hi, Linda…No, she’s just a little overwhelmed at the moment.” Camila paused. She held the phone away from her ear as she playfully rolled her eyes. Then she said to me, “Your parents want to know what we’re doing for New Year’s.”
“Tell them we’ll be there,” I nearly shouted. And we would. I wanted my amazing, demon-wife to meet her new family.
• 336 •
About the Author
After years of meddling in her friends’ love lives, Rebekah turned to writing romance as a means to surviving a stressful professional life.
She has worked in various positions from library assistant, meter maid, middle school teacher, B-movie production assistant, reality show crew chauffeur, D-movie producer, and her most fulfilling job to date, lube and harness specialist at an erotic boutique in West Hollywood.
Her interests include Wonder Woman collectibles, cookies, James Taylor, quality hip-hop, football, American muscle cars, large breed dogs, and the ocean. When she’s not writing, reading, or sleeping, she is watching Ken Burns documentaries and cartoons or taking dance classes. If given the chance, she will cheat at UNO. She was raised in Southern New Hampshire and now lives in Southern California with an individual who is much more tech savvy than she will ever be.
Better Off Red
is her first novel.
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books
Sheltering Dunes
by Radclyffe. The seventh in the award winning Provincetown Tales. The pasts, presents, and futures of three women collide in a single moment that will alter all their lives forever. (978-1-60282-573-4)
Better Off Red: Vampire Sorority Sisters Book 1
by Rebekah Weatherspoon. Every sorority has its secrets…and college freshman Ginger Carmichael soon discovers that her pledge is more than a bond of sisterhood, it’s a lifelong pact to serve six bloodthirsty demons with a lot more than nutritional needs. (978-1-60282-574-1)
Lucky Loser
by Yolanda Wallace. Top tennis pros Sinjin Smythe and Laure Fortescue reach Wimbledon desperate to claim tennis’s crown jewel, but will their feelings for each other get in the way?
(978-1-60282-575-8)
History’s Passion: Stories of Sex Before Stonewall
edited by Richard Labonté. Four acclaimed erotic authors re-imagine the past…welcome to the hidden queer history of men loving men not so very long—and centuries—ago. (978-1-60282-576-5)
Detours
by Jeffrey Ricker. Joel Patterson is heading to Maine for his mother’s funeral, and his high school friend Lincoln has invited himself along on the ride—and into Joel’s bed—but when the ghost of Joel’s mother joins the trip, the route is likely to be anything but straight. (978-1-60282-577-2)
Holy Rollers
by Rob Byrnes. Partners in life and crime Grant Lambert and Chase LaMarca assemble a team of gay and lesbian criminals to steal millions from a rightwing mega-church, but the gang’s plans are complicated by an “ex-gay” conference, the FBI, and a corrupt reverend with his own plans for the cash. (978-1-60282-578-9)
Mystery of the Tempest: A Fisher Key Adventure
by Sam Cameron. Twin brothers Denny and Steven Anderson love helping people and fighting crime alongside their sheriff dad on sun-drenched Fisher Key, Florida, but Denny doesn’t dare tell anyone he’s gay, and Steven has secrets of his own to keep. (978-1-60282-579-6)
Three Days
by L.T. Marie. In a town like Vegas where anything can happen, Shawn and Dakota find that the stakes are love at all costs, and it’s a gamble neither can afford to lose. (978-1-60282-569-7)
Swimming to Chicago
by David-Matthew Barnes. As the lives of the adults around them unravel, high school students Alex and Robby form an unbreakable bond, vowing to do anything to stay together—
even if it means leaving everything behind.(978-1-60282-572-7)
Hostage Moon
by AJ Quinn. Hunter Roswell thought she had left her past behind, until a serial killer begins stalking her. Can FBI profiler Sara Wilder help her find her connection to the killer before he strikes on blood moon? (978-1-60282-568-0)
Erotica Exotica: Tales of Magic, Sex, and the Supernatural
, edited by Richard Labonté. Today’s top gay erotica authors offer sexual thrills and perverse arousal, spooky chills, and magical orgasms in these stories exploring arcane mystery, supernatural seduction, and sex that haunts in a manner both weird and wondrous.
(978-1-60282-570-3)
Blue
by Russ Gregory. Matt and Thatcher find themselves in the crosshairs of a psychotic killer stalking gay men in the streets of Austin, and only a 103-year-old nursing home resident holds the key to solving the murders—but can she give up her secrets in time to save them? (978-1-60282-571-0)
Balance of Forces: Toujours Ici
by Ali Vali. Immortal Kendal Richoux’s life began during the reign of Egypt’s only female pharaoh, and history has taught her the dangers of getting too close to anyone who hasn’t harnessed the power of time, but as she prepares for the most important battle of her long life, can she resist her attraction to Piper Marmande? (978-1-60282-567-3)
Contemporary Gay Romances
by Felice Picano. This collection of short fiction from legendary novelist and memoirist Felice Picano are as different from any standard “romances” as you can get, but they will linger in the mind and memory. (978-1-60282-639-7)
Nightrise
by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam. In the third book in the everafter series, when Valentine Darrow loses her soul, Alexa must cross continents to find a way to save her. (978-1-60282-238-2)
Men of the Mean Streets
, edited by Greg Herren and J.M. Redmann.
Dark tales of amorality and criminality by some of the top authors of gay mysteries. (978-1-60282-240-5)
Women of the Mean Streets
, edited by J.M. Redmann and Greg Herren. Murder, mayhem, sex, and danger—these are the stories of the women who dare to tackle the mean streets. (978-1-60282-241-2)
Firestorm
by Radclyffe. Firefighter paramedic Mallory “Ice” James isn’t happy when the undisciplined Jac Russo joins her command, but lust isn’t something either can control—and they soon discover ice burns as fiercely as flame. (978-1-60282-232-0)
The Best Defense
by Carsen Taite. When socialite Aimee Howard hires former homicide detective Skye Keaton to find her missing niece, she vows not to mix business with pleasure, but she soon finds Skye hard to resist. (978-1-60282-233-7)
After the Fall
by Robin Summers. When the plague destroys most of humanity, Taylor Stone thinks there’s nothing left to live for, until she meets Kate, a woman who makes her realize love is still alive and makes her dream of a future she thought was no longer possible.
(978-1-60282-234-4)
Accidents Never Happen
by David-Matthew Barnes. From the moment Albert and Joey meet by chance beneath a train track on a street in Chicago, a domino effect is triggered, setting off a chain reaction of murder and tragedy. (978-1-60282-235-1)
In Plain View
, edited by Shane Allison. Best-selling gay erotica authors create the stories of sex and desire modern readers crave.
(978-1-60282-236-8)