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    25 Results with the "contemporary fiction" tag


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      13

      13 Cover
      by — Andrew’s fingers went numb, clutching the cold can in its brown-paper sleeve. Without warning, hands surrounded his narrow waist, yanking him into the alley. A mouth pressed to his lips as his back collided with the rough brick. He grasped the beer can tightly and swung out, striking Niko in the chest. “What the fuck are you doing?” he screamed. Niko stood there with widened eyes and flushed skin. “Never grab me like that,” he yelled. Niko moved to the opposite wall, more…
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      Back Copy

      Back Copy Cover
      by — The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the writer. Lost Along the Way copyright © 2012 Tina KolesnikZagubiony Po Drodze copyright © 2014 Tina KolesnikSonata 9 copyright © 2022 Tina Anderson Cover Arts by C. Monaco All rights reserved. Per the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this digital edition without permission from the author…
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      24

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      by — When her son stepped off the bus, nothing remained of the boy who left seven months before. He smelled good but looked hungry, and she didn’t fuss, not even when she felt his bones in her embrace. After kissing his head, she shifted her eyes to the men in suits. The police had gotten their pound of flesh, but they wanted to know how it got into her son’s car. Her boy carried himself like a man, shaking their hands and agreeing to an interview without her present. She insisted it wait, and he took…
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      23

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      by — Steady blows upon the door woke him. Andrew laughed into his pillow, giddy beyond measure. Sitting up, he tried fixing his bedhead in the mirror as the rapping continued. “I’m coming,” he grumbled, tearing himself from the warmth of the covers. He pulled on Sash’s undershirt, smelling the man’s soapy skin in its fabric. He stumbled to the door, tripping over two packed duffel bags. “Did you lock yourself out, Sas—” Nikola pushed his way inside when Andrew opened the door. “I…
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      22

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      by — Andrew sat alone in the subway car, mindless of his blood-soaked shirt and hungering for the Pilar. No amount of trauma overcame the healing power of provoked strings. The setting sun cut an orange line down Astor Place, a radiant border between painful realities and comfortable detachment. He wandered the street in a daze, his arms colliding with pedestrians. Saint Marks housed its regulars, shiftless and waiting for anyone to liberate them from the checkerboard doldrums. The clerk called after him.…
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      21

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      by — Thanksgiving thoughts bred scents of roasted turkey and baked cinnamon. The vibrations in the subway window soothed his aching head until subterranean darkness gave way to sun-soaked sprawl. Outside on the platform, a trio of Yeshiva-tailored boys tossed coins onto the tracks, a dangerous folly carried out without the supervision of the station’s usual patrolman. Andrew was four blocks down Brighton 12 when a feminine howl ripped through the air. Wailing sirens grew deafening on approach as police…
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      20

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      by — Nikola’s voice woke him from a restless sleep. Through the adjoining wall, the lanky Ukrainian claimed that sex starvation drove him to fuck Dmitri Boscov. Such marvelous nonsense brought a smile to Sash’s face. Niko swore he learned his lesson, delivering a heartfelt apology to Cyril. For some damned reason, though, Niko refused to own his mistake before Andrej, and no amount of bullshit flew past that clever boy’s radar. With typical indifference, Andrej suggested that Niko must’ve been…
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      19

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      by — Andrew holed up in his room for several days, stealing the daylight after work to play the Pilar. Fiddling by day didn’t bother his neighbors as much as doing it by night. One day, a knock came at his door, and Cyril’s voice came from the other side when he didn’t answer. Niko missed him, as did Cyril, who didn’t think for a moment that he and Dmitri were involved. The old man’s voice then dropped as he explained in broken English that Sasha was a good man, and so was Andrej—there was no…
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      18

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      by — Mid-September marked the official end of summer when vacationing locals returned home, and busy restaurants returned to normal. Andrew opted to stay on at the Russian Tea Room, speaking to the evening manager about a possible apprenticeship in the dining hall orchestra. Until then, he waited tables in the afternoons, this time without Dmitri. The raven-haired boy had enrolled in the dance program at NYU, limiting his hours to weekends, when Andrew would soon be playing violin if all went according to…
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      17

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      by — “Stop!” Burning, pain. “Stop! Please!” Teeth on his nipple, rough and wet. “Please!” Squeezing, tugging, more pain. “St—!” Fullness. A familiar invasion. “Go slower, please….” Laughter, hot breath. “Yeah…like that…” Andrew tumbled off the bed, sheets twisted around his legs. He crawled across the floor, reaching the wastebasket in time to heave what remained of last night’s liquor. Daylight glowed behind the window’s pillowcase,…
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