✨ GUEST POST ✨
Hello everyone! Thank you, Addison, for allowing me to steal a spot on your blog today.
I’m Ofelia Gränd, and on occasion, I write MM romance stories. My alter ego is Holly Day, which I use far more frequently, but the pro of being two people is that I can be in the JMS Books Advent Calendar twice.
You haven’t missed the Advent Calendar, I hope. Every day, one previously unpublished LGBTQIA+ book is offered for FREE over at JMS Books from 12:00 AM EST to 11:59 PM EST. You can’t go back – if you’ve missed the free book, you’ve missed it – and you can’t open doors in advance, so check every day.
Since we’re on the 18th today, there aren’t all that many days left, but even if this is the first you hear of it, it’s worth checking out!
My contribution is a story called Cold Room. Last year, I had a story called Frostbite, and this is a sequel to it. I think it would be best to read Frostbite before you read Cold Room, but you do you.
Cold Room is a contemporary story about Noel, who has a true crime podcast together with his best friend, Thea. He also has a boyfriend, Bo, who is a detective.
This is an established couple story since Bo and Noel got together in Frostbite.
One thing you should know about Noel before jumping in is that he’s a bit dramatic. He has a betta fish called Fluffers, and Fluffers is the most important thing in Noel’s life. So important that when his abusive ex kidnaps him, all he can think about is getting out so he can save Fluffers.
Perfectly normal…
The thing is, I’m a down-to-earth kind of person, but sometimes I amuse myself by writing characters like Noel. It’s fun to think ‘If I’d been in this situation, what would I have done?’ and then have the characters do the complete opposite LOL.
If you’re in the mood for kidnapping that doesn’t last very long, loving friends and family, a worried boyfriend willing to rescue a fish, and some holiday cheer, then check this out!
Blurb
Kidnapping isn’t as exciting as it’s made out to be—especially not when your unhinged ex is doing the kidnapping.
All Noel Chance wanted was to leave the boring Christmas party he was attending and go home to pet his Siamese fighting fish, Fluffers, and cuddle up in bed with his overprotective boyfriend, Detective Bo Nicholas. Waking up tied to a chair in a cold room was never part of the plan.
What does his ex want? For them to stage a rescue and for Noel to turn him into a hero via Noel’s true crime podcast. Noel doesn’t see another way out, so he plays along while plotting his escape.
Luck is on Noel’s side, and he manages to escape, only to realize he’s in the middle of nowhere, running on his socks in the snow, and his ex has not only stolen his shoes but also the key to his apartment. Fluffers is in danger, Noel can feel it in his too-cold bones. Will he make it back into town in time to save his fish?
Excerpt
Noel was jogging. It was nothing like what he normally did when he put on his running shoes, plugged in some music, and set off. This was painful. Every step hurt. He was disoriented, dizzy, and couldn’t tell if he was starving or about to be sick.
He believed he’d been running for about thirty minutes, but he wasn’t sure. His brain was a little… fuzzy.
There was no one around.
He’d believed he’d see someone or at least a house where he could wake the poor people inside and ask to use the phone, but there were no buildings. He’d gotten out of the industrial area, and he kept to paved roads. They’d been plowed despite there being nothing out here, and he didn’t want to leave easily trackable prints behind.
Outside of Cokford. He had to be somewhere outside of Cokford. Fluffers would be so disappointed in him if he were running in the wrong direction. He might need rescuing right this minute, and here Noel was, stumbling around in the dark December night without having a clue where he was heading.
He ran for another fifteen or so minutes. Sweat trickled down his temples despite his feet having turned into numb ice cubes.
When headlights came his way, his first impulse was to step out into the middle of the road and wave his hands, but what kind of car did Kyle drive?
He jumped off the road and crouched behind a bush. His pants were soaked with water from the snow, and he shivered. He feared ice was coating his bones inside his body.
It was a black sedan. Would Kyle drive a black sedan? How had he gotten him out of the office building and into a car without anyone noticing? How had he drugged him in the first place?
The car passed him, and he remained where he was, despair welling up in his chest. He had to ask someone for help, but who could he trust? He waited a bit longer, then he rose to his feet and stepped back out on the road again. His legs were threatening to fold underneath him.
He hadn’t jogged for more than five minutes before a second car came. A pink Beetle.
Noel ran toward it, waved his hands like a lunatic. There was no way Kyle drove a pink Beetle.
The car slowed but didn’t stop. Noel met the eyes of a twenty-something Asian-looking woman. She shook her head.
“Please.”
He could see her hands tightening on the steering wheel as if she contemplated running him over, but in the end, she stopped.
“Please.” This time it wasn’t more than a whisper.
They stared at each other for an eternity, then she grabbed her phone. He nodded frantically, hoping she’d call the cops.
It made her narrow her eyes, and she cracked the window open about an inch. “I’m calling the cops.”
“Yes, please. I’m Noel Chance, please tell them where we are and for someone to come get me.”
She frowned, and he held up his hands again. Her gaze flickered to them, then she widened her eyes. “You’re bleeding.”
“I know. Ask for Detective Nicholas or Sanders.”
She pressed something on her phone and held it to her ear. “You know the cops here?”
“Eh…” Where was here? “Detective Nicholas in Cokford is my boyfriend.”
Her eyes widened again, but she didn’t comment on it. The next second, she was talking to someone, saying she was being stopped by a crazy man who was bleeding from his wrists.
Noel groaned. Great, now they’d think they had to deal with a suicidal person. He needed Bo, not a psychiatrist.
“I’m fine, ask for Nicholas or Sanders.”
She sighed and said something too low for Noel to hear, then she nodded to whatever the person on the other end said and looked at him again.
She rolled down the window a little more and pushed the phone through the gap. Was it a trick? Noel rounded the car and grabbed the phone.
“Hello?”
“Noel?”
Noel sagged against the pink door as his muscles melted. “Bo.” His voice cracked, and his eyes stung.
“Baby, where are you?”
“I have no idea. I woke up in a cold room in a warehouse or grocery store or something.”
Bo growled. “Okay, hand the phone back to the lady and stay where you are. I’m coming as fast as I can.”
“No stopping for donuts this time, okay? I’m so cold.”
Bo made a sound he couldn’t interpret. “I promise. I’ll be there before you know it. Now, hand the phone back, so I can talk to the woman some more.”
Noel removed the phone from his ear, but then he remembered. “Bo!” The frantic tone must’ve reached him because the softness in his voice was gone when he spoke. “What?”
Noel took a deep breath, a bit startled. “Before you come to get me, you have to go save Fluffers.”
A deep breath. “What about Fluffers?”
“He’s not safe where he is. The apartment has been compromised.” Then he pushed the phone through the gap in the car window. The sooner Bo could talk to his savior, the sooner he could get Fluffers out.
About the Author
Ofelia Gränd is Swedish, which often shines through in her stories. She likes to write about everyday people ending up in not-so-everyday situations, and hopefully also getting out of them. She writes romance, contemporary, paranormal, Sci-Fi and whatever else catches her fancy.
Her books are written for readers who want to take a break from their everyday life for an hour or two.
When Ofelia manages to tear herself from the screen and sneak away from her husband and children, she likes to take walks in the woods…if she’s lucky she finds her way back home again.