Chapter 85

   Onyx sighed and looked around the room. He had attended enough of these book signings to be bored of the whole proceedings. He let his thoughts drift. Aaron had been acting oddly for the past few weeks. Blade was too busy at the hospital to have noticed and Ice refused to discuss the situation. Something was going on. Aaron was hiding something. Onyx was afraid that Aaron was drinking again.

   Ice was calmly signing his latest novel. Onyx smiled at his lover. There were quite a few fans who took his indifferent attitude toward their rather abundant charms as a challenge. Each one firmly believed that they would be the one to crack that icy façade to unleash the raging inferno of his passion. None of them knew that his attitude concealed a deep and abiding disgust toward them. Ice could perform with a woman, but since Snow had died he had zero interest in them. A purple couple was approaching the table.

   “Who shall I make this out to?” Ice asked politely pulling a copy of his book from the pile.

   “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” The woman demanded.

   “I beg your pardon?”

   “Your filthy novels promote male-male relationships and mixed color relationships. Aren’t you ashamed for leading impressionable young boys into such depraved behavior?”

   “Madame, my readers tend to be middle-aged women looking for a little illicit thrill. The rest are middle-aged herms looking for a little illicit thrill. How exactly is that ‘leading impressionable young boys into depraved behavior’?”

   “How do you know they don’t read this trash?” She slammed a book onto the table.

   “I don’t. Nor do I care. It is not my job to monitor the reading habits of other people’s children.”

   “You are promoting mixed couples.”

   “I write for money. I write romance novels because I enjoy it and they are very easy to write. I do not get involved with politics. Now if you do not want an autographed copy I suggest you leave. Now.”

   “How much for your book?”

   “$25.”

   “I’ll buy every copy in this store.”

   “And just what do you plan to do with the copies, Madame?”

   “Burn them.”

   Ice laughed. “Go ahead. You can’t burn every copy. It’ll be great publicity for my book.”

   The woman scowled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

   “Simple. By burning the book, you’re insuring that everyone will want to read it. Nothing increases sales like some self-righteous political group censoring a book. If you hurry, the story might even make the eleven o’clock news.”

   The woman stormed out of the store with her companion trailing her. Onyx stepped up to the table and leaned over. “I think you just made an enemy.”

   Ice stared after her. “I know.” He wrinkled his brow.

   “What’s wrong?”

   “There’s just something oddly familiar about her, but I can’t quite place my finger on it.”