An excerpt from the upcoming new romance novel “Bound to Love You.” In bookstores never and nowhere near you.
This wasn’t the Saturday that Reggie Redbird had planned.
After a rough match against his rival, Bradley University, Reggie was headed toward his customary meet-up with the team. At least that’s what was supposed to happen. Instead, while distracted on his phone, he must have taken a wrong turn along the way. Instead of a room full of Illinois State players, he walked into a supply closet.
He noticed something was wrong before he’d even taken three steps since the room was silent and a bit dark. A simple mistake soon led to a series of unfortunate events. The door slammed shut, which scared Reggie and made him drop his phone in the dark room. He quickly got to the floor and searched the ground, finding the phone within seconds.
His excitement from finding his phone got the better of him, though. With the quick spring from the floor, Reggie’s head collided with something in the dark. Whatever it was, it sent what felt like a mountain full of items onto him.
“Well, this looks like it’s going to be a janitor’s problem,” Reggie said.
He started to push off what he could feel in the dark, but something was tangled around him. As he struggled, he deduced it was a volleyball net, and found that it was hard to work out of one in the dark. Feathers and nets don’t go together, which was made ever so obvious when Reggie tossed and turned on the floor trying to shed himself of the net, only to tie himself even further.
He was officially tangled. The position he was in also wasn’t comfortable, as his wing was behind his head and one leg was being lifted from the ground.
However, he heard footsteps coming from the hallway. “My savior!” Reggie thought. He began to call for help.
Instead of freedom in his reach, it turned into a cruel joke.
Reggie was facing away from the door, but he could spot that outline from a mile away. The horns, the bat-like wings, the pointed ears — it was Kaboom.
“Looks like you got yourself into quite a tangle, little birdy,” Kaboom said after having a chuckle at the sight.
“Shut it, blockhead,” Reggie said. “I don’t need you to laugh at me.”
“Ouch,” Kaboom said as he leaned against the door frame and exaggeratedly clutched his chest. “Is that any way to talk to the person that’s going to help you?”
Being stuck in a net was definitely not what Reggie had planned, but being stuck and having to resort to getting help from his rival wasn’t even a possibility he had considered.
“I think I’d rather take my chances on having someone else helping me,” Reggie snapped at Kaboom.
“Fine, suit yourself,” Kaboom said as he closed the door.
Now with the light on, maybe he could find his phone and call someone from his team. When he thought about it, it would be impossible to find under the mess, especially with his mobility being limited.
He knew Kaboom was still at the door, so he knew he could still call for his defeat. He sighed.
“Alright,” Reggie said. “I need help.”
The door swung open immediately. Although he couldn’t see him, he knew that the gray gargoyle had a smile on his face. He always did, since his face rested in that natural smile. His white fangs even poked out from his lips ever so slightly.
“Don’t worry, I won’t pull on your feathers,” Kaboom said.
He would seem like such a brute, especially with his literally chiseled form. But he wasn’t like that at all.
His hands were cold, but they were perfect for the small rope burns Reggie had after thrashing around in the net. The tips of his claws lifted the net to free his wings. His gray-green eyes were focused on the knots, and he was methodical on where to unravel the rope next.
Reggie wasn’t used to seeing this side of him. When they usually met, it was meant to hype up the fans and give their players a boost of motivation. There was always a competitive spirit in the air. To see Kaboom like this was new.
To be so close to him, just them two, was also new. If he wasn’t already a red cardinal, then he knew that he would be a blushing mess.
“How did you even get stuck in this?” Kaboom asked.
“I walked in here by mistake,” Reggie said. “I thought I had the right room, but I bumped into a few shelves. Nothing really hit my head, though.”
“Sounds like you weren’t paying attention,” Kaboom laughed. “You better not be injured, or you might miss my team taking over yours at the next game.”
That made the bird roll his eyes, but at last, he was set free from his bounds and slipped out of the remaining net.
Kaboom got up first. He offered a hand to the cardinal, who was wiping the dust from untouched equipment. Reggie simply looked at it, because he was worried that Kaboom would feel his racing pulse if it wasn’t loud enough already. He brushed that aside and took a hold of the gray hand.
“You better not say a word about this,” Reggie said, trying not to sound nervous, avoiding eye contact. “Now we just need to find my phone.”
Kaboom laughed.
“I’m not sure who you mean by ‘we,’ but that you can do yourself, little birdy,” Kaboom said as he gently cupped Reggie’s face.
He let his hand linger for just a second longer before slowly turning away and making his way back down the hall.
Maybe he should have said “Thank you,” but he scoffed “Whatever” instead as the gargoyle left.
Now all that’s left was to find a phone under old sports supplies and to figure out his own feelings about Kaboom. He had plenty of time to think now.
