Till Death Do Us Wed By Jason Wrench
General Release Date: 22nd February 2022
Word Count: 81,783
Book Length: SUPER NOVEL
Pages: 347
Genres:
ACTION AND ADVENTURE,CONTEMPORARY,CRIME,CRIME AND MYSTERY,EROTIC ROMANCE,GAY,GLBTQI,MEN IN UNIFORM,THRILLERS AND SUSPENSE
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Book Description
Planning a wedding is hard enough without international politics, an assassin, your fiancé’s ex-boyfriend and your mother to deal with.
NYPD Detective Frank Schultt and his fiancé, FBI Agent Aaron Massey, have bought a new condo, adopted a dog and are planning their wedding. But when an international assassin starts killing people on the streets of New York City, Aaron and Frank must work together to find the killer before she strikes again.
Combine the assassin with the pressure of Frank’s jealousy when Aaron’s ex-boyfriend comes back to town, and can their relationship withstand the pressure? Will Aaron and Frank make it to the altar on time, or will the assassin and Frank’s destructive behavior stop their wedding before it ever heads down the aisle?
Publisher’s Note: This book is best read as the sequel to Twelve Days of Murder.
“Aaron, we’re going to be late. The car service called. They’re downstairs waiting,” Frank bellowed as he downed the last of his coffee.
“I’m putting on my tie.”
Frank walked back to the bedroom of the condo to see if Aaron needed help.
“Dammit!” Aaron yelled from the bedroom.
“What’s wrong?”
“I stubbed my toe on the box next to the dresser.”
“How many times have I told you to get that sucker unpacked?”
“I know… I know.”
Frank rounded the corner to see Aaron sitting on the edge of the bed rubbing his foot. “I thought you only needed to put on your tie?”
“Well, tie, shoes and jacket.”
“What am I going to do with you?”
“Love me?” Aaron said, looking at Frank with his best innocent puppy-dog face.
“Now, if I can just get you house trained.”
“Hey!”
“Who’s a good boy?” Frank joked as he rubbed Aaron behind his left ear. Aaron responded by panting like a dog getting the best belly rub of his life. “Okay. Get your shoes on and let’s get moving.” Aaron bent over and finished putting on his shoes then his tie. Aaron stood and slipped into his coat before checking himself out one last time in the mirror. Frank stood behind, engulfing him in his arms, whispering, “You’re going to do fine,” before straightening Aaron’s tie.
Aaron turned around and stared into Frank’s eyes. “Thanks. I needed to hear that. I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I’ve spoken before groups hundreds of times.”
“True, but this is the first major reading from your new book. It’s only natural you’re going to have some butterflies fluttering around in your stomach.”
Aaron took a deep breath in and let it out in one big huff. “You’re right. If nothing else, I at least look damn hot in my new suit.”
“That you do.” Frank leaned in, kissing Aaron. “That you do.”
“Okay, let’s get out of here.”
“Did you put Bully in his crate?” Aaron asked.
“Oops, I knew I forgot something.”
“Did you at least walk him earlier?”
“Aaron, yes, I walked him. He went to the bathroom and everything. He’s good for a few hours.” Frank went into the living room to find Bully in his usual spot at the base of the couch. He grabbed a treat from the treat box, which immediately got Bully to raise his head from his sleeping position. Bully’s tail wagged back and forth furiously. Frank pointed toward the crate in the kitchen, and Bully got up, did a quick stretch and headed right into it. Frank bent and handed the pup the treat before latching the crate shut.
Frank and Aaron had adopted a three-year-old English Bull Dog that they’d named Bully when they had moved into their new condo. Thankfully, Bully had been crate-trained, so having him in their new place was easy. As a whole, Bully was probably one of the most laid-back dogs Frank had ever seen. Not much seemed to frazzle the little guy.
With Bully safe in his crate, Frank headed toward the front door. Aaron was waiting with Frank’s overcoat in hand, and Aaron helped Frank shrug into it before opening the door. The two walked in silence to the elevator, pushed the button and waited for it to arrive. The elevator was empty, so they entered and leaned against the back wall as they made the quick trip to the lobby.
After exiting the building, Frank looked left, then right, staring for the black sedan sent to take them to Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue. Gotta love the perks of rolling in style with a bestselling author.
“There it is,” Aaron said.
Frank turned his head, saw the sedan and quickly followed Aaron, who was already heading in that direction. When they got near the car, the driver exited and opened the door, greeting them. “Dr. Massey, Detective Schultt.”
Frank paused for a second. “How d’you know it was us?”
“They gave me an advance copy of the book with Dr. Massey’s photo on the back cover. As for you, I knew you were his plus-one.”
“Simple enough,” Frank said. “No big mystery on that.” Frank lowered himself into the sedan and buckled his seat belt. Aaron reached over and grabbed Frank’s hand as the car took off into traffic. “You’re going to do fine, Aaron.”
“Keep saying that. I need to hear it.”
“Why are you so anxious today?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t do many of these for Blood Money because of my position with the FBI. Now that I’m a desk-jockey and working primarily at John Jay, I feel like I have a lot more riding on this.”
Frank gave Aaron’s hand an extra squeeze. The two rode in silence for the next ten minutes as their car wove in and out of traffic.
* * * *
Frank stood in the back of the bookstore’s makeshift audience area and watched as the event’s host introduced Aaron.
“I am so proud to introduce our distinguished speaker this afternoon. Special Agent Dr. Aaron Massey is a forensic psychologist who works for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s acclaimed Behavioral Analysis Unit and is a visiting assistant professor at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice. He is the author of the international bestseller Blood Money. His follow up book, which is based on the case he worked on last December, The Twelve-Day Killer, skyrocketed to the top of The New York Times bestseller list within twenty-four-hours of it being released for preorders. Please join me in an enormous round of applause for Dr. Aaron Massey.”
Aaron stood, and one of his winning grins spread across his face as he took in the seated audience while shooting a wink in Frank’s direction. Frank noticed a pillar off to the side, so he made his way over and leaned against the concrete surface. Since Frank and Aaron had closed the Twelve Days of Murder the previous December, their lives had been a roller coaster. First, the dramatic conclusion of the Twelve-Day Killer at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Christmas morning was an international sensation. Thankfully, Frank’s department and the FBI had done an excellent job of shielding Frank from a lot of the mass media hysteria that had followed. Unfortunately, Aaron hadn’t been so lucky. As the author of a previously published international bestseller, Aaron had once again become a media darling.
After dating for nearly a year, Aaron and Frank had decided it was time to stop the constant back and forth between their respective apartments. They bought a new place on West Fifty-Fifth between Columbus and Tenth Avenue. Upon moving into the new condo, Frank had popped the question, and Aaron had agreed to marry him.
Frank leaned against the pillar watching the crowd sitting on the edges of their seats as Aaron read from the book. Who can blame them? Look at that smile, those eyes, that fantastic, well-toned body. Frank suddenly daydreamed about the amazing sex he’d had with Aaron the previous evening. Frank was enjoying himself, lost in his memories, when suddenly his cell phone rang loudly.
“Shh-h!” an older woman said as she swiveled her head and looked at Frank.
“I’m sorry,” Frank said, politely looking at the woman. He then looked at Aaron and mouthed, “Sorry,” before heading outside into the February cold. “Jasika, what’s up?”
“Hey, Frank, sorry to call. I know you’re at Aaron’s thing at Barnes & Noble.”
“No biggie. Not exactly my scene. What’s up?”
“Not too much. We caught a fresh case—a dead body at the Sofitel,” Jasika said as she walked over to Frank.
“Oh really,” Frank said, looking at his partner and cutting off the call. “And you felt the need to call me, even though you were practically here?” he asked as he hung up his phone and placed it back in his pocket.
“Well, I didn’t want to cause a commotion by walking in on Aaron while he was reading!”
“Thanks, I think. I’ll let him know. Be right back.” Frank headed back into the building, meandering through the stacks of books until he found the location of Aaron’s presentation where his reading was in progress.
“It was the beginning of another day undercover. I’d gone to talk to the store manager when I heard a blood-curdling scream from across the store. I raced over to find my ‘coworkers’ at Children’s Welfare International standing in a circle. In the middle of it, I saw the first image of the Twelve-Day Killer, a severed hand sticking out of a mitten attached to our tree. My first instinct was that my cover was blown.”
Frank watched Aaron pause for effect as he looked up from the copy of the book laid out on the podium in front of him. The previous night Frank had listened to eighteen different variations of this same passage as Aaron asked him to rate the dramatics of each one. Honestly, Frank hadn’t been able to tell the difference from one to the next. However, he had read Aaron’s body language well enough to provide Aaron the feedback he had wanted.
Frank caught Aaron’s eyes, held up his cell phone and mouthed, “Gotta go,” as he pointed to the exit. Aaron nodded his head in understanding. Frank turned on his heels and headed back the way he’d come. In the distance, he could still hear Aaron talking about his immediate reaction, and how Detective Jackson Kelly had showed up at FAO Schwarz and immediately thought he was a suspect.
Of course, ‘Detective Jackson Kelly’ was the name Aaron had used for Frank in the book after Frank had begged Aaron to make him as anonymous as possible. Aaron had argued that anyone with Google and half a brain could see through the fake name. Frank hadn’t been ready to have his life and his case written about in a book, much less in the avalanche of press that was sure to follow when the book was released. To Frank and Aaron’s surprise, none of the advance reviewers had questioned the fact that Aaron had included a pseudonym for Frank.
Frank exited the building, the smell of garbage, urine and street meat filling the air. “Ahh…fresh air,” Frank muttered to no one in particular.
“Yep. Nothing like the smell of trash day on a winter afternoon,” Jasika replied, looking at the stacks of trash lining the curb.
Thankfully, the Barnes & Noble store where Aaron was conducting his public reading was just one block away from the Sofitel. At Forty-Fourth, Frank and Jasika crossed Fifth Avenue going west. Frank saw the police lights ahead and the all-too-familiar yellow tape hanging around a crime scene.
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Jason Wrench
Jason Wrench is a professor in the Department of Communication at SUNY New Paltz and has authored/edited 15+ books and over 35 academic research articles. He is also an avid reader and regularly reviews books for publishers in a wide number of genres. This book marks his first full-length work of fiction.
Find out more about Jason at his website.
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