________
Emily
7 months prior…
Release date
The Shenanigans of Gorilla Ben and a Hottie Named Rosie
Vol. 1
BY: E. LOVES
Closing Chapter…
With an endless night of searching, Ben found the human male’s hiding place.
No one stole Rosie. No one.
He’d skin the human alive and toss him off a cliff screaming for kidnapping her. He’d never understand the human men. This one had fallen victim to Rosie’s smile and thus thought he would kidnap her and claim her as his own.
No one claimed Rosie. Rose couldn’t be claimed. Gorilla Ben wasn’t exactly sure what claiming meant exactly, but he knew it wasn’t right, nor was it fair.
She was a human. A female. She deserved her chance to be heard, but the human male hadn’t listened when she had said no. He had hit Ben over the head and pried her from his fur. Even disgruntled, he heard her screams, and it fueled his rage.
No one made Rosie mad or hurt. No one.
Rosie was his treasured human friend. Thinking of her defenseless and alone, Gorilla Ben became enraged and his body quadrupled in size so that when he came up to the house, he could no longer fit in the door. Just when he started smashing his fists against the roof, Rosie stepped out with a puffy eye and smiled. “I’m fine.”
Only she wasn’t. Her face was bruised. Ben scooped her up in one hand and started smashing his other fist into the house. It crumbled and gave way to his giant hand and it was only when he looked inside the giant hole his fist made, that he saw his friend Rosie was right, she was fine.
The human man lay naked and unconscious on the floor. His face looked worse than hers. He felt her weight move in his hand and turned his head to see her peeking over into the house. “Is he alive?”
“Should I finish him?” His voice was disgruntled.
She laughed at him. “Hopefully, he’s learned his lesson. Women are not to be stolen or messed with.” He reached in to grab the human male, anyway. “No, Ben, you can’t.” She tipped her chin forward. “You need to calm down. You’re scaring the town.”
He turned around and saw all the townspeople cowering or peeking out their windows to stare or point at him. He looked at his ginormous body. “I don’t like when people make you sad, Rosie.” And as he spoke, his body began to shrink back to his normal size. She no longer fit in his hand and hopped onto the ground. “I don’t like humans.”
“I’m human,” she told him.
He shook his head. “You’re Rosie, you don’t count.”
“Let’s go back to our beach. This place is boring.”
He liked that idea. “Just Rosie and Ben are best.”
“You’re right, my friend. Always the best.”
Only when they arrived at their beach, it was overrun with monkeys. Rosie couldn’t understand these monkeys, but Ben could, and he had no idea what to do when they all started bending forward and calling him their lord.
“Rosie?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s a lord?”
Her eyes widened.
Things were about to get interesting.
To be continued…
______
“Just get online and look,” Benjamin demanded over the phone.
“I’m too nervous,” I muttered, sitting on the toilet at Crash’s during my break and letting my nerves get the best of me. “Just read the reviews that are good.”
He laughed. “Why are you even nervous? You’ve already heard back from some reviewers, and the feedback is positive.”
“Just get on Amazon and look for me. Only read me the reviews that are positive though.”
“I’ve been refreshing the page every hour.”
“You have?” I asked him.
“Yes. Want me to read you some right now?”
I groaned. “NO… Yes, please.”
“This one’s a five star, and it says, ‘King Kong meets hilarity! I really hope the author plans to publish the second one soon. I NEED to know what happens with Gorilla Ben being called a lord!’”
I found myself smiling. “That’s not bad.”
“Here’s a three-star review, ‘This was a decent read. I feel like it’s one of those that will get better as it goes.’”
“I can deal with that,” I told him at ease.
“Another five, ‘I loved it. I really hope something will develop between Gorilla Ben and Rosie, they are perfect as is but…’” He stopped reading the review. “I feel like you’ll be getting a lot of reviews like this one.”
“Why?”
“Just wait and see,” was all he said. “You ready for the two-star review?”
“There’s already a bad review?” I cried.
“Yeah, and it says, ‘This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever read.’”
I found myself nodding. “Well, I can’t disagree...”
He laughed in my ear. “It’s stupid good. People love this kind of shit.”
“Thanks for calling Gorilla Ben and Rosie shit.”
“You know what I mean.”
I sniggered. “I’ll call you tonight. My breaks almost over.”
______
My reviews from the first day were from bloggers, but I sold six copies the first day it was released and although it wasn’t anything amazing, I still felt good about it. I published something I wrote online, and a few people were choosing to read my words and the crazy world of Gorilla Ben and Rosie.
I was on cloud nine.
“The feedback’s been good,” I told Roger as I shoved the laptop in his lap. “Read the reviews.”
He smiled. “That’s good. So, you’re going to go ahead with the next one?”
“Yeah. Tiffany’s already at work on my next cover, and I’ve already started revising and editing the second volume.” I started laughing. “I had a feeling people would like Gorilla Ben.” He studied me with a smile. “What?” It made me self-conscious.
“I’m glad that it did good. You’re so happy.” He kissed my forehead, and I briefly thought of Benjamin when he did it. “Do you think you could add me into the story?” he suggested.
I was still thinking of Benjamin.
“You want to be in the story?”
“Benjamin’s in it. Why can’t I?”
“You can be.”
Only I couldn’t figure out how to place a Roger in Ben and Rosie’s world.