We’re
halfway through Pride Month. I, for one, am still celebrating. For
today’s MFRW Book Hooks, I have a snippet from my MM paranormal
romance At the Margins of Madness.
I
don’t know why, but almost all my MM titles have some darkness
surrounding them. This one is no exception; I put my heroes through hell before they get their HEA.
Perhaps it’s my sense that it’s not easy in
this world to be a man who loves other men.
Blurb
Nineteen
year old Kyle has devastating visions of horrific disasters. Everyone
assumes Kyle is schizophrenic, but Rob, the cop who picks him up off
the street, knows better. Since his telepathic sister's brutal
murder, Rob wants nothing to do with "gifted" individuals
like Kyle. Yet he can't deny his attraction to the beautiful,
tortured young man -- an attraction that appears to be mutual.
The
Hook
“Kitchen’s
here, with the door out to the back porch. Only one bathroom, I’m
afraid. Here’s the guest room—your room. The closet’s empty;
you’re welcome to put your stuff in there.”
Rob
led Kyle through his apartment, fussing and clucking like a mother
hen. He wondered for the hundredth time whether this was a mistake.
The guy was just so damned beautiful. Rob could hardly bear to be
close to him. Driving the few miles from St. Vincent’s to his
building, Rob had tried to pay attention to the road, but he couldn’t
help sneaking sidelong glances at the mysterious, sensual face of his
companion. Kyle seemed to be brooding. Maybe he had his doubts, too.
“What
stuff?” Kyle spread his arms, a half-smile on his plump lips.
“Everything I own is on my back.”
“I’ll
take you over to Greendale Mall so you can pick up some new clothes.
Loan you some cash until you get on your feet.”
“What
makes you think I’ll ever ‘get on my feet’, Sergeant Murphy?”
“Rob.
Please.”
“Okay,
Rob.” Kyle stared at the mostly bare maple outside the guest room
window, before turning back to confront him. “Why should anything
be different now?” Rob heard the bitterness in his voice. “I have
a disease, and I don’t mean the ulcer. I’m cursed. I see terrible
things, and I can’t stop them. It’s getting worse all the time.
There are only two possibilities. Either I’ll kill myself, or I’ll
truly go insane.”
Rob
suppressed the urge to take the man in his arms. Instead, he settled
for an avuncular pat on the shoulder. “It’s only your
imagination, Kyle. Your mind playing tricks on you. Once you
understand that, maybe you can suppress the visions. Or control
them.”
Kyle
sank down onto the bed. His dark eyes burnt under exquisitely arched
brows. “My imagination? You know that’s not true.”
Rob
lowered himself onto the desk chair. He wished that he were somewhere
else. He wanted to help Kyle, but he really didn’t like where the
conversation was going.
“What
else could it be? These spells—they’re like seizures. Storms of
random activity in your brain that make you see things. I was there
at the hospital, remember, when it hit you yesterday. You were
completely out of touch, yelling about the brake, the gas tank,
groaning and crying. You were delusional.”
“It
was a crash,” Kyle intoned. “At least five cars. Glass
everywhere. The screech of rubber, the stink of leaking gasoline, and
then the explosion and the smell of charred flesh… Check the
papers, Rob. Call the police station. If it hasn’t happened yet, it
will soon.”
“You
really believe that your hallucinations foretell the future?” Rob
remembered the night he’d picked Kyle up, the narrowly averted
catastrophe at the address Kyle had seen.
“I
only wish that they didn’t. All I ever see is violence and pain.”
Kyle buried his face in his hands.
Rob
moved to the bed, next to his guest, and put his arm around the
denim-clad shoulders. He couldn’t help himself. “Look, that’s
crazy. This isn’t some kind of horror movie. This is real life.
There’s a rational explanation for everything.” He was trying to
convince himself as much as Kyle. He didn’t want anything more to
do with psychic abilities. Never again.
Kyle
skewered him with a dark stare, hurt and angry. “You don’t know
what you’re talking about. I thought that you wanted to help me.”
Rob
tensed. Kyle was so close. The funk of his old sweat rose from the
worn jacket, along with a trace of disinfectant. Rob could see the
pulse beating in the boy’s pale temple. He felt his own blood rush
to his cock.
Kyle
trembled. His nostrils flared. His eyes gleamed. Rob felt the pull, a
magnet focused on his groin. It would be so easy to gather that taut
young body to his chest, to fasten his mouth on Kyle’s ripe lips,
to take control. But that wasn’t what the man needed. Kyle needed
responsible strength. Logic. Maturity. With a heroic effort, Rob
smothered his fantasies.
“I
do want to help. If I didn’t, do you think I would have taken you
in? I just want you to be realistic. To recognize that even when you
think you’re seeing future events, that’s a delusion.”
Kyle
wasn’t listening, not really. Rob could see him adjust his face,
hiding his emotions, shuttering those bright eyes, donning a false
smile. Putting on a mask. “Whatever you say, Rob. Maybe you’re
right. After all, most nut cases think their visions are real.”
“You’re
not a ‘nut case’, Kyle.”
“Are
you sure?” He giggled. “You can’t have it both ways, you know.
Either I’m prescient, or I’m insane.” He stood, stretching,
then grinned at the sight of Rob’s obvious concern. “Hey, lighten
up. Either way, I’m not going to stab you in your bed.”
Rob
shuddered, despite himself.
Kyle
rested a light hand on Rob’s shoulder. “I’m sorry to give you a
hard time. I really do appreciate you giving me a place to crash.”
The
casual touch re-ignited Rob’s carefully suppressed desire.
Fortunately, the phone rang. “Excuse me,” he muttered, beating a
hasty retreat to the hall.
Find
the buy links for At the Margins of Madness at
https://www.lisabetsarai.com/marginsofmadnessbook.html
Note
that this novel is available as an audio book as well as an e-book.
Be
sure to visit the other authors participating in today’s Book
Hooks!
