…And All Shall Fade to Black Blurb
Moving into his new apartment, Jax never
expected to have to break up a fight between his new neighbors, resulting in a
physical altercation and a visit from the cops. Never in his wildest dreams did
he imagine that it would lead to him meeting Danny, the cute theater manager
and playwright that lived next door. Unfortunately, his first impression of
Danny and the way he’d cowered away in the fight with his ex, wasn’t exactly a favorable
one.
Jax already has his own issues to deal
with, between his past problems with his mother and the chain of men who’ve
floated in and out of her life, his new job as a piercer in his sister’s tattoo
shop and his struggles with an eating disorder; the last thing he plans to add
to it is a relationship. Yet Danny isn’t so easy to ignore and when they find themselves
bonding after Danny shows him around town, and more when Jax offers to help
with sets for his latest play, it becomes harder and harder for him to ignore
the connection forming between them.
As Jax’s insecurities and food issues
grow more and more out of control, he find himself turning to Danny for help,
rather than his longtime friends Callum and Max who lives just downstairs.
Danny’s mix of patience, stubbornness and tough love make it harder and harder
for Jax to keep his distance, and somewhere in the course of their daily lives,
they find themselves moving from being friends, to being more.
Book Trailer
Buy Links
US Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Q41YGQ
UK Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072Q41YGQ
JP Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B072Q41YGQ
CA Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B072Q41YGQ
Excerpt
As
he stood under the warm spray from the shower, some of the anger from the night
before began to creep back in. Without a doubt, that had to be one of the
stupidest things he’d ever done. In fact, if he were to rank a lifetime of
insanity and bad decisions, that one was floating somewhere between number two
and number five in a very long list.
It
wasn’t like it was going to make a difference, the small guy, what the fuck
he’d said his name was, Denny, Danny, whatever, had probably bailed the asshole
out and was up making him breakfast and laying his shit out for work. Dumbass.
Jax
sighed and brushed the water out of his eyes. His sister would tell him he was
being a cynic, that not everyone was like their mom had been. Fuck that noise,
Steph saw rainbows and sunshine in everything. Even when people pissed her off
she just smiled and somehow or another managed to win them over. That wasn’t
him, had never been him and never would be.
People only showed you good when they wanted something, or when they
wanted you to like them. As soon as they’d suckered you in, who they really
were tended to emerge and he’d learned early on that it was safer to play with
pit bulls then people. At least a dog wasn’t gonna bite you unless you provoked
them to.
People
on the other hand…
Turning
the water off, he shook his head, sending water droplets everywhere before
grabbing a towel and quickly drying off. He’d barely pulled on his jeans when
someone began knocking on his door. For a moment, he considered ignoring it,
but the knocking grew more insistent and with a groan he resigned himself to
the fact that whoever it was just wasn’t going to go away.
Muttering
curses he stalked to the door and yanked it open, only to see the top of
Denny-Danny’s head. The smaller man looked up at him with a sheepish grin, the
bruises on his face and neck looking much worse in the light.
“Hi,
umm,” Danny stammered, as Jax crossed his arms and leaned against the
doorframe, wondering how long this was going to take.
“I
umm, I just wanted to, ummm,” Danny continued, looking around awkwardly. “You
didn’t have to help last night, and umm, I just want to thank you.”
“Is
that all?” Jax asked abruptly, pushing away from the doorway. “Don’t expect it
to happen again.”
Danny
took a step back, eyes widening in shock at Jax’s harsh tone. “I-I don’t, I
mean, I-I won’t.”
“Good. And do me a favor, try and keep it down
the next time you guys decide to fight. No one else needs to hear that shit.”
Jax
reached for the door, intent on shutting it, when Danny slammed his hand
against the door, stopping him. Jax blinked, glancing from Danny’s hand to his
face and back again.
“Do
you have a problem?” Jax asked, feeling himself tense, readying for
confrontation. He watched the mired of expression that played across Danny’s
face, from shock to outrage, to furious indignation, and couldn’t be bothered
to worry about where the whole situation might lead. The coward had showed his
true colors in the hallway. Nothing he did now would change Jax’s mind about
him.
“I
didn’t ask for your help last night,” Danny sputtered, weight pressed against
the door.
Jax
knew he could close it if he truly wanted to, but this was almost amusing.
“I’m
grateful to you, f-for what you did, but if you were gonna be an asshole about
it, why’d you even bother at all? Or did you think you were coming to help a woman?
Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Yeah,
I did think it was a woman getting the shit beat outta her,” Jax shot back.
“And since you guys were loud as hell, it wasn’t like I could sleep through it
or anything.”
Chin
trembling, Danny raised his head. It looked to Jax like it was actually taking
him some effort to look at him. His one cinnamon colored eye was almost swollen
shut, the dark blue bruise around it making the sliver of color stand out even
more.
“Look,
I didn’t mean to disturb your night. I didn’t ask for him to go off on me like
that. He was higher than I’ve ever seen him and to be honest, I’m still not
sure exactly what set him off.”
“But
you know he uses, and you live with him anyway. Bet you bailed him out too,
didn’t you?” Jax shot back, scowling. “Apologized for everything, made him
breakfast and even promised to make him a nice dinner tonight when he came home
from work, right?”
Danny’s
eyes narrowed and his fingers curled into a fist against the door. Jax licked
his lips, waiting to see if Danny was actually going to attempt something. Not
like he wanted to hurt the guy, he already looked hurt enough, but he seemed to
be mustering up more outrage now than he’d shown the night before.
“Actually,
I pressed charges against him and left his ass at the precinct when he called
me at three in the morning begging me to come bail him out. I even called a
moving van to get his shit out of here, rented a storage unit for them to put
it in, and planned to invite you over for dinner to thank you, but you can pretty
much forget that part of the plan. I don’t invite people into my life who are
going to treat me like shit, and I sure as hell aren’t the type to actually
forgive them and bail them out after they do. I don’t know what kind of people
you’ve been around, but, not everyone likes to play the part of a human
punching bag. Anyway, for what it’s worth, thank you for coming to my rescue,
trust me when I say there will never be a need for it to happen again.”
About the Author
Layla got hooked on writing as a child, starting with poetry and then branching out, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. Hard times, troubled times, the lives of her characters are never easy, but then what life is? The story is in the struggle, the journey, the triumphs and the falls. She writes about artists, musicians, loners, drifters, dreamers, hippies, bikers, truckers, hunters and all the other folks that she’s met and fallen in love with over the years.
Sometimes she writes urban romance and sometimes its aliens crash landing near a roadside bar. When she isn’t writing, or wandering somewhere outdoors, she can often be found curled up with a good book and a kitty on her lap.
Layla Dorine can be found at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/layladorine
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/layladorine/
Tumblr: https://layladorine.tumblr.com/
Author Website: layladorine13.wix.com/layladorineauthor
Author on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9814124.Layla_Dorine
No comments:
Post a Comment