Devlin and Garrick by Cameron Dane (short story to read txt) 📕

Devlin and Garrick

Seeking Redemption

Cameron Dane

Published 2010

ISBN 978-1-59578-708-8

Published by Liquid Silver Books, imprint of Atlantic Bridge Publishing, 10509 Sedgegrass Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana 46235. Copyright © 2010, Cameron Dane. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Liquid Silver Books

http://lsbooks.com

Email:

[email protected]

Editor

Chrissie Henderson

Cover Artist

Anne Cain

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

Blurb

Devlin Morgan and Gradyn Connell have one thing on their minds when they meet in a bar one Friday night in San Francisco. One good, hard fuck.

After the hell he’s been through, Gradyn knows the young man sitting at the end of the bar--with his sweet nervousness and beautiful face--is just what he needs. And Gradyn has absolutely no problem getting up to say hello.

Devlin knows inviting muscle-bound, tattooed Gradyn to his motel room is the riskiest thing he’s ever done, but there’s something in the man’s warm green eyes that tells Devlin everything will be all right.

One explosive encounter in Devlin’s motel room is the plan. Only, it turns out one hot fuck isn’t enough for either man. Dinner afterward leads to another round in bed, and what follows is a weekend together that stirs more emotions than either Devlin or Gradyn ever expected to feel.

Fast forward five years. Devlin has never forgotten Gradyn but he has moved on with his life. That is, until he walks into his sister’s workplace and comes face to face with the man from his wild weekend in San Francisco.

Except, this man is calling himself Garrick Langley. This man is a shell of the man Devlin remembers and hardly looks like the same person. And the biggest kick in Devlin’s gut? This Garrick Langley pretends he doesn’t know Devlin at all.

No. Fucking. Way.

Devlin doesn’t care what this man looks like or that he has a new name. Garrick Langley is Gradyn Connell, and they both know it. Devlin is a lot more secure in his own skin now, and he wants answers. This Garrick had better look out because Devlin won’t stop until he uncovers every one of Gradyn’s secrets.

Author Note

For Devlin and Garrick, I have fictionalized emerging tattoo ink technology. What I have written as Garrick’s experience in no way reflects the results of trials or testing known to the public today.

Prologue

“If you sit there in silence for one more second, I’m going to assume that you fucked him.”

Devlin Morgan jerked out of his daydreaming and landed a narrow-eyed glare on the young woman sitting across from him. The words “you fucked him” had registered in his head--in his little sister’s voice--and dragged Devlin back to reality with a shudder. He did not talk about sex with his sister. Especially not in the middle of a diner during lunch hour.

Especially when you’re not having any, Devlin added to himself silently.

Maddie smirked at Devlin from the other side of the booth. She pushed her long dark hair behind her ears. “Yep, I thought that would get your attention.” Light gray eyes that matched his twinkled with laughter one second and then softened in the next. “I’d say you’re allowed to brood and keep quiet all you want, except you’re the one who invited me to lunch.”

“I was getting a little stir crazy sitting around the apartment,” Devlin answered. “I hate that I can’t go back to work yet.” In performing his duties as a firefighter, Devlin had injured himself while carrying a man out of an apartment building. One month of rehabbing his leg and lower back now under his belt, he still had a few more weeks before he could get back on the job. “I have PT in a few hours but I needed a change of scenery before I started rearranging the walls with my bare hands.”

“Ahh.” Maddie nodded, but pursed her lips and gave him the stink eye at the same time. “And here I thought you might finally want to talk about your date.”

Darren. The guy was one of only a very few openly gay men in Redemption that Devlin wasn’t related to by blood or civil ceremony. The two he claimed as kin were Aidan and Ethan. Aidan was Devlin’s brother and Ethan was Aidan’s partner. Disgustingly happy as a couple for three years now, they made forever look attainable and inviting. Devlin loved hanging out with them, but the twist of envy that came with seeing them in a successful partnership drove home exactly how far away he was from finding someone himself.

He just couldn’t get excited about Darren, though. When Devlin thought about what Aidan and Ethan had, a longing for the same constricted his chest, and he couldn’t hold back the memories of looking into bottomless green eyes, of gripping thick, wide shoulders, and of gasping for breath the first time another man sank his cock deep into Devlin’s virgin ass.

Stop it! Devlin slammed closed a thick metal door on the rest of that picture. Gradyn is long out of your life. For good.

“Earth to Dev.” Maddie snapped her fingers in Devlin’s face and yanked him back to the diner again. “Don’t make me say the word fuck again.”

Devlin shot his sister another pointed glare. “You just did.”

“So you hadn’t drifted that far away this time,” Maddie said as the devil came back into her eyes. “In that case... Your second date with cutie Darren. When is it going to happen?”

Incessant chatter from his first date with Darren still rang in Devlin’s ears. “We have something set up for tomorrow night, but I think I’m going to cancel it.”

“Really?” Maddie sat up straighter. “He’s attractive and I always remember him being a sweetie in school. What’s not working for