The year is 1883. Eduard van De Lier is a Dutchman overseeing a spice plantation on the island of Java, in the South Pacific. His obsessive attraction to dark-skinned men is just one of his many secrets. His wife Marien knows of his indiscretions, but as she's content with their Colonial lifestyle, she stays silent. Until a former lover of Eduard's shows up in their parlor with thoughts of blackmail. Reza was a crewman on the ship that brought the van De Liers to Java. During the passage, Eduard spent many a night in the younger man's arms. Two years have passed, and the last person Eduard expects to find in his drawing room is Reza, a letter in hand that could destroy the life he and Marien lead. Seeing him again ignites Eduard's lust for his first dark lover. He hopes to retrieve the letter, either through seduction or subterfuge, and the longer Reza eludes him, the more his desire grows. But they're on shaky ground, and before things can heat up between them, their world explodes -- literally -- when the unstable island of Krakatoa erupts.

All Shook Up

Beyond the bathroom door, something clatters to the tiled kitchen floor. The noise is followed by an explosion, loud in the quiet morning like a car’s backfire or a single gunshot. Now I look at my brother, and the sudden fear that leaps in my chest is mirrored in his eyes. “Where’s Dad?”


Joey stares at me a moment longer. His gaze flickers down to my raised knees, where dark hair kinks around ruddy skin, and despite my worry over our father, I know I’ll recall this moment the next time I masturbate. I’ll see that flicker and play the scene out differently—I won’t pull away, for starters, and there will be no interruption from the kitchen to kill the moment. If only I could stop the world, freeze this instant in time, replay it over and over again until it rolls out the way I want it to. Joey moves towards me, a look of compassion in his eyes as he kneels down and opens his arms to gather me to him…


Chapter 37