Ellis Parker is a lucky man: he escaped his persecuting family, survived his tour of duty, and met Maxwell Clark in the city of New Amsterdam. Clark showed Ellis more than the ropes: Clark helped Ellis figure out who he is -- a gay submissive with a massive fixation on a beautiful, mysterious ballet dancer named Bryn Rothe. Ellis knows a Good Man when he sees one, and he wants nothing more than to score a first date with Bryn.<br><br>Little does Ellis know that Bryn has a violent past that is crawling out of shallow graves to haunt him. Even his hectic schedule and beloved stage aren’t enough to distract him. It’s impossible for Bryn to figure out how he feels about Ellis with his demons between them, but when Ellis saves Bryn not once but twice, Bryn is forced to admit that there’s something about Ellis that Bryn might not merely want but need.<br><br>Together, they journey to the scene of Bryn’s original crime -- Charles Towne, South Carolina. There they will dig up secrets that might explain Bryn’s tortured life but might also be his -- and Ellis’s -- undoing.

Earthquakes

“Bryn’s doing so well. He’s dancing, you know. We couldn’t be prouder.”


Bullshit. All bullshit. Suddenly, Bryn couldn’t quit thinking about those first few dance classes, the ones where Jared and Jared’s buddies had told Bryn to get the fuck out. They didn’t like faggoty faggot fairies.


“Was it recently?” Ellis asked, still careful, still soft.


“Nn.” Jared had been a long time ago. And it hadn’t always been like that, with the ganging up on Bryn and the teasing. Once Bryn had gotten good, had found his feet and his passion, and had realized the stage was the only place of real freedom, Jared had changed tunes. They’d been friends. Of a sort. They slept over. They played punch-for-punch, the bruises on their arms causing the ballet mistress to raise questions to their parents. Just boys being boys. No harm in violence as long as everybody wanted it, right?


Chapter 48