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

“You have anything to take off the makeup?” Ellis asked. His voice was strangely low. Reverent, even.


Bryn had to swallow before he could speak. “Counter.” He pointed. “Blue pack. Face-wipe things.”


Ellis nodded and spun. The rear view was fantastic too. Ellis was so goddamned white. He practically glowed in the bathroom’s low light. He had a mole at the top of his left butt cheek. There were scars on his right shoulder, some surgical and some not. There was a badly knotted scar on his left calf, like somebody’d stabbed him or shot him. Bryn couldn’t fathom anybody wanting to hurt Ellis, but then Bryn remembered what Ellis had said about serving in the military. Bryn stared at the faded flag when Ellis came back over and handed Bryn a cloth for his face.


“Sure.” Ellis put a hand on the tub’s rim and put one leg in the water. He hissed. “Whew, that’s hot.”


Chapter 47