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

“Shower,” Ellis yelled back. “Sheets. Sleep. Funeral. Go.” He turned on his heel, heading toward the messy bed and leaving Bryn to navigate the way to the shower.


“What are you even doing?” Bryn asked softly, as though he was asking himself.


“Helping,” Ellis said. He tore the blankets off the mattress and stared at the stains he and Bryn had made. “I’m helping, damn it.”


The rest of the night and the following morning were a blur. Ellis cleared Bryn’s apartment of booze, and he packed all the pills in a bag that he took with him when he went home. He told himself he was being cautious, and then he told himself he was being fucking nuts. After a lengthy mental debate, he settled on both.


Chapter 60