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

Another pang of hurt rippled through Bryn, but it was short-lived. A few minutes later, Bryn had two regular door keys and one ornate key. The boy had an extra hundred. Ellis helped Bryn out of the limo, and they sneaked around the side of the wing. There was a plain wooden back door with a dead bolt. Bryn used the normal keys on the locks, and the door swung open.


It was hot and damp inside. Dust motes flickered in the light that came through the windows. A long galley stretched ahead of them. There were bathrooms at the end of it. An archway with columns stood to their right. Beyond them was the ballroom, all its furniture covered in sheets. A sweeping, open, narrow staircase went up to the second floor, and Bryn pointed to it. “Up there.”


Chapter 74