When they were teenagers, Quinn MacGregor and Aaron Larsen fell in love over the course of one magical summer. It ended in bloodshed and tragedy. Now, ten years later, Quinn is back in Spruce Creek, Nevada, to inherit his family’s criminal cartel. His cousin Jimmy has been making friends -- and enemies -- in dangerous places, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy to hand over leadership to Quinn. And Jimmy might not be the only one who wants Quinn out of the way for good, especially if Quinn’s secret comes out. Aaron Larsen is back in Spruce Creek to sell his former family home. Aaron lost a leg in Afghanistan, and he’s drinking too much and battling depression and PTSD. The last thing he needs is for Quinn MacGregor to drop back into his miserable life. But when Quinn is shaken by the news that he left more behind in Spruce Creek than his bad memories, he turns to Aaron like it’s old times, and Aaron doesn’t know how to say no. The events of ten years ago cast a long shadow, and in a town where they can’t trust anyone else, Quinn and Aaron just might have to learn to trust each other again.

A Desperate Man

Charlie and Aaron had become his safety net. Sure, he’d had a crush on the blond sheriff’s kid at school for a while before that party. Hell, he’d come out as bi to his mom before that party, and she’d told him to live his truth in the safest way possible. That meant to never, ever tell his dad.


Quinn had an addictive personality, and now that he was off drugs, his faulty brain was looking for other things to get hung up on. He didn’t like the fact that his heart was jumping onto that bandwagon and showing his brain which way to go.


Nobody that had any ties to Quinn would be safe in this town if shit really hit the fan. Sure, Jimmy had settled for the time being, but Quinn knew his cousin. When they were kids, he’d learned that Jimmy held grudges and would, eventually, lash out, sometimes out of nowhere.


Chapter 36