A warm welcome to author Charlie Descoteaux joining us today to share an exclusive excerpt from her new release “Art House”.
Welcome Charlie 🙂
Hello friends! I’m thrilled to be back at Love Bytes—thanks so much for having me!
The last book in the Buchanan House series was released Tuesday and that’s only one of the major events life has handed me this month. I bought my first home in July and moved in on August 15th! The timing could have been a little better but I think I’m going to be happy in my little cottage.
Since I’m buried in boxes and exhausted I’m going to share a nice long excerpt with you today. I hope you enjoy it! Stick around afterward and leave a comment about your favorite kind of swag—do you like pens or bookmarks or magnets, or something else? Every comment during the tour will be an entry in my giveaway. At the end of the tour everyone’s name will go into a hat and the winner will get a signed paperback of Art House, some Buchanan House and Dreamspinner swag, and a surprise or two. This giveaway is worldwide. 😊
Series readers might remember Chase and Garrett’s relationship described as “on again, off again” in previous books. In this excerpt they’ve been in off-again mode for a short while. The Jess Chase refers to is Garrett’s BFF, and I think that’s all the introduction needed for this excerpt.
Chase had spent three days after his conversation with Jess obsessively checking his phone and jumping at every sound. Even though everyone he wanted to talk to had his number, Chase started going out a few times a day just to walk around. He even took a pedicab out. On that third day he quit the pedicab job for good. It broke his heart to pedal around the Pearl and Northeast neighborhoods and see Garrett’s tags when he couldn’t see Garrett. The kittens were bad enough—they reminded Chase of the times when they’d gone out together in the early hours of the morning and left happy little pictures for kids to see the next day on their way to school. Those happened in the early days of their relationship, before the first time he’d woken to find Garrett gone. Almost five years of bliss.
Five years wasn’t long, but that seemed like something that had happened to another man. A man who thought he’d found his Happily Ever After, as unlikely as that was in reality.
But when Chase saw Garrett’s signature tag the first time in the Pearl, he’d almost crashed the pedicab. Seeing it unexpectedly like that made him feel so many things it was unreal—Garrett’s profile with dandelion fluff blowing away instead of hair. It chilled and excited him at the same time. Chilled because in his current emotional state, it looked to Chase like a picture of someone who’d had the back of their head blown away; excited because it was obviously put there for him. He didn’t think Garrett would do that, leave such a public warning if he intended to harm himself, but he couldn’t know for certain.
After further thought, Chase had to admit he didn’t know what it meant. Was it for him at all? Was it even Garrett? It wouldn’t be the first time two artists had coincidentally come up with the same idea without having any interaction beforehand. Chase almost texted Garrett to ask. More than once or twice.
But I’m a chickenshit, so I haven’t.
He tossed his brush into the jar, and as soon as it hit, he winced at his carelessness. He wasn’t destitute but couldn’t afford to ruin a perfectly good brush for no reason. After giving it a thorough, careful cleaning he flopped onto the bed on his back. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to just let his mind wander in its current state, but it was day four post-Jess, and he couldn’t help himself. He missed Garrett so badly he could barely work, barely think. Chase told himself it was the not knowing that was the worst, but that wasn’t true. The worst was wondering if Garrett would come back, not when.
It felt as sappy as it sounded, but Chase played a montage of their relationship in his head while he stared vacantly at the blank ceiling. He thought about the night they’d met, when he found a lovely wisp of a young guy looking deeply at his favorite painting and been at his mercy ever since. The nights Garrett took him out to do his guerilla street art—tags so beautiful and sweet they often weren’t painted over the next morning, if ever. A few still remained, faded as they were, on overpasses and bridge supports throughout the city.
Chase’s memories moved to the exquisitely painful subject of Garrett’s body, the way he made love, as though it were important to get everything just right.
I don’t deserve him.
From basking in the good times to wallowing in the shit in three steps. That’s why I don’t deserve him. I bring him down when all I want to do is make him happy.
Chase worried he was too old for Garrett, too worn out and jaded. Seventeen years was a long time, a big difference when it came to age. Garrett had been a baby when Chase had moved out of his dad’s house, maybe not even old enough to talk yet. And he worried that since Garrett was an adult now—and damn smart—that he knew Chase was too old for him. Back when they’d first started, when Garrett was a starry-eyed seventeen-year-old caught up in the idea he was getting a serious artist….
Don’t go there, man.
A soft knock on the bedroom door startled a sound from Chase. Whoever it was would probably think he was asleep and leave him alone. Not many people it could be. My life is small and only getting smaller.
Regardless, he had no plans to give up his comfortable wallowing to try and be social. He wasn’t dressed to answer the door anyway, wearing only a faded pair of green plaid boxers—a pair Garrett had bought one year around the holidays. He did his best work without any clothes on at all but didn’t have the heart to be fully nude when he was so lonely.
I haven’t done my best work in years. No great loss.
When the doorknob turned, Chase sat up. When the door opened and Garrett peeked in, it took Chase’s breath away.
“Hey. Did I wake you?”
“No.” He wasn’t sure Garrett heard; he barely heard himself. “It’s good to see you.”
Wow, great line.
Also, the understatement of the week. Chase wanted to apologize, to throw himself at Garrett’s feet and beg his forgiveness for being so stupid, but couldn’t seem to move. He still sat with his legs over the far side of the bed, twisted to look at the vision stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. It almost felt like he was dreaming, but he’d never ached so badly from a dream before, so hopefully it was real.
It had to be real, because it was happening differently. If he were dreaming, things would be happening the way they had in the past. Chase hadn’t gotten a call first, and Garrett for sure didn’t look tentative or the least bit upset. He looked amazing—confident and relaxed, even with the shadows of bruises still on his face. He had shaved, and Chase missed the facial hair, but Garrett could never be anything short of gorgeous in his eyes.
Garrett moved closer to the bed, breaking the spell Chase was under. He stood and closed all but one step of the distance between them.
“I’m sorry.”
Garrett shook his head, a tiny smile playing on his lips. “I’m the one who’s sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong. Okay if I—”
Before he could finish the one thing that was playing out the same as it always did—Okay if I stay?—Chase leaned forward and kissed him. Softly, only enough to stop him from finishing that sentence. If everything played out differently this time, then maybe it would be the last time they spent days—or weeks—apart, the last time he drove away the love of his life with careless words or boneheaded actions.
The kiss was short, and when Garrett pulled back he was smiling. “I guess that’s a yes.” He reached out and rubbed his thumb over a splotch of green paint near Chase’s left nipple. “Were you working?”
“Taking a break.”
“Want to take a longer break?”
“I really do.”
Garrett gripped Chase’s upper arms and pulled him close. Still a little stunned, Chase didn’t move. He sighed when Garrett wrapped both arms around him and squeezed tightly. “I missed you.”
“I’m so glad you’re here.” Chase embraced him and squeezed, burying his face in Garrett’s soft auburn hair. He moaned when Garrett slid both hands past the waistband of his boxers and pushed them to the floor. A twinge of embarrassment made it past the relief and desire flooding his mind when Garrett grasped his cock and it didn’t even say hello back.
It did, eventually, and Chase welcomed Garrett home the way he always did.
Thanks for reading!
Blurb:
Chase Holland spends his days painting Portland scenes to hang in local businesses, neglecting his own surrealist style. After twenty-five years as a full-time artist, he’s frustrated that his career has stalled, but churning out the equivalent of corporate art is better than getting a day job. Chase and Garrett have been together—off and on, but mostly on—for a decade. If asked, they would both say the source of their trouble is the seventeen-year age gap. The truth is less clear-cut. Life would be so much easier if Chase could make a living with his own art, or if Garrett held less conventional ideas about relationships.
Garrett Frisch has been watching their friends get married for the past two years, and it’s taking an emotional toll. When he proposes as a way to keep them together permanently, he thinks he’s being responsible, but Chase is ambivalent and hurt and can’t hide it. It doesn’t help that Garrett’s anxiety is out of control and he’s dealing with insecurities about his own art career. They will have to do their least favorite thing—talk about something more important than which food cart to visit—if they are to get the happy ending they both want.
Buy Art House:
Charley Descoteaux has always heard voices. She was relieved to learn they were fictional characters, and started writing when they insisted daydreaming just wasn’t good enough. In exchange, they’ve agreed to let her sleep once in a while. Charley grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during a drought, and found her true home in the soggy Pacific Northwest. She has survived earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods, but couldn’t make it through one day without stories.
Rattle Charley’s cages:
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e-mail: c.descoteauxwrites@gmail.com
I can’t wait to read this book. I’m planning on restarting the whole series to get the full effect.
I would love to have some bookmarks or magnets from the series.
I haven’t started these books yet, so now I can read them together!
The winner is Jennifer! She commented on my post on the Dreamspinner blog. (Maybe the same Jennifer who commented here? <3) Thanks again to all the lovely host blogs, and everyone who read and commented on my posts!