Be sure to read through to the end for your chance to win a free ebook copy of the Gift, in the format of your choice.

 

the Gift

by A.F. Henley

Exclusive Excerpt 

For Sid Love

The bus shuddered and slowed and August opened his eyes to still-dark skies.

“Morning, sunshine.”

The closeness of Doren’s voice shocked him and he looked up quickly, confused and displaced, the color flooding his cheeks instantly. Oh, God, no. Please no … “I’m so sorry,” August muttered, struggling upright. “You should have just pushed me away.”

“Are you kidding me? You can fall asleep on my shoulder any time,” Doren teased, his eyes roving over August as if August was breakfast being served just for him.

The door opened in front of them and the bus driver walked through the cabin, eyes on the floor, doing his best to pretend he couldn’t hear the conversation. August watched the expression change in Doren’s face, watched Doren’s eyes shield over before Doren leaned in close and spoke, just a little louder, a little more cocky, “Next time why don’t you try it in my lap?”

August pulled back, disgusted, and with a quick snap of heel to floor and a stiffening of spine, Doren stood and left the bus. Within minutes August could hear the busy sounds of people digging out luggage and the casual laughter of the musicians. He needed to get his ass up, get himself in gear and make sure all of Doren’s stuff got where it needed to be, check the room was up to par and ready. Instead he sat for a long stretch of minutes, staring blankly at the front of the hotel.

“I’ve made a mistake,” August told himself, listening to his voice echo in the empty vehicle.

There was a time in August’s life when he stood back and let people do what people did without fighting back. He was raised to let his parents make the decisions, to listen to his superiors and smile and nod. Stand with the crowd, not against it. Be part of the scene, but never fight it. It had made both his parents very comfortable. His father was an Executive Director at a marketing firm. His mother was the Distributions Manager at a cosmetics company. They both went to church on Sunday and were active in their community. In fact, they spent far more time on work and society than they’d ever spent with him. When August finally worked himself free of that knot, retreating to college to pursue music as not just an escape but as a career, he’d been convinced he’d finally get a chance to shed himself of smug, self-righteous posturing. College had proved that falsehood immediately. The professors, the staff, even the other students had been lousy with it. They were either better than everyone else, knew more than everyone else, or just downright full of themselves. His roommate had been a nightmare. His job had been a joke. Then this. This job. That had seemed like a perfect way to round things up and get himself back on stride … and all he’d ended up with was more crap. The hero he’d admired behind the gloss and glitz of advertisements and interviews was just another self-important, smug prick with an indulgence or showing off in front of a crowd.

Maybe it was time to go home, accept his father’s suggestion of an entry-level position and dig his heels into becoming a marketing guru; sell his soul for the promise of a forty-hour workweek and weekends off, buy a house in the suburbs, and wait for death.

August took a deep breath and was just about to stand when Doren hopped back in the bus. He walked up a step and leaned against the railing. They looked at each other for a long time, but it was Doren who broke the pause. “So are you coming?”

It was now or never. Tell Doren to pound off and go home, a couple of hundred bucks lighter from the return bus fare, or take the bull by the horns and tough it out. After all, what had he been expecting? Doren was in the throes of becoming the ‘Next Big Thing’ and people had been treating him like he was made of gold for months now. The young ones worshipped him, the rest wanted to fuck him, and anyone with an ounce of ability wanted to cash in on him.

And what was it that his mother used to tell him? When he was lamenting a relationship or lack thereof with what he’d thought had been his next Mr. Right? That all men were just boys with a few extra inches, including him, his father and her own dad. Now if only he could remember whether her advice had been to kill that with kindness … or not spare the rod.

Doren lifted his eyebrows, questioning August’s lack of response, and finally followed with his hands.

August shook his head and stood. “Of course I am. Let’s get this show on the road.”

~*~

Buy your copy of the Gift here: Purchasing Link

 

Blurb:

Doren was born with a powerful gift – a gift he’s managed to use to put him well on his way to becoming a star. But there is more to that gift than just musical talent, and as careful as Doren is to hide that fact, there are some who know of the power behind the sound, and all the ways they could abuse it.

August’s goal in life is simple: make an impact in the music industry. An opportunity to work as the personal assistant to Doren seems to be exactly the kind of break he needs to accomplish that goal.

But all too often in life, simple becomes just another complication, especially when there are people whose goal is even simpler: destroy and dominate.

Word Count: 89,000

Pairing: M/M

Content: Contains some explicit content

 

About the Author:

Henley was born with a full-blown passion for run-on sentences, a zealous indulgence in all words descriptive, and the endearing tendency to overuse punctuation. Since the early years Henley has been an enthusiastic writer, from the first few I-love-my-dog stories to the current leap into erotica.

A self-professed Google genius, Henley lives for the hours spent digging through the Internet for ‘research purposes’ which, more often than not, lead seven thousand miles away from first intentions, but bring Henley to new discoveries and ideas that, once seeded, tend to flourish.

Henley has been proudly working with LT3 since 2012, and has been writing like mad ever since – an indentured servant to the belief that romance and true love can mend the most broken soul. Even when presented in prose.

Comments, kudos, and signature card requests are happily received at AFHenley.com.

 

The Giveaway:

If the Universe offered you up a gift – magic, love, or power – and you could only choose one, what would you pick? Leave your reply/comment/muse below.

Every commenter will entered into a draw, with one lucky winner getting an ebook copy of the Gift, in the format of their choice.

Best of luck to everyone that plays along!

And my thanks for reading.

AF Henley <3