Today I’m very happy to be interviewing Michele Micheal “Mikey” Rakes author of Trainwreck the series. Hi Mikey, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

I’m a surgical technologist, who has decided to take a break from doctors, and I’ve gone back to building windows. I love building windows because each day is a challenge. I wish I had more time to write, but my husband wants me to eventually write full time. My wife, who recently passed (October 30th, 2015) thought I was wasting my talents on the doctors. She loved Trainwreck. Thought it was a wild ride. She wanted Vince on his Harley for the cover. The fact that it was such a long book didn’t faze her, but I decided it would be easier to digest if I broke it up into parts.

Trainwreck is about a man who is simply put: a trainwreck. His life is a disaster. His daughter is dead, his marriage in limbo, and the one man who he suspects he might be able to give up all control to, won’t take him back. As the book starts, it’s the eve of his return to work after a nearly two year hiatus following a thinly veiled suicide attempt on his motorcycle. Still under investigation for events that occurred on a narcotics bust the night his daughter died in a car accident, his boss puts him in charge of a homicide case for one of the other districts. A way to get him working, but keep him from having anything to do with narcotics for the time being. That’s when things go really south for Vince. He hates homicide and the fact the victim reminds him of himself sends Vince on a self-destructive hunt into the dark world he used to live in to find a killer. He struggles along the way with his own sexual proclivities and tries hard to deny who he really is, inside or outside the closet. The investigation brings him full circle with his childhood and with the man who almost made him understand love and safety.

Character interview Detective Sgt. Vincent Sweetwater of the LAPD.

What’s your job like?

It’s crazy and depressing at times. I don’t want to do anything else, though. Just want to get the drugs off the street. I can’t stop everyone, but I’ll do anything I can to make a strong case for the courts. My work was mostly undercover. Lieutenant Hanson oversees my unit, but I run things, or at least I did. Things are different now. I’m working homicide. I hate dead bodies. They make me want to vomit. This kid right now, she was young and beautiful. Some bastard tortured her to death. I hate homicide, but I hate this guy more. I’m gonna find him. Not sure there’ll be a strong case for this guy…might not be a lot of him left…I’ve nothing to lose anymore. I’ve already lost everything.

Would you rather be respected or feared? Why?

Ha! That’s a funny question. I’m already respected and feared. What’s next? I’m fine with it, but there’s one man who knows how to handle me. Greg’s been through a lot, like me, and I can’t bring my problems to his door. I try to see him, but he denies me. He pushed me away after his lover, Grayson, died. I need him, though. I don’t know how to get through to him. Hell, I don’t know how to get through to myself. Greg’s not afraid of me, but he does respect me. My underlings, though, man they better fear me. Yeah, their fear is all fun and games. I miss working narcotics. I miss my guys.

What’s your favorite book?

I don’t read. Yeah, I read just enough to get through the reports at work. My dyslexia has made reading not fun. Hehehe, Mica likes to read trashy romance novels to me. It’s hard to get through them…when the sex scenes come around it’s all over. See, sex is like an addiction for me. Funny, I put away drug dealers who feed on people’s addictions, but the evil bitch who feeds on my addiction, I keep going back for more. Despite how horrible I feel when it’s all over. Despite how dangerous she really is…I think someday she might actually kill me.

If you could go anywhere, all expenses paid, where would you go?

Greg’s dungeon. I’m simple. I don’t want to travel or I’d left this hell hole long ago. I want Greg. I want Greg to want me again. I want Greg to teach Mica how to truly dominate me. To tell her the things that make me tick, so I don’t have to say what’s in my heart.

Shit, isn’t that what I’ve been doing? I’ve talked more to you than I have my therapist. I usually don’t talk this much. In fact, instead of talking, I would’ve seduced you, fucked, and been outta of my head with guilt by now. Lucky for you, Mikey’s in control right now. Um, I like the thrill of the bust. Taking down bad guys helps to atone for my own bad behavior. My foster brother, Nicko, is my partner at work. He’s been in my shadow since I first darkened his doorway when I was thirteen years old. Mica is also a foster baby. Her and Nick are like two peas in a pod. They’re the same age. I spent a lot of time keeping them safe. They spent a lot of time getting me in trouble with Momma Sarafino. Bitches. I married Mica when we were just out of the police academy. We already covered that I’m a slut. Um, well, I also like to be dominated by Greg, but that life is over. I miss him. I miss Grayson, too.

Vincent Sweetwater twisted the Harley’s throttle. The power in the motor thrummed between his legs. The bike seemed heavy, angry; like she wanted to fall flat on her face. Like she yearned to drag him across the gritty asphalt. Vince needed to feel the pavement shred his clothing and bite into his skin. Punishment for being a man who thrived on suffering.

Why can’t I control myself, damn it?

–You’re supposed to be one of the good guys.

Fuck off.

-Stop drinking, Sweetwater.

Vince envisioned choking the life out of his conscience. The damn thing made it difficult to be an asshole, yet somehow he didn’t let it stop him. Nothing stopped him from being a dick to his wife. Vince squeezed the throttle. The speed would numb his mind.

The machine growled beneath him, giving her two fucking cents, and he ignored the wanton slut. Vince was too malicious to give her what she craved. If he did, there would be no turning back.

Still, the iron bitch demanded more power. Urged by a quiet whisper from somewhere in the darkness of his mind, Vince let off the throttle long enough to grasp the clutch and toe it into sixth.

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