DRIVE SHAFT
GEOFFREY KNIGHT
M/M ROMANCE
RELEASE DATE: 06.11.18
BLURB
Jensen Rivers wasn’t looking for trouble. As the new kid on the block at Clyde’s Body Shop, all Jensen wanted was a job, a place where he could put his head down and ass up.
But Dean ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson plans on getting more than just Jensen’s hands dirty. Reckless and arrogant, drenched in sweat and dripping with a masculinity that cannot be tamed, Hutch is determined to claim victory over his new work colleague – both physically and sexually.
Will Jensen risk everything to find the love trapped behind Hutch’s fearless façade? Will Hutch bury the secret tragedy of his past before he throws away his last chance at a future? Will the dangers that confront them both be enough to tear them apart… or bring them together forever?
** This novel combines two sequential novellas previously published separately, titled Drive Shaft and Drive Shaft: Between a Rock and a Hard Place.
Hutch rattled his key in the lock and pushed open the door to his apartment. Jensen and Clyde followed him inside as Hutch tossed his keys on the kitchen counter and started quickly rummaging through drawers.
Clyde wandered into the living room to take a seat. “I don’t remember the floorboards being white,” he said.
“It’s a long story,” Jensen said, opening the fridge and grabbing the three of them another beer each. From his place on the sofa, Clyde saw into the open refrigerator. It was packed with vegetables, fresh pasta, cans of soda and bottles of water, and even a couple of marinating steaks, cling-wrapped on a plate.
“Who the heck filled the damn fridge?” Clyde asked in shock.
Jensen walked into the living room and handed his boss a beer. “It was me.” He shrugged coyly. “I guess you could say I’ve kinda moved in.”
“I thought you were gonna find your own place.”
“I was, but we figured we could save some money this way. It makes sense.”
Clyde grinned approvingly. “Damn straight it does.”
Jensen took a seat on a comfy old armchair opposite Clyde and sipped his beer. “We don’t earn much, we know we’re just a couple of grease monkeys. But we figure if we watch our pennies, then maybe one day we could afford a place of our own.”
“So that we can spill paint all over the floorboards and not have to explain it to the landlord,” Hutch added sarcastically, walking into the room with his beer in one hand and a crumpled old flyer and black marker in the other. “Ain’t that right, Calamity Jane?”
“Don’t call me Calamity,” Jensen smirked. “I ain’t the one who stepped in it.”
Hutch distracted him by taking his beer.
“Hey!”
“You’ll get it back, don’t panic. But in the meantime—” Hutch placed Jensen’s bottle at one end of the giant splash of dry white paint covering the living room floor. “Your beer is Palm Springs.”
Jensen and Clyde both leaned forward in their seats.
Hutch grabbed Clyde’s beer from his clutches.
“This is the ghost town of Crimson Creek, just north of Death Valley.” He placed Clyde’s beer at the opposite end of the paint splash, then he took his own beer and with it, he formed a triangle on the floor. “And this is Las Vegas. The finish line.”
“The finish line of what?” Jensen asked.
Hutch held up the crumpled flyer in his hand. “The Reaper’s Rally. An annual, two-day race across the desert. First car across the line wins $50,000 cold hard cash! And even better,” Hutch said, flicking the flyer with the black marker in his hand, hitting the date on the piece of paper, “this year’s race starts tomorrow.”
Jensen beamed excitedly. “Holy shit! We can so win that!”
But Clyde eyed Hutch suspiciously. “So what’s the catch?”
Hutch shrugged innocently before admitting, “Well, it’s kinda one of those ‘illegal’ races.”
“What do you mean ‘kinda’?”
“Actually, there’s no ‘kinda’ about it. It’s completely illegal.”
“And why the hell is it illegal?”
“Well, it’s kinda dangerous.”
Clyde huffed impatiently. “What do you mean ‘kinda’?”
Hutch shrugged again. “Actually, there’s no ‘kinda’ about that either. It’s completely dangerous.”
Clyde stood sternly. “Then you’re completely not entering it! We’ll find the money some other way.”
“How?” Jensen jumped in. “Clyde, we need to raise $40,000 in three days. Hutch and I, we can win this race, pay those bastards and still come out of this with enough money to pay off your monthly bills.”
Suddenly Hutch was the one shaking his head. “Sorry little cowboy. But when it comes to this race, there ain’t no ‘we’.”
Geoffrey Knight is the author of more than 30 gay fiction novels, novellas and short stories, ranging in genre from gay adventure, gay romance, gay suspense and gay comedies. He is the recipient of two Rainbow Awards including Best Mystery Winner and Best Overall Gay Fiction Runner-up. His work has been featured in several anthologies including Best Gay Erotica 2013, and he appeared as Guest of Honor at the inaugural Rainbow Con in Florida, 2014.
Geoffrey has worked in advertising, politics and journalism, but nothing is as fun as telling stories. He lives with his partner, their baby daughter, two dogs and two cats in a rambling old house in North Queensland, Australia, where the paint is fraying and life is good.
