Sanctuary for a Surgeon by Jason Wrench
Book 3 in the Up on the Farm series
General Release Date: 24th January 2023
Word Count: 74,845
Book Length: SUPER NOVEL
Pages: 284
Genres:
CONTEMPORARY,EROTIC ROMANCE,GAY,GLBTQI
Add to Goodreads
Book Description
Finding love in the sanctuary of nature and another man’s arms.
Darrin Betancourt is a trauma surgeon in his early thirties living in New York City. His world gets thrown upside down after his husband dies in a car accident. Can Darrin get his act together and learn to love again before his life spirals out of control? His friends convince him to attend an all-gay retreat outside Woodstock. Begrudgingly, Darrin agrees to spend a weekend in nature, out of the city.
Jordan Floyd is a twenty-four-year-old farmhand who works for Devereux Farms Upstate just outside Woodstock. Jordan gets permission from his bosses to attend Camp Namast-Gay at the Woodstock Esoteric Sanctuary.
Darrin and Jordan end up in adjacent cabins. Can the two men take their friendship to a whole new level before the weekend is over? Or will disaster strike, derailing both of their lives and their burgeoning love?
Reader advisory: This book contains public sex and voyeurism.
I finished packing for my trip. I wasn’t sure what I needed for the weekend, so I probably crammed too much into my oversized duffel bag, which was something I have a nasty habit of doing. I had shorts, T-shirts, tank tops, a swimsuit, sweaters, jeans, khakis and more socks and underwear than I could use in a weekend. I’d even thrown in a new box of condoms and a bottle of lube…just in case. I wasn’t necessarily planning to get laid, but safety first. After Chance had died and I began having my semi-regular hookups with Avery, I decided to go on PrEP. But even with PrEP, I’d started living by the ‘better safe than sorry’ motto.
I looked at my luggage and came to a simple realization. “This weekend is about having fun with friends. I’m not Avery. I’m not going to sleep my way through camp. I’m over the random hook.” I may have only been telling the couch, but just saying it out loud strengthened my resolve. I need to be the man Chance would want me to be. The nonsense stops now.
The sound of sirens filled my apartment cutting into my thoughts just as Bryce’s ringtone went off. “Good morning,” I said, picking up the phone.
“We’re about two minutes from your place,” Bryce said. “You haven’t backed out on us, have you?”
“No,” I said, elongating the word. “I’m packed and ready to go.”
“Great! See you soon.” With that, Bryce hung up the phone.
I looked around my house and ensured everything was turned off except for one light in the living room. I then slung my duffel bag over my shoulder. Damn! This is heavy. I left the house, then locked the door behind me. I turned around in time to see Bryce’s SUV pulling up.
Richard got out, went around to the back and lifted the tailgate, then helped me cram my bag inside among the suitcases and rolling bags. I’d worried I had over-packed, but I hadn’t seen anything. I wasn’t sure if all the stuff belonged to Bryce or Richard, but there was enough luggage for a family of six going on a two-week vacation.
“What all did you bring?” I asked.
“Just a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. You know… We want to make sure we’re prepared for any eventuality.”
Richard gestured for me to follow him to the passenger side of the SUV. I opened the door as he climbed in the front. A man I didn’t know sat behind Bryce.
“Hi,” I said as I settled into my seat and buckled in. “I’m Darrin Betancourt.”
“Owen Collier,” the man said in a Scottish brogue.
I extended my hand and shook the other man’s hand. He had calloused palms and fingers.
“Owen’s our dog walker,” Bryce said. “He came with us last year and couldn’t wait to return.”
“I’m also the legendary Nessie Loch,” the man said.
“Huh?” I blurted without thinking.
“Nessie Loch is my stage name. Maybe you’ve heard of me?”
“Sorry,” I said. “I haven’t been in the scene in a long time. I’m sadly and woefully unaware of the drag scene anymore.”
Owen, or Nessie, told me all about his life. He’d been on some drag competition show on television, making him an international star. He moved to New York because the scene here was ‘legendary’. Of course, it’s New York, he needed a day job to make ends meet, so he started walking dogs. I was amazed by the man’s stamina, given his day and evening jobs.
“That’s my life in a nutshell,” Owen said. He’d spoken for the better part of an hour. We were already on I-87 heading north when he paused, took a breath and said, “Tell me about you.”
“Not that much to tell, I guess. I work with Bryce in the Emergency Department. Beyond that, I don’t have much of a life.”
“Dating anyone?” Owen asked.
“Owen!” Richard said. “We talked about that.” The intensity in Richard’s voice made me grimace internally. What had Bryce and Richard told Owen?
“It’s fine,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. “I lost my husband in September—”
“Oh shit! I totally forgot about that. I am so sorry.”
“Thanks,” I said, putting on my usual fake demeanor when people gave me condolences. “I’m still grieving, so I haven’t dated anyone in years.”
Talk about a party killer. The SUV went silent. Bryce turned on his satellite radio, and we listened to show tunes for the next hour. I hadn’t heard cast albums in years, so it was a nice escape. Who doesn’t want to listen to Bernadette Peter’s amazing voice as you drive through the green countryside of upstate New York?
At some point, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
“We’re here!” Bryce’s voice cut through my nap, forcing me to wake up.
“Huh?” I instinctively asked as I lifted my hands to my eyes to rub the sleep out of them.
“We’re up in Woodstock,” Owen said. I had to admit that I could sit and listen to Owen’s voice for hours. I’d always been attracted to various English accents that were not American. British, Australian, Irish, Scottish and New Zealand accents could always make me swoon.
I looked down at my watch. It was a little before five p.m. We stepped out into the sun, and I stretched my body. It had been a long time since I’d taken a ride that long. Living in the city, you don’t spend much time sitting in a car. Even if I take a cab somewhere, it’s not for multiple hours.
A man in an orange vest with the word ‘Volunteer’ emblazoned across the back walked up to our group. “Welcome to Camp Namast-Gay! Is this your first time joining us?”
“The three of us have been here before,” Richard said, gesturing to Bryce, Owen and himself. “But this guy is a total virgin.”
The orange vest guy sized me up. “Welcome! We’re glad you’re able to join us. If you have questions, please ask any of the Camp Namast-Gay volunteers. We’ll be in T-shirts that say ‘volunteer’ all weekend, so we should be easy to find. Now, if you all will head to the building over there”—he pointed to a flat brown building on the other side of the parking lot—“they’ll be able to check you in. As for your belongings, please make sure your name is clearly written on your bags.” He handed us luggage tags and a marker. “We’ll haul everything to your cabin in the next forty-five minutes or so.”
We all took the tags and marked our stuff before heading toward the brown building with an extensive array of solar panels on top. There were a bunch of men milling around the place. The organizers appeared on top of things, because everything ran smoothly at check-in.
“Welcome to Camp Namast-Gay,” a gorgeous Asian man said. He was wearing a polo with the camp logo on it. “I’m Mano Palakiko, one of the camp organizers. And your name is?”
“Darrin Betancourt.”
Mano had a laptop sitting in front of him and clicked a few keys before saying, “We have you in green cabin number two. You must have been one of the late registrants to be up in the nosebleed cabins.”
“I made my decision to come last week,” I admitted.
“Don’t worry,” Mano said. “Those cabins may be remote, but they have spectacular views and are great accommodations. I take it you checked your luggage when you got here?”
“Umm…I think so. Some guy in an orange vest said they’d deliver it.”
“Perfect,” Mano said, pulling out a packet of information and sliding it across the table in front of me. He then flipped through a box and found a small envelope before handing me everything. “This is your key to the cabin. Please do not lose it. There are spares, but there is a twenty-dollar charge for all lost keys.”
“Okay.”
“Here’s the camp map,” Mano said, opening the packet. “Here’s where we are now.” Mano pointed to the building on the map. “And here is where your cabin is located. I’ll warn you… It’s a bit of an uphill hike. But you look like you’re in good shape, so I doubt you’ll have any problems. We wouldn’t want to put any of our more senior campers up there.”
“How are things going?” a bear of a guy said as he sidled up behind Mano before leaning down and kissing him.
“Hey, honey,” Mano responded. “Things are smooth here. How is everything going outside?”
“Great.” The man looked up at me. “Sorry for the interruption. I wanted to check in with my husband and head off problems, if there were any.” He then extended his hand. “Jaxson Richardson.” I took the guy’s hand for a quick shake while introducing myself.
“It’s Darrin’s first time with us,” Mano said. “He’s up in one of the green cabins.”
“Ahh,” Jaxson said, “one of our late registrants. Well, sorry for the interruption.” He leaned down and kissed Mano again.
The stark difference between the two men surprised me. Mano clearly spent a lot of time in the gym, while Jaxson had probably hadn’t seen the inside of a gym in years. I guessed Jaxson was at least three-hundred-and-fifty pounds, if not heavier. I learned a long time ago never to underestimate the power of love to draw even the most opposite of people together. Love is love.
Once I was finished checking in, I caught up with the rest of my group. We shared where our cabins were located, and Bryce marked our locations on his map, then did the same with Owen’s and my maps.
“What’s on the agenda for the rest of the evening?” I asked.
Bryce flipped open the folder he’d received and read off the itinerary, “Dinner is at seven-fifteen, followed by ‘night activities’ at nine.”
“Night activities?” Owen said. “That sounds like a euphemism for an orgy.”
“You wish,” Richard replied with a chuckle. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m a one-man man.”
“I wasn’t talking about you. I was hoping to get into this laddie’s pants,” Owen said, hooking a thumb in my direction. I must have looked very uncomfortable at that suggestion because Owen quickly changed his statement. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean anything by that. I was making a comeback. I hope that didn’t make you uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine,” I lied. “Just caught me off guard is all. I guess I have a bit of a hike ahead of me, so I should probably get going.”
We left the building and walked across the street before heading in different directions. The camp had signs everywhere letting you know what direction you needed to head, making navigating the place very easy. The camp had six different cabin areas, which were color-coded—blue, green, orange, purple, red and yellow. Signs periodically showed directions to the various cabin areas, so I kept following the signs. They weren’t joking about the hike up to the green cabins. When I crested the hill, I found four cabins standing right on the edge of an extensive forest area.
“Nice,” I said. “This should be quite pleasant and quiet.”
Buy Links
Choose Your Store
First For Romance
Amazon
Jason Wrench
Jason Wrench is a professor in the Department of Communication at SUNY New Paltz and has authored/edited 15+ books and over 35 academic research articles. He is also an avid reader and regularly reviews books for publishers in a wide number of genres. This book marks his first full-length work of fiction.
Find out more about Jason at his website.
Enter for the chance to win a $50.00 First for Romance Gift Card!
