Book Title: Beyond the Stix
Author and Publisher: CJ Barlowe
Cover Artist: Jo Clemens
Release Date: November 12, 2024
Genres: Contemporary MM Romance, Dark, Romantic Suspense
Tropes: Domestic abuse
Trigger Warning: on page death, on page ref to cancer
Heat Rating: 5 flames
Length: 59 163 words/230 pages
It’s a part of a series but can be read as a standalone. It does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Universal Link | Amazon US | Amazon UK
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Blurb
Shocking news comes to Connor Wild, the drummer for Warrior Black, while they are in the middle of recording their next album. But the loss of his father brings forth terrible memories Connor had along ago buried and leads him straight to the nightmare he wants to forget. Only saving grace is the bodyguard, who can make his body thrum, and helps him to forget the past.
Bodyguard John Brand has been with Warrior Black since their rise to fame, after their appearance at last year’s Rocktoberfest in Black Rock, Nevada. His choice to stay as protection is solely for the drummer, who he can’t get out of his head. John wants more, but Connor refuses to see them no less than a hookup.
Can John beat away the dark demons from Connor’s past? Will Connor risk it all and expose the dark truth to John? Can Connor move on and give John a chance for love?
Connor would have to go Beyond the Stix to see how true love can heal old wounds.
Connor Wild
The Independent
Seven months ago
Sweat drips into my eyes as I jump down from the drum platform, while the crowd in the Independent goes wild. After our second encore performance, Ron Darling, our manager, had given us the cue to get off the stage.
I bow like the rest of my bandmates do, pop the earbuds out of my ears, and we all exit stage right, where Ron is standing there, waiting for us.
He is yammering on, but my focus is on the energy still swirling around the crowded auditorium and the music echoing in my ears. The blood in my veins is charged like a live wire.
“Do I have everyone’s attention?” It’s like Ron’s announcing roll call. “I have great news. You have been invited back to play this year’s Rocktoberfest.”
Hoots and whistles sound off from my friends. Last year’s Rocktoberfest went off with a bang. Literally.
Raven—Danny to us, Warrior Black’s lead singer, had a stalker, and Ron had arranged bodyguards for all of us. When Danny’s stalker abduction him the day before the concert, she was shot by Tobias, Danny’s bodyguard. Add to that the involvement of previous manager, Stiles Barrett, who was also Danny’s ex. I wasn’t sure if we’d make it on stage. But we did, and that awesome experience shot Warrior Black up to another stratosphere in the rock’n’ roll industry. I guess what they say about social media is true—it doesn’t matter what kind of news is out there, we’re fully exposed to the fans.
As we make our way to the dressing room, where we can clean up and change, my phone vibrates. “Be right back. It’s my dad,” I tell the guys and step away toward an alcove down the hall.
Ron and the higher-ups had decided that bodyguards were a good idea since our fame had increased since last year’s Rocktoberfest. Despite the chaos, Ron requested for the same team to guard us. Tobias—Danny’s boyfriend split from Harpers Securities, along with John…
John—the bane of my existence is assigned to protect me—peels away from the wall and follows. I glare at him to step back. “Hey, Dad.”
John gets the hint and leaves me to my privacy.
“Son. You got a minute?”
“Yeah. We just finished playing—”
“Oh, sorry,” he stammers out. “Call me when—”
“No, we’re done. What’s up?”
“You know those tickets you offered your mom and me, for the Denver concert?”
Disappointment ekes out from his question. I’d had a feeling they were going to cancel on that trip. “Yeah?” I say in turn.
“That’s Aunt Donna’s wedding weekend, and your mother doesn’t want to miss it.”
“Jesus, Dad. That’s her fourth marriage,” I retort, chuckling. My mother’s sister can’t keep a husband to save her life. The wedding bliss of her last marriage had worn off quickly, and Aunt Donna had gotten an annulment within three months.
“I know. But you know your aunt,” he says with slight annoyance. “Anyway, about those tickets.”
“If you can’t come—”
“Your mother’s going solo to the wedding, but I like to…”
“What are you trying to say, Dad?” Why do I have a feeling in my gut that I’m not going to like what he’s going to say next? Probably because I’ve never heard my father be so hesitant about anything.
“I don’t want to lie to you, son, but I would like those tickets for me and your Uncle Jessup. He would love to see—”
“No,” I say flat out. No hesitation. And a little too loudly, I suspect, since the people around me are looking at me strangely.
“Son.”
“No, Dad. Those tickets are for you and Mom, only. The last person I want to see in a crowd is that asshole.” It has been almost twenty years since I last saw my uncle. After that incident when I was ten years old, not once did he show up for any activities I had. My baseball games when I was in middle school, or any gigs with my band during high school. So why now? Why after all this time, does my father want him back in our lives—my life?
“Connor.” The force of my name out of my father’s mouth has me snapping my spine straight. “I know he hurt you, but he apologised for slapping you across the face. I don’t understand why are you still holding a grudge against him after all this time. I forgave him. You should too. Besides, he’s my only brother, and it is my wish for him to see you in concert at least once. Your mother and I are so proud of what you have accomplished that we want to share the joy.”
The strain in my throat from holding back the actual truth about what really happened between my uncle and me, when I was a kid, teeters on the edge of my lips. I never told my folks the truth and I don’t plan to. It would hurt them as much as it’s hurting me now to keep this secret.
I swallow down my prickly pride and say, “If you want to use those tickets and go with him, then so be it. I can’t stop you. But if you want to keep that man in your life, then I won’t be.” I tap to end the call, suddenly feeling sick to my stomach. My head begins to ache, and I rub at my temples as I stride toward the room where my friends are at.
I gave my father an ultimatum, which I have never done before. But he never put me in a position where I needed to. As much as it hurts me that my dad asked about sharing those tickets, giving my father the ultimatum is so much worse.
I look around and find John absent. Good. I don’t need his shit tonight either.
The second I walk inside the dressing room, Danny opens his mouth to say something, but I glare at him. He clamps his lips shut, and without a word, I grab my shit and head out to the bus that’s been waiting for us behind the building. The band follows behind me with quiet murmurs, but I ignore them.
After dropping my duffle on the sofa, I grab my Dopp kit and rush into the bathroom. “I’m taking a shower,” I shout over my shoulder. No one stops me, or asks why I’m in such a pissy-ass mood. My friends know not to approach—especially when I’m acting like a dick.
Needing the space from Danny and the guys, and the security team, I close the door, but wait to start the shower. With the rumble of the engine and then the gentle jostling, I realize the bus is moving.
As much as I want to partake in the celebration of another successful concert on our tour, I can’t clear my head of the phone call I had with my dad.
I sit in the bathroom for a good long while. When the bus stops moving, Danny’s knocks on the bathroom door. “We’re heading out to get something to eat. Want to join us, Con?”
I get up and turn on the shower, not bothering to answer my friend. I’m too much in a bad mood to be good company.
“Okay. But if you change your mind, we’ll be at Stewie’s.”
I lean my forehead against the door and bite my lip to keep from answering. Footsteps echo back to me, and moments later, I know I’m alone on the bus. I open the bathroom door all the way, and sneak a peek out. Sure enough, it seems everyone is gone.
I’m able to breathe a little easier. However, the aggression I feel toward Jessup is like an internal abscess that’s about to burst. Maybe if I call Dad back and apologize, this nasty mood will go away. But I drop that thought. I’m not the one that drew the line between us.
I get into the shower, grab the bodywash, and slather it all over my body.
Each stroke over my sudsy skin gets increasingly firmer and faster as my irritation rises higher to the point I’m about to blow. There’s only one way to defuse this frenzy.
I rinse off, then pour more of my body wash into my hand and rub it all over my dick. My mind pivots to the only person that can get my dick hard as granite. John.
His aloof but magnetic personality has drawn me in from the moment I saw the bodyguard over a year ago. But the tug of war between our attraction is going nowhere. He won’t relent, and I’ve decided I’m too damn horny to wait for him to make up his mind.
Tilting my head back, I close my eyes, and pretend it’s my bodyguard’s hand that is jerking me off.
John. Just his name sends a rush of lust through my body. My balls begin to draw up, and I jack faster. “Yes, fuck.”
There’s a noise outside the bathroom that has me popping my eyes open and looking through the clear glass shower door in the direction of the doorway. Standing at the threshold is John, the very person I’m thinking about.
Award-winning author CJ Warrant was born overseas as an Army brat and raised in a vibrant Korean-Italian household. She sees life as a journey—filled with both light and dark, good and bad. Embracing each experience, she channels these moments into stories where life’s complexities shine through.
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