RELEASE TOUR incl Exclusive Excerpt: Paradox by JJ Asher
I know now, for certain, that I’ve made a deal with The Devil. I’m just not sure yet if I’ve sold him my soul as well.
Length: 108,000 words
Series: A New Paradigm – Book 1
Prior Reading: n/a Genre: contemporary
Tropes: Age-Gap, Forbidden – Best friend’s younger brother, Forced proximity, Hate-to-love, Bi Awakening & Sexual Awakening, Bully, Virgin MC, Size Difference
Designer: JJ Asher
Trigger/Content Warnings:
KINKS
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- Minor voyeurism
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- Minor primal play
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- Praise & some degradation
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- Mentions of somnophilia
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- thigh sex
TRIGGERS
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- An age gap of 15 years between MCs. Nineteen, and thirty-four.
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- Cheating (off page. Not between MCs), & ex-girlfriend drama.
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- A-hole bully elements, including gaslighting.
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- Physical violence (from the older, larger MMC directed towards the younger, smaller MMC). Punching and choking to the point of passing out. And mentions (on-page) to the resulting bruises.
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- A person being left to ‘fend for themselves’ in the elements with little food and questionable shelter.
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- Mentions of teen pregnancy.
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- Mentions of emotional and physical parental abandonment.
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- Sharing of intimate pictures without consent.
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- Mentions of non-consensual sexual touching while the other party is asleep.
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- Non consequential condom breakage.
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- Hunting. A bird is shot on page.
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- Frequent coarse language & graphic, on-page sexual scenes.
Jintae—nineteen, desperate, and done letting his parents script his life. His brilliant escape plan? Drop out of college and vanish into the wilderness, hiding in the off-grid cabin of his brother’s best friend until the storm blows over.
The problem? That best friend is running too.
Eden—thirty-four, newly single, and in no mood for company. Especially not the perfectionist teenager with too many brains, and too little sense, that’s always gotten under his skin.
He craves solitude.
Abandonment has hollowed him. Heartbreak has left him bitter and violent. So when Jintae shows up uninvited, he throws him out—until the kid begs. He offers himself up as a live-in servant, and Eden agrees… On brutal terms.
But what started as punishment soon turns into something Eden can’t name. Jintae challenges him, haunts him, tempts him. Under the fury is heat. And under the insults is a pull neither of them can outrun.
Snow traps them. Secrets rot between them. And the boy Eden swore to stay away from becomes the one thing he can’t stop craving.
I have half the buttons of my flannel done up when I reach the bottom of the stairs and see Jin leaving the bathroom. He’s got his dirty clothes in one arm while he holds the towel securely around his waist with his other hand. It’s almost like a floor length skirt on him; his ankles only just showing as he gingerly walks across the floor boards towards me. “Go put them in the hamper,” I say with a nod towards his arm, and he turns in that annoyingly silent way that boils my blood. After returning from the bathroom, he pauses a few feet away and stares me dead in the eye before lowering his head like he’s ashamed of himself. “Do I have to wait till the snow stops before I get new clothes? Or do I have to get my ass back into the bathroom and wash everything in the hamper as a thank you for letting me sleep in here?” Well, fuck. That didn’t feel as good to hear him say as it should have. “Well, yes. But—” Like a trained dog, Jintae turns—still clinging tightly to the towel around his waist—and walks to the bathroom. “Get back here.” My voice raises as I grab his elbow, and when his head whips around, drops of water fly off his hair and hit me in the face. His already fair skin pales to an almost ghostly white as his eyes pan down to where I’m gripping his elbow before returning to my face. One drop at a time, I clear them from my skin then lean down to wipe them on Jin’s towel. He smells like my body wash and shampoo. Black pepper and sandalwood. It’s almost too masculine of a scent for someone as small as him. But then his arm tenses in my grip, and I feel more strength than would ever come from a woman his size. I want to challenge it. I throw his arm away. “You don’t need to wash them now. We’ve got all day, and… I’ve still got plenty of clean clothes,” I mumble out the last part as I turn and walk towards the couch. With my back still to him, I hold out the clothes in his direction. I can hear his footsteps soften when he reaches the rug, and my fingers grip tighter onto the clothes the closer he gets. With his first attempt, he can’t tug them free, and I don’t know why the hell I can’t just let him take them. “Eden?” His voice is so soft I can’t resist looking at him. He’s let go of the towel and is holding onto my clothes with both hands, those dark eyes of his looking up at me in the same way a puppy would when trying to please his owner. Like he’s asking, “Have I been a good boy? I did everything you asked.”
I’m a professional procrastinator masquerading as an adult. I write what I love to read, and can often be found scrolling through a spicy MM manhwa. I’m a mental health advocate and an ally who communicates in k-pop memes.
