Excerpt Day: Water by Astrid Amara

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Water by Astrid Amara
Release Date: April 21, 2009
Publisher: Loose Id
ISBN: 978-1-59632-929-4
Publisher Link: http://www.loose-id.com/prod-The_Valde__Water-932.aspx

Blurb: On Joel´s birthday, he watched his lover Charlie drown while saving Joel´s life. Since then, no other man has been able to match the erotic chemistry the two of them once shared. But a year later Joel is shocked to discover Charlie alive and well, looking as mysterious and attractive as ever. However Charlie is different. He has new, arcane superpowers. He doesn´t seem to remember Joel at all. And he murders people with his bare hands. Suddenly Joel finds himself on the run from both his lover, and a frightening group of dangerous individuals who can wield the elements at will, and who are determined to kill him to keep their secret safe. But the smoldering looks Charlie gives Joel reminds him of their former, heated passion, and even with Charlie´s new homicidal tendencies, they discover their bodies remember what their minds may have forgotten...

Excerpt:

Joel Passaro wasn´t sure what constituted a better birthday present: the boat ride or the blowjob.

Truthfully, it didn´t matter which won out, since he enjoyed both at the same time. The sailboat rocked with melodramatic exaggeration as Joel´s boyfriend, Charlie, enthusiastically went down on him. Charlie´s eyes glinted as he pushed Joel´s legs farther apart, as he changed the angle of his mouth to pull Joel down inside of him.

Joel´s fists clenched in Charlie´s thick brown hair, probably painfully enough to hurt. His hands served as more than an anchor, holding him to reality and urging a rhythm. His hands clenched in Charlie´s hair because the boat tipped wildly now, frantic back and forth movements as though some god flicked the sails with massive fingers.

Concern flitted through Joel´s consciousness and then fled as Charlie licked a clear drop from the tip of Joel´s prick. The world could storm to death for all he cared. He was twenty-nine, he was in love, he was on the water, and he was getting laid, and that´s all that mattered.

Besides, it had taken intricate trickery to get there, so he refused to let weather dampen his spirits. He had to call in sick, something the university frowned mightily upon, and cancel all his lectures. Because Charlie ran his own engineering firm, he played hooky with fewer repercussions; however, he had spent inordinate time convincing their friend Dave that his sailboat would be safe for one afternoon in their hands. Despite Charlie´s amateur knowledge of sailing, the crystal clear blue skies, and the fact that they would barely be leaving the marina, Dave still seemed hesitant, especially since he was on his way out of town. Charlie eventually silenced his concerns with an expensive bottle of wine and a promise to lend Dave the keys to his summer cabin in the Cascades.

And this was all before they had left Seattle.

The drive up to Bellingham, where Dave´s boat was berthed, was plagued with traffic and arguments as the two of them viciously critiqued each other´s favorite movies.

At the Port of Bellingham, they struggled through Charlie´s high school sailing memories and managed to get the boat anchored off Samish Island, the journey laden with debates, bottles of wine, bouts of uncontrollable laughter, and the incessant screech of a flock of seagulls under the impression that the pair had absconded with a quantity of chum.

It had been perfect, even the fights, because they always fought, and they always fucked so much better afterward. Joel closed his eyes and tightened his hold on Charlie´s hair as water splashed over the portholes.

Charlie stopped his ministrations. "What´s going on out there?"

His lips were swollen from his efforts, and dark stubble was just beginning to show. His pale blue eyes appeared almost childlike with such long, dark lashes. The gold earring in Charlie´s right ear glinted in the sharp fluorescent light of the cabin. He frowned as the boat jerked to the left, and nearly stood. But Joel urged him downward, trapping him between his knees, unwilling to let go of the feeling just yet.

"Come on," he whispered.

"It´s rocky," Charlie said. "We shouldn´t rely on the autopilot if the weather --"

"I´m almost there, baby," Joel said. "And it´s my birthday. You have to do what I say."

Charlie´s worried expression disappeared with a blazingly pornographic smile. He looked so pleased with himself when he did that -- like he just won the lottery or he had been given the greatest compliment in the world.

"So what does the birthday boy want?"

"I want to come down your throat."

Charlie laughed. He reached out, grasped Joel´s hot shaft, and directed it back into port.

Joel shut his eyes and groaned, thrilled by the feel of it. He and Charlie had been seeing each other for a little under a year, and he was surprised at how good these moments still were -- how hot the sex still was, how intense the lovemaking could be. Joel had been in a longer relationship before -- his first boyfriend, whom he had dated for three years -- but it seemed the spark had fizzled out between their bodies long before now.

Charlie sped his movements, encouraged by the tossing of the boat. Water sloshed at the window of the cabin, but it was dark outside, well past sundown, so Joel didn´t expect a view anyway. Sight was pointless. All that mattered was this, the hot, soft probe of Charlie´s tongue, circling and sucking the swollen crown of his cock, coaxing Joel´s climax out like a snake charmer, luring his prey with beautiful music...

The boom of splintering wood exploded through the cabin, and Joel tumbled forward, slamming into Charlie as the boat listed to the side. Charlie smashed into the wall. He reached up to brace Joel.

"Jesus!" Joel gasped. The hatch was now to his left. Water poured down the stairway, flooding the cabin floor. Joel lurched to his feet, the surging water so cold that his bare skin burned on contact. Shock constricted his throat, and he breathed heavily.

"We´re in trouble," Charlie said. He sloshed through the water on hands and knees toward the hatch.

"No shit!" Joel hastily pulled up his pants.

"We´re staying down." Charlie´s voice shook with nerves. "That means the sail´s in the water."

Charlie was very pale. He pulled himself through the hatch, stepping around the three stairs to the deck.

Neither of them knew what the hell they were doing. This was Dave´s boat, and now he was on a plane to New York, unreachable. They had told no one else about their birthday escapade. And the only person who saw them depart was some older blond man on the dock back in Bellingham who had stared at their clasped hands with open disdain.

Great. Their lives now depended on some homophobe reporting their disappearance.

Joel smashed into the ceiling as another wall of water hit the boat and turned it over.

And then it was too late: the sea gushed inside through the hatch. The lights crackled and died, plunging him into darkness. Joel yelled out for Charlie, knowing it was hopeless; he was underwater and trapped inside.

His only exit was the hatch at his feet, now blocked by a torrent of water. Panic swelled within him as he fought against the current.

And then the flood ebbed and a hand shot through the hatch. Joel gripped it, hard. Charlie forcefully yanked him through.

Joel clenched his mouth closed as they plunged underwater. It was freezing, so shockingly cold he felt as though someone had just punched through his chest and squeezed a fist around his heart. His head burst with pressure. He panicked and struggled and swallowed water. Charlie tugged him upward.

Joel gasped for air as he broke the surface. Outside, the world exploded in water.

They had set sail under crisp autumn skies with no clouds on the horizon. Now massive waves pummeled the sailboat´s hull. Rain, sharp and horizontal, drowned even the air.

A wave immediately crested over the overturned boat and crashed upon Joel, and he was pulled with terrifying speed away from Charlie.

"Joel!"

Charlie swam to him and gripped Joel´s sodden shirt. Charlie, always a natural swimmer, trod water calmly, but his eyes were wide and wild with fear. He towed Joel back to the capsized sailboat. The bow already dipped under the waterline. Charlie shoved Joel onto the hull.

Joel´s hands were numb, and he couldn´t feel the cuts of the barnacles as he climbed his way up the keel. The barnacles were all he could cling to. He crawled upward, fighting off the paralysis of terror. Rain sliced into his eyes and cheeks like needles.

"Hold on!" Charlie called to him from below. Joel watched Charlie swim toward the stern of the boat.

"Charlie!" Joel cried out, but his voice was swallowed by the wind.

Joel continued his climb as the bow sank deeper. Now that he was out of the water, his body began to tremble violently. Charlie was still swimming. Where the hell was he?

A moment later, he heard his name called. He looked down to see Charlie, nothing but a pale face with black eyes in the darkness. He tossed up a life ring.

"Take this!" Charlie shouted. "The emergency positioning indicator beacon went off, and..." His words were lost as a wave crashed against the boat and Charlie sank under the water.

Joel didn´t breathe again until he saw him once more, swimming to the keel.

"You need it!" Joel cried back. He scooted forward for the life ring. Another wave pummeled the keel, and Joel nearly lost the ring. As soon as he gripped it, he searched for Charlie in the water. "Get up here!" he cried hoarsely.

Joel looked to his right and shuddered as a wall, dark and looming, poised over the keel. Just as his mind translated the image into seawater, he felt the wind knocked out of him. His hold on the keel gave. He slid off the side and into the roiling sea.

He clung to the life ring. The sailboat remained below the waterline and then disappeared completely from sight. In the darkness, he could barely make out his own hand, let alone his lover.

"Charlie!" Joel shrieked, but the wind stole his voice and his mouth filled with water. When had the storm come upon them? He started swimming, forcing himself not to panic every time he plunged ever downward in the trough of a massive wave. These had to be twenty-footers. Deep trenches blocked his view. All he could see was turbulent blackness and rain.

Joel forced his frozen body in the direction of the sunken boat. Rain nearly blinded him. He swelled uphill and crashed downward in a sickening roller-coaster ride of waves.

Through flashes of light from the distant lightning, Joel thought he could make out a form, floating listlessly. He swam toward it, but his view was blocked once more as he plummeted into a trough. He tried swimming toward Charlie, but the wave behind him was faster, boosting him upward.

He saw Charlie then, arms out, facedown, unmoving.

No no no no, please God, please God... Joel raced toward him.

Light broke through the dark, swirling mass of clouds ahead. It was a beam, straight and true, and it hovered to the right of him.

Joel looked up. A helicopter desperately fought the wind as it struggled to maintain position.

Joel waved frantically. The light scanned the rolling surface of the water and then blazed into his eyes. He motioned toward Charlie´s body.

Joel swam toward Charlie once more. They had to help him first. He was clearly unconscious, perhaps wounded by the force of the breaking wave. However, the light remained targeted on Joel. A cable and basket lowered, but the wind blew the rig nearly horizontal with the helicopter.

Joel surged upward with the swell and caught sight of a figure in a survival suit and flippers. The man disconnected himself from the cable and splashed into the water. Joel lost sight of the man several times as the tossing swells blocked his path.

And then he saw the man swim toward him, gripping a guideline. Joel tried to move forward. His legs were now completely numb. He couldn´t feel anything other than the rain in his face.

"Get into the basket!" the man shouted into his ear.

"Please help Charlie!" Joel´s sense of orientation faded. As the man maneuvered him into the plastic basket, all he could think was that Charlie was left to die because of him. He started to slither out and then felt a sharp pain as his rescuer yanked his arm and shoved him back into the basket, strapping him down.

"Sir, you have to stay calm!" the man yelled. He signaled to the helicopter, and Joel´s stomach lurched as he rose upward. They were leaving Charlie in the water. Joel pitched forward but could move only his arms, which he thrust out in a last attempt to signal.

The noise was deafening. Hands gripped him, unbuckled him.

"How many more were aboard?" someone asked him.

"Just Charlie. Please! He´s in trouble."

"We´ll get him next," said the man, wrapping Joel with shiny fabric. Joel´s limbs were numb. His heart beat so powerfully he could barely breathe through its palpitations.

Joel closed his eyes. His body shivered uncontrollably. He heard muffled voices around him, and a few minutes later the basket returned, carrying only the Coast Guard officer.

"What about Charlie?" Joel cried. "Don´t fucking leave him out there!"

"Stay calm, sir. The diver will return for him as soon as we spot him."

Joel tried to sit up, but his muscles ached. Everything hurt. He struggled to keep his eyes open.

When had they been making love -- one hour ago? Twenty minutes ago? He had lost all sense of time. And here he was now. And Charlie was still out there. He had worried about the state of the boat, and Joel had forced him to ignore it. This was Joel´s fault. Even the boat had been his idea. What the hell were they doing out on the open sea anyway?

The low voices at the front continued, but the drone of the helicopter blades drowned the details. And then he felt the helicopter quickly change direction.

"What´s going on?" he asked. His teeth chattered so hard, it made it difficult to speak.

A man knelt beside him, his expression severe. "I´m sorry. We´re almost out of fuel. We have to return to land and get you to a hospital. We´ll refuel and come back for your friend."

"He´ll be dead by then!" Joel struggled again, but they pushed him back down. Their touch infuriated him. He struck out, and then one of them gripped his arm, and he felt the distinct sting of a needle.

And it was clear at that moment, as true in his mind as the thought I am alive, that Charlie was already dead.