Excerpt Day: Trust Me by Astrid Amara

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Hell Cop 2 by Astrid Amara, Nicole Kimberling & Ginn Hale
Release Date: June 23, 2009
Publisher: Loose Id
ISBN: 978-1-59632-948-5
Publisher Link: http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Hell_Cop_2-966.aspx

Blurb: Trust Me, by Astrid Amara
Brian Day's no longer the naïve country boy Jay Yervant fell in love with. A hardened hell cop with dangerous powers, Brian's osmotic abilities are growing out of control. When two men are found dead, killed by an osmotic, Jay wants to clear Brian's name. But Brian's erratic powers threaten even Jay's survival, and he's left wondering if his lover is as innocent as he claims.

Dark Waters, by Nicole Kimberling
After a year of seeing Detective Argent, Michael Gold is uncertain about the future of their relationship. Can a liberal university professor and a Hell Cop find a happily ever after? When Michael invites Argent on an anthropological study, he thinks they're performing an experiment in domesticity. But when a dead body appears, Michael and Argent end up playing detective instead of playing house.

Such Heights, by Ginn Hale
Photojournalist James Sparks fled to the exotic Storm Palace to escape his relationship troubles. But soon he's witness to a murder, and the man he least wants to deal with -- his lover, Detective Ben Moran -- is on the case.

Excerpt:

From “Trust Me” by Astrid Amara

It had cooled slightly since they entered Pearl´s Gym, and a refreshing breeze from the beach rushed over Jay and Brian as they walked home. Flashing neon street lights illuminated their path. Jay set a leisurely pace, enjoying the wind too much to rush the walk.

"I hate that guy," Brian said. He fiddled with the strap on his gym bag.

"Who? Paul?" Jay shrugged. "He´s just an asshole. The world´s full of them."

"I ran away from the commune to get away from pricks like that," Brian said. "I don´t like finding them here."

Jay put his arm around Brian´s shoulder. "I´ll talk to the club manager. We´ll file a complaint."

"That seems silly," Brian said.

"Well, it´s more legal than beating the guy up."

Brian shook his head. "Doesn´t it get to you? You seem so immune to shit like that."

"I´m not immune." Jay watched a group of drunk men swerve in and out of the roadway. "I´m just more practiced at controlling my feelings."

"Did you deal with a lot of bigotry growing up?" Brian asked.

Jay shrugged. "The usual. It´s not like I was openly out in high school or anything. My family flipped out at first when I told them, and I lost a few friends. The hardest was dealing with assholes at work."

"Really?" Brian cocked his head. "It seems to me like everyone´s pretty tolerant."

"In the Demonic Unit, yeah, they´re too desperate for sorcerers to be picky. But get out of the department and there are a lot of opinionated pricks."

"Sounds as bad as after Charter Hill."

"Charter Hill?" Jay brushed his gloved hand through Brian´s hair.

"There was a group of guys I used to hang out with back on the commune. One guy, Mark, was from my farm, and two other guys were from another conjure-free community about fifteen miles from ours. Anyway, we used to all go to this barn on Charter Hill, and...well, you know."

Jay smirked. "Experiment?"

Brian laughed. "Something like that. Fun stuff. Anyway, one of our pastors got ahold of Mark and made him confess to fucking around with the boys up at the barn. It was devastating. The way everyone treated him afterward... And I was pissed too, because since he referred to Charter Hill by name I couldn´t go there to meet the other guys anymore.

"Luckily, he never mentioned me personally, but it was too close for comfort. And when I saw the way the rest of the community treated Mark after that, it was easy to justify leaving for Parmas."

"What happened to him?" Jay asked.

Brian shrugged. "Who knows? He´s probably a pastor himself by now. They were all hypocrites anyway."

Brian´s tension suggested something more lay under this story, or at least Brian´s mood, but Jay didn´t ask.

They climbed the stairs to Jay´s penthouse condo, and Jay immediately cranked the air conditioning, but it was still too hot for comfort. Jay stripped off his shirt.

"I´ll go pick up dinner," Brian said, staying only long enough to drop off his gym bag.

Jay caught his arm. "We can order delivery." The sight of Brian´s body flexing on the bike had given Jay a hard-on that still half-heartedly lingered in his pants.

Brian smiled. "I know you can survive on burgers and hoagies alone, but I need something with vegetables once in a while."

Jay grimaced.

"Don´t worry," Brian said, "I´ll make sure your vegetarian dish comes with bacon."

"My hero." Jay kissed him. The sensation of soft lips and rough stubble only encouraged Jay´s enthusiastic dick, and he pulled Brian closer.

He could feel Brian´s erection against his leg, but then Brian stepped back, wiping his mouth with a grin.

"You are such a distraction."

"So are you," Jay said, rubbing his gloved finger over his lips, taking in the sight of Brian standing there with noticeably tenting sweats.

Flame spread across Jay´s bare chest and down his arms, growing in intensity the more excited he got.

But Brian stepped back, shaking his head. "Food first. Fuck later."

"Fine." Jay plopped onto the couch. "I´ll be here, waiting."

Brian waved and then headed back out.

While he was gone, Jay lay back on the couch, inevitably thinking again about the oddness of his current case. The motive was, in itself, clear. Desperate Parmas City couples, infertile and dreaming of a newborn of their own, were willing to pay great fortunes for the chance to adopt a healthy infant. It only took a little genetic cocktail and a dash of sorcery to transform the demon babies into temporary human infants.

But as he investigated the case, Jay trudged through endless legal histories of demonic custody rights and the rights of infants. It still wasn´t clear to him if the Ertashi demons were willingly giving up their children for the scam or if they too were victims of the One Family adoption agency. It was a quagmire of legal interpretation, and he really needed to find an expert to help him sort out the mess.

He started looking up adoption law attorneys on his computer, but then Brian returned, hands full of paper bags smelling suspiciously healthy, and Jay happily abandoned his research for the rest of the night. He popped in a DVD of a TV series he and Brian were addicted to, helped Brian sort the food into bowls, and sat on the couch in front of the television.

As Brian ate, Jay noticed a new, shiny scar on Brian´s wrist, and what looked to be a puncture mark on his right arm. This daily collection of new scars worried Jay sick, but he didn´t say anything. He trusted Brian to know what he was doing and not take crazy risks. Besides, in reality, there wasn´t anyone Jay should have worried less for. Brian was practically indestructible. His osmotic powers made him the match of every beast or sorcerer he met. And his ability to channel and use energy to heal himself made him practically indestructible.

Which is what concerned Jay, because he knew Brian took chances he shouldn´t with his life because of this power. The growing collection of scars bore testament to that.

Jay ate his dinner quietly, one eye on the television, the other on Brian, who still seemed to be brimming with an anxious energy, but not yet willing to say anything.

If Jay had been a different man, he would have just asked Brian about it. He would have expressed his concern. But Jay was bad about communicating his feelings. It was a trait he had learned from his father. Jay didn´t know how to have a heart-to-heart with anyone.

And he had never cared about anyone enough to want to try. But Brian was different. And so, as Brian ate his salad and stared at the television, Jay wanted to comfort him.

Instead, he just did the dishes while Brian sprawled on the couch.

As Jay finished up in the kitchen, he felt his own heat pull away from him. It was a weird sensation, like being gently lured closer. He peered around the corner to see Brian sitting on the couch, glaring at the television, on fire.

Brian´s body absorbed Jay´s flames. It was a trait Jay used to find endearing. But now it just scared him. Brian didn´t even need to touch him anymore to do that.

"Bry."

Brian stared blankly at the television. Jay noticed a commercial played for the church that founded the commune Brian had grown up on.

Jay walked over and shook his shoulder. "Brian."

Brian looked up then, blinking. "What?"

"You´re absorbing my heat."

Brian´s eyebrows came together as if confused, and then he shook his head. "Sorry." He leaned back against the couch. "I´m just tired."

Jay blinked. Most sorcerers he knew grew less powerful when exhausted. Brian just seemed to lose control and suck in more.

"What is wrong with you tonight?" Jay asked.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit." Jay sat beside Brian. He crossed his arms and lay back against the armrest, stretching out. He rested his feet against Brian´s thighs, and watched Brian´s legs absorb Jay´s fire with the contact. "What happened?"

"I don´t want a fight right now."

"You won´t get one. Just tell me what´s going on."

Brian´s expression faltered, and he looked nervous. "You´re going to be pissed."

Jay clenched his jaw. "Only if you don´t tell me."

Brian stared at him. "I interrogated a suspect today. A sorcerer. Arun Volpe."

Jay raised an eyebrow. It must have been Brian´s partner´s idea. "You don´t have training for that."

"You´re right. I´ve learned my lesson," Brian said bitterly, and Jay sat up.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"I got carried away. He...he called me some names. I didn´t think."

"You hit him?" Jay asked.

"No! I didn´t touch him." Brian sat up as well. He ran his hand through his hair. "But I was itching. I started... I took his energy."

Jay scowled. "So you touched him."

"No. I did it without touching."

Jay closed his eyes. He knew Brian was getting more powerful, but he really didn´t like the idea that Brian could etiolate others without physical contact.

"Pollar threatened to suspend me if I do it again," Brian said.

"Why would he do that?"

Brian looked at the floor. Then he made eye contact. "I got carried away. I guess I almost killed him."

Jay stared at him in silence for a moment.

"You guess? Brian, what are you saying? You almost killed a suspect?"

"Well, what does anyone expect?" Brian jumped to his feet and threw his arms in the air. He started pacing the room. "This is what they want me to do, isn´t it?"

"Damn it, this is serious!" Jay stood, running his hand through his hair. He felt his fire spread over his torso. "You shouldn´t be trying to do things that are beyond you at this point. Just wait and you´ll eventually-"

"What? Get to kill a hundred demons at once? Two hundred? I can´t wait."

"Don´t be stupid! You can do more, of course you can, but you have to learn how to walk before you can run."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Jay swallowed. "You know what I think. We´ve talked about this before. I think you need to see someone."

Brian stared at him and then immediately turned away. "No. I´m not some junkie sorcerer who´s out of control."

"You are going to seriously hurt someone, if not yourself, if you don´t get a handle on your power."

"See, I knew you were going to react like this! That´s why I didn´t say anything."

Jay breathed deeply, trying to control his fire, but it burst across his arms and head regardless. It didn´t make much of a case for his argument about control. "Advancing takes time, for anyone, and with your powers growing so out of control you need to-"

"Do you know what I did today, Jay? Do you?" Brian faced him again. "I killed fifteen demons. Fifteen lives. I murdered them with my bare hands."

Jay clenched his jaw. "You had a reason to do that."

"My armor is spattered with blood every single day. No one else goes through the amount of uniforms I do-"

"Oh, for fuck´s sake! You aren´t the only one who has a bad day at work!"

"I joined the police force to do good! And I-"

"Discovered that sometimes you do terrible things?" Jay snapped. "Have to deal with evil people and evil demons? See things you wish you didn´t see? Welcome to the fucking Demonic Unit, Bry. Grow up."

"No! Don´t dismiss me like that! I hate it when you do that!" Brian pushed Jay against the wall. "All I´m asking for is respect for my own abilities! But all people see is the osmotic in me!"

"I wonder why," Jay said, staring at the light fixtures as the power flickered, as Brian´s body burned brighter and hotter than it ever did on Jay.

The flames nearly obscured Brian´s furious expression. "I didn´t mean to lose control!"

Jay took a deep breath. "I know, but you aren´t ready to do interrogations yet, that´s all I´m saying."

"Krane does them. You have no problem with her doing them."

"She´s not as unstable as you are."

Brian´s eyes grew wide, and then rage contorted his expression. "Fuck you!" He turned away.

"Hey!" Jay grabbed his arm and swung him back around to face him. "Listen to me! You got a problem. You have to deal with it! It isn´t your fault. You just need to practice-"

"Like you?" Brian snapped. "So I can be as good at controlling my power as you?"

Jay stilled. Fire raged over him.

Brian breathed heavily, staring at Jay. "I have it under control. People just need to let me try things, and I will learn to get better at it."

"What if Krane hadn´t been there this afternoon?"

"She was."

"And if she wasn´t? If you went too far?"

"But I didn´t go too far!" Brian´s face flushed with anger.

Jay leaned back against the wall. He shook his head. "Bry, you scare people. They don´t get osmotics. And when you do shit they´ve never seen before, they freak."

"What about you?" Brian asked suddenly. His eyes looked glassy. "Do I freak you out too?"

"Of course not," Jay snapped.

Brian´s mouth crushed against Jay´s. Jay tried to say something else, but Brian thrust his tongue between Jay´s lips, forcing his mouth open.

Jay pushed Brian away from him, but Brian just took his strength and slammed him back against the wall.

Jay´s cock stirred in his pants. They had done this too many times in fun for it not to trigger a physical reaction now.

But Jay still tore his mouth free and panted. "Stop! You´ve got to-"

Brian kissed him again, and Jay groaned. He could taste blood where Brian´s teeth accidentally cut against his lips. Their kiss became a feral, angry thing, and Jay gave in to it. He gripped Brian´s sinewy arms and turned him around, pushing him against the wall instead. He thrust his groin into Brian´s, and Brian moaned into his mouth, his body beginning to shiver.

Jay gripped him by the shirt and dragged him along the wall, toward their bedroom. As Brian´s hands skimmed over Jay´s lower back, Jay realized this was a bad idea.

This wasn´t make-up sex.

This was a continuation of their argument.

And the last time they did this, Brian had lost control of his powers and burned him. A handprint scar was seared into Jay´s flesh, just above his right hip. Jay´s own heat had turned against him, amplified by Brian´s abilities and let loose.

Brian had apologized for a month afterwards.

And yet here they were again, literally playing with fire.