Debra

I ruined my cush life five years ago. I came from wealth and was kicked out with nothing but the clothes on my back. Even the man I’d been with, who had mastered my mind and body, turned his back on me. Since then, I haven’t found anyone who could meet my…needs. That is, until Jaxon ‘Ajax’ Kean. We hate each other. No way around it. He’s the last person I want, but he’s the only one who can give me what I need. How do I convince him to help me without tossing my pride into the garbage?

I’m broken, hiding my pain behind fake smiles and pretend joy. Inside, I’m a mental mess between being tossed into conversion therapy and foster care as a kid. I struggle to focus and suffer anxiety, panic attacks, and nightmares. My passions for skateboarding and bartending make me happy enough. But only Nate, my former foster brother and best friend, calms me and keeps me going forward. I’m not sure what I would do without him. Even worse, I secretly love him. Loving him could mean losing him.

Nicholas Theodoropoulos had been my stepbrother since I was fourteen. Mom died when I was twelve, and I resented Dad remarrying so soon. Even worse, my stepbrother had grown into a gorgeous man. I hated looking at him, reminding me every day of what I could never have. No one knew I was gay and never would. But when my best friend backed out of our road trip to California, Dad forced me to travel with my stepbrother. It was the only way if I wanted to go on this journey I’d been planning since middle school. Nothing good would come out of this.

Just the sight of Nico ‘Stix’ Jamieson makes me want to hurt something. Between his stupid smiles on that annoyingly handsome face and the constant drumming of anything that makes a sound with those drumsticks of his, I want to throttle him. No one is that happy. I don’t trust it. Even when my hate for him is clear, he throws it back in my face with a smile and wave. And how he loves to push my buttons when he’s feeling especially obnoxious. If I hate him, then why am I obsessed with him?

Felix is a miserable incubus, but he does his best to hide his misery. For the most part. Adopted and rejected by strict Catholics, Felix is ashamed of his body’s needs. Work isn’t much better. He’s a star litigator at his law firm, but hates every second. Oh, and he’s in love with his best friend Chris, who happens to be a fellow attorney, his roomie, and a sexy as sin freshwater merman.

Colin Campbell had been a champion all his life. Nothing had ever beaten him, not even a drug lord's bullet. And he approached law school the same way he approached everything in life, with cocky confidence fizzing through his veins like ginger ale. He had it all. He had the looks, the brains, the experience, the know-how, and he also had the love of his life at his side. He couldn't be defeated...he thought.

At 6:38 p.m. on November the 8th, 2021, Joshua Campbell-Abrams was kidnapped by an angry, homeless drug addict named Lukas Page. Joshua was severely beaten, suffered a savage concussion, and was held hostage in an abandoned church on the outskirts of Charlottesville for almost seven hours.