Thursday, December 27, 2012

Out this Saturday, the 29th, 'New Beginnings'

New Beginnings (Phoenix Rising #4)


 
Blurb:
Rome, a police detective, and Jeff Reynolds, a closeted construction worker, become friends and soon much more. Over the next four years they maintain their loving relationship while keeping their sexuality hidden. Then Rome is outed, quits the force and finds a new job as part of Vance Montgomery's covert ops team. Soon he and Jeff move to New Orleans to begin their new life together.

When a job goes bad and Ginna, the woman Van loves, is tortured and killed. Van goes off the deep end, hiding in the bottle, unwilling to see anyone including Ginna's son Theo. Eventually his associate, Rico, faces him down and makes him accept he can not continue on the way he's been going. With the help of his friends Van straightens out his life, bringing Theo into it, and goes after Ginna's killers.

 
CONTENT ADVISORY: This title includes a bittersweet ending.

Excerpt:
Definitely one change for the better. Roman stepped out of the airport terminal and felt a cool breeze. Six hours earlier he'd been in Cleveland's sweltering heat. Now he was in Denver where even in the middle of summer there was hardly any humidity to speak of to make his clothes adhere to his tall, muscular frame.


He waited his turn for a taxi, one bag slung over his shoulder, the other two sitting at his feet. When he finally got a cab, he gave the driver the address he needed and once they were on their way he stared across the flat landscape at the mountains, the peaks of which still held vestiges of snow even in mid-summer.



An hour later he was unlocking the door of the small house he'd rented sight unseen except for pictures on the realtor's website. When he'd learned that his application for the DPD had been accepted and he had the job, he'd made the decision to live in a house. He was tired of apartments and the lack of real privacy they brought with them.



Dropping his bags on the floor just inside the door, he took a look around. The living room was small with hardwood floors and beige walls, the same with the dining room on the other side of the entryway. The furnishings were minimal; a sofa and a pair of matching chairs, ordered out of an online catalogue, in the living room and a table with four chairs, ordered from the same place, sitting in the dining room. He considered himself lucky that the realtor was willing to have someone come by the house to accept delivery of them and, hopefully, two beds for upstairs.



Right ahead of him was the flight of stairs to the second floor. Going up, he found the two bedrooms, each with a bed set up in the center. The bedrooms had their own bathrooms, a plus in his opinion. If his brother ever came out to visit at least they'd have their own bit of privacy if things got tense, which they sometimes did even though they were as close as two brothers could be considering the age difference and the fact that Paris was as straight as they came.



Back downstairs, Roman checked out the kitchen and then stepped into the backyard. A one-car garage sat at one edge. The rest of the yard was grass with a nice brick-paved patio in the center. He could envision having friends over for barbeque once he got settled in.



For now though he had to unpack, find somewhere within walking distance where he could get some supper, and then hit the sack. He was due to report in to his new captain at noon tomorrow and before doing that he had to get himself some wheels.




* * * *


"Welcome, Detective Grant," Captain Martin said holding out his hand. "All settled in?"



After shaking hands, Roman nodded. "As much as possible for now, yes."



"Excellent. Come, I'll show you around and you can meet some of the other detectives and your partner."



The squad room was half empty. The men still there were busy doing reports and other such day to day business before another case called them away. One of them looked up when the captain called his name. As he came over to join them, Roman noted his tall, slender build plus the definitely Hispanic cast to his skin tone and features, so he wasn't surprised when the captain introduced the man as David Martinez.



"Roman here will be your partner, Davy. Fill him in on what you're working on and, well, you know the drill."



Martinez nodded, beckoning Roman to follow him to two desks back to back in the rear of the squad room. "I hear you're from out East," he said once he'd told Roman that the vacant desk would be his.



"Cleveland."



"Never been there but I've heard stories." Martinez chuckled. "Something about the river burning up?"



"Its chief claim to fame, I swear," Roman admitted with a grimace, "other than King James bringing the Cavs out of their rut and the Indians' yo-yo performances."



"Sports fan?"



"Naw, but you can't avoid the headlines. You?"



Martinez snorted. "Our teams are worse than yours, not that I give a damn." He picked up a file, handing it to Roman. "Top priority, so the other ten we've got fall by the wayside. Read it and then I'll fill you in on what you need to know that isn't in there."



Roman cocked an eyebrow at that last but settled down to read about the case.

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