Stained Hearts (Links in the Chain Book 3)
Page 22
“Why do you think I do it?”
I carried him to the bedroom and sat him on the edge of the bed. Seeing him there warmed me. The last six months had been amazing. With his therapist’s help, Aiden was overcoming a lot of the trauma he’d experienced at the hands of the bastards who hurt him. Gabriel Montes went to juvenile jail, where he would remain for a year. He got off damn lucky, I thought.
Mom and Dad loved their condo. Robert and Galen took their first vacation—a whole three days—while Brady was in charge. Marco asked Andy to marry him, and when Marco’s parents tried to turn the wedding into a spectacle, they eloped. Olivia quit her job and took a new one as an HR director. Her work with Galen on the website that brought Jonathan Merriweather to his proverbial knees got her noticed, but her dedication was what earned her the job. She also started dating again, which overjoyed Aiden.
My family was happy, and in turn, we were happy.
Every night as we went to bed, I thanked Brian for what he’d done for me. How different my life would be if not for him? For almost twenty-five years, he gave me his heart and kept mine safe. When he realized he would no longer be able to do it, he passed it on to Aiden, who carried the torch for him.
I was lucky to be loved not once but twice in my lifetime by two of the most amazing people in the world. And that night, as I drifted to sleep with Aiden snuggled in next to me, I swore that no matter what else happened, I would always strive to be worthy of that love. And to return it for as long as I drew breath.
I thought that was a happy ending that everyone deserved.
More from Parker Williams
A Links In the Chain Story
Lincoln Merriweather was born an entitled brat with a silver spoon lodged so deep, it might never have come out. At the BDSM club or in business, Lincoln was a storm, blowing in and disrupting the lives of everyone he touched, until the day he met a man who peeled away the tarnished layers to expose a decent person.
Lincoln found—then lost—love.
Since then, he’s tried to atone for his past, including walking away from his family’s wealth. He opened a diner, hiring people to work for him that he would have spit on before his epiphany. He’s found peace, which he’s about to lose to a hazel-eyed man.
Noel Simmons wound up on the street when his parents discovered he was gay. His path leads him to Lincoln’s diner, where he asks for a job. He’s thrilled when Lincoln agrees to hire him, but finds his new boss perplexing. Can anyone be this kind and decent?
What starts out as business becomes something more. Noel discovers he needs Lincoln in order to feel safe. Lincoln needs Noel to complete him. But when Lincoln’s past gets in the way of his present, will the two have a future?
A Links In the Chain Story
A rich man is about to set foot into an unknown world, while a Good Samaritan fears he’ll have to close the charity he’s spent his life building. Poised to lose it all, they might find what they need most in each other.
Son of a wealthy importer, Galen Merriweather lives to broker deals, and he’s damn good at it. But it’s getting harder to ignore the kind of man his father is—a man who would pay Galen’s brother’s lover to leave… a man who’d demand Galen retrieve a quarter-million-dollar check from a struggling homeless shelter.
Robert Kotke knows the money is too good to be true, but it’s a godsend that could help so many people. Still, he hands it over when Galen shows up. But he isn’t done with Galen yet, and he’s going to challenge everything Galen ever believed.
Galen will face an impossible decision: the redemption he’s come to realize he wants, or the life he’d always dreamed of.
Secrets: Book One
Six years ago Ellis walked into his first briefing as the newest member of London’s Specialist Firearms unit. He was partnered with Wayne and they became fast friends. When Wayne begins to notice changes—Ellis’s erratic temper, the effects of sleep deprivation—he knows he has to act before Ellis reaches his breaking point. He invites Ellis to the opening of the new BDSM club, Secrets, where Wayne has a membership. His purpose? He wants Ellis to glimpse the lifestyle before Wayne approaches him with a proposition. He wants to take Ellis in hand, to control his life because he wants his friend back, and he figures this is the only way to do it.
There are a few issues, however. Ellis is straight. Stubborn. And sexy. Wayne knows he has to put his own feelings aside to be what Ellis needs. What surprises the hell out of him is finding out what Ellis actually requires.
Matt Bowers’s life ended at sixteen, when a vicious betrayal by someone who he should have been able to trust left him a shell of himself, fighting OCD and PTSD, living in constant fear and always running. When he buys a remote tract of land, he thinks he’s found the perfect place to hide from the world and attempt to establish some peace. For ten years he believes he’s found a measure of comfort, until the day a stranger begins to run on Matt’s road.
He returns every day, an unwelcome intrusion into Matt’s carefully structured life. Matt appeals to the local sheriff, who cannot help him since the jogger is doing nothing wrong. Gradually, after tentatively breaking the ice, Matt begins to accept the man’s presence—
But when the runner doesn’t show up one day, it throws Matt’s world into chaos and he must make the hardest decision of his life.
Lock and Key: Book One
When he was eight years old, Scott Fogel died. Paramedics revived him, but he came back changed. Ghosts and spirits tormented Scott for over a decade until, thinking he was going mad, he did the only thing he could.
He ran—leaving behind his best friend, Tim Jennesee.
Scott’s had five normal, ghost-free years in Chicago, when the spirit of Tim’s mother comes to him and begs him to go home because Tim’s in trouble and needs him.
He isn’t prepared for what he finds when he goes home—a taller and sexier Tim, but a Tim who hasn’t forgiven Scott for abandoning him… a Tim whose body is no longer his own. The ghost of a serial murderer has attached itself to Tim, and it’s whispering dark and evil things. It wants Tim to kill, and it’s becoming harder for Tim to resist. To free the man who has always meant so much to him, Scott must unravel the mystery of the destiny he shares with Tim.
Readers love the Links In the Chain series by Parker Williams
Lincoln’s Park
“Lincoln’s Park is a wonderful story that hit me right in the feels, with plenty of personality and hot, hot man-on-man sex.”
—Happy Ever After, USA Today
“I really enjoy redemption and finding family stories and this one does not disappoint.”
—Open Skye Book Reviews
Galen’s Redemption
“As always Parker Williams has delivered a lovely novel, I was so happy to meet these two men and see how hard they worked for their HEA.”
—Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
“This is very much a slow burn romance but seeing these two men come together for their HEA was simply divine. I loved every word of this story!!”
—OptimuMM
PARKER WILLIAMS is a bestselling author of MM romance and suspense. One of his recent works was nominated for the Lambda Literary Awards, and several books have been runners-up at the Rainbow Awards.
Parker loves the written word. A chance encounter with an amazing author changed the course of his life as he began to write the stories his men were whispering to him. With the help of some amazing friends and a community of writers he’s proud to be part of, Parker continues telling stories of love, hurt, comfort, and sometimes tosses in a little angst for fun. He believes in love, but also knows that anything worth having requires work and sacrifice (and maybe a little hurt and comfort too). The course of true love never runs smooth, and he enjoys writing about it.
Parker lives in Milwaukee, WI, with his husband, Paul, and their menagerie of dogs and cats. Most days you’ll find him on Facebook, sharing stories and pictures of the zoo, or even about Paul, w
ho is always good for a laugh.
Website: www.parkerwilliamsauthor.com
Twitter: @ParkerWAuthor
Facebook: www.facebook.com/parker.williams.75641
Email: parker@parkerwilliamsauthor.com
By Parker Williams
Runner
LINKS IN THE CHAIN
Lincoln’s Park
Galen’s Redemption
Stained Hearts
LOCK AND KEY
The Spirit Key
With K.C. Wells
COLLARS AND CUFFS
An Unlocked Heart
Trusting Thomas
Someone to Keep Me
A Dance with Domination
Damian’s Discipline
Make Me Soar
Dom of Ages
Endings and Beginnings
SECRETS
Before You Break
An Unlocked Mind
Threepeat
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Stained Hearts
© 2019 Parker Williams
Cover Art
© 2019 Reese Dante
http://www.reesedante.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64405-331-7
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-330-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019903603
Digital published September 2019
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America