by Lissa Kasey
THE JARRING of the transport being loaded into the ambulance woke me. I knew it was an ambulance because of the guys in uniform. There was an oxygen mask over my face, an IV in my right arm, and I was strapped down tight with a brace around my neck. Where was Ollie? Was he okay?
I tried to find him, but was dropped back into the nothingness when one of the medics put something into my IV.
THE NEXT time I woke up that I could remember it was in a recovery room of a hospital. They asked about my pain. “Mr. Alme, are you hurting anywhere?”
“Nauseous,” I told them.
I shut my eyes and must have lost more time because when I opened them again, I was in ICU and this time there was pain. Too much pain to manage and stay conscious. So I passed out again wishing I could at least know if Ollie was okay.
I DON’T know how much time passed that way. Once or twice I thought I heard Ollie’s voice, only for it to vanish in the all-consuming pain I seemed to live in. My heart ached for him. And each time I opened my eyes, I searched the room for him. Except he was never there. Always I was alone, which seemed odd to me, but I was too tired to fight the sleep.
WHEN I finally woke up for real, I could feel the difference from the other times. Instead of being groggy with painkillers, I could actually blink away the cobwebs and look at my surroundings. I was expecting St. Francis even though we’d been well outside of the city when shit had gotten real. But St. Francis was close to Ollie’s house, so it would have been a mark of the familiar, even when I once again woke up alone.
No Ollie. No Will, Britney, or even Tomas and Ty. Not even a nurse.
The room was huge. Much larger than anything I knew St. Francis to have, and I had it to myself. The door was closed and had only a small window in it. I could see the bathroom, but knew that I was hooked up to a catheter as well as a billion other things, since everything whirred and beeped around me. I swallowed hard, throat dry and full of cotton. Fear began to form in the pit of my stomach.
I wasn’t bound, which was a relief, but I had so many tubes and machines hooked up to me I might as well have been. The blanket over me was the boring hospital baby-puke brown, and I took the time to study myself, how I felt, the pain, and register what I saw. My arms were at my sides, tattoos vibrant against the dull colors of the bedding. My left leg stretched out and with some concentration I could see my toes wiggle. It was the right one that was the problem, since it didn’t seem to be there. The shape was wrong, and so were the sensations coming from it. No toes to wiggle. The thought should have horrified me, only I was resigned. I’d done rehab before, I’d do it again. Ollie would help me through it even if it made him tremble and cry to see me in pain.
There wasn’t much pain. Not from my left arm in its heavy cast or the stump hiding below the blanket. Maybe it was the drugs, but I hope I was recovering enough that the healing part just didn’t hurt as much anymore. I needed Ollie. I needed to ask questions of him and the doctors. Ollie wouldn’t leave me just because I wasn’t whole. I didn’t think that for one second, or at least that’s what I tried to remind myself. He loved me. I knew he loved me. It was in every touch, kiss, and glance.
I could do this, I told myself resolutely. It was another setback, but I was strong. With Ollie by my side, I could do anything. But where was Ollie?
There was no reason for me to be alone. No reason for Ollie not to be there, and if not Ollie, then Will or Ty. I refused to entertain any thoughts that Ollie had been badly hurt because I’d seen him alive before I’d shot Levi. I was fuzzy but not that fuzzy. This wasn’t St. Francis and I wanted to know where my fucking family was.
A nurse entered the room, pausing in the doorway when she saw me awake. She turned and locked the door behind her with an actual key like if I had the strength, I would somehow rush her and escape the room. My heart raced, and the monitors beeped. Normal hospital rooms didn’t lock. My heart sank into my gut. She stepped up to the side of the bed and typed some things into the computer, giving me a tight smile as she checked all my vitals as though I were nothing more than a clay doll.
“Where am I?” I asked her. My voice sounded hard, unused, strained, and slightly slurred.
“You’re in good hands.”
That hadn’t been what I asked. “Where’s Ollie? My boyfriend? Is he okay? Can you call him in? I really want to see him.”
Her lips tightened into a frown. “We’ll have none of that talk while you’re here.”
What talk? Asking about the welfare of my boyfriend? Needing to see the love of my life was alive and well?
“You have a long road of recovery ahead of you. Your family is anxious, but ready to help.”
My family? Now I frowned at her. I didn’t have a family outside of Ollie, and maybe Will and Brittney. A terrible fear churned in me and I couldn’t breathe as the door opened and there stood my father. The expression on his face was one of grim determination. My eyes raked over him, replaying in my head the last time we’d met this way. There was no newspaper this time, just his anger. I was well acquainted with his anger, but I prayed for Ollie to find me quickly, because I wasn’t sure just how much torture my mind could take this time.
More from Lissa Kasey
Haven Investigations: Book One
Oliver “Ollie” Petroskovic’s life as an international supermodel was heading in the right direction. He worked part-time for his brother at his detective agency—Petroskovic Haven Investigations—and had just bought his dream house. But all that changed when he found his brother dead, a victim of PTSD-induced suicide.
Almost a year later, Ollie is trying to keep his brother’s business afloat, but can’t get his PI license. Then his brother’s best friend, Kade Alme, shows up, fresh from the battlefield after a close brush with death. Kade is looking for a new life, in more ways than one, and with PI license in hand, he’s exactly what Ollie needs to keep PHI running.
When one of Ollie’s childhood friends gets in trouble, Ollie feels he has to help. Kade insists on investigating if only to keep Ollie safe. Neither realizes the danger they’re in as someone tries to tear them apart before they can find solid ground together.
Hidden Gem: Book One
Misaki “Aki” Itou is a psi—a person with mutated DNA granting him psychic abilities. He’s also a contracted companion—a whore. It may not be the perfect profession, but having a roof over his head, food to eat, and not being subjected to torture is a dream come true. He is the top companion at the Hidden Gem, and it makes him enough money to buy the prettiest, most sparkly shoes he can find.
Shane McNaughton is an Irishman who survived the Third World War and works as a cop. Head of Missing Persons, he’s good at finding people, but after the plague of the Third mutated his DNA, he has a hard time letting anyone see the monster inside. He’s been paying for Aki’s services for two years, both the psi and the sexual kind, but he wants more from the companion.
Shane needs Aki’s ability to see into another person’s past to track down a serial killer murdering the children of rich and powerful men, but the more they work together, the clearer it becomes that they are linked through a darker past than either of them realizes.
Hidden Gem: Book Two
Paris Hansworth, star whore turned senator and the most powerful man in City M, has been hiding his terminal illness for years. Searching for a way to reverse the toxic environment that’s killing him, Paris stumbles upon a lost research facility, and a merman named Rain.
Years alone have made Rain long for companionship, and the beautiful man on the other side of the glass intrigues him. But Rain speaks the wrong language, and is decades out of touch. He isn’t quite sure what to think of the new environment he’s been thrust into.
As a virus spreads through the city targeting City M’s most private residents—A-Ms—Paris realizes he’s out of time. He’s willing to sacrifice everything, even his own life, to stop it. But Rain might just be the missing DNA link to explain the mutations created in t
he last plague, maybe even the cure.
Watching Paris race to save his friends, Rain knows he’s found someone special and will do anything to stay by his side. But the past Paris thought he’d escaped is seeking revenge, and he’s forced to adapt yet again, possibly even becoming a monster. He only hopes Rain will still want him.
Hidden Gem: Book Three
Cameron “Candy” Michelson Jr. doesn’t have time for distractions. He’s too busy restructuring the red-light district into an adult playland for City M and running the Hidden Gem. But when his companion, Avery “Ivy” Laurent, grows closer to Jack, an investigator for the Institute of Scientific Study, Candy can’t hide his jealousy. Nor his own interest in Jack.
Ivy is crazy about Jack, but he’s also in love with Candy. Ideally, Ivy longs for all three of them to be together, but between Jack’s nonexistent libido and Candy’s supercharged needs, Ivy isn’t sure how to make it work.
When Jack gets called in to help the City M police department investigate a series of violently murdered companions, both Candy and Ivy brace for trouble. But nothing prepares them for Candy becoming the prime suspect.
In a future landscape of corrupt government officials, brutal BDSM crimes, and a host of dark creatures, Candy, Ivy, and Jack must work together to find the killer, save themselves—and learn how to trust each other.
Readers love Model Citizen by Lissa Kasey
“From the harsh onset of murder and mayhem, this novel was a roller coaster of a ride from start to finish.”
—Joyfully Jay
“I love the story.”
—Rainbow Gold Reviews
“Model Citizen did what the author intended, and has me on pins and needles to see what will happen next.”
—The Novel Approach
“The story was solid, the murder mystery… engaging, and the characters likable.”
—Boys in Our Books
LISSA KASEY is more than just romance. She specializes in in-depth characters, detailed world building, and twisting plots to keep you clinging to your book reader. All stories have a side of romance, emotionally messed-up protagonists, and feature LGBTGA-spectrum characters facing real-world problems, no matter how fictional the story.
Website: lissakasey.com Twitter: @parisbvamp
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/4904483.Lissa_Kasey Facebook: www.facebook.com/lissa.kasey and www.facebook.com/AuthorLissaKasey
By Lissa Kasey
HAVEN INVESTIGATIONS
Model Citizen
Model Bodyguard
HIDDEN GEM
Hidden Gem
Cardinal Sins
Candy Land
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.
Model Bodyguard
© 2016 Lissa Kasey.
Cover Art
© 2016 Garrett Leigh.
http://blackjazzpress.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.
ISBN: 978-1-63477-783-4
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63477-784-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016910625
Published October 2016
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America