Boy Shattered
Page 27
Josiah blinked at me with a duh expression. “To give you more authority when you crack that whip. Sure. What about you, quarterback?”
Brian’s eyes lit up. “I want to do something in law enforcement. Not sure what exactly, but a BS in criminal justice will give me tons of options.”
Josiah got a devious expression. “Ooh! If you get handcuffs, I want a demonstration.”
I snorted. “Speaking of…. How’s the dating scene at Northwestern?”
“Spoiled for choice, sir. Spoiled for choice.” Josiah held out a fist, and I bumped it.
We got plates from the buffet. Brian loaded up with barbecue pulled pork, celery sticks, and deviled eggs. He saw me smiling at his plate.
“What? It’s low-carb.”
“Just nice to see you eating.”
“Dude, I’ve been pigging out for months now. You’re going to get sick of hearing me use the blender for my protein shakes every morning in the dorm room.”
“I can live with that. As long as you parade around in your various uniforms as much as possible.”
Brian waggled his eyebrows at me.
He hadn’t played football again. He said he’d lost his taste for the violence of it. But he’d played basketball and baseball for The Wall this past year. I’d hated missing so many of his games. Because clingy white baseball pants.
When everyone left, Brian and I changed into shorts and T-shirts and walked over to the neighborhood park. It was empty except for a mom and little boy playing in the sandpit. We sat on the swings and rocked lazily. Then Brian started swinging for real and, of course, I had to try to get higher than he did.
For a moment we were kids again, laughing and soaring. Innocent and free from worries about money, classes, or politics. But eventually we slowed, captured by the pink light of the setting sun. We tangled our chains together, round and round, and sat side by side, feet on the dirt, hips touching.
“Happy graduation, Brian,” I said. “You’ve become such a strong person. You’re amazing.”
Brian smiled. “I learned from the best.”
He put his arm around my shoulders, and I put my arm around his, and we watched the sunset.
DEAR READER
THANK YOU so much for reading Boy Shattered. It was an emotional journey for me to write this book, and I hope your journey reading it was ultimately rewarding.
Thank you for your reviews and recs to friends. You make a big difference in a book’s success or failure.
I appreciate my readers so much. It is awesome to hear from you and to know that I made someone smile or sigh. Feel free to email me: eli@elieaston.com.
You can also visit my website: www.elieaston.com. I have first chapters up for all my books and some free stories too. And you can sign up for my newsletter to get a monthly email about new releases and sales.
My Facebook group is a place to chat about Eli stories and get opportunity to read ARCs, excerpts from works-in-progress, and other goodies.
Follow me on Amazon to be alerted of my new books.
I can promise you there will always be a happy ending and that love is love.
Eli Easton
More from Eli Easton
It’s not easy for a young gay artist like Jordan Carson to grow up in Jefferson, Wisconsin, where all anyone seems to care about in middle school and high school are the sports teams. But Jordan was lucky. He met Owen Nelson in the second grade, and they’ve been BFFs ever since. Owen is a big, beautiful blond and their school’s champion wrestler. No one messes with Owen, or with anyone close to him, and he bucks popular opinion by keeping Jordan as his wingman even after Jordan comes out at school.
Their friendship survives, but Jordan’s worst enemy may be himself: he can’t seem to help the fact that he is head-over-heels in love with a hopeless case—his straight friend, Owen. Owen won’t let anything take Jordan’s friendship away, but he never counted on Jordan running off to find a life of his own. Owen will have to face the nature of their relationship if he’s to win Jordan back.
Readers love Superhero by Eli Easton
“It’s sweet, pure, clean, funny, and very sensual. I highly recommended this to any true romance lover.”
—MM Good Book Reviews
“I think this is a wonderful title for anyone who enjoys a great YA story. Hopefully Eli Easton will gift us with more wonderful YA stories.”
—The Novel Approach
“The journey we go through with Jordan and Owen is fun, heartbreaking, frustrating, hopeful and full of love. As you can probably tell, I loved this book.”
—Live Your Life, Buy the Book
“Such a beautiful coming of age story with a perfect blend of emotional and sexual awakening. Happy, sad, warm, funny, special…”
—Two Men Are Better Than One
ELI EASTON has been at various times and under different names a minister’s daughter, a computer programmer, a game designer, the author of paranormal mysteries, a fan fiction writer, an organic farmer, and a dog rescuer. She is now happily embarking on yet another incarnation, this time as an m/m romance and YA author.
As an avid reader, she is blown away when an author manages to combine literary merit, laugh out loud humor, melting hotness, and eye-dabbing sweetness into one story. She promises to strive to achieve most of that most of the time. She currently lives on a farm in Pennsylvania.
Her website is www.elieaston.com.
You can email her at eli@elieaston.com.
Twitter: @EliEaston
Tumblr: elieaston.tumblr.com
By Eli Easton
Boy Shattered
Superhero
Published by HARMONY INK PRESS
www.harmonyinkpress.com
Published by
HARMONY INK PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
publisher@harmonyinkpress.com • harmonyinkpress.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.
Boy Shattered
© 2019 Eli Easton
Cover Art
© 2019 Tiferet Design
http://www.tiferetdesign.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 Harmony Ink Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or publisher@harmonyinkpress.com.
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64405-477-2
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-476-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019932537
Digital published August 2019
v. 2.0
Second Edition
First Edition published by Pinkerton Road, October 2018.
Printed in the United States of America
are-buttons">share