Kia Ora...

The dreaded COVID has made it into my house... thankfully only one person has it and they've only gotten mild symptoms while the rest of us appear symptom free!! But we are still all stuck in the house until Monday NZDT so long as we all test negative. Not that it really changes much for me...I hardly leave the house anyway.

Updates

• I have 7.5 chapters or 13.7k words written on Runway Riot (House of Bolton 4) - MJ Green and I'm already looking forward to the point when I get to tear the bad guy to pieces. Not literally... though it sure is tempting.
• I finished everything for the O Deadly Night Charity Anthology short and it's now with the organiser!
• Have started putting together a Yakuza Romance First-in-Series Starter Boxset (Naomi Aoki). Will also create ones for each of the different series as they're completed.
• Have re-signed up to Bookfunnel and will be taking part in as many promotions as I can... when you see these links in the newsletter please click on them as it helps to drive up my reputation scores on the platform...which is useful for those promotions that require a minimum reputation score. Thanks!!
• Characters from several future books have been quite noisy lately, all of them trying to make their case as to why their book should be the next one I work on. My choices are: A Knight Forged (The Moutrams 4) - Mandy Greenwood; Until Death (House of Bolton Prequel) - MJ Green, or Blood in the Snow (Crime Reports Prequel) - Naomi Aoki.

All Flavors of Romance Promotion

Find a new author, a new series...or even a new book this August!

Authors like: H.M Wolfe, Stella Rainbow, Merry Farmer...and so many more!

Check it Out Here!

O Deadly Night - Charity Anthology

Cover design by Teased by Antonette

Blurb

Sometimes the happiest season of all is hiding the darkest secrets.

Twinkling lights and festive songs are in every shopping center and on every street corner. But what lurks in the dark alleys beyond the main street decorations? Who hides behind the joyful enthusiasts with a dangerous bah humbug attitude?

Join eleven dark MM authors as they explore the darker half of the holidays while also spreading cheer and support to LGBTQ youth.

*O Deadly Night is a Dark MM anthology with all proceeds to be donated to The Trevor Project 

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New Cover - Not Invisible to Me

Not Invisible to Me (Mandy Greenwood) has been given a fresh new look!

• Best Friends to Lovers
• Builder x Architect
• Disability Rep (MS)
• Mature Characters
• NZ Set

Buy it Here

This week's Welcome to Greertown is a deleted epilogue for Matty, Gabriel, and Masada that I never used.

*******

“Matty, you don’t need to do this,” Gabriel cried as Matty knelt in front of Masada like so many other men had done in the past. Pain drenched his words, and heartbreak hit the tatami mats with each tear that dripped from his eyes. “I won’t let you do it!” He threw himself at Matty and pounded his fists upon Matty’s chest determined to make him change his mind.

But his mind was set.

This was the only option available to him.

He drew in a shuddering breath and tried to maintain his calm composure while his lover cried desperately on his shoulder. Guilt flickered through him knowing that it was his argument with Masada, the defiance he’d shown that had caused this man’s suffering. Hated too that for the last few weeks that same argument had forced Gaberiel to split his time between him and Masada…forced to decide which one he needed to see more.

But that was also why he needed to do this. After today Gabriel would no longer be torn between him and Masada.

And what had cemented his decision in Matty’s mind was Masada’s reaction to it all. The man who’d once stared at him with nothing but love now sat there emotionless. Matty no longer belonged here, his place at their sides revoked by his own careless actions. And yet, Matty didn’t regret what he’d done…would do it again in a heartbeat… That’s why this was the only option open to him if he wanted to be rid of the pain tearing through his chest.

“If you do this, Matty, then you can’t ever return… I’ll never see you again,” Gabriel yelled, desperation and heartbreak echoing through his words. “I don’t want that!”

“I have no choice. It hurts…it hurts so much,” he whispered, grabbing a hold of Gabriel’s hands before they hit his chest again. His lover might not understand now, but in time he’d thank Matty for the sacrifice he’d made. “And I need it to stop hurting. I need to move on with my life… and this is the only way I can do that.”

Time had moved slowly since his heart-wrenching fight with Masada, and weeks of separation had soon bled into months. The place he’d once considered his home, the rock that kept him tethered to reality while he’d been undercover in the Omori-Vasilev Syndicate, no longer welcomed him. Warmth and sweetness replaced with a chilling coldness that reverberated with Masada’s hatred of him. There was nothing left here but the painful memories of happier times.

Matty drew in a sharp breath as the happier times became quickly overshadowed in his mind by those far from pleasant. The accusations, the doubts over his loyalty to the Kilpatirck Group that Masada had levelled at him continued to linger in the room. But it was more than that…it was the fact that Masada appeared to believe his own words so intensely…

There’d been no demands for an explanation.

No apologies.

No asking for him to come home.

Masada was stubborn, Matty understood that, but so long as the man had doubts about Matty’s loyalty their relationship could never be repaired. He needed to know once and for all if Masada could ever trust him again. This was a desperate risk, a last gamble to prove that what they had was worth saving…or whether it truly was nothing more than a final goodbye.

“No! I won’t accept it.” Gabriel shoved Matty’s shoulder’s hard and knocked him to the floor. “I won’t let you cut yourself out of our lives like this… I spent eight years only ever seeing you fleetingly, never knowing if you’d return to us alive or dead… whether you’d be broken, battered, and bruised at the hands of Ji-Hun. Now I finally have you back and I refuse to let you go again.” Gabriel took a deep breath, one that shuddered with emotion. “I refuse to spend the rest of my life wondering if you’re okay.”

Matty covered his face with his hands and forced back the emotions that threatened to send tears spilling from his eyes. He tried to block out Gabriel’s voice as he continued to beg Matty not to take such a drastic step.

Except there was no other way.

Either Masada accepted his leaving…

Or he welcomed Matty home.

But he didn’t want to do this.

Matty didn’t want to leave.

“God, I’m so sorry, Gabriel,” he whispered, hauling the man into this arms and holding him tight. “I truly am, but there is no other way. I can’t stay here, not when he doesn’t trust me…doubts my feelings…my loyalty.” He wiped away the tears from Gabriel’s cheeks and wondered if Masada could hear his words; wondered if he even cared, “I love you Gabby…I will always love you.”

“And?”

His breath hitched, understanding what Gabriel was asking him. “I do. That won’t ever change…but that’s why I need you to look after him for me.”

“Okay,” Gabriel replied with a sharp nod of his head before resuming his place beside Masada.

“I-I apologise for that,” Matty said while pressing his head to the tatami in a display of respect and swallowing back the desperate sob as the scent of the mats reminded him this was no longer his home. “And I…I formally request permission to leave the Kilpatrick Group,” Matty heard himself say, the words tumbling from his lips even though his mind still struggled to believe it had come to this. “I am prepared to pay the price if that is your wish.” He raised his head as the last word spilled into the air, his heart lurching when Masada’s face still displayed no emotion.

It all felt surreal. A dream which had become a nightmare and no matter what Matty did, he couldn’t stop it now everything had been set in motion. “He’d done so much for this group, risked his life and friendships for the Kilpatrick Group…for Masada, and now there was no longer a place for him here. But the enormity of the decision he’d made hadn’t really sunk in until now as Matty waited for Masada to grant him the freedom he didn’t desire.

“Ring finger. Left hand,” Masada barked coldly.

Matty blinked, confused by Masada’s request. He was lefthanded and couldn’t use his right hand to do…well, anything. Firing a gun, wielding a knife, and even using a pen were all done with his left hand or not at all.

Breathing out slowly, he picked up the ceremonial knife Masada had laid in front of him, one Matty knew had been passed down through several generations of Masada’s mother’s family. It felt awkward in his grasp…and Matty couldn’t work out the best way to manipulate the sharp blade in order to comply with Masada’s request while also not chopping off the rest of his fingers. His hand trembled and sweat only made the handle harder to grip.

It wasn’t possible.

Matty simply couldn’t do it, no matter how much he want to respect the order Masada had given.

“I can’t…I can’t do it, Masada,” he said, infusing as much humbleness into his voice as he could muster and dropped the knife to the floor. “I’m lefthanded…and this request is one that I can’t possibly comply with.” Matty didn’t dare raise his head from where he’d once more pressed it into the tatami fearing that anger his actions would elicit from the man.

“Well then,” Masada began to speak, the coldness that had been displayed on his face not colouring his voice. “That means you can’t leave my side until you can complete it.”

Confusion washed through Matty as he struggled to comprehend the meaning behind Masada’s words…and then it dawned on him. A sob of relief escaped his throat, his heart desperate to believe that which his mind couldn’t.

Slowly Matty raised his head and stared at Masada, startling at the warmth and love that now blazed in the man’s eyes.

“You’re a fucking arsehole, Masada,” Gabriel snarled, thumping Masada hard.

“What if he’d gone through with it?”

“I would’ve stopped him,” Masada grumbled. “I had no intention of letting him leave…but we’re both stubborn men and neither of us were prepared to back down or admit they were wrong.”

*******

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