Book Name: Red Ruby Booty Shorts and a
Louisville Slugger
Series: I.O.N.
Book: One
Release
Date: March 2, 2016
Blurb:
Eager
to escape the shadows of a tragic loss, Diego built a new life with his best
friend, Beck. When he finally decided one night to admit that he's in love with
Beck, that new life takes a new, hot and happy turn. But happiness is easily
shattered, as he's learned all too well, and this time it's ruined by the
arrival of a mysterious package and then men bent on violence.
Memories of a dead brother and an untouchable drug lord rise inevitably to the surface, and Diego dreads that the man he loves is mired in the world that Diego tried to escape. But Beck's secrets aren't so simple, and neither is the world in which Diego has been living...
Memories of a dead brother and an untouchable drug lord rise inevitably to the surface, and Diego dreads that the man he loves is mired in the world that Diego tried to escape. But Beck's secrets aren't so simple, and neither is the world in which Diego has been living...
Pages or Words: 50,000
Categories: M/M Romance, Paranormal,
Romance, Urban Fantasy
Excerpt:
Diego walked the dreaming. Not the normal everyday
imaginings of deep sleep, but the type of dream his abuela whispered of, where the veil of time drew back to show
him the future. Unlike a normal dreamscape, where the colors were flat and the
people one-dimensional figments of his imagination, here in
the dreaming he’d one day be able to walk the scape as events unfolded
around real people.
He was barely twelve years old and this was his very first
dreaming. Abuela would be proud,
and even though he wanted to run and tell her, he had to put his enthusiasm
aside and do his duty well. Until the veil dropped back down, he wouldn’t be
able to pull away from the dreaming. But why would he want to? This was a
blessing from the Gods. His responsibility was to watch and learn, but more
importantly, he had to remember.
A heavy fog caressed his skin as the mist slid past him. The
cold touch caused a shiver to work its way up his spine. He stood in a
warehouse, and the concrete had a layer of grit that clung to the bottom of his
bare feet. The smell of old oil burned his nose and coated his tongue. No
matter how many times he swallowed, the rancid taste clung to his mouth. People
clustered around a painted circle in the open area of the floor. Diego
recognized many of the gangbangers that belonged to The Man who ruled their
streets of East L. A. with an iron fist.
A lead ball formed in Diego’s stomach. No one looked at or
acknowledged him, but they moved out of his way all the same. Diego’s toes
butted up against the broad white line. The mark wasn’t painted on the floor as
he’d first thought, but was chalky, like the powder used to mark a baseball
diamond. The noise of the crowd unnerved him. He could see the faces of the
people, mouths moving exaggeratedly as they spoke, but their voices were odd:
their slow, slurred speech made the words almost intelligible. The laughter,
though—the eerie cackling skirted over his skin and filled him with dread.
On the other side, the crowd hoisted someone above them. He
rode the outstretched arms until he reached the edge of the circle and then
they set the person on his feet inside. Diego’s brother, Hector, appeared
alternatively nervous and excited as he bounced around the interior of the ring
on the balls of his feet. Five years older than Diego, Hector was the tallest
person in their family, just shy of five foot ten. Diego wanted to have a
strong body like his brother’s when he was older, but his madre told him Hector spent too
much time at the gym and not enough time on his studies to make good grades.
Hector claimed he had to be strong to protect their sisters from the vatos. Diego couldn’t deny how proud he
was when people stepped warily away from the line when Hector bounced close,
yelling excitedly at the crowd. His hermano had
a reputation for ruthlessness when he defended the familia, and the vatos had
learned the hard way to keep space between them and Hector.
Something—someone—stepped into the circle, the figure
blurred and wispy-thin as if they were a ghost and not a solid person. Hector
halted before the apparition, his expression sobering, his pinky tapping
nervously on his thigh. Who would make Hector anxious? Hector was fearless; no
one scared him. Well, perhaps there was one person. The Cadillac Man. Now that
Diego thought about it, the sensation pressing against his skin wasn’t caused
by the crowd, but had always been caused by the nearness of the Cadillac Man.
“Hector Emmanuel Hernandez,” Diego flinched, shocked Hector
had given someone his full name. Their abuela warned
to never do so. Names had power and could be used against them. The raspy
quality of the voice caused Diego’s hair to stand on end. “Do you vow your
service unto me, do as I bid of your own free will, and will you be loyal to me
in exchange for the safety of your family?”
Hector bobbed his head at each question, bouncing in place.
“Yes, sir.”
Black smoke drifted from the blurred figure, the tendrils
snaking around Hector’s ankles. “No,” Diego breathed. Something was wrong—he
had to stop Hector. He went to step over the line and an electrical current
zapped him as he ran into an invisible wall. Blue webbed lines spread out from
where he frantically struck the barrier again and again, ignoring the sharp
pain in his fists.
“Will you accept the gift of the jaguar, willingly submit to
the way of the warriors of old?” The grating voice held an air of expectation.
Diego slammed his fist against the wall. “Hector, no!” he
shouted.
“Enter your blood into the book of binding.” The apparition
held out a large weathered tome several inches thick.
Withdrawing a pocket knife from his jeans, Hector sliced his
palm over the yellowed pages. He squeezed blood from his fist while Diego
yelled and screamed for Hector to stop. Couldn’t he feel the wrongness of this
place, in the people surrounding him? Did Hector not see the darkness of the
person he was vowing himself to?
“It is done.” The finality of the statement was like a punch
to Diego’s gut.
He didn’t understand what happened, only that Hector had
committed to something he couldn’t walk away from. The dark mist swirled around
Hector, clinging to his body, stroking him almost lovingly. Without being told,
Diego knew it was evil. How could Hector not sense the vileness?
The blurred figure retreated from the circle and the
spectators took several steps back. Hector’s smile faltered, but he pumped his
fists in the air like a prize fighter. Diego yelled for Hector to run.
Something would happen. The tension of the oncoming moment caused his skin to
crawl with unease. Hector stopped in the center of the ring and spread his
feet, his expression scared but determined. A large jaguar prowled forward, the
low growl the only warning before the cat leapt. Hector struggled as he was
borne to the ground, screaming while powerful jaws clamped down on his
shoulder. The jaguar planted a massive paw in the middle of Hector’s chest as
it mauled him.
Diego fell to his knees, desperate to reach Hector but
unable to answer his brother’s call for help. Hector fought, but Diego could
see how quickly Hector’s strength left him, until he struggled no more. The
feline released him, roaring in his face, bloody saliva dripping from its wide
jaws. Too much blood pooled around Hector, and his head tilted toward Diego as
his body shuddered. Diego pressed against the barrier, the sting no longer
registering because he was too wrapped up in his grief as he watched his
brother die.
“Diego.” Even though Hector whispered, he heard his name
clearly, as if Hector sat right next to him. Hector’s gaze ran along the
gathered crowd, eerily coming to rest where Diego knelt. “Lo siento, hermano. I didn’t mean to break my promise,” he rasped.
Buy the book:
Less Than Three Press: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_bookx_info&cPath=94&products_id=958
Are: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-rubyredbootyshortsandalouisvilleslugger-1992087-143.html
Meet the author:
Lexi has always been an avid reader,
and at a young age started reading (secretly) her mother’s romances (the ones
she was told not to touch). She was the only teenager she knew of who would be
grounded from reading. Later, with a pencil and a note book, she wrote her own
stories and shared them with friends because she loved to see their reactions.
A Texas transplant, Lexi now kicks her boots up in the Midwest with her Yankee
husband and her eighty-pound puppies named after vacuum cleaners.
Where to find the author:
Web
site: http://www.lexiander.com/index.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexi.ander.9
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LexiAnder1
Blog: http://lexiander.blogspot.com/
E-mail: lexi.ander.author@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexi.ander.9
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LexiAnder1
Blog: http://lexiander.blogspot.com/
E-mail: lexi.ander.author@gmail.com
Goodreads
Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25570287-ruby-red-booty-shorts-a-louisville-slugger
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Cover
Artist: Aisha Akeiu
Tour Dates & Stops:
Parker
Williams, Divine Magazine, BFD Book Blog,
Decadent
Delights, Full
Moon Dreaming, Molly
Lolly,
Fangirl
Moments and My Two Cents, Wicked
Faerie's Tales and Reviews, My Fiction Nook,
Havan
Fellows,
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