#MFRWHook – You won’t help me unless I screw you?

Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. Readers can jump from one author to another who share hooks from their current WIP (work in progress) or any previously published books.

For this week’s edition of Book Hooks, I give you a teaser from Toy Soldiers, book two in the When We Were Young series, a m/m young adult contemporary romance.

Once a thief, always a thief, and if he can’t win the heart of the boy he loves, he’ll steal it.

Blurb: Billy Redsky’s made one of his biggest dreams come true, but there’s a problem. Even though the boy he loves is mere footsteps across the hall from his bedroom, they might as well live a country apart because claiming René Oshawee’s heart is more difficult than Billy anticipates.

Much to Billy’s disgust, René can’t accept his true self, so he’s incapable of loving someone else. And all he cares about is living a life the chief and his wife foresee for their youngest son.

If Billy is to finally have what he truly desires, he must stop René from running away from who he really is and face the man in the mirror, or what they share will never blossom into true love.

Genre(s): Multicultural, m/m contemporary romance, LGBT, young adult.
Heat Rating: Level 2
Publication Date: October 2, 2020
Publisher: eXtasy Books

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René leaned in. “I know what Hoyt does to you. I also know what he did to Billy.”

“Umm…don’t get what you mean.” Olivia used her free hand to tap the ash on her cigarette into the ashtray.

“You know exactly what I mean. You were there the night he beat Billy’s ass. And he beats on yours, too, doesn’t he?”

She kept toying with her hair, head tilted slightly. “What do you care?”

“Duh. Of course I care.” He leaned in closer, setting the smoke in the ashtray. “Are you really gonna let him get away with this? A guy who beats on you? Beats on his brother?”

Olivia shrugged.

“If you tell the truth, it’ll be your word against Hoyt’s. He won’t stand a chance. He’s got a record longer than the Great Wall of China. You can also tell them what he does to you.”

“Oh, I get it,” she huffed. She also set her smoke in the ashtray and leaned in, her pink-painted lips an inch from René’s. “What am I gonna get outta this, hey? You’re asking me to rat him out. If I do, guess what happens to me? There goes my nights at The Busy Bee. My…stuff. Parties. I won’t be able to show my face anywhere.

“Renny, normally I’d do anything for you, but not this. No way.” She sat back in the booth and folded her arms. “I’m getting the shitty deal here. Billy? He’s living at your pad. He’s being handed whatever he wants. What’re you willing to give me?”

“Maybe a fresh start?” René blinked. All she cared about was partying, drinking, and drugs. “You can go back to school. Maybe make some real friends.”

“I don’t need new so-called friends. You’re the only real friend I have. If you want me to out Hoyt, then you’d better give me what I want.”

“What do you want?” He did his best to keep the frustration out of his voice.

She sat forward and aimed her long pink nail at his chest. “You.”

“Me?” He fell back, head almost spinning. “Uh…seriously?” This had to be a joke.

“Yeah. I’m dead serious.” She puffed on her cigarette. Her baby-blue eyes were harder than her pink nails.

“What do you mean—me?”

“What do you think? I wanna fuck you.” She took another drag.

His heart stopped beating for a moment. “I—I don’t get it. Why do you want me?”

“Oh, get off it, Renny.” She waved her hand holding the cigarette. “Who doesn’t wanna fuck you?”

First Moxy and now Olivia. This was surreal. The worst part was, the one person he wanted riding his dick was untouchable. He was sitting here, getting an offer of sex, all for Billy. “Why can’t you simply help me out?”

“Help you out?” Her mink brows slanted. “How about helping me out? I’m simply asking for a good time. Not marriage.”

If René said no, Billy would have to take the witness stand, and if the cops searched his old house, they’d find what he’d stolen. He could end up on probation for fessing up the truth, or even worse, juvenile hall. He was trying to build a new life. A life that could be flushed down the toilet if René didn’t agree to Olivia’s proposition. Billy would also lose his new reputation he’d worked so hard for.

“Can I think about it?”

“Sure, but don’t think too long, Renny.”