Tell Me Lies Anthology - featuring Redeem My Heart by @meganslayer

 

Tell Me Lies: Manlove Edition: A Dark Bully Romance Anthology Kindle Edition

by Faedra Rose (Author), L.J. Longo (Author), Lea Bronsen (Author), Megan Slayer (Author)

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✔ Dark Romance
✔ Enemies to Lovers
✔ Bully Romance
✔ Gay

These four dark romance novellas pack the heat. Our bestselling authors showcase a variety of contemporary gay romances featuring bully and enemies-to-lovers themes. There may be triggers, so be warned that these aren't your average love stories.

Red Light Rivals by Faedra Rose
Broken by L.J. Longo
Seducer by Lea Bronsen
Redeem My Heart by Megan Slayer

Buy Now! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8RN5LR9

EXCERPT from Megan Slayer's contribution, Redeem My Heart!

 

Carsten held up his hands, then slid them down Will’s shoulders. “There’s so much you don’t understand.”

“I have my doubts.” He didn’t want Carsten to touch him, but he couldn’t seem to pull away. God Almighty, why did he have to be attracted to him? Even after all this time, the attraction was still there. 

“Do you know where I was living during my senior year of high school?” Carsten asked. 

“Wasn’t my business.” Even if he’d have asked, he’d have been assaulted so he didn’t bother. 

“I lived with Nick Clain’s family because mine threw me out.”

Nick Clain? He remembered the guy. A soccer player with a nice ass and sweet smile. Nick wasn’t gay, either. But if Will remembered correctly, Nick and Carsten had been friends for years. “Why did they throw you out?” The last he knew, Carsten had everything going for him. He was the picture of what any Brookville kid should be—handsome, well-adjusted, and straight. 

Except he wasn’t straight. 

“They threw me out because I admitted I was gay back then.” Carsten kept his hands on Will’s shoulders. “That’s why I treated you so shitty. I hated that you were so able to be out and no one hated you for it. I hated that you had parents that fucking loved you. Everything went your way. I said I’d punch you into next week because that was something my father always said to me. Sick, isn’t it?”

He had to be talking about someone else. Things hadn’t gone his way in school. He’d had to learn to handle the backlash for his sexuality and how to be his own man. Yes, his parents had backed him all the way, but he’d never questioned that. They were his parents and had always been his biggest supporters. 

“I hated that you were even on the prom court because I wanted to be the king,” Carsten said. “You were good at music and art.”

“But you’re good at football and must be good enough at music or you wouldn’t be on tour.” He didn’t understand what was going on or why he couldn’t seem to pull away from Carsten. 

“You don’t get it.” Carsten shook his head. “It’s so plain, but even I didn’t get it back then.”

“Get what?” He hated when people spoke in riddles. “You were beaten, weren’t you?”

“My parents didn’t want a gay kid. They wanted a successful one. My father beat the ever-loving fuck out of me for being gay. You never saw the bruises because I tried so hard to hide them. When I took the time to learn my guitar and practice writing music, then got some actual success, they began to like me,” Carsten said. “I’m not anything to them if I can’t give them money.”

“That’s sick.” Truly. 

“They hated that I was gay. My father left me bruised and battered.”

“That’s sicker.” And a piece of his heart broke for Carsten. He didn’t know what it was like to have parents who didn’t support him and couldn’t imagine being in Carsten’s place. 

“It is and I hated myself, which made me hate you. I was so hurt and I wanted you to hurt, too. You were everything I wanted to be,” Carsten said. “Everything I wanted. So confident in your own skin. I had to hide mine.”

He paused. He had to have heard Carsten wrong. Everything he wanted? That made no sense. “What did you want?”

Carsten remained close to him and caressed Will’s shoulders. “You.”