Backtracking...

Well...I let a minor character hijack Chapter Seventeen of Taking Nicky and take it to a place I did NOT like. Then he argued with me when I didn't want to go there. So...I cut all but the first 200 words of what I'd written and will start over, tomorrow.

I have enough brutal sex in the story, god knows I do. Especially Chapter Sixteen, which is nonstop. So I want a pull back to normalcy. Tenderness, even. I'm trying to find a way to have Rett's obsession with Nicko turn positive.

Which is crazy to want because he just raped the guy. So am I going for a Stockholm Syndrome deal between the two of them? That seems awfully fake...and I hate fake, even in erotica.

Unless...Niko turns the tables on Rett and gets him to become...what? His slave? Sugar Daddy? Bondage master? Benefactor? I dunno...

Screw it. I'm taking tomorrow off and giving myself time to think. May have to, anyway. I'm trying to get in to see my doctor about a sore that was healing but is suddenly back to being red and rough. Like it's infected. Nothing I'm doing seems to make a difference, so it's medical alert time.

Oh, and in the world of no good turn goes unpunished...I went to Walgreens for some meds and a homeless guy at the entrance asked for shampoo. I bought him a travel size of Pantene. Gave it to him. Then he asked for the receipt. 

I'd paid for the shampoo at the same time I paid for a couple of prescriptions, so told him I needed it. He tossed a fit, in the store. Screaming, "I said please!" Over and over. I was so startled, I dropped everything...and he grabbed the receipt and stormed off. I didn't chase him; I was glad he was leaving.

But fuck me if I ever do anything decent for another person I don't know.

I can never be a vegan...

Today I ate right. Shredded wheat for breakfast (good fiber). Leftover cheese enchiladas and rice for lunch (home made). Hopped over to Wegmans for their avocado rolls for dinner (had 4 instead of only 2). Got a great reading on my blood sugar (132, which is under the 180 requested in the evening). And my snack was fruit cocktail (in fruit juice, with bananas).

But by 10:30pm I'd have killed for a cheeseburger. Right now, I'm eating some leftover mac and cheese cooked with ground beef and chili powder...and feeling much, much happier.

Now rather than feeling guilty, I'm just going to pay more attention to a guy who goes by The Fitness Chef. His name is Graeme Tomlinson, and has a pretty even-handed approach to diet...and his deadpan discussions are lovely...

I'm not geared to veggies all that much. Broccoli gives me gas like you wouldn't believe, and if I eat more than a couple fronds sends me to the toilet. Salad's fine...a couple days a week. Spaghetti with my own meat sauce is lovely. I even like it reheated. 

Guess I'm just a carnivore, inside out. Raised on the idea your dinner has to have a meat, something green like peas or string beans, potato and bread. It's how I'm configured. So all I can do is try to eat less.

I had one hell of a time doing that in San Antonio, while dealing with my brother's illness and death. I put on about 5 lbs...which is good because I thought it'd be worse. And I've taken them off. This morning I was back to 220. So I'm going back to my old diet, just eating less of it at a time. I'd like to dip below 200, again, but it's been nearly 2 decades since that happened.

So I guess I'll get back to walking, as well...get some exercise.

And try not to be so grumpy doing it...

Evolving...

Chapter Sixteen of Taking Nicky is nothing but Rett finally getting to take Nicky...or Niko, as he's now called...and manipulates Ben and Liam to where they participate in it. And finds he wants more from Niko, now, now, now. Becomes obsessed.

But this is where the story shifts, again. Chapter Seventeen will be Rett finding out Niko had been sex-trafficked by his agent and Vance. The condo he lives in isn't his; it's where he's forced to stay by contract...at an exorbitant rent. That's taken straight out of his modeling fees.

In fact, his agency and others charge so much to him, he's lucky if he keeps 10% of his income. He's so broke, he can't even afford to have a dog, not that the owner of his condo would let him. The only thing he truly owns is his old Chevy Blazer.

He goes skating down the bike path to blow off steam when things get to be too much. And he knows he's been an asshole to people, but sometimes it's his only way to keep his sanity.

Funny, but I think Niko and Rett will wind up lovers living in Rett's condo. Maybe Niko will set up a social media platform about the true life of a model. Or go into business with Steve/Smoke making skates. No idea, yet.

But then, I had no idea this would go in many of the directions it did and still wind up here. I should stop worrying about how Dair's Window will turn out and just let it happen. Drop the structure I currently have. See where Adam and Dair take me.

Finally trusting Brendan to lead me right worked for A Place of Safety...

Lightning strikes...

One more pass through Taking Nicky's Chapter 15 to polish and check for typos...after having editor do a check...and up it goes onto GayDemon. I've also set up for chapter 16...and probably 17...and maybe 18. We shall see.

But by underestimating Rett, Ben and Liam have put themselves into a dangerous position...both physically and emotionally. Because Rett is out to teach them a lesson in not fucking around with people. Same for Niko.

Sixteen is that lesson being taught. Seventeen is emphasizing he is not to be trifled with. Eighteen, if there is one, is everything coming together with an HEA...so far...

Of course, reality is none of the people fucking around with Rett ever truly bothered to know or understand him. If they had, they'd have left him the hell alone.

Helps to have had a good sleep, overnight, and nice nap in the afternoon. And to be told you've got a 5-Star review for A Place of Safety-Home Not Home. I don't know where it's posted, but I'm told I have it.

One of the things I like most about writing, even when I don't, is how it keeps me from knowing too much about how the world is going...in real time. The evil of Felon47's administration just keeps getting worse, as does his defense by the MAGAt Cult...and it rips me apart.

I actually posted a comment on Xitter that I never thought I'd live to see America commit suicide, but here we are.

Yeah...here we are...

Change in direction, again...

The beginning of chapter 15 for Taking Nicky:

 
Okay, something people seem to forget is that just because I’m horny or obsessed over a guy...and just because that guy is kissing the shit out of me...and just because I’m enjoying the shit out of him doing it...I’ll get all stupid. Blind. Or maybe a better way of putting that would be, unable to pay attention to reality.

Which is really insulting. 

I mean, yeah...Niko’s kisses were the epitome of perfection, and him molding his body against mine was breathtaking in so many fucking ways...except for this one weird little issue. 

No hint of his dick pressing against me. 

He wasn’t hard. 

Not erect. 

My dick’s as solid as a John Holmes dildo, raging in my briefs and really obnoxiously so...but he’s got nothing. To the extent I’m beginning to wonder if he’s trans. 

Of course, I knew better, all the research I’d done on him. But that wasn’t the only thing bothering me. 

The sliding glass doors to the yard are still open, and you don’t let something like those stay open overnight. You’ll wind up with some homeless person sleeping on your couch or, as once happened to me, taking a dump on your coffee table while zonked out of his mind. 

So I tried to move him back so I could shift around to close it, saying, “C’mon, Niko, lemme lock the front...” 

But he grabbed my wrists and held my hands over my head while crushing me against the wall, pinning me. Shutting my words off. 

That’s when I chuckled, “Niko, come on, I...I need to close the door.” 

He silenced me with another kiss. 

Which was beginning to piss me off. So I yanked my hands away and pushed at him but he had braced himself against me by propping his legs at an angle and barely moved...and that’s when I noticed... 

Ben and Liam entering at the sliding glass door. Looking sneaky. And holding rope. 

Bam, inner wildcat took over. I kneed Niko in the balls...and it turned out he does have them. And a dick. Because he howled and dropped and I scampered back into the kitchen, where I grabbed a knife, and held it in my best serial killer way. Which stopped the boys at the kitchen door. 

“All right, boys,” I growled, “who’s going to explain this?”

Dammit...

I had my burger...actually, a small cheeseburger, small fries and a regular drink...at a 5 Guys simply because they're easy and on the way home and acceptable enough. But it was $20!!! Twenty fucking dollars! This is why I'm cooking at home, more and more. I just need to better prepare for my cravings.

I also tried out making a chocolate cake from an apple, egg, cocoa powder and dash of baking powder. Saw the recipe at Corey B's Facebook page. Smelled good. Looked good. Tasted pretty good. But the consistency was so wrong...like a cross between muerange and souffle. I ate it. Made my lonely mouth happy enough due to the choco-love. But no more; too weird.

One note about this -- if you're going to try it yourself, chop the apple up before you try to blend it. I've got a Rocket blender and it did not like big slices.

Worked another 5 hours today and maybe as much, tomorrow, then I'll return focus to Taking Nicky. I've got a solid idea of how to handle it and give the readers what they're expecting, thanks to a dumb move by Ben and Liam.

Those two join forces with Vance to teach Rett a lesson, but they don't so much bumble it as underestimate him. His comment is, They thought I was so locked in on my obsession with Nicky, they could take me, shake me, fuck me, and quake me... or something to that effect.

He turns the tables on them, all. Because something they did not take into account was his absolute unwillingness to be controlled. And how hard it would be to force him to do anything he didn't want to do. 

If all that makes any sense. Suffice to say, Rett achieves his goal and no one can do anything about it. Which makes him top dog in that little group.

Something Vance will not like.

Stupid...

Did you ever get hungry for something and talk yourself out of getting it because you have food at home and can make something but wind up not being able to and then kicking yourself for not just getting what you fucking wanted? That was me, tonight.

I got hungry for a really good, solid cheeseburger. But there's no place in my area of town that offers one. 5 Guys is okay...but not sloppy enough. Opposite of a place called Jim's Steak Out. Last time I got a burger there only half of it remained inside the bun; the rest slid out and around and I had to get a fork to eat it. 

I didn't want McDonald's, Wendy's or Burger King; theirs are so processed. And the nearest Chili's is 5 miles away in evening traffic. I was grumpy driving from the office and didn't want to deal with that. I'd have killed for an In-n-Out #2 meal, animal style, but they aren't in the mid-Atlantic states. So I came home.

Of course, all my hamburger meat is frozen and would have taken too long to thaw. I tried slaking my hunger with half a cantaloupe...but that only made me hungrier. I almost went out again just to hit the Chili's. Their burgers aren't the greatest but they're decent enough. Instead, I wound up making chili mac and cheese. And that was okay.

But I still fucking want a burger.

Maybe I'm pregnant...which would be a miracle in more ways than one...

Worked today...

Helping get paperwork set for dealers to return home in the US and abroad. Hopefully before the end of the world comes. I was only half joking when I referred to Felon47 as the antichrist. Apparently he took it as a challenge to outdo the devil and his spawn.

The positive thing for me is, I was busy till nearly 6 and bought dinner en route home. Same thing for tomorrow. Tonight, I had an avocado roll at Wegman's, which is tasty and held me okay, but after a couple hours I got hungry, again. It's better for lunch. Maybe I'll do Indian, tomorrow.

I don't really want to work, but I need the money to pay for all the trips to and time spent in San Antonio, not to mention helping pay for my brother's cremation and funeral. I cut costs as much as I could, but I'm still $1500 in the hole on my Visa. 

I've got an idea for the remainder of Taking Nicky. It has to do with Rett not being as stupid or gullible or desperate as someone else thinks he is. A double cross doesn't work on him. Once I have the time, I'll write it up and get it posted. I think three more chapters and the story is done.

I hope I can be as clever and smooth in my writing when I'm working on Dair's Window as I have been in my MM erotica. It's going to be a real challenge.

Of course...

I'm going through all the docs to be used to reformat my books into EPubs and finding not only typos but mistakes in attributions and inconsistencies in how they're laid out. I've gone through Hunter, Curt, the Blood Angel volumes, Rape in Holding Cell 6, Porno Manifesto, and Underground Guy...

And I've caught myself really liking how I wrote them. The way I phrased things and, in my mind, made the dialogue like something two or three people would actually be saying. 

I was especially pleased with a conversation between Devlin and his sister in law, Diana, in Underground Guy. When she tells him how she met his brother. Devlin knew the basics; she gives him the full story...and I think it's very well done.

-------

After another minute of watching me and sipping her tea and nibbling at her food she said, “Dev, you know how Colin and I met, right?” 

I had to nod. “He ... he got lost and you ... uh, you found him. Brought him home.” 

“You know where I found him?” 

I shrugged a yes. 

She smiled. “I always thought it interesting you never said anything.” 

I sighed and glanced at her, my mind beginning to focus. “I didn’t need to.” 

Her smile widened. “Y’know, the only reason I approached him was I’d heard my usual connection got busted and that I should assume the new guy’s a cop. So when I saw Colin — no way did he belong in that neighborhood. Fuckin’ rookie, was my first thought so I went over to play. Be a real bitch. But he looked at me with those lost dark lovely eyes and the first words he said were, Oh my God, you’re so beautiful.” 

She sighed. “I wasn’t. I was at the tail of a party weekend. But his attitude ... his whole manner ... it was so simple and straight and honest and sweet ... I fell apart. Sobbed. He said he was sorry and gave me a handkerchief. Cheap white cotton. Buy ‘em by the half-dozen. I still have it. Wouldn’t part with it for anything.” 

I turned to her. “You’re good for him. For both of us.” 

“Thank you for that.” She smiled and pulled out a tissue to dab her eyes. “It took me ten minutes to find out he’d met with a client and parked his car in a cheap lot to save a few bucks, but couldn’t remember which one and was close to falling apart. I offered to call someone but he panicked and said you were at school and your father off on business and no one could know how he’d screwed up. So we went to every lot I knew — and found it at the fifth one. By that point, he was shaking so badly he couldn’t drive so I got behind the wheel. And I stayed. And we have three beautiful perfect sons.” 

Then she looked straight at me to add with a near growl, “And I will never, never, never let anyone — anyone at all — hurt him or them. So if you don’t give me the complete and absolute truth, I’m here to have fun at a baby shower for an old friend, and then back to New York.” 

Where they would build walls to protect the business and I would be fucked.

Quotes...

I'm still working up info for the website. Finding quotes to use from the stories, to increase interest in them. I guess. Use this image for the header or banner or whatever it's called.

They might be a bit long, but the person handling the building of it is better are making them fit than I am, so I'm just giving samples...

Like the following, from Underground Guy, when Devlin is being interrogated by Reg:

“Would you call a lion who takes down an injured gazelle evil?” I growled, fighting to keep it low. “Does that word even apply to a hawk snatchin’ a field mouse that’s just a little too slow in gettin’ back to its hole?” ...

“Those other men. The dead ones. Is that how you excuse what happened to them?” 

I shook my head. “That’s a waste. Only a fool does that. You never know when you might want to — ” 

I stopped. I didn’t want to say what I was about to say. 

His look grew wary. “Want to what? Want to what?!” 

Dear God, I looked into his eyes, fought myself ... but I couldn’t lie to him so the words came out. “Feed, again.”

And this one from Curt as he's walking home: 

I followed him. 

I dunno why I did, I have to admit. Nothin’ hit me in th’ form of a thought as to what I was gonna do. I just saw how happy he looked, an’ how easy his life’d been an’ how perfect it would be from then on. So I followed him. Watched him jaunt towards this three year old Dodge parked halfway between two street lights. Watched his ass move under those jeans. Even th’ way he walked screamed at me how happy he was... 

An’ I knew I had to kill that walk.

Sometimes I wonder where this stuff comes from...because I know it's from within me...but still I wonder.

BTW, the painting behind me is one I did a few years ago.