Foxes (39 page)
Josh’s idea of a romance is curling up alone and reading a novel with a happily ever after. He’s made his flat a safe haven where the walls are covered with beautiful words and his living room ceiling is a map of the universe.
Angus may be shy and inexperienced, but he’s incapable of hiding anything, especially his attraction to his older neighbor.
When Josh admits to Angus that he’s gay, he doesn’t expect Angus’s reaction. Angus’s obvious interest terrifies Josh. For years he’s managed to keep the world at arm’s length and avoid getting too close to anyone. Well, anyone except Eleanor, Angus’s mother, who helped Josh rebuild his life after he was hospitalized for depression. But Josh still thinks he’s broken. His past has left scars he thinks are too deep to heal. Despite Josh’s defenses, Angus begins to mean more to him than just the cute boy next door. If Josh can take a risk and let someone into his isolated world, he might have a chance for a real-life happy ending.
At eighteen, Christopher is restless and longs for something he cannot name. His mother vanished when he was very small, and after spending more than ten years travelling on the rivers and canals, drifting between towns and schools with mostly only his dad and brother, Jay, for company, he is desperate to escape that claustrophobic existence.
When they return to settle in Arlow, a town they haven’t been back to in over a decade, everything changes.
Malachi has given up on love. He lost his heart when he lost his innocence. Now, at twenty-nine, he just exists—getting drunk, fixing cars, and playing the music he loves.
When their paths cross one night at a gypsy camp, Christopher thinks he’s found what he’s been looking for, but Malachi is afraid. He’s afraid their love will destroy everything Christopher has ever known. They are ghosts from each other’s pasts, and if Malachi’s secrets are revealed, more than just innocence will be lost in their wake.
Jan has given up on love, at least the romantic kind. He loves his five-year-old son Henry more than anything.
But when Henry starts school, Jan is introduced to Matthew, a very sweet but shy young man who helps out in Henry’s class. Although he tries desperately to ignore his attraction, Jan finds himself falling for Matthew—he’s everything Jan needs.
But amid creepy silent phone calls and possible break-ins, things start to fall slowly apart for Jan. Matthew wants to trust Jan, but the skeleton Jan has been trying to keep buried in his closet and the guilt he feels threatens to destroy everything good in his life.
Falling
“
Falling
is a beautiful story… It is written with great compassion. It has lovingly drawn characters. Ms. Fleet has a way with words that I cannot do justice to in a review.”
—On Top Down Under Reviews
“Another amazing novel by Suki Fleet.”
—Prism Book Alliance
“This is a story of triumph over darkness and the glory of the strength of an understanding and lasting love. I highly recommend
Falling
by Suki Fleet to you.”
—Joyfully Jay
Innocence
Runner-Up, The William Neale Award for Best Contemporary Romance; 2015 Rainbow Awards
“In the best possible way, Suki Fleet has a vise-like grip on my heart.”
—Boys in Our Books
“This is just one intense and amazing read…”
—MM Good Book Reviews
Skeleton
“Such a lovely story and told in a way that captures the emotions beautifully.”
—Because Two Men Are Better Than One
SUKI FLEET
grew up on a boat and as a small child spent a lot of time travelling at sea with her family. She has always wanted to be a writer. As a kid she told ghost stories to scare people, but stories about romance were the ones that inspired her to sit down and write. She doesn’t think she’ll ever stop writing them.
Her debut novel
This is Not a Love Story
won Best Gay Debut in the 2014 Rainbow Awards and was a finalist in the 2015 Lambda Awards.
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Blog: sukifleet.wordpress.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Falling
Foxes
Innocence
Skeleton
Published by Harmony Ink Press
The Glass House
LOVE STORY
This is Not a Love Story
Wild Summer
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Foxes
© 2016 Suki Fleet.
Cover Art
© 2016 AngstyG.
www.angstyg.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
ISBN: 978-1-63476-920-4
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63476-921-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015952695
Published February 2016
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
If only tonight we could sleep
Big things happen. But sometimes you don’t see them coming.
If everyone was as kind as you
You make me feel better by just being here
It’s not nothing, even though I think it is
Vinny manages to crush my heart again without meaning to
In which Diana is not happy to see me
No one has any real idea what they’re doing—some people are just better at pretending that they do