Excerpt: Angel of 13th Street by Eden Winters
Angel of 13th Street by Eden Winters
Release Date: 05/2009
Publisher: Torquere Books
Publisher Link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=293&products_id=2637
Blurb: The Angel. That’s what the young hustlers call Noah Everett, the man who’ll help them get off the streets. Once a hustler himself, Noah doesn’t take his own good advice, which is, “Don’t let this ruin your life.” Haunted by the past and those he couldn’t save, Noah carefully keeps others at bay until his self-imposed loneliness is shattered by determined, ambitious, but homeless eighteen-year-old Jeremy Kincaid.
A ruthless pimp has targeted Jeremy, but if Noah will fight to get anonymous young men out of the life, he’ll fight harder to keep Jeremy from getting in, even if it means a return to old stomping grounds to make a deal with the devil. To save Jeremy, Noah risks more than just his body. He risks his soul as well, because Willie Carnell, pimp, was once Billy Cordell, Noah’s lover.
Excerpt:
If Willie noticed how riled Noah was on Jeremy´s behalf, he prudently kept it to himself, for later use, no doubt. "Anyway, that kid of yours, -- who´s eighteen, I checked -- is a knockout and a wildcat in bed. He'd do great in the business. I can see why he got under your skin; I wouldn't mind a piece of that action, myself. Still, for old time's sake, I'll make you a deal. As long as he's yours and living under your roof, he's off limits."
Jeremy was his, all right, even if not in the way Willie meant. This was too easy, and Noah waited for the other shoe to fall, which it did. "In return, I want something from you. Well, two things, actually." The lascivious grin gleaming in the candlelight was anything but friendly.
Noah swallowed hard. "What's the first?"
"Something you'd do anyway," Willie responded with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I've got this kid who, frankly, shouldn't be in the business. I want you to put him on a bus to Idaho or wherever, like you've done for all the other strays, and make him go away."
"What if he doesn't want to go?" Noah asked, carefully keeping his tone neutral. Did Willie know something? Was this a setup?
"Oh, he wants to, all right. My other boys have been making life hard enough that he's just waiting for `The Angel´ to come rescue him."
The implications of those words hit hard. "You've given me boys before, haven't you?"
Willie smiled. "It's my way of culling the herd. If their hearts aren't in it, they're bad for business. This one is careless, and I'd rather you foot the bill to send him off than to keep paying bribes to have charges dropped.
"Naïve kids like that let johns push them out of windows." Willie´s dark eyes were full of meaning.
"Or get run over and left for dead," was Noah's unflinching reply.
"Touché."
Pausing to sip the wine that probably cost more per bottle than an entire case of the stuff he served at the bar, Noah took a deep, fortifying breath. He had the feeling he was going to need it. "What's the other thing?"
Willie downed the remainder of his own wine in one gulp and rose gracefully to his feet. He stretched out a hand to Noah. "One more time, for old time's sake."
Well, there it was, the invitation Noah had hoped for as much as he'd feared. He knew it was wrong to want the beautiful bastard, but God help him, he did, unable to resist the charms that had brought many men to their knees -- literally. His willingness should have been a clue that he wasn't involved with anyone else. He may have sold his body at one time, but unless it was business, he'd never cheated. Then again, this could be considered business of a sort.
For some reason he couldn't quite fathom, it still felt vaguely like infidelity when he placed his hand in Willie's and said, "I thought you'd never ask."
Leaving the remains of dinner on the table, Willie led him through the darkened apartment and into a candlelit bedroom. The bed covers were already turned down, and a bottle of wine sat in an ice bucket on the dresser. Two glasses sat beside it. It looked as though Willie had never doubted the outcome of this meeting. Manipulative bastard.
Willie poured them each a glass and then sat on the edge of the bed, crossing his legs. "Strip for me," he said, sipping his wine.
In front of bare windows, before an audience of a million twinkling lights, Noah did something he hadn't done in years -- performed a strip tease. In his mind, it was Billy on the bed, body young and unblemished by scars and tattoos that peeked from the neck and sleeves of an expensive sweater. Those were also Billy's dark eyes gazing at him in appreciation as he slowly drew his shirt up and off, to drop it to the floor. Keeping time with the sultry blues number now playing softly in the background, Noah recalled the last time he'd performed this dance.