Danners

Okay, yeah, that was definitely worth the wait. I’m not too proud to say I had to change my pants halfway through. Long live the Prince! When he suggested a new game and whispered in Bishop’s ear, I half expected:

Damn. I’d hoped Kurt could’ve been a possible happy ending. Effin’ Alpha entitlement. Even if nothing legal can be done, I’d spread his name around and let every Omega know what kind of man child he is. Make sure losing his virginity was the one and only time he’ll have sex. Maybe Wesley will surprise us all and awaken late as an Alpha — Ethan’s Alpha.

Took you a while, Jacques, but you made the right decision — both to stay and to allow Marcus to help. Where you’re going, you’ll need every ally you can get. Marcus’ family history is another reason to return to Maison Noir and speak to Solomon. With his own curse and generational ties to the Noir Foundation, if anyone can shed light on it all, it’s the butler. (I ship the two. Sue me.) It’ll be nice to see Alex again. With Jacques acceptance of his role here, and how important Alex is to him, he’s one step closer to maybe restoring his hand. The 12-year-old girl in me is clapping giddily. I loved all of the little details you laced throughout this chapter and the last — the atmosphere, the people, and the encroaching darkness. How magic is visualized as well. Gets me even more excited for the future.

Kurt sounds like a decent guy. It’ll be interesting to see if Ethan’s recollection is true or colored by Omega hormones. The former, I hope. We’ll also find out if Samson is the kind of friend who can be happy for Ethan even though he may have had a thing for Kurt in the past.

I’m equally glad that Emmett tried to apologize and that Finley didn’t let him. They’re so cute. And Patricia — I see you, girl. The voice of the people.

Thank goodness Ethan has the support system he has. I can’t imagine going through that sort of emotional and psychological chaos without friends to rely on. It makes me wonder how many poor omegas broke before Lanus realized they’d need counseling and monitoring. Do his contemporaries provide the same level of care? Part of me hopes one of those emails is from Kurt, or maybe he’ll give his estranged friend a call. Even if he hasn’t seen Star Boy’s videos, mainstream media coverage is nearly impossible to miss. After all, Ethan’s going to need someone to defend him when Geoffry comes a-knocking’, boner poised like a battering ram.

Carolyn deserves a case of explosive diarrhea, preferably of the uncontrollable kind. The kind that burns. With Britney next in line. I’m glad Dante didn’t fall for whatever Tom’s new game is. You can’t be friends with someone you don’t trust, and Tom couldn’t be more untrustworthy if he tried. Not to mention Tom’s to blame for all of this and is only making a show of repentance after Frank read him the riot act. That being said, I’m not so sure Dante should even entertain the idea of playing Tom’s game. Not when it’s Frank who who’ll get hurt in the end, because he’ll be caught in the middle when Tom inevitably shows his true colors — again. Alice as well. I can’t get over the idea that Frank is starting puberty — emotionally anyway. He’s starting to sass his elders. He’s defiant. He’s noticing how good if feels to caress another’s body, even acting almost flirtatious. He truly cares about Dante and I think he enjoys taking care of him. He had that same dreamy expression the last time he salved Dante’s wounds. That, or he’s exceptionally kinky and likes the look of a freshly whipped slave, but I don’t think so. And the honeyed finger! His phrasing was somewhat innocuous but that, sir, was foreplay! Has he been reading his sister’s romance novels? Lastly, I take back everything bad I said about Alice. She continues to surprise me. She may not want a slave but she could use a friend, and that distinction seems to confuse her a bit. I may trust Valentine as little as I do Tom, but the best thing she can do at this point is to get hitched, move out, and take Dante and Frank with her. Right after gluing sandpaper to Carolyn’s toilet seat. And thumb tacks to Britney’s.

The slow burn is the hottest, after all … (Not between chapters though.)

Frankie needs his own series. If the wolf man tags along, I wouldn’t complain.

The banter was perfect. You can tell a lot about a group of friends by how they argue, and these guys being able to constantly heckle one another without hurt feelings speaks highly of them. Jacques is in good company. Like Jacques, I’m also curious if Marcus knows more than he’s letting on. Or is he simply more empathetic than the others? It would be great if the football player had someone from his “old” life, who can bridge the distance between it and this “new” reality he’s been thrust into. (Plus Solomon could use a playmate while his boys are out doing their own thing!) The glimpses of magic through Jacques’ eyes makes me even more excited for him and Alex to begin exploring that side of things.

We’ll never know for sure but I have a feeling Dawson was involved in the abduction and evidence gathering. At least in the planning and helping Nicholas get Brandon’s confession on tape. Since recordings are inadmissible, and Brandon was coerced, there had to be more, something physical. Seagull’s Bay PD would’ve had that because Brandon’s murder was technically never solved, and the confession would be enough to get the ball rolling again. Someone local had to coordinate that, right? Nicholas and Dawson meeting in Bali made it seem like they’d been in contact before then. The one person Nicholas neglected to note when he drove out of Seagull’s Bay was Dawson, so … @CasualWanderer82 gives us such juicy subtext. It’s all but impossible not to explore and imagine the what ifs.

I gave it the Wild Things treatment in my head. Couldn’t help it. Your story was so good it made me wish for alternate endings!

Read this. The story is layered and twisted without being convoluted. The characters are unique, distinct, and each and every one of them is flawed in some say. Woven together as they are, you’ll expect the author to lead you in one direction, yet you’ll find yourself taking an unexpected turn that somehow makes sense. You’ll smolder. You’ll rage. You’ll clutch your pearls the entire effing time. And, if you’re like me, you’ll read it more than once, returning to previous chapters, knowing what you know now, and appreciating the details you missed the first time. Like I said: read this. You won’t be disappointed.

Oh, Nicholas, you old softy … … is what I would say if Brandon’s dad wasn’t playing the long game. He recorded that confession and then spent the intervening months gathering evidence. Soul searching too, probably, but he had their conversation planned out before he abducted his son. Daddy let his son graduate but then arranged for his arrest at the ceremony. That it happened during Brandon’s speech could be a coincidence but Nicholas’s note begs to differ. I don’t think he set out to out-mind-game the malignant narcissist but that 👏 is 👏 how 👏 it’s 👏 done! 👏 For the rest of his life, that note and its author will be on Brandon’s mind. He literally won’t be able to let it go — his psychology won’t let him — and, unless this was produced by Dick Wolf, he’s never getting out of jail. And Nicholas gets his man in the end. We won’t actually know if it’s a happy ending unless he and Dawson show up in an epilogue. Or a sequel. This story has all the necessary setup for a sequel. Eh, @CasualWanderer82? While we’re on the subject of Dawson and Nicholas, it occurred to me that, if you stuck this their reunion scene at the beginning of chapter one and lefts out a few details, it’d look like the pair met and planned the whole thing, right down to knowing Brandon would rope Tom in to helping him murder Marcus and Ledger subsequently killing the man then himself. Alternative universe. Haha. What a great story. Like others have said, it wasn’t an easy read. It was, however, powerful and emotional material. Certainly provoked my thoughts plenty.

This family. I swear to god. I … I can’t. Blaise has an Adam & Eve sponsorship, Britney’s fingering the cookie jar, and Carolyn’s head is so far up her own ass, she ironically can’t see shit. Where’s the oversight? Alice’s engagement is a scam of Val’s to get ahold of his inheritance and possibly a chunk of hers. If the wife dies, does everything pass to the free husband? Stamp that Valentine Return to Sender. I think Frank, if given the chance and it was explained in familiar terms, is more capable of understanding things than his family thinks. Dante’s had success before, so … Back to Britney: is she dumb or desperate? I can’t tell. Trying to pin this on Dante when he has witnesses and absolutely no reason to blatantly steal — it’s ludicrous. If Carolyn believes her, she needs to be kicked right in her honey pot.

Shh. I’m a better commentator and muse than author. Maybe if Dawson and Nicholas get their happy ending …

A sociopath, maybe, but not a true psychopath, I don’t think. Brandon is fooling himself with these delusions of grandeur. He wants to be soulless and has come pretty damn close; however, that tight coil of apathy unravels so quickly whenever Nicholas is involved. Nicholas was right: Brandon hates himself because he still loves his father. Wants his father’s attention. His romp with Tom was illuminating, and I can safely say not all of it was feigned emotion and manipulation. The pain was real. The anger was real. The longing, the daddy issues — real. It’s a pity Marcus (and subsequently Ledger) had to die in order to punish his father when it was Brandon’s own behavior that drove a wedge between them. It’s still up in the air — for me anyway — whether the murder was premeditated or spontaneous. I’m probably wrong but I still think the boy was only going to confront and blackmail Marcus, or scare him off, at first. I suspect Marcus told the brat they were in love or simply to go home, and Brandon snapped. Little Patrick Bateman better pray his violent tendencies are not indeed genetic or there’s a good chance he won’t be making a return trip. Pound him into the dirt — or the mattress if that’s what it takes — but, Nicholas, don’t let your guard down. If you lose your nerve or fall for your son’s bullshit, I swear to god I’ll flip a table. Oh yeah. Did Dawson help Nicholas abduct his son? Pretty please? I’d really, really enjoy Brandon coming completely undone, watching his dad passionately make out with the stud cop. Plus, y’know, revenge. (Or sex.)

Personally, I hope Nicholas garrotes his eldest son with that necklace. In private, of course, and not to death. Just long enough for Brandon to pass out and make loading his bound body into the trunk of his car easier. Call Dawson on the way out of town, arrange a reunion. When Marcus was killed and Ledger died, I’d quietly hoped Dawson and Nicholas would end up together. I guess there were too many ghosts, too much tragedy, for any kind of happiness for those two. At the very lease I pray Dawson isn’t … broken ..? The first thought I had when Nicholas described Brandon being there with a girl and how he’d seemingly changed was that Tom taught him well. He has the markers of a sociopath, and I’m still not convinced he’s finished punishing his father. I’m not sure if they planned the murder or if the situation evolved. I’m not even sure Tom was there for it. It makes sense (to me) that Tom brutalized Marcus in the SUV and he was lured to the lighthouse, where Brandon confronted and killed him. A darker theory, I’m afraid to admit I’m considering, is a snuff film. I don’t like this. I mean, I do, but I’m at a loss. There’s usually a silver lining in your stories but, like, all that’s on the horizon is suffering.

Why do all that when sex with a chainsaw will do? *whistles innocently*

Poor Marcus was doomed the second Nicholas declared his love. Damn it. It was Tom or Marcus’s father, I think. The soap opera buff in me hopes his twin was driving the SUV and, since there’s no mention of the necklace Nicholas gave him (yet), this isn’t Marcus. The necklace will show up again and it will lead Nicholas to his lover’s murderer. For some strange reason I can see Brandon ending up with it, having either recognized it or been gifted it by Tom. Hell, even if he isn’t responsible, Tom needs to pay. The threat of Marcus is no longer hanging over Nicholas’s head, so why not tell Jodie about her husband’s family? I’m worried about Nicholas now — I mean, more than before. He isn’t the strongest emotionally and his support system is fractured. Beth is gone and the cops will have their hands full with the murder investigation, and that leaves Nicholas in the worst possible position: alone. Oh, and back to the prodigal son: why do I suspect the “bad, unforgivable” something he did was recording that foursome and his dad being railed? Why do I suspect he gave the evidence to Tom? As if this wasn’t enough tragedy, the deviant look Brandon gave Nicholas doesn’t bode well for Jett. He’s going to do something to his little brother, whom Nicholas loves more than any other. Mark my words. Jesus, @CasualWanderer82.

Ah, the 80s. My friends regularly got hit with belts. The one and only time I got spanked, I climbed off my mom’s lap (out of reach) and said “Ha ha! Didn’t hurt!” My parents turned to different punishments after that. 😆

Consensual it may be but they’re doing it for the wrong reasons. Also adultery. Mostly, what concerns me is both Brandon and Tom doing this to punish Nicholas. The damage to father and son could be irreparable. The whipping was extreme and I make no excuses for Nicholas. I’m old enough to remember when spanking and belting were commonplace and it sounds like Brandon never had so much as the threat of such a punishment. Any punishment for that matter. After many years, that dam broke.

No sympathy necessary. Seriously. She may have been THE passive-aggressive bitch of her time but I was never the target. She was sweet to me while needling everyone else, my grandfather, mostly. Uncomfortable but educational. Hehe. Riley and Nate — the team supreme. Please tell me those cooking lessons are in the books!

Even with Ares, Deimos and Dante, or even Leander among the pantheon? I’d think their priesthoods and/or temples would provide shelter for homosexuals. In secret, I suppose, and not so much in rural areas. Are slaves allowed private worship or are they forced to follow their owner’s beliefs? Tom being gay — I mean, I sympathize with the loneliness and isolation he must feel. Yet another reason to have this strong alpha male persona. He’s fortunate Blaise is supportive of him pursuing another slave. (Blaise implied Tom asked permission to remove his cage because Dante wanted sex, didn’t he? And he felt bad because Tom lied to him about that.) He’s still a rapist. He has a lot to apologize for and to multiple people, Dante first and Frank second. Blaise first, actually. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say for himself. I get the impression Frank is sort of trapped in the cage of innocence and Dante holds the proverbial lock pick. Oh! Since Mikey brought up his “stupid rock,” I meant to ask: is the sapphire tied to the Warrior of Light, perhaps as a symbol of protection? Is that who Dante is named after?

Holy … is Riley’s grandmother named Marian? Because I know that woman. I grew up with that woman. Since I was an only child and her only grandchild in the state, she reserved her bitchery for my parents and her husband. The woman taught me how to verbally flay someone alive before my age was double digits. Riley, you have my sympathy. And a virtual hug. Share it with your poor mom. This chapter really explains why Riley continually flies under the radar. I’m glad he’ll be able to dote on Cedric’s kids and give them the positive reinforcement he never got. With any luck, Cedric himself will give Riley the support he needs to finally spread his wings.