Cold Cases and Bruised Hearts

by J.M. Dabney

Part of the Cold Case Unit series:

When your only goal is to save the world who's there when you need to be rescued?

Boss
Most of my life I'd been the savior and sought when anyone found themselves in trouble. It could be to atone for sins of my past or because I was a natural caregiver. Whatever it was I didn't understand how to do anything else. My Outreach Program cared for everyone in the city who needed help and I wouldn't say I hadn't made enemies, but when the protector needed protection I wasn't prepared for Dolan Sharp.

Dolan
No one did anything for free or out of the kindness of their hearts. That wasn't how the world worked and it was always survival of the fittest. I didn't care what anyone said about the man named Boss. When I witness Boss in action, what I thought I'd believed shattered and I didn't know how to handle that.

There's always threats at every turn, it's just a matter of when they catch up with you, but when one jaded man and another with a seemingly deep death wish have to work together who's going to survive the aftermath?

(TW: Mentions of childhood sexual, physical and mental abuses. Passive Suicidal Ideation, self-harm and mental illness. These are mainly off-page, but there are details flashbacks and conversations of said acts. Yet if these are triggering for you, please feel free not to read the story. Your self-care and mental health are more important. Thank you.)

This book is on:

1 To Be Read list
1 Read list

Published: July 5, 2022
Publisher: Hostile Whispers Press, LLC
Editors:

Laura McNellis

Cover Artists:

Hostile Whispers Designs

Genres:

Contemporary, Domestic Discipline, Mystery & Thriller, Suspense

Tags:

Pairings: M-M
Heat Level: 5
Romantic Content: 5
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Gay
Protagonist 1 Age: 46-65
Protagonist 2 Age: 46-65
Tropes: Age Difference, Alpha Character, Families/Raising Kids
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Same Universe / Various Characters

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author J.M. Dabney is a multi-genre published writer of Body and Fat Positive Romance & Fiction. They live with a constant diverse cast of diverse characters in their head. They live for one purpose alone, and that’s to make sure everyone gets the happily ever after they deserve. There is nothing more they want from telling their stories than to show that no matter the package the characters come in or the damage their pasts have done, that love is love. That normal is never normal and sometimes the so-called broken can still be beautiful.

The author is Non-Binary and uses the pronouns They/Them.

U Might Have Missed

Word Count: Click here to reveal93000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGenderfluid, Lesbian, Non Binary, Pansexual (Click here to hide)

Summary: When a change in collective conscious sends the Outsiders, a group of aliens, to the shadows below the city, humans reason that the demonization of their peers is simply more “humane.” There’s no question, nor doubt. Just acceptance. Lydia had embraced that sense of “truth” for as long as she can remember. The daughter of a powerful governor, she has been able to live her life with more comforts than most. Comforts can be suffocating, though, and when the opportunity to teach Outsider children in their private, “humane” community becomes available, she takes it. What she finds beneath the city is far from the truth she had grown to know. There she meets Alessia, an Outsider with the knowledge and will to shake the foundation of all those who walk above ground. The two find a new and unexpected connection despite a complete disconnect from the technological world. Or perhaps in spite of it. Still, it takes a lot more than an immutable connection to change the world. Lydia, Alessia, and a small group of Outsiders must navigate a system of corruption, falsehoods, and twists none of them ever saw coming, all while holding on to the hope to come out alive in the end. But it’s a risk worth taking, and a future worth fighting for.

Check This Out Too

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: It's AD 178, and barbarian tribes once again threaten the borders of the Roman Empire. To make matters worse, Lucius' promotion in his auxiliary cohort has been denied, and instead the governor has appointed a moody, mean-tempered Roman to become the new centurion of the Septem Gallorum — and, incidentally, to trample all over Lucius' ambitions. Tall and burly, Centurion Caius Florius Corvus might be way too good-looking for Lucius' peace of mind, but the man has also made it abundantly clear that he doesn't trust Lucius as his second in command. Yet as they are swept into war and each has to shoulder his responsibilities, a reluctant respect begins to grow between them, which soon grows into friendship — and, perhaps, more?