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Dust Trail Blues

by Layla Dorine

Just Trail Blues - Layla Dorine
Editions:Kindle - First Edition: $ 399.00
ISBN: B081TLQRXF
Pages: 388

The last place Nash wanted to break down was south Mississippi. With his extreme heat sensitivity and one scorching Mississippi summer, he had every intention of passing through the state as quickly as possible. Too bad his bike had other ideas, leaving him stranded on the side of the road in a rather desperate predicament, until a tow truck driver happened by and offered him a hand.

Jude knew his brother would be pissed at him for being late, but there was no way he could pass by the sun sick rider and not offer a helping hand. When it turned out fixing the bike wasn’t going to be cheap or quick, he and his reluctant brother, Justice found themselves with a houseguest full of sarcastic whit and a bunch of surprises.

The last thing Justice thought they needed was to be lending a helping hand to a stranger when it seemed like their entire world was crashing down, thanks to their uncle Les and a lean Justice hadn’t found out about until it was almost too late. But he can’t deny that Nash is pleasant to look at, and when the sparks start to fly between them, it’s too stunning to turn down. Besides, soon as the bike is fixed, Nash will be riding out of his life forever, so what harm would giving in do?

But sweltering beneath the heat of that Mississippi summer sun is a secret just itching to get out, and when it does, it just might change all of their lives forever.

Excerpt:

What little wind was blowing was hot, dry, and dusty, making every lungful of air difficult to draw in. Ducking his head, he focused on not falling over as waves of dizziness washed over him. Breathing grew tougher, his heartrate picked up, trembling and disoriented seconds before he hurled all over the side of the rock. Scratchy rough granola and dried apple chunks forced their way out of his stomach at a rapid rate, leaving him trembling as he slid off the boulder onto the red clay below. Joy, now he was freezing and the black spots danced so rapidly he couldn’t even determine if the sudden chill was a good or bad thing. Wrapping his arms around himself, he pressed his back to the boulder, hugging himself as he wretched again. In between bouts of dry heaves his teeth chattered. His vision narrowed to a clump of scraggly bush inches away.

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Dimly, he heard the crunch of tires on gravel, too weary to raise his head and determine if it was real or a cruel mirage.

“Hey! Hey buddy, are you okay?”

What a stupid question, he’d have laughed at the sheer absurdity of it if it wasn’t taking so much effort to keep from falling flat on his face. Running his tongue over parched, cracked lips, he tried to moisten them enough that they wouldn’t bleed when he tried to speak, but his tongue was too dry to produce anything.

“How long have you been out here?”

Nash rolled his eyes upward to see a dark-haired angel looming over him with the brightest blue eyes he’d ever seen. Go figure he’d be at his most wretched when meeting a guy as beautiful as this. His stomach twisted, cramping hard enough that he dug his fingers into the red dust to keep from screaming.

“Shit, shit, shit, can you hear me?”

Nash groaned, though it sounded more like a weak croak. He heard footsteps hurrying away and wanted to beg him to stay, but he lacked the energy to speak. It could have been seconds, or years, he didn’t know, couldn’t keep track, before an arm slid around him and lifted him up enough that he could make out the blurry form of a water bottle being pressed to his lips. Latching on to it with both hands he gulped until he choked and promptly hydropumped it back up.

“Whoa, hey, you can’t drink it that fast,” the angel said, trying to pull it away, despite Nash’s attempt to pour what was left over his head. “I think I’d better call an ambulance.”

“N-no,” Nash croaked, letting go of the water.

“Look man, you look like you’re in really rough shape. I doubt you’ll be able to ride that big machine of yours, even if you can stand.”

“B-broke down anyways, so…” Nash stammered as another bout of bone rattling tremors begin again.

“In that case, you’re in luck. I can load it up on the tow rig if you want and take you wherever you need to go.”

Nash heard the Angel’s offer but comprehending it took several seconds of intense concentration that made his head throb and his stomach threaten to rebel again.

“Dunno where to go,” Nash groaned. “Was just passing through.”

“Seems like your bike had different ideas.”

Nash groaned, loud and pathetic, with half a mind to tell the guy to just leave him there to die.

“Come on, I’ll help you into the cab, then load your bike. You just got to promise me you won’t puke in there.”

“Dunno you well enough to start lying to you just yet,” Nash muttered, but he did his best to help the gorgeous angel get him to his feet even if the world slid left and threatened to fall off its axis the moment he was vertical.

“If you pass out on me I’m calling an ambulance, no ifs, ands, or butts. I’m not gonna watch you die of an overdose of stubborn. That so isn’t on my agenda for the day.”

“Then leave me here, why don’tcha, didn’t ask for your help anyway,” Nash grumbled, making a half-assed effort to swipe at the angel’s hands. Why the guy didn’t just drop him in a heap and be done with him he didn’t know, but the angel kept moving, dragging Nash along like a petulant child.

“You might not have asked for it, but you sure as hell need it. You look like you’re a half-step away from heat stroke. Now come on, the cab’s air conditioned and there’s some aloe gel in the glove box. You’d better slather some on before your arms starts to sting. You’ve got one hell of a sunburn there.”

Exhausted, conserved what energy he could by not dignifying that with a response and instead focused on putting one foot in front of the other until they reached the truck. The blast of cold air that nailed him when the door was opened was the best thing he’d felt since the blowjob he’d gotten in the back room a Huston club three days before. Damn did it feel good.

COLLAPSE
Reviews:Joscelyn Smith on Goodreads wrote:

I loved everything about this book. The characters were engaging and the storyline was filled with their emotional connections, good and bad, that shaped them. A very enjoyable read.

TL Travia on Goodreads wrote:

Every story of yours I read, reaches me on levels I can’t even comprehend. You touch on such real issues with a depth that so many authors never reach.

Loved it!


About the Author

LAYLA DORINE lives among the sprawling prairies of Midwestern America, in a house with more cats than people. She loves hiking, fishing, swimming, martial arts, camping out, photography, cooking, and dabbling with several artistic mediums. In addition, she loves to travel and visit museums, historic, and haunted places.

Layla got hooked on writing as a child, starting with poetry and then branching out, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. Hard times, troubled times, the lives of her characters are never easy, but then what life is? The story is in the struggle, the journey, the triumphs and the falls. She writes about artists, musicians, loners, drifters, dreamers, hippies, bikers, truckers, hunters and all the other folks that she’s met and fallen in love with over the years. Sometimes she writes urban romance and sometimes its aliens crash landing near a roadside bar. When she isn’t writing, or wandering somewhere outdoors, she can often be found curled up with a good book and a kitty on her lap.