Galen's Redemption

by Parker Williams

  I grabbed him by the back of his head, gripping his hair. “Funny thing about dreams is as we grow up, we’re given new ones that let us know the others were just musings of a child’s mind. When I met you, everything I thought I needed went out the window, and you were the only thing left.”

  He opened his mouth to say something, but I kissed him hard. I could feel the warmth of his tears as they mingled with mine. I knew that I would spend the rest of my life reminding him he was loved, and the thought filled me with hope for my—our—future.

  Putting the book on the coffee table, I stretched out on the couch and closed my eyes. I knew I’d dream of Brian, just like I had every night since he died. They always ended the same way, though. Me curled up on the couch, clutching the small, sunflower-patterned pillow that Brian had made, with a hole in my heart that I knew would never heal.

  All this talk about moving on? How in the hell was I supposed to do that without him? Hell, I hadn’t even realized what life could be like until I saw him, held him in my arms, had him under me. We were each other’s first and last, and that was perfectly fine with me.

  When it came time to meet my parents, he demurred. He told me he’d rather wait at home. At first I thought it was his fear of heights and being up in a plane, but when I said I’d drive us from our dorm in Northfield, Minnesota, to my home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he went white as a sheet. I pulled him to my chest and asked him to let me in on what was wrong. I wasn’t expecting the story he gave me.

  “My parents are strict traditionalists. It was expected that I was going to come to school and meet a young Asian woman, with whom I would fall in love. I would marry her, and she would bear my children. When I tried to explain to them that it was not the life I wanted, they….” He turned away from me, his skin darkening.

  “They what?”

  He wouldn’t look at me, and when he spoke, I had to strain to hear his voice. “I’ve shamed my family. Dishonored them in the worst way. I am now alone in the world, as my father has said he no longer has a son. He told me I could never use my true name again, as it would disgrace him and my family.”

  “Your true name?”

  A sound like he’d been hit in the stomach emanated from him. “My name is… was… Jun Chen.” He stood there, a look of absolute devastation on his face.

  I reached out and put a hand on his arm, stroking it gently. “No. Your name is what you want, not what he says. If you want to be Jun, then we’ll call you Jun.”

  His eyes welled with tears. “You don’t understand. I can’t be Jun any longer. I won’t shame my father.”

  I was desperate to stop him from crying. No one that beautiful should ever be so unhappy. “We can fix this.”

  He snorted. “You always need to be the white knight, don’t you? There are some things you can’t fix, you know. I can no longer be Jun.”

  Anger bubbled up inside me at his words, but I stomped it down. It was his choice, and he’d claimed Brian, so that’s what it would be. “Then Brian it is. It’s my pleasure to know you.”

  He smiled, but then his eyes went wide. “You can’t tell anyone. Promise me.”

  “I swear I won’t. You’re Brian, and that’s all that matters.”

  “But your parents….”

  “My family will love you. I promise. My mother will take one look at you, and she’s going to push me aside just so she can throw her arms around you. And my father? He’s going to say it’s about time I found someone.”

  The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them. I hadn’t even told Brian yet that I cared for him. When he smiled and pulled me down to plant a soft, gentle kiss on my lips, I was confused for a moment.

  “I’m glad you found someone. I’m especially glad that someone is me.”

  And then he kissed me for real. It was sweet and chaste, and it melted my insides. With that one act, Brian Chen owned my heart.

  More from Parker Williams

  A Links In the Chain Story

  Lincoln Merriweather was born an entitled brat with a silver spoon lodged so deep, it might never have come out. At the BDSM club or in business, Lincoln was a storm, blowing in and disrupting the lives of everyone he touched, until the day he met a man who peeled away the tarnished layers to expose a decent person.

  Lincoln found—then lost—love.

  Since then, he’s tried to atone for his past, including walking away from his family’s wealth. He opened a diner, hiring people to work for him that he would have spit on before his epiphany. He’s found peace, which he’s about to lose to a hazel-eyed man.

  Noel Simmons wound up on the street when his parents discovered he was gay. His path leads him to Lincoln’s diner, where he asks for a job. He’s thrilled when Lincoln agrees to hire him, but finds his new boss perplexing. Can anyone be this kind and decent?

  What starts out as business becomes something more. Noel discovers he needs Lincoln in order to feel safe. Lincoln needs Noel to complete him. But when Lincoln’s past gets in the way of his present, will the two have a future?

  Matt Bowers’s life ended at sixteen, when a vicious betrayal by someone who he should have been able to trust left him a shell of himself, fighting OCD and PTSD, living in constant fear and always running. When he buys a remote tract of land, he thinks he’s found the perfect place to hide from the world and attempt to establish some peace. For ten years he believes he’s found a measure of comfort, until the day a stranger begins to run on Matt’s road.

  He returns every day, an unwelcome intrusion into Matt’s carefully structured life. Matt appeals to the local sheriff, who cannot help him since the jogger is doing nothing wrong. Gradually, after tentatively breaking the ice, Matt begins to accept the man’s presence—

  But when the runner doesn’t show up one day, it throws Matt’s world into chaos and he must make the hardest decision of his life.

  Lock and Key: Book One

  When he was eight years old, Scott Fogel died. Paramedics revived him, but he came back changed. Ghosts and spirits tormented Scott for over a decade until, thinking he was going mad, he did the only thing he could.

  He ran—leaving behind his best friend, Tim Jennesee.

  Scott’s had five normal, ghost-free years in Chicago, when the spirit of Tim’s mother comes to him and begs him to go home because Tim’s in trouble and needs him.

  He isn’t prepared for what he finds when he goes home—a taller and sexier Tim, but a Tim who hasn’t forgiven Scott for abandoning him… a Tim whose body is no longer his own. The ghost of a serial murderer has attached itself to Tim, and it’s whispering dark and evil things. It wants Tim to kill, and it’s becoming harder for Tim to resist. To free the man who has always meant so much to him, Scott must unravel the mystery of the destiny he shares with Tim.

  Secrets: Book One

  Six years ago Ellis walked into his first briefing as the newest member of London’s Specialist Firearms unit. He was partnered with Wayne and they became fast friends. When Wayne begins to notice changes—Ellis’s erratic temper, the effects of sleep deprivation—he knows he has to act before Ellis reaches his breaking point. He invites Ellis to the opening of the new BDSM club, Secrets, where Wayne has a membership. His purpose? He wants Ellis to glimpse the lifestyle before Wayne approaches him with a proposition. He wants to take Ellis in hand, to control his life because he wants his friend back, and he figures this is the only way to do it.

  There are a few issues, however. Ellis is straight. Stubborn. And sexy. Wayne knows he has to put his own feelings aside to be what Ellis needs. What surprises the hell out of him is finding out what Ellis actually requires.

  Secrets: Book Two

  Rob Daniels is determined to prove to himself that his brother Alex got it wrong. Alex believes he found love through BDSM; Rob is certain that’s not possible. He even makes several visits to a London club to prove his point. But when he attends the grand opening of Secrets, Rob gets a shock, one that has him fleeing, vowing n
ever to return—until he does… and runs into the brick wall that is Dom Vic Prentiss. As first meetings go, theirs is a disaster.

  The more time he spends around Rob, the more convinced Vic becomes of two things—one, something is eating away at Rob, and two, he’s looking for something. Every instinct tells Vic to help him, but trying to unlock the secrets hidden in Rob’s mind requires a key. All Vic has to do is find it. Because maybe then he’ll get to see the real Rob, the man who’s scared to let go….

  Readers love Lincoln’s Park by Parker Williams

  “Lincoln’s Park is a wonderful story that hit me right in the feels, with plenty of personality and hot, hot man-on-man sex.”

  —Happy Ever After, USA Today

  “I really enjoy redemption and finding family stories and this one does not disappoint.”

  —Open Skye Book Reviews

  “I have enjoyed this author for quite some time now and this was no disappointment. I enjoy how he creates a beautiful love story, throws in the reality of these situations and tosses in some BDSM.”

  —OptimuMM

  PARKER WILLIAMS began to write as a teen, but never showed his work to anyone. As he grew older, he drifted away from writing, but his love of the written word moved him to reading. A chance encounter with an author changed the course of his life as she encouraged him to never give up on a dream. With the help of some amazing friends, he rediscovered the joy of writing, thanks to a community of writers who have become his family.

  Parker firmly believes in love, but is also of the opinion that anything worth having requires work and sacrifice (plus a little hurt and angst, too). The course of love is never a smooth one, and happily-ever-after always has a price tag.

  Website: www.parkerwilliamsauthor.com

  Twitter: @ParkerWAuthor

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/parker.williams.75641

  Email: parker@parkerwilliamsauthor.com

  By Parker Williams

  Runner

  LINKS IN THE CHAIN

  Lincoln’s Park

  Galen’s Redemption

  LOCK AND KEY

  The Spirit Key

  With K.C. Wells

  COLLARS AND CUFFS

  An Unlocked Heart

  Trusting Thomas

  Someone to Keep Me

  A Dance with Domination

  Damian’s Discipline

  Make Me Soar

  Dom of Ages

  Endings and Beginnings

  SECRETS

  Before You Break

  An Unlocked Mind

  Threepeat

  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.

  Galen’s Redemption

  © 2019 Parker Williams.

  Cover Art

  © 2019 Reese Dante.

  http://www.reesedante.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.

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-199-3

  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64405-200-6

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018914538

  Digital published April 2019

  v. 1.0

  Printed in the United States of America