The Beat of His Drum

By J.D. Walker

Dorian Seacrest owns a music store and performance venue with his friend and business partner, Evan Harper. When Evan rushes into the stockroom a week or so before Christmas to tell him Caesar's Flame is booked for New Year's Day, he goes into shock.

Many years have passed since Dorian has seen Laramie Treble, the drummer and leader of the now globally successful alternative rock band. Their erstwhile relationship -- mostly about sex -- deteriorated once Laramie became famous, mainly because he wanted to sleep with everything that moved. So Dorian left him to it. He wanted monogamy and forever, or nothing at all.

Now Laramie is back and in hot pursuit of Dorian once again. But Dorian is not making it easy. He can't, because his heart won't survive another round, especially if all Laramie wants is something casual like before. He's just not built that way.

It seems, though, that Laramie is determined to prove Dorian wrong, and there might be a little drummer boy in his future, after all. Dorian just has to decide whether to let his heart beat to Laramie's drum.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Jan 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781611527117

J.D. Walker

J.D. Walker likes to keep her stories short and sweet. A multi-published author, she is also a musician, artist, and lover of all things knit and crochet. For more information, visit lifebyjo.com/jdwalker.

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The Beat of His Drum

By J.D. Walker

Published by JMS Books LLC

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2015 J.D. Walker

ISBN 9781611527117

Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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The Beat of His Drum

By J.D. Walker

Caesar’s Flame will be performing here on New Year’s Day!

I froze, completely losing count of the number of guitar cables we had in stock. No. Fucking. Way. I gaped at my business partner, Evan Harper, who’d just rushed into the stockroom where I was doing inventory. It couldn’t be, not after so many years.

Are you shittin’ me?

"I know, right? He continued to babble, completely unaware of my inner turmoil. I couldn’t believe it myself, but I was trying to decide what to do about music and bookings that weekend, then lo and behold, they drop into my lap—figuratively, of course! They’re back in town and wanted to do their last gig at our place, before taking a long break. You know, a ‘local boys made good’ kinda thing."

I see. I cleared my throat, trying to buy some time and regain my equilibrium.

As much as I was pleased to have such a big name group performing in The Music Room—the venue that was attached to our store and set up for musical acts—Evan couldn’t have known how the path to fame for the act he’d just booked had impacted my erstwhile relationship with its drummer and band leader, Laramie Treble.

We’d met while the band was still doing the club circuit. Laramie had needed a new bass drum kick pedal, and he’d stopped by my store—Best Bargain Music—the business I’d just opened with Evan. The attraction had been instant on my part, and he wasn’t picky about who he slept with, which worked in my favor. We fucked around for a few years—the tall, sexy, dark-haired drummer, and me, the skinny, average-looking, and unpresuming music store co-owner.

I’d never expected him to notice me, someone so ordinary in every way, with no pretentions to anything except a well-run business. But he’d seemed to be okay with that. We never made anything official, but in my mind, this was it for me. I was blown away and head over heels. Laramie was the one, and I thought he must have felt the same way, too. Why else would he hang around with me all the time, yeah? I’d been so naïve.

Then the band was discovered, and fame changed the nature of our relationship, such as it was. Laramie’s already sizeable ego grew bigger, and he developed a wandering eye. Soon, it was apparent that he’d been merely biding his time with me, the music geek, until something