A Thousand Cuts

By Eve Morton

When PI Luca Nolan accepts a case from a man looking for his lost cousin, he doesn't expect to find artist Daniel Merriweather so quickly -- and so attractive. As he surveys Daniel in gay-friendly Provincetown, Luca finds more of himself in Daniel than he does for his client, leading him into questionable gray areas in terms of his personal life and his private practice.

When Daniel discovers he's being watched, and Luca's put in a bad place that only reminds him of his past, will each man not let their past wounds dictate their future? Or will they fall victim to the death of a thousand cuts?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Dec 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781685506070

Book preview

A Thousand Cuts

By Eve Morton

Published by JMS Books LLC

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2023 Eve Morton

ISBN 9781685506070

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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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For RTM.

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A Thousand Cuts

By Eve Morton

Chapter 1

The morning I met Adam Cassius, I’d just gotten a paper cut. My secretary—or admin assistant as she preferred to be called—Leslie-Anne, handed me a notice that our building’s water and heat was going to be shut off for two days early next week, and it caught against the fleshy bit between my thumb and forefinger during our trade.

Ouch! I sucked the skin between my teeth, letting the rote notice fall to the floor. Fuck.

Oh, shoot. I’m sorry. Ick. Leslie-Anne made a face, wincing as if I’d shown her the latest grisly crime scene photo. She rose from her desk and went immediately to the small kitchen next to her office, where she kept Band-Aids and other items in an organized first aid kit.

I’m fine, I’m fine. I continued to suck the fleshy bit between my thumb and forefinger rather than caving for a Band-Aid, even though the blood reminded me of past surgeries. A moment later, she held up two kinds of bandages, one that was water-resistant and the other that had Paw Patrol on it. Really?

What? she said, and then beamed at the second Band-Aid. We get kids here sometimes. For custody cases. I figured if they cut themselves, they’d already been traumatized enough. Why not give them a little doggie for their boo-boo?

I’m not seven.

No. But you are a dog. She grinned proudly. Now stop being a Doberman and be a nice little greyhound as I fix you up.

I rolled my eyes, but let her tend to me. When I took the wound out of my mouth, it continued to bleed. She made another face as she examined the Band-Aids. Okay, this may not work. I don’t know if they bend that way.

I told you. Just let me—

Ah-ah. Bactine. Let me get that at least. You’ve been sucking on it and God knows what has been in your mouth. I mean that kindly, of course. She smiled again, disappeared, and returned with a green-capped bottle I recognized from my youth. I felt utterly ridiculous letting her tend to me like this, for something so minor, but as she went on and on about the bacteria in the human mouth being worse than a dog’s—a false statement, I knew after dating a vet and he told and showed me just how many infected hand injuries he saw from dogs alone—and I started to feel better.

Things had not been going smoothly this morning.