Sometimes you have to face the past to heal old wounds.
Craig Donaldson has been through a lot in his life. There’s one good thing that has come from it—his son. Owning his own business is hard but he’s making it work. Landing in the hospital after a car accident brings into his life someone he wasn’t sure he needed. The problem is, Craig isn’t positive he’s willing to expose himself to more wounds.
Dr. Hobert ‘Bobby’ Pearson loves his job at the hospital. Being the disappointment of his family isn’t something he is happy with. It seems as though when he gets close to someone he feels he could start a real relationship with, the past shows up and he’s again left alone. His family leaves fresh wounds in their wake. This new patient he has, however, hits all kinds of emotions inside him.
Will they be able to heal together? Or will past pain keep them apart?
Healing Their Wounds by Hayden West
Book 3 in the City of Fountains series
General Release Date: 29th March 2022
Word Count: 15,470
Book Length: NOVELLA
Genres: CONTEMPORARY, EROTIC ROMANCE, GAY, GLBTQI
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Craig leaned forward, his heart caught in his throat. Perspiration dripped down his face, and he shuddered as excitement thrummed through him. So close. Oh God, he was close. So close.
He tensed, words lodged in the back of his throat, almost ready to be released but Not. Quite. Yet. Fingers curved, digging for purchase on something, anything, around him.
A few more seconds. He could hold out. He wouldn’t let go until he was sure. That strain on his body didn’t matter two seconds later.
He erupted, launching up from the hard bleacher seat he’d been on as he watched his son and his team compete in the semi-finals of the Little League World Series.
“Yes!”
All around the parents and friends of the team were cheering beside him. His son, Cody, was twelve this year, and it was his last year to participate. And Cody’s double had allowed his teammate to get that winning run.
Craig’s legs were weak as he continued cheering. He wanted to sink back down to the seat, but wouldn’t. Tears burned his eyes as he watched all of his son’s teammates gather and cheer to celebrate their win.
“Congrats, Craig.”
He accepted the hug from the father of another player, Christopher.
“Same to you. This is great for them.”
The man crossed his arms and nodded. “Sure will help line up the women.”
Craig frowned. “They’re twelve.”
Christopher smirked. “Never too young to start.”
Craig disagreed. “Yeah, they are. And it’s not happening with my boy.”
The man’s wife dropped between them with a squeal. “What are you two talking about? Colleges that will come after them?”
“Something like that,” Christopher said.
Emily kissed Craig’s cheek. “Congratulations, Craig.”
“You too, Emily.”
The blonde bounced down a few more bleacher steps to continue chatting it up with other families. Their son was one of the pitchers on the team.
“I just mean,” Christopher continued, “I need him to know he should have a bitch on his arm, not be sucking dick, isn’t that right?”
Holding Christopher’s blue eyes, Craig clamped his mouth down on his initial response and weighed his words. The last thing he wanted to do was make the year difficult for his son.
“Right now? Right now, I’m going to be the supportive and very fucking proud father of my son. I’m not thinking of his choice in a partner, because he’s twelve.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “I’ll support my son regardless, because it’s not only his choice but as his parent, it’s mine to support and love him unconditionally.”
Leaving before he put his fist in the man’s face, he walked to the steps and made his way down, progress hampered by all the celebrating. Not that he minded.
Okay, I’m coming into this short read, right in the middle. I had no idea who these people were or anything about the previous stories, but it didn’t take anything away from this story, so I was thankful for that because I saw a single dad and…well….they’re hot, right?
In this one, it’s action from the second you open the book. We meet Craig, who is at his son’s little league game and they’ve just won. In the first few pages, you get a homophobic teammate’s dad and a terribly obvious, terrible mother of his own child. Both of these people and their hateful views seemed so out of the blue and it was a lot all at once, then, the next paragraph… an accident. So, it was a lot, all at once. In saying that…
Because it’s a quick read, we don’t get to know much about Dr. Pearson (Bobby) other than he seems outspoken and kind of invasive for a doctor. I found it kind of charming but putting myself in a patients place it seemed kinda weird to me. He spoke to Craig as if they were old friends and it didn’t feel like a patient/doctor relationship at all. Craig was also very cussy, and I’ll admit, I’ve got a mouth like a trucker, but it was all so overused and unnatural. Cody’s dialogue too… how old was this kid? 12 or 30? I’m unsure.
I had a hard time with Craig’s ex, Cody’s mother. I have a hard time believing that people actually act that way. That they say things like that out loud, knowing how stupid they sound. I was cringing at her character the entire time.
When the ex finds out that Cody is going to be on TV because of his baseball championship that is called “World Series Finals” or something like that, she all of a sudden wants to be in his life again, and even takes them all to court.
It was a quick read and angsty read, so if those are your things, I’d say this one is for you.
3 pieces of eye candy from me
Hayden West lives in the Pacific Northwest, enjoys being outdoors, and hanging out with friends when not working on the next novella to be released.
Find Hayden at their website and blog.
Author Links
Website: https://authorhaydenwest.wixsite.com/authorhaydenwest
Blog: https://authorhaydenwest.blogspot.com/
