Santa Cruz Trilogy
The Santa Cruz Trilogy, unsurprisingly, takes place in Santa Cruz, California. Of course, there is a link between Santa Cruz and St. Louis, as you will find out in these books. Here you will encounter some characters who have had some tough pasts, and they have to get through the difficulties that come with that in order to grow and move on. Their partners are there to help them, even when they fall.
Diego Garcia doesn't expect his life to be turned upside down when he finds a beaten young man behind his garage. He simply thinks he’ll send him off to the police or the hospital and be done with it. However, things don’t work out as easily as he thinks they should. This guy doesn’t want to go to either place, and pleads with Diego to stay with him. He’s a little odd, and clings to him desperately, so what can he say but yes. Diego calls in some friends to help him and ends up in something bigger than he ever imagined. His life has always been rather tame, until Jun Tanaka comes into it. Jun needs someone badly, and Diego at first doesn’t know what to do. He realizes that he’s become that person to Jun, and he can’t just leave him alone.
Diego is left with person with unique vulnerabilities and a strong personality that shines through despite what has happened to him. He finds himself falling quickly, and steadily, in love with someone he shouldn't. He ends up being taken somewhere he never expected to go, and he loves every moment of it. Even with looming doom over them, something stirs in the very stars that threatens to break them apart.
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Content Warning: Non-Consensual Sexual Violence, Physical Abuse (past), Child Abuse (past).
When private investigator Conrad Marshal goes into the Dollhouse, what he thinks is an underage brothel, looking for missing kids, what he finds is something he never expected. Those in the brothel are not underage, but they are also not there by choice. Drugged and resembling made up dolls, they’re being guarded and kept from leaving.
Reaching out to the FBI and friends in Santa Cruz, he tries to hand off the victims and leave the scene behind like always. Things don’t work out the way he expects. Instead of leaving for his next case, he finds himself taking care of a volatile and traumatized young man named Taylor Owens who attaches to him. Conrad tries to keep his distance, but there is something there between them that he can’t ignore. Something intense and unbreakable. He’s the only one that Taylor will communicate with in a meaningful way, and Taylor is supposed to be the next “chosen” of the group by the nefarious people that were holding them. There’s more than just a brothel in the Dollhouse, and now Conrad has to figure out what is really going on.
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Content Warning: Non-Consensual Sexual Violence, Non-Consensual Bondage, Blood Fetish, Cult Ideology
Miguel Ramírez has spent three long years undercover getting into a position to bus a human trafficking ring wide open. He's worked hard and got himself into a trusted position few are able to do in this relatively new, but powerful, organization. When he's in the process, the sadistic head of the division decides to leave him some "entertainment" in the form of a young man he can't sell. Miguel is annoyed by the interference, but he takes the frightened Casey Ellis with him when he leaves.
Casey attaches to him and won't let anyone else near him, making the next few hours very difficult until the traumatized young man can be sedated safely. At first Miguel can't stand the idea of being involved in the long term, but eventually he starts to warm up to it. Then, he starts to feel things he doesn't understand, and at the same time, they are pulling the organization apart one piece at a time. Between Casey’s previous “owner” and his determination to reclaim his property, and a mysterious pale skinned man who claims to be Casey’s closest friend, Miguel can’t be sure exactly what’s going on. He knows one thing, though, and that’s that he’ll protect what’s his at all costs, damn all consequences.
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Content Warning: Non-Consensual Sexual Violence, Non-Consensual Sexual Slavery, Human Trafficking, Abuse, Non-Consensual Piercing and Body Modification