Heartache Spoken Here Read online

  Suncoast Society

  Heartache Spoken Here

  Stuart moves to Florida because he knows being out as gay and kinky won’t be possible around his family in Iowa. It’s a new start for him, and he’s already made a kinky friend online. Now all he has to do is find the nerve to get out in real life.

  Jeff has had nothing but bad luck in love lately. He’s fluent in heartache and finally listens when friends tell him he needs to do something different.

  Brandon faces a delicate balancing act between being the father of a brilliant teenaged daughter and trying to find a subby guy who will accept he’s a package deal. He’s not just alone, but lonely, and wants more than pick-up play at Venture.

  When Stuart realizes he’s been catfished, he’s mortified. But is it a blessing in disguise? Can the three men find what they’ve all been looking for in each other, or will heartache continue to be their primary language?

  Genre: Alternative (M/M/M, Gay), BDSM, Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 43,581 words

  HEARTACHE SPOKEN HERE

  Suncoast Society

  Tymber Dalton

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  HEARTACHE SPOKEN HERE

  Copyright © 2017 by Tymber Dalton

  ISBN: 978-1-64010-438-9

  First Publication: July 2017

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2017 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at

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  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  DEDICATION

  This one’s for JillyBean, for suggesting the bad guy’s name. Huge thanks to my editor, Pat, for a really funny line. And, as always, to Hubby and Sir.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Tymber Dalton is the wild-child alter-ego of author Lesli Richardson. She lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”) and too many pets. Active in the BDSM lifestyle, the two-time EPIC award winner is also the bestselling author of over one hundred books, including The Reluctant Dom, The Denim Dom, Cardinal’s Rule, the Suncoast Society series, the Love Slave for Two series, the Triple Trouble series, the Coffeeshop Coven series, the Good Will Ghost Hunting series, the Drunk Monkeys series, and many more.

  She loves to hear from readers! Please feel free to drop by her website and sign up for updates to keep abreast of the latest news, views, snarkage, and releases. You can also find all of her Siren-BookStrand releases under all four of her pen names on her author page on the BookStrand site.

  Also, if you feel like it, honest reviews are greatly appreciated! They really help with a book’s visibility. Thank you!

  www.tymberdalton.com

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  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Brooke and her men are featured in Broken Arrow (Suncoast Society 22). While the books in the Suncoast Society series are standalone works which may be read independently of each other, the recommended reading order to avoid spoilers and to not miss any backstory information is as follows:

  1. Safe Harbor

  2. Cardinal’s Rule

  3. Domme by Default

  4. The Reluctant Dom

  5. The Denim Dom

  6. Pinch Me

  7. Broken Toy

  8. A Clean Sweep

  9. A Roll of the Dice

  10. His Canvas

  11. A Lovely Shade of Ouch

  12. Crafty Bastards

  13. A Merry Little Kinkmas

  14. Sapiosexual

  15. A Very Kinky Valentine’s Day

  16. Things Made Right

  17. Click

  18. Spank or Treat

  19. A Turn of the Screwed

  20. Chains

  21. Kinko de Mayo

  22. Broken Arrow

  23. Out of the Spotlight

  24. Friends Like These

  25. Vicious Carousel

  26. Hot Sauce

  27. Open Doors

  28. One Ring

  29. Vulnerable

  30. The Strength of the Pack

  31. Initiative

  32. Impact

  33. Liability

  34. Switchy

  35. Rhymes With Orange

  36. Beware Falling Ice

  37. Beware Falling Rocks

  38. Dangerous Curves Ahead

  39. Two Against Nature

  40. Home at Last

  41. A Kinkmas Carol

  42. Ask DNA

  43. Time Out of Mind

  44. Happy Valenkink’s Day

  45. Splendid Isolation

  46. Similar to Rain

  47. Happy Spank Patrick’s Day

  48. Fire in the Hole

  49. Pretzel Logic

  50. This Moody Bastard

  51. Walk Between the Raindrops

  52. Rub Me Raw

  53. Any World That I’m Welcome To

  54. Heartache Spoken Here

  Some of the characters in this book appear in or are featured in previous books in the Suncoast Society series. All titles available from Siren-BookStrand.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  About the Author

  Author's Note

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Landmarks

  Cover

  HEARTACHE SPOKEN HERE

  Suncoast Society

  TYMBER DALTON

  Copyright © 2017

  Chapter One

  “Did you decide what you want for dinner?”

  Emma stared down at her phone, her thumbs a blur of activity as she typed.

  Brandon took a deep breath and tried again. “Emma, did you decide?”

  “What?”

  “Dinner.” He wanted to snatch the phone from her hands and toss it out the window. Except he paid for it.

  And that would likely piss her off.

  “Sushi’s fine.”

  “Okay.” He drove for a few more minutes. “What’s so important you can’t spend at least a little time looking at your old man?”

  Cue the mega-sarcastic, thermonuclear eye-roll. “I’m tex
ting with Grace.”

  “Won’t you see her at school tomorrow?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Honey, I know you hate spending time with me, but—”

  “I don’t hate spending time with you, Dad.”

  “Sure feels like it.”

  She finally put the phone down and stared at him. “I didn’t get to talk to her today and I wanted to catch up about the weekend.”

  “I’d like to catch up with you, too, you know. I haven’t seen you all weekend.” It was now Monday evening, and she’d spend it and Tuesday night with him. Next week would be Monday through Wednesday nights. She spent two weekends a month with him, and two with her mom.

  The irony that when she wasn’t with him she’d text him practically non-stop on the weekends, and in the evenings between getting out of school and her bedtime, wasn’t lost on him.

  His digital daughter.

  “I don’t want to go to that stupid thing this weekend.”

  “What stupid thing?”

  “The stupid thing Pat signed us up for. Some weekend boat trip out into the Gulf.”

  “Then don’t go. You’re old enough to stay home by yourself. Or come home with me.”

  “Mom said I have to go because it’s two nights. Plus they bought the tickets for me and the Goober without even bothering to ask me if I wanted to go. It’s a ‘family’ thing.”

  She stared out the windshield for a moment. “She knows I hate boats. I told her and Pat that, and they told me oh, no, you’ll love this, don’t be so melodramatic. It’s a whole stupid weekend thing, from Friday night until Sunday afternoon.”

  Emma did hate boats. With a passion. She got seasick on a pool raft. They couldn’t even do any rides at Disney that involved water.

  Which was ironic, because she was on her high school’s swim team. And she never got motion sickness in a car.

  “Besides, I hate the Goober. It’s bad enough the little shit sneaks into my room, and now I have to share a room on a boat with him?”

  “Language.”

  “Fine. Little snot.”

  “Is he still doing that?” The Goober was her nickname for Pat’s son from his second marriage, thirteen-year-old Corey. Pat’s two older kids from his first marriage were over eighteen and out on their own.

  “Yes. I caught him in there this morning. I swear if I catch him setting up a camera or something again, I’ll hit him next time, Dad. I swear I will.”

  Brandon shoved back a wave of anger. “Wait, what? A camera? Again?”

  “Yeah. He had an old cell phone in his hand when I went to eat breakfast this morning, and he didn’t have it in his hand when I caught him coming out of my room. I found it on my dresser behind some stuff, turned on and filming.”

  “Did you tell your mom?”

  “Yeah. She took Pat’s side, of course, and went easy on him. Said the kid was just kidding and didn’t understand. I told them he was going to need new front teeth if he did it again.”

  “What happened to the phone?”

  “I slammed it onto the tile floor in his bathroom before I flushed it down his bathroom toilet.” She smiled. “Backed up the toilet, too. Pat had to snake the thing. He was starting to yell at me when I stormed out to catch my ride to swim practice.”

  He held out a fist to bump with her. “That’s my girl.”

  He’d just pulled into the parking lot of their favorite sushi restaurant and found a spot when Emma spoke again.

  “Can I come live with you, Dad? Please?”

  He didn’t shut the engine off, so they could sit and talk with the AC running. “The last time you asked that, and I went to the attorney and started the paperwork, you changed your mind and backed out. It really made things bad for me with your mom for a while.”

  Not just bad, but so bad he had to get his attorney involved again to drag his ex-wife into court to tell her to knock it off. Emma had also been thirteen at that time. Hence why he now also paid for Emma’s cell phone by himself, so Tracey couldn’t take it away from her.

  If Tracey did, she’d be violating a court order and he could get her found in contempt of court.

  Emma studied her hands. “I know. She guilt-tripped me and begged me not to, made me feel bad. Started crying.” She finally looked up at him. She had his blue eyes and brown hair, even though she favored her mother in the face. “Pat really worked on her to get her to keep me around.”

  More alarms went off in his head. “Why?” Pat could barely stand Emma, from what he’d gathered and witnessed himself.

  “I don’t know. Some weird deal with his parents. He’s trying to get them to give him his part of his inheritance now or something. I think he’s going to try to claim they need it to help pay for my swim expenses. Which is bullshi-crap.”

  Brandon suspected it had more to do with the child support Brandon paid Tracey every month, since Tracey didn’t get alimony from him because he’d filed for divorce before they’d been married for ten years. If Emma lived with him full-time, according to the terms of their divorce decree, Tracey would have to start paying him child support.

  “Has Pat ever tried anything…inappropriate with you?”

  She snorted. “No. He’d be in jail if he did.” Her smile faded. “But I’m not sure the Goober isn’t on his way to a perp walk. He’s creepy. I hate him. And he’s around all the time now so I can’t even get away from him when I’m there.”

  “I thought Corey lived with his mom?”

  “Two weeks ago, she showed up one night with all his stuff and told Pat since he refused to work with her and pay to take him to counseling, he could deal with him. Then Mom ordered me to my room so I couldn’t hear what it was he did this time.”

  This was news. “Why didn’t you tell me this when it happened?”

  Pink flowed into her cheeks. “Mom asked me not to.”

  He tipped his head back, taking deep breaths, struggling not to explode. He got it, Tracey wasn’t exactly happy with him when he’d come out to her and filed for divorce. He’d been the love of her life, and she’d been a really bad decision on his part to try to force himself to live for parental approval when he shouldn’t have.

  He regretted hurting her, but they had a daughter together. And dammit, it’d been over seven years now, plus Tracey had remarried.

  The least Tracey could do was pretend to adult for Emma’s sake.

  “Is there anything else you mom has told you not to tell me that’s relevant to what we’re discussing now? And you know I don’t mean personal stuff between her and Pat, unless it specifically impacts you.”

  “No, just that.”

  Brandon had hated Tracey’s new husband, Pat, on first sight, but he’d kept his mouth shut because, hello, he didn’t have any room to talk. Not to mention he’d hoped Tracey getting remarried would calm her down and make her less prone to take her anger out on him because of her own insecurities.

  Still, this was his daughter.

  “Okay, so let’s do this—get through this weekend with your mom. If you still feel this way next week—”

  “I will.”

  “If,” he continued, “then you have to sit down with your mom and tell her yourself. And stand your ground with her if you really mean it. After a couple of weeks, if you still want to live with me full-time, then we’ll go see Ed and do the paperwork.”

  “She’s going to fight me on it.”

  “I know she will. But you’re older now. She can’t force you to live with her at this point. You’ll be sixteen in a couple of months. Plenty old enough for the judge to take your feelings into account. But those are my terms.”

  “I can’t just move in?”

  “Sweetheart, I love you. I will do anything for you. But you threw me under the bus last time, and I warned you then that there are repercussions. If you are serious about living with me, all you have to do is tough it out for a couple of weeks. I don’t think that’s too much to ask considering what happened last time. Trus
t has to flow both ways. If you feel you are physically in danger, from Corey or Pat or you mom, that’s different, and I’ll get Ed to file an emergency order.”

  She sighed. “No. Corey’s a perv, but I could still pound him if I had to.”

  “Then I don’t think my terms are unreasonable, under the circumstances.”

  “Are you dating any guys?”

  “Not right now, no. But that’s something else you need to remember. I’m hoping that, eventually, I’ll meet a guy and fall in love and get married.”

  She grinned. “Pat’s parents will blow their tops.”

  Somehow, he managed to hold back his anger. “I honestly don’t care what Pat’s parents think. They are not a part of my life. So, do we have a deal? You talk to your mom next week after the weekend trip?”

  “Yeah.” She shoved her phone into her purse. “Sorry I was ignoring you, Dad.”

  Emma had entered that age range his friends had warned him about, where he’d want to hug her one minute and strangle her the next.

  At least she kept her grades up. And, as far as he knew, they didn’t have any issues with her about things like smoking, drinking, or drugs. She was too concerned about her swimming performance to allow those kinds of things in her life right now. She was hoping to earn college scholarships in both academics and swimming.

  They finally walked inside and were shown to a booth. While they were perusing the menu list, Emma didn’t look up as she said, “So you’ll start dating?”

  He laid his order sheet on the table. “I haven’t stopped dating. I just haven’t met a guy I feel like dating lately. If I meet an eligible guy I’m interested in, sure. Why?”

  “Then I won’t be cramping your style?”

  This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have with her, yet he knew if he tried to shut it down, that would be the fastest way for her to keep pursuing it.