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What Hides Inside is now available!

That’s right, folks, book 2 of the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series is now ready and waiting to be groped!
Oops, I mean purchased, of course. Heh :P

Sam, Bo and the gang have become very special people to me. I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoy recording their adventures. Here’s the blurb and an excerpt for you. Happy reading!

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Sam Raintree’s life changed forever when he started his dream job with Bay City Paranormal Investigations. In one fateful week, he learned he was psychic, discovered he possessed the power to open interdimensional portals, and accidentally let loose a horror like he’d never imagined. He also began a relationship with his boss, Dr. Bo Broussard, a man who’d been in the closet all his life.

Now, three months later, the burden of secrets has become too heavy for a fragile relationship to bear. Bo isn’t ready to come out, and Sam is tired of hiding. When Bo hires a new investigator, Dean Delapore, Sam is intrigued in spite of himself. Dean is bisexual, attractive, and very interested in Sam.

During the intense investigation of South Bay High School, from which three students have mysteriously disappeared, Sam and Dean draw closer together, while Bo pushes Sam away despite their feelings for one another. When the investigation erupts and Sam comes face-to-face with his worst nightmare, he has to decide whether to fight for Bo’s love, or let him go.

Armed with hard hats, two-way radios and powerful flashlights, the team filed carefully down the steep, narrow steps into the main tunnel. It was even hotter than before, the air ripe and humid. It was like trying to breathe warm honey. Sam pulled at the collar of his sweatshirt.

“Goddamn,” David gasped, dots of perspiration already popping up on his face. “I hope it’s a little cooler in the side tunnels.”

“Me too.” Securing his hard hat on his head, Andre pulled a notepad and pen out of his jeans pocket. “I’ve got the notes covered, Bo.”

“Good, thanks.” With a quick smile at Andre, Bo surveyed the rest of the team. His gaze met Sam’s for a heartbeat, then skittered away. “Remember, one hour, or call.”

Bo turned and strode down the south leg of the tunnel, with Cecile and Andre scurrying in his wake. Resisting the urge to watch Bo’s graceful figure as he moved away, Sam followed David and Dean down the north leg.

The tunnel grew warmer as they went. As they stepped through the ragged hole in the brick wall and entered the side tunnel, the temperature increased noticeably. The heat felt thick and viscous. The smell of mold and damp earth left a bitter tang on the back of Sam’s tongue. He pulled the notebook and pen from his back pocket.

“Jesus,” David swore, mopping his brow with the tail of the sweatshirt he’d taken off and tied around his waist. “What the hell’s down here, a volcano?”

“Okay, I can’t take this, y’all excuse me, but…” Shoving his flashlight into his back pocket, Dean tossed his hard hat on the ground and stripped off his thin sweater. An expression of blissful relief spread over his face as he tied the arms of the sweater around his hips and put the hard hat back on. “That’s better.”

Sam feigned interest in a gouge on the earthen wall. I won’t look, I won’t look, he promised himself, then immediately broke his silent vow by darting a glance at Dean from under his eyelashes.

The man was hot, no doubt about it. Hot, intelligent, open and giving, and an all-round good person. A perfect partner. The thought gave Sam a sharp pang for what he and Bo would never have together.

An elbow in his ribs brought Sam abruptly out of his thoughts. He blinked at Dean. “What?”

Dean smiled. “You’re doing it again.”

Sam licked his lips, trying not to notice Dean’s clean, masculine scent, or the way his skin gleamed in the glow of the flashlights. “Doing what?”

“Thinking about him.” Leaning closer, Dean dropped his voice down low. “I’m sorry, Sam. I’d make it better if I could.”

“I know.” Sam managed a halfhearted smile. “Thanks.”

“Any time.” Laying a hand on Sam’s arm, Dean squeezed briefly before wandering over to where David crouched against the wall.

Sam drew a few deep breaths, composing himself before he joined them. He didn’t want David to read the heartache on his face, and he didn’t want either of them to notice his annoyingly persistent attraction to Dean.

“We could set up cameras at any point along here,” David said, rising and brushing dirt off his hands. “Thank God for tripods. This damp air’s gonna be bad enough, I hate to think what sitting on the ground would do to the cameras.”

“Do we have enough extension cord?” Sam played his flashlight beam over the walls. Patches of fungus sprouted from the dirt, giving off a strong, musty odor. Sam wrinkled his nose.

David shrugged. “I hope so. I picked up some more on my way home yesterday, who the hell knows if it’s enough. If not I guess we don’t get any video.”

Pointing his flashlight beam down the tunnel, Dean peered into the dense darkness. “I can’t see the end of this thing, y’all. We should hustle if we want to get done with this in an hour.”

“Yeah, the sooner we get out of here the better,” David said.

“We still have to come back with the EMF detectors and thermometers and stuff,” Sam reminded him. The thought was not pleasant.

“Don’t remind me,” David grumbled. “Come on.”

The three of them plodded methodically down the tunnel, sweeping every inch of it with their lights to be sure they didn’t miss anything. About ten yards in, a section of high, irregular ceiling and a significant narrowing of the passageway marked where the partial collapse of the tunnel had occurred decades before. The tunnel opened up again after one hundred feet or so.

Sam let his mind expand just a little, feeling cautiously for the sense of wrongness he’d felt before. It was there, a ribbon of cold menace winding through the heat of the tunnel. He backed off as fast as he could, slamming shut the strange door in his mind that let him connect with whatever inhabited the other side.

David glanced at him with a knowing look in his eyes. “You feeling it again?”

“Yeah.” Sam’s mouth felt dry and dusty, his head pounding from the brief contact with the thing. “It’s strong here. I barely even tried, and I still felt it.”

“You didn’t have to try in Oleander House,” David pointed out.
“You, Andre and Cecile all felt it without trying at all.”

“Yeah, but it’s different here. More focused, or something. I have to reach out to it to pick it up, but when I do it’s…” Sam tapped his pen against the notepad, trying to find the words to describe what he’d sensed. “It’s sharper, and more localized. It’s like there’s a single point where it’s coming from, rather than all over the place like it was at Oleander House. I’m definitely getting a stronger sense of it here than I did in the main tunnel.”

Tilting his head to one side, Dean gazed thoughtfully at Sam. “That’s interesting. I had no idea that psychic phenomena strengthened or dissipated proportionate to distance.”

Sam shrugged. “I don’t know if they do or not, normally. Maybe this is different because what Cecile, Andre and I are picking up here has an actual, physical source.”

“The dimensional doorway, if that’s what it is.” Dean nodded, scratching his belly with one hand. “Makes sense.”

“Guys, this is interesting, but can we move a little faster? I’m dying here.” David mopped his flushed face again and gave Sam and Dean a pleading look.

Sam couldn’t help laughing. Working with David and Dean, he decided, was the perfect way to forget his hurt, at least for a little while.

They hadn’t gone much further when the tunnel began to curve to the right. David frowned. “I hope this thing doesn’t start branching off. If it does, I—”

“Shhhh.” Dean held up a hand, stopping David’s protest. When he spoke, his voice was barely audible. “Y’all hear that?”

“What?” Sam whispered. “I didn’t hear anything.”

Listen, Dean mouthed silently, his gaze fixed on the place where the tunnel arced. Sam held his breath and listened. And heard it.

A movement. Scuffling noises, and something that sounded like muffled speech. Adrenaline rushed through Sam’s veins, making the blood pound in his ears. He shot a wide-eyed glance at Dean and David.

“Someone’s there,” Sam murmured as softly as he could. “What should we do?”

David’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Go see who—or what—it is.”

“Crap,” Dean breathed. To Sam’s shock, Dean’s hand clamped onto his left wrist, holding tight. “Didn’t bargain on this, guys. I’m scared shitless.”

“Me too.” David drew a deep breath and blew it out. Flashlight held out in front of him like a weapon, he crept forward, hugging the wall. Sam followed, with Dean still clinging to his wrist.

Those were the longest seconds of Sam’s life. His pulse raced as he wondered what waited for them around the bend. Please don’t be one of those things, he silently pleaded.

“Ready?” David whispered.

“Fuck no.” Dean pressed closer to Sam. His heart thudded against Sam’s arm. “Let’s do it.”

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If you enjoyed this excerpt, why not go buy the book? And don’t forget to check out book 1 of the series, Oleander House!