A Thousand Word Thursday Excerpt from H.A. Caine

An excerpt from From Love and Pain

Constantly getting the shit beaten out of him wasn't his idea of fun. Rarely did they ask him questions. It was as if they got off on causing other people pain. He prayed that he was the only one they were holding. It chilled him to think of anyone else being abused.

He sat there for God only knew how long as he thought of how he could escape. He didn't feel safe pinning all his hopes on outside forces rescuing him.

But he had no idea how he was going to get himself out of this mess.


Although they had untied his legs, they had attached a chain to his foot that connected to a bolt in the wall. There was enough lax in the chain that he could walk a few feet before the chain tugged at him.

Not that it mattered. Anytime he tried to stand on his own he collapsed onto the floor. He couldn't tell for sure, but he believed his free ankle was broken.

It was probably from one of those idiots stomping on it repeatedly.

He laughed at his own sarcasm, but it was a hollow, harsh grating sound that would send shivers down any sane man's spine.

The door opened.

As casual as could be, the newcomer grabbed a chair from outside the door and turning to face him, straddled it, resting his arms on the back of it. For a long minute he just sat there, staring at Jaxon.

"How are you feeling today?" the man asked in a pleasant tone.

Jaxon was incredulous. He may not be able to look in a mirror, but he felt like crap warmed over and probably looked worse, so he said the only thing he could think of.

“I feel like I just got the shit beaten out of me."

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29 year old Adrian ran away from an imprisoning and abusive household at the age of 19. For years he ran, living on the streets and in shelters, taking crappy jobs to save a little money. Ten years of struggling and now he is a successful partner of a security company. Under the guise of running the security company, Adrian and his best friend and the people who work for them help others who live unfortunately. Like Adrian, not one of his employees have a nice past. They're all running from something, never letting their guards down and they don't want others to suffer as they have. But Adrian makes the mistake of falling in love with a young man when he's 27. For a while, he gets to experience what it's like to be a normal man. He never thought he could be happy, but Jaxon makes him the happiest man in the world. Only it can't last and Adrian is forced to leave or risk Jaxon's life. But his demons caught up with him long before he realized and now no ones safe. Can Adrian save Jaxon before it's too late? And can Jaxon forgive him for walking away?

Find it here.