Bleeding Hearts
The sacrifices we make for people we love…
1. TORMENT I by Dylan Page
SYNOPSIS
How did I get here? Broken, bruised, and mentally shattered. For most of my life, my older stepbrother, Shay, was my hero, my rock, and my best friend. The one I knew I could always rely on. For many years, I accepted everyone and everything around me. But as I grew up, the veil was lifted, and I slowly came to understand how fucked up it all really is.
These men, who I considered uncles and close family friends, are members of the dominant MC, The Celtic Beasts. Shay is not only a proud member. He is the one they send in to do their dirty work. For some reason, this tough, muscled, terrifying guy, needs me to ground and comfort him. But I have always had bigger plans. Bigger dreams. I don’t want to be trapped here, in this life that is dark, bloody and violent. I want to get out, escape… but Shay has other plans for me.
What do you do when your protector becomes the very root of your torment?
2. TORMENT II by Dylan Page
SYNOPSIS
My dreams are gone. I’m trapped, controlled, and defeated. I made a deal that I have to stick to, if I want to keep everyone—including myself—safe. Shay has given me an ultimatum; be his or someone I love will pay the price. I’ve been trying to figure out how to survive my new life, but the constant demand to satisfy Shay to keep Manic at bay, is taking its toll.
As time passes, I find myself growing comfortable in my cage, and my priorities start to shift. But when secrets start to unveil themselves, I begin to question everyone around me. Who is lying? Who can I trust?
My protector turned into my tormentor, and now, he’s something I don’t know how to live without.
3. ASHES by Dylan Page
SYNOPSIS
Fate is as fickle as an unattended flame, you never know what’s going to happen—and sometimes all that’s left are the ashes.
Twice now my life has been altered by the choice of someone else. The first time I was ten; when my mom got married she moved us into a better neighborhood, which meant I had to leave behind everything and everyone I loved. The second time was six years later; when someone made the choice to drive instead of calling a cab, my life was once again altered and I had to move back to the place I left. Harley had always been a bad neighborhood, but things had gotten so much worse.
No one should walk down the streets alone after dark, and gangs ruled everything, including the classrooms. Then there were them; Vail, Lee, and Shaw. The three boys I grew up with. I cried over them for days after we moved away, the loss I felt was only overshadowed by the knowledge that they didn’t want me there. Once upon a time they tried to protect me from the hardships of our neighborhood. Now they are the hardship. But like the nursery rhyme we used to sing said, eventually, we all fall down.
4. MERCY by Dylan Page
SYNOPSIS
I am the dark notes of a song, the shadows at your back, the tears that fall from your eyes, the cool touch of the blade at your throat, the hot, burning bullet that pierces your skull. I am the writer of this story, I am the guide. The Director. I have led the pieces to their place on the board. In this arena, the game of life, I am the Master. And yet, I am nothing.
I have always believed I was nothing. One with no past. No memory. Nothing. Just nothing. And yet, I have all the power. I have all the control. I am the one who chooses who lives and who dies. I know how it will all end, because everything has fallen into place, just as I planned. I realize now what I have been all along. This whole time... I am death.
The battle for Ashland is about to begin!
5. ECHOES by Dylan Page
SYNOPSIS
I have a great life. Loving parents, siblings that I adore. I’ve never gone hungry, or known physical pain. I’ve suffered no trauma… And yet there is another side of me that is… different.
Where I wander, a shadow follows, something haunting and dark. It settles around my shoulders like a cloak, speaks to me when I’m alone, stares back at me from the mirror. My dark wavy hair, my silver eyes… they are reminders of him.
I am cursed. I am tainted. I don’t want to succumb to the urges that strike me. The impulses that scare me. I don’t want to be like him. And yet… A small part of me wishes I knew more. Because I feel like a part of him is very much here. I’m just afraid to let it take control, to have it twist me into something so polluted. That it ruins me. I don’t want to be someone others fear. Especially… her…
So I push it down, way down. I suffocate it. I smother it. Because I refuse to end up like him. Ruined, broken, and gone. I will not let it ruin me. And somehow, I WILL have her.