Sometimes he looks up and waves #midweektease #amwriting #MMRomance Dante

Hello, there and thank you for stopping by.

Today, I join the lovely Mid-Week Tease writing crew hosted by Sandra Bunino. The concept is simple. Share a teaser from your work-in-progress or published work.



Sandra, I hope you don't mind that I redid the MWT button for men. Please feel free to use it if you want. I can email you a copy.

As I am yet to be published, you will be getting my work-in-progress in the meantime.

This week I'm sharing from the first scene of my first WIP.

I should probably give you some background about this story but I'm such a pantser I don't know jack about the story yet until I write it. Does that make sense? LOL.

Anyway, here's what I know. It's an MM story. There's going to be romance and suspense and yes, it's going to be erotic. The lead character is Dante and this first scene is written in his POV. Eduardo Verastegui is my inspiration for Dante

I don't have a name for his love interest yet. But I'm sure it'll come to me when he makes his appearance. However I do have the inspiration for him in the form of Toni Sastre. 

I don't have a title either, so I'm naming it Dante for now.

Enjoy.

Prologue

Bang!

I bolt upright; my frantic gaze sweeps the room, disorientated by sleep. My prized possessions all lay in their proper place—toys in the box, books on the shelves and clothes in the closet. Mama insists every item be tidied away before I go to bed, despite a house full of people to cater for my every whim.

"You need to learn to take care of your things," she says all the time. I adore Mama. She is beautiful and kind, the most precious person to me, so her words are always wise especially to my ten-year-old mind.

Despite the lack of clutter in my room, I still feel as if something is off. I can't quite put my finger on it as I swing my legs over the side of the bed and pad to my bathroom to pee.

Rushing water from the WC flush sounds as loud as cascading waterfall, reminding me of the holiday we'd just returned from a week ago. Perhaps it's the silence. It feels strange that there's no noise coming from downstairs. Something's always going on in this house. I walk over to the window expecting to see one of the guards doing their rounds as usual.

The back lawn and garden is immersed in darkness and I can't see anyone. Taken aback, I lean across and grab my iPhone to check the time from the table next to my bed. Just getting to midnight. At this time, Beppe should be out there, the red butt of his cigarette glowing, smoke curling around him into the night sky.

"There's a reason these men are here," Papa said once, when I questioned the need for so much security. I couldn't understand why a bodyguard followed me around even when I just hung out with my friends until he explained. "I do very important work for our people and these men are here to protect us."

So, not seeing Beppe or anyone else out there shakes me up. My knees tremble. Every night I wake up and use the bathroom, I always feel safe when I look out of the window and see Beppe. Sometime he looks up and waves at me before I climb back into bed.

Tonight, instead of heading back to bed, I walk over to the door finally letting the unease I felt the moment I woke up to creep under my skin. Muscles tight, I flick on the light in the hallway.

"Mama," I call out as I stride down the hall. I expect to hear her response but silence greets me.

This quickens my footsteps and with heart racing I hurry to my parents' bedroom. Before I reach the door I hear a soft sound. It sounds like my mother but different. The noise terrifies me and I'm afraid to push the door open.

"Dante, bravery is not the absence of fear. It's about standing up and fighting even when you're afraid."

Memory of my father's words spur me on and I twist the door handle, pushing it back.

"Mama!" The word leaves my mouth in a scream as I rush towards her prone body lying in a pool of red liquid covering her favourite Persian rug.

"Mama, what's wrong? What happened?" I clutch her shoulders, trying to lift her up, thinking she must have slipped and fallen down.

She makes a gurgling sound and coughs up blood. It is then I realise something is terribly wrong and that she lay in a pool of blood not red wine. I turn around to shout for Papa and see a pair of black shoes and trousers before something hits my head and I black out.

I hope you enjoyed this teaser. Feel free to comment, critique, etc, etc. I welcome your feedback. Check out these mid-week teasers.