Inked Caffeine: Melrose and Vine by Monique Duclos 💕 Exclusive Excerpt, Book Tour and $15 Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (M/M Romantic Suspense)

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He brought a new light to my life that I didn't know I had, let alone one that I needed.

I was just your typical Starbucks barista without an interesting bone in my body. I liked to keep my head down and do my best to cruise through life uninterrupted, although my bright red hair made it almost impossible. Things took an interesting turn when I met Jimmy, an artist from the tattoo parlour down the street. Living and working in Hollywood, California, I met a lot of intriguing characters, but no one as intriguing as him. He brought a new light to my life that I didn't know I had, let alone one that I needed.

My past wasn't a great one, but I got out and made a new life for myself. And now, it felt like my future was looking better with Jimmy in it. I felt like life was finally worth living, until... everywhere you looked, something was on fire. The screaming was enough to make you go deaf and the scent of blood made you gag. My body was screaming in pain and I couldn't stop choking on all the smoke in the air. My lungs felt tight, and when I looked up, I couldn't decide if it was snowing or raining ashes. People were firing guns chaotically and I had never run so fast in my entire life. Jimmy jumped up to the roof of a parked car and I was quick to follow, bending over to catch my breath.

"Now where?" I panted.

“Was that Gloria?” she asked, smoke coming out of her nose as she spoke. I nodded, rubbing my face with my hands.

“What a nutbag,” she added, laughing and shaking her head.

Gloria was one of our recurring customers. She was in her late eighties; a short, plump old lady who had short term memory loss. She always ordered a tall decaf with cream and had the same comment on my hair every single day; her polite blue eyes gawking in awe. At first, it was annoying. When I first met her, I thought it was some sort of joke. Then I found out that it was an actual medical illness and it instantly stopped pissing me off. I was used to it now. My hair is a vibrant crimson red and it was not only Gloria who asked me if it was my natural colour or not; I got asked daily.

It was from my mom’s gene pool since my dad’s hair was blonde. But nobody knew that because nobody knew my parents. I never talked about them. I hadn’t seen them since I moved out, but that didn’t really phase me since I didn’t really get along with them when I was living at home. I always preferred to be left alone anyway. Plus, they had my older brother, Aaron, to obsess over. He was a spitting image of my dad, personality and all. He succeeded in school and was on his way to get his law degree.

I never applied for secondary education because of the turn my life took. I never had time, let alone the money. I moved out in the middle of grade twelve and found a cheap little apartment in Hollywood. It was nothing special, but it was home. Working at Starbucks wasn’t so bad either. At first, it was just something to keep me busy during the summer, but once I graduated high school, I stayed and I’d been here for six years now. Sad, I know, but it helped pay the bills.

“Hey, so I gotta leave to go pick up Jason from school. You good to shut this place down?” Angela asked, tossing her cigarette and stepping on it.

I nodded. “Yeah, no problem.” “Cool. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Thanks, Dallas!” she smiled, grabbing her purse and kicking the door closed behind her. I sighed and sat down, resting my chin in the palm of my hand. Closing time was just around the corner, so I started cleaning tabletops, tucking in chairs and began to clean all the machines. I removed the remaining food from their displays and packed them away in a take-out box for the group of homeless people I passed every day on my walk home. Nine o’clock came around and the final customer left. After I told them to have a good night, I cleaned their table, tucked their chair in and then started flicking off lights.

Monique lives in Southern Ontario with her high school sweetheart and her two lop eared rabbits. When she’s not writing, she’s getting tattoos, dyeing her hair, or travelling. She is an avid concert-goer and has way too many houseplants.