Diverse Reader: Guest Post: TL Travis

Diverse Reader is really happy to have author TL Travis hanging out with us today. She's here talking about what made her want to write and showing off her work. Enjoy!

The first question everyone asks is, “What made you want to write?” For some, it’s been a lifelong dream of theirs. For me, it was a literal dream and from it came book one of The Elders Trilogy – The Awakening. Such a befitting title for the life changing event it spawned.

I was a late bloomer in the literary community in more ways than one, having been forty-seven when my first book was published which was Sebastian, the Beginning. It’s novelette one of five from the Sebastian Chronicles. Since then my erotic web weaving has spun out of control and my nineteenth publication hits Amazon on 5/3/19. What Works For Us is a FF, light BDSM erotica short.

My love of LGBTQ+ romance has grown exponentially over these last three years, and it’s rare that I read anything that doesn’t fall under that umbrella. Everything I write is either erotica or erotic romance, but my favorite genre is MM.

The bestsellers I have under my wing are Greyson Fox, Forgive Me Father and my beloved boys in the metal band world for which the series was named for – Social Sinners. Here’s an excerpt from Social Sinners 3 – A Heart Divided which is about their bass player Mickey Payne and the polyamorous relationship he’s in. It’s available now on Amazon smarturl.it/SocialSinners3:

My mind was going a mile a minute during the short drive to the hospital, and before I knew it, we were being dropped off outside the emergency entrance. The sounds my dress shoes made on their freshly mopped floors echoed through the empty corridor as I stormed in. When we reached the admissions desk, I still hadn’t found my words, and I was thankful Fizzbo had a better grip on the situation than I did.

“River Matthews’ room please,” he told the elderly woman behind the desk. Easton must’ve given him all the information we needed. “Mickey Payne is on the list.”

“He’s on the fourth floor, east wing, room four twenty-seven,” she said to us before turning back to her computer screen.

They must train these people to remain stoic no matter the situation.

“Come on,” Fizzbo tugged on my jacket sleeve, “elevator’s this way.”

While I didn’t know the guy, I was happy to have his grounding presence nearby. My heart was pounding in my ears, and my head was a hazy mess of errant thoughts. I had no idea what I was doing let alone what I would say when I saw them.

Exiting the elevator on the fourth floor, we ran right into an extremely frantic Benny.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he hollered at me.

Can’t say I didn’t deserve his anger, but now was not the time nor where we in the place for it.

“Easton told me he was coming, not you.”

“Benny,” I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, “I love you, but you need to shut the fuck up. Where’s River?”

He stood there blinking, staring blankly at me, so I shook him again.

“Benny, focus!”

“I don’t know. The doctors said something about his heart, and then potentially opening him up. As soon as they left the room, he yanked off the sensors and took off.”

“Fuck!” Exasperated, I ran my hands through my hair scanning the hallways for any sign of him. It was as if I expected my presence to pull him out of hiding.

“You, you love me?” His tiny voice stuttered, drawing me back to him.

“Yes Benny, I love you. Now let’s go find our man.” The words flowed effortlessly from me, why it took me so long to finally say them I’d never know.

We took the stairs down two at a time, thinking he may be cowering somewhere along the way, but came up empty. Floor after floor, no River. Hospital security was scouring every nook and cranny as well. Fizzbo was hot on our heels when we finally located him, cowering in the corner of the play area in the children’s ward.

“River!” Benny called out, running toward him. “You scared the shhh, crap out of me.” He quickly corrected himself, eyeing the faces of the adults and children staring back at him. I’m sure their parents were more than thankful for this. They already seemed uneasy about River hiding here.

He still hadn’t noticed I was there. “I remember being here when I was a kid…” he trailed off as his eyes found mine. “What are you doing here?” he yelled, commanding the attention of the floor. The only sound was the SpongeBob cartoon playing in the background. “You,” he ran up to me, poking my chest with his bony finger, “we welcomed you into our lives, and you treated us like groupies. We deserve better than that!”

“Yes, you do,” I agreed, taking his hand in mine, “for that, I’m sorry, and it’ll never happen again. Please let me make it up to you.”

By this point his anger had turned to hurt, tears ran down his pale face. Tears my dumb ass caused. Cradling his trembling cheeks, I kissed each in turn. “I love you, River. We can fix this, no matter the cost. I’ll do whatever it takes to get you healthy, but we need to get you back to your room first.” Scanning the area, I saw several doctors and nurses standing nearby, a wheelchair poised at the ready.

“You hurt us!” His angered scream ran through me like ice water in my veins.

“Yes I did, and it was the worst thing I’ve ever done, and I can promise you it won’t happen again.”

“You rejected us like our hearts didn’t matter,” he whispered, staring at the ground.

“And I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to both of you if you can find it in your hearts to give me another chance. Please, River?” I wasn’t above begging at this point, I’d do anything to not only get them back but to get River well again.