BLOG TOUR and GUEST POST: Ki Brightly of 'Trust Trade'
Title: Trust Trade
Series: Gem City Grit #1
Author: Ki Brightly
Published: January 27, 2017
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Bree Archer
Genre: Erotic Romance; Contemporary Romance
Length: 340 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M
About Trust Trade
Life hasn’t been good to Jeb Birchman. When he attempted to escape his abusive, zealot father, he found himself on the streets, making a living the only way he knew how, the victim of more violent men—one of whom orchestrates a series of vicious attacks that leave Jeb deaf. Now that he’s aged beyond his latest client’s interest, Jeb knows he needs to escape his risky lifestyle before it’s too late. Seeing one last chance for himself, he earns a GED and enrolls in college.
Freddy Williams enjoys a life that couldn’t be more different from what Jeb has survived. He loves sports, being a personal trainer, and hanging out with friends. The son of deaf parents, Freddy is an outspoken advocate of the Deaf community and works as an interpreter at his college. When he meets Jeb at the bookstore, he’s struck by how attractive he is, and as they get to know each other, he finds Jeb’s good heart just as appealing. By the time he learns of Jeb’s past, it’s only a few steps behind them, and Freddy must make a choice between school and his familiar routine and protecting the man he’s falling in love with.
Hello readers!
First, I would like to thank Kimmer’s Erotic Book Banter for having me as a guest today. I always have a lot of fun going around, writing these posts, and meeting new people. I would also like to take a second to thank Bree Archer for the absolutely gorgeous book cover she came up with for Trust Trade. It would still be a great book without it, but her art is the icing on the cake. My newest book, Trust Trade, was released on January 27th.
Trust Trade is probably my darkest themed book to date. Jeb Birchman kept himself alive as a street hustler for a while and then after fleeing Philadelphia found himself living as a house boy to a much older, wealthier man. Being a houseboy was head and shoulders above what he’d experienced on the streets, so even though it wasn’t perfect, he also kept his head down and didn’t complain. Didn’t flinch, even when things got bad.
It’s not until things get ugly for someone else he loves, his “sort of stepson” Max, that he can even imagine himself calling the cops. No one living on the edge of society ever goes to the cops if they can help it.
One of the biggest challenges of writing Trust Trade was probably writing the police. I have a healthy respect for the police, as well as the usual paranoia, especially when I’m driving down the road and a cop car pulls up behind me. I would say that a good bit of my feelings about policemen were shaped early on in my life. When I was a kid I lived in the country, and let’s be real, there’s not a lot to get into when you’re surrounded by woods and fields. One night I took my grandmother’s car joy riding…at around three in the morning. I was twelve at the time. Of course, I wasn’t always the sharpest crayon in the box, so I decided to drive the car into town. Now, before I finish this story, you should also know I was a good student, didn’t ever get into trouble. (Or at least, I didn’t get caught.) That night I was stupid enough to drive the car all the way through town and past a local cop who knew my grandparents. He realized it wasn’t either of them driving the car so late at night. He followed me and put on the lights.
I didn’t stop.
Heart racing, fingers sweaty and tight on the wheel—it was my first time driving as well—I had some grand idea that I could outrun the cops and get the car home before anyone ever knew I was missing. (Of course, they already had the plates, but I didn’t think about that at the time. My criminal career was very new.) I took them on a very exciting, thirty miles per hour, car chase on some back roads that ended when a deer jumped out in front of my car and I hit it. I wiped out, nearly sending the car over a fifty-foot drop. I literally could have died that night.
The cop who arrested me was extremely nice. He didn’t cuff me or pat me down or anything. I was almost disappointed to not be getting the full criminal experience. He was a cousin of my mothers. (Okay, maybe Officer Wright does have some real-life inspiration.) He chatted with me and drove me to the police station where I sat and absolutely refused to give them my phone number. See, I knew what they didn’t. My grandma was going to kill me when I got home, so I figured I would stay in the nice, safe police station, forever, until I was old enough to leave and never come back.
Eventually someone found the number and called her, but she told them they were crazy. I was at home in bed. Please stop calling her. It took two more calls to establish that yes, her car was missing and yes, I was not where I was supposed to be.
The next day was probably one of the longest of my life. I did chores on no sleep. Chores upon chores. But really, I can’t say I didn’t deserve it.
Eventually, for my little escapade, I ended up with three months of community service. Since it was a very small town I got to spend it at the police station, cleaning the police station. They literally ran out of things for me to do after the first month and I sat around, hanging out, annoying the police officers and the occasional town worker that passed through on their way to do something, presumably, useful.
I got to see the good side of the cops in the station: the joking pleasant side, but I also got to hear some of the less pleasant things they had to say about people. How judgmental they could be. How they “hated” certain types of people. Since it was such a small town there wasn’t a lot for them to do, mostly they ended up handing out fines and some of the cops were pretty bitter about it. A few of the men who came to our small town from bigger cities knew when they had a good thing going and didn’t complain.
After I served my extremely un-arduous community service, they sealed my juvenile record, and it was like none of it ever happened, so long as I didn’t screw up again. I happily did my best to make sure I kept my nose clean.
This experience informed my writing of cops more than anything else.
I’ve written policemen before. Those of you who have read The Paranaturalist and The Shape of Honey may remember Officer Wright. He’s a decent guy who works for The Ripley Sheriff’s department. He’s a nice guy. I’ve also written assholes, if you remember the detective at the river in The Paranaturalist. For The Paranaturalist I occasionally consulted a friend of mine who is a cop on the finer points of what would and would not be illegal, but I never really tried to model my characters after him or any other person I knew. I try to make sure that when I’m writing policemen and policewomen I’m not writing Hollywood stereotypes and caricatures, but real, live people.
Cops are real people too.
That being said, in Trust Trade there are a lot of cops, given the nature of the storyline. I would say of all of them Archie Sellers most resembles my ideal of a 1950’s sleuth. He’s not a caricature, but by far he comes closest to a mythical figure. He’s not a private investigator like the grizzled old cop in the back of my mind, but he is older, given a lot of respect, and in charge. He’s been around the block and gives off an air of someone who could happily dispense wisdom (or chew you out for not following orders).
Kare Eckland is a sweet guy who works a beat and we first meet him when he responds to a call at Jeb’s apartment. He likes helping people, but maybe doesn’t follow rules and regulations as much as he should. Maybe a few elements of Kare are evolved from a cop that I’ve met once or twice, casually, at Starbucks. He was kind enough to answer some questions for me one day. He was nearing retirement and had a very happy go lucky attitude. I got the impression that someone would have to likely be doing something exceptionally illegal for him to take the time to pull them over.
Jolliss is a strong silent type. He’s a little shy and takes a rotation at the safe house where Jeb and Freddy are staying, for his own reasons. (For anyone who is truly interested, in the third Gem City Grit story you will find that they mainly have to do with getting to spend time with Kare. Also, Jolliss’s first name is Gus.)
There are other cops in Trust Trade, but they are more background characters and don’t get as much attention. I enjoyed writing the law aspect of the book, trying to get it right, and trying to make these characters as believable as any other I write.
I hope you all pay special attention to Kare and Jolliss because I have the feeling you’ll be seeing them again in the future!
Happy reading!
Ki Brightly
About the Author
Ki grew up in small town nowhere pretending that meteor showers were aliens invading, turning wildflowers into magic potions, and reading more than was probably healthy. Ki had one amazing best friend, one endlessly out of grasp "true love", and a personal vendetta against normalcy. Now, as an adult, living in Erie, Pennsylvania, Ki enjoys the sandy beaches, frigid winters, and a wonderful fancy water addiction. Seriously, fancy waters...who knew there were so many different kinds? It's just water...and yet... Ki shares this life with a Muse, a Sugar Plum, and two wonderful children.
For more works by Ki visit Brightly’s website.
