Deacon’s Law By RJ Scott
Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM
Released: October 18, 2017
Publisher: Love Lane Books Ltd.
Series: Heroes, Book 3
Cover Design: Meredith Russell
How can you trust the man who tried to kill you?
Undercover cop Deacon Shepherd lost everything trying to maintain his cover – the man he loved and the future he craved. He walked away and never looked back because it was the only way to keep Rafael alive.
The last thing he needs is to be dragged back in that world, but an attempt on Rafael’s life is enough to make him risk his heart again.
Rafael ‘Rafe’ Ramirez wakes up in the hospital, the victim of a hit and run. He’s horrified when the first face he sees is that of the man who betrayed him and left him for dead three years before. Witness protection had stripped Rafe of his family and friends, and now it seems his sacrifice to bring his Uncle to justice was for nothing.
Someone wants Rafe dead, and the only way he can stay alive is to go with the murdering drug dealer who broke his heart. But how can he ever trust Deacon, and how can Deacon protect Rafe without falling in love all over again?
Approximately 50,000 words.
Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003
My review can’t do this book justice; I loved it.
RJ Scott is trying to kill me – one book at a time – but I’m loving every minute of it. Deacon’s Law is her newest release and I thought it was wonderful. I should know better than to start one of her books late at night; I found myself reading until 5 a.m. and only stopped then because I just couldn’t keep my eyes open any more. Deacon’s Law is the third book in the Heroes series and it’s a heart-pounding, heart-breaking (at some points), suspenseful and thrilling story that I hated to see end.
The story begins in 2013 and picks up again three years later. Deacon Shepherd is an undercover cop trying to gather enough information to bring down an evil family that deals drugs and is responsible for several deaths.
Rafe Martinez’ father and mother are dead. He is living with his Uncle Arlo’s family; Arlo was his mother’s brother. Before he died, Rafe’s father told him of the evil things his uncle has done, including killing his own sister, Rafe’s mother. Rafe hates living with his uncle and his sons but he’s determined to gather evidence against the family so that they can be brought to justice for their crimes.
Deacon has spent two years undercover, working his way up through the ranks in order to get close to Arlo. He doesn’t think that Rafe is really part of the evil things his uncle does but he doesn’t know for sure. He’s in a quandary because he’s attracted to Rafe but he can’t let his attraction undermine his investigation; too many lives are at stake.
RJ Scott gave her characters in this book such depth that I could “see” everything that was going on and feel everything that they felt. Deacon ends up feeling tortured by the things he was forced to do while undercover. When Rafe sees Deacon again after four years, he is stunned; he never again wanted to see the man who tried to kill him.
When everything seems to be resolved at just over the half-way point in the book I knew that it couldn’t be but I was still shocked at the devious plot that RJ Scott came up with and how the rest of the story played out. Rest assured that Deacon and Rafe get their HEA but not without some serious heart-pounding moments.
The epilogue that RJ wrote for Deacon and Rafe was wonderful and a perfect way to end their story. You might want to keep some tissues on hand for this one – for the sad stuff and also for the happy things that happen; both brought on the tears for me.
♥♥♥♥♥
O Factor: Scorcher
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Rafe opened his eyes, attempting to focus on the ceiling above him. He tried to lift his hand, but it felt as if there was lead in his veins, everything heavy and he couldn’t move. They’d told him he was getting better, so what the hell had happened? Had he relapsed? Why was he convinced that they’d taken him somewhere in an ambulance? That he’d leaned against a leather jacket that smelled of sunshine and soap? He blinked until the ceiling finally coalesced into the tiles he was familiar with.Only there were no tiles.
Instead, the ceiling was a smooth white, and there were no strip lights, just a lampshade in a curious shade of blue. He blinked again. This didn’t make sense.
But when he opened his eyes, nothing had changed. The ceiling was still white, the lampshade blue, and the drapes at the window matched the shade. The drapes. There were drapes at the window. Confusion morphed into panic and he turned his head to the right to get a better feel for where he was and he saw…him.
Sprawled awkwardly in the chair, his head back, long limbs this way and that, clearly too big for the chair, was a specter from a past that wouldn’t leave him alone.
Deacon.
Intense fear sliced into Rafe.
They’d found him, had him strapped to a bed…was it Deacon who’d tracked him down and driven a car at him? He was paralyzed with a fear that made it hard to breathe, and he yanked at his hand, hoping to escape his restraints, only he wasn’t tied down, there was no rope. Instead his hand came up fast and he rolled sideways. Catching himself and coming off the bed, forgetting the fact that his leg was in a cast and toppling sideways, falling with a crash into a cabinet. He flailed but couldn’t stop himself falling, and he knew this was it – this time he was really going to die.
Deacon was up and at his side in an instant, and Rafe wanted to shut his eyes, wanted to block out seeing Deacon’s face again as he died, but he had to watch. He wanted Deacon to see his fear, and maybe that would stop him; maybe he could make Deacon stop and think.
“Shit, Rafe— Craig,” Deacon said, and reached for him, grasping his arms.
Terror became ice inside him, and Rafe stopped fighting; like a deer caught in headlights, he froze.
“What happened?” A second man stood in the doorway, someone Rafe didn’t know – tall, dark and dangerous-looking. Maybe this new arrival could stop Deacon?
“Help me,” Rafe forced out, looking past Deacon, scrambling to stand as the ice melted and he pushed himself to move.
“He woke up, saw me, and fell out of bed,” Deacon said, and the other man came right in. There were two of them, and there was little Rafe could do to get away. There and then, he screwed his eyes shut; nothing was going to save him now.
But there was no pain, no bullet. Instead, the two men helped him to stand, and then he felt the bed at the back of his thighs and they sat him down.
“Are you okay?” Deacon asked. Even with his eyes shut, Rafe recognized his voice. He would never forget the tone of it, or the coldness of the man who’d tried to kill him. He said nothing.
“Open your eyes,” the other man asked.
No.
“Craig? Rafe? My name is Mac. We’re here to help you.”
But fear was choking him and he couldn’t breathe. “No,” he managed between attempts to inhale enough oxygen not to pass out.
“He’s panicking. What the hell did you do, D?”
“Tried to fucking kill him three years ago, remember?”
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October 20 – Cupcakes and Bookshelves
October 23 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
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November 3 – Bayou Book Junkie, Embracing My Crazy
RJ Scott is the bestselling author of over one hundred romance books. She writes emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the partners who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing.
The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.
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