Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

leaves the man safely in a treatment facility, Riv manages to earn what little trust Ducks has to give.
    Months later they reconnect, and while it’s clear their instant attraction was no fluke, there’s still a piece missing. Ducks’ voice. To help him find it again, Riv will have to expose the painful past that tore a hole in his own life. And hope that together, their ragged edges will fit together to form a whole.
    Warning: This book contains fluffy blond hair, sugary soda that will rot your teeth out, one unfortunate first name, and one mute amnesiac with a sarcasm fetish, all wrapped up in two selfless but mildly unstable guys who accidentally find their happily ever after. In SPACE!
    Enjoy the following excerpt for The Balance of Silence: Riv was in his bunk, arms bent behind his head,
when the first beep came, and he almost missed it below
the strong current of the music he was playing. Turned
away from his screen, he nearly jumped out of his skin
when the generic male comm voice spoke up. “Pryce
Markham requests a conversation.”
“How are you?” The voice coming across the
connection flowed smoothly enough, but the perfectly
flat note to each word, as though they’d all been
recorded separately and strung together like beads on a
necklace, made it obvious that it was another computer generation. It was both a thrill and a disappointment, knowing that Ducks wanted to talk, but still had to use
help to do it.
“I’m great, even better now. It’s so great to see you
again.” Riv didn’t add that the last time he’d heard from
Ducks in any capacity had been three months back, in a
message that he still read every few days. He hadn’t
been expecting the newsy letter that read like a missive
from summer camp, full of the truths of slow recovery
and a sarcastic humor that conveyed all too well in the
written form.
Crossing his legs, he settled more comfortably on
the bunk. “Bin, that’s the captain, has been working our
asses off. His wife, Del, is off visiting her brother, so the
old bastard has been on a tear. Figures if he has to suffer, all of us need to suffer. I think he’s still trying to
make me regret taking that month with ReliefCorp.” “So you didn’t go back to it after Maltana?” “No.” Ducks didn’t seem to be accusing, but Riv
still felt almost guilty over the admission. “After your
friend, Ella, and I got you to the spaceport, I barely
made the last of the ReliefCorp shuttles. I spent another
ten-day on one of their cruisers, helping sort out
refugees, but by that point it was pretty clear they were
off Maltana for the foreseeable future. I figured I should
get back to work.”
Ducks’ smile widened. “You don’t look any worse
for wear. Are you sure your captain is working you hard
enough?”
“What can I say? My good looks come out under
pressure.” He was inordinately pleased, to the point of an almost painfully broad grin, at the conversation. Ducks had sought him out. After the lack of reply to his own letter, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever hear from him
again.
Ducks looked down quickly, but he didn’t type
anything for a few seconds. “I’ve missed hearing you.” “I’ve missed babbling incessantly at you. Funny
thing, nobody on my crew here seems to like it as
much.”
It got him a smile, and Riv relaxed a little. “I’m guessing that they’d like to get a word in
edgewise. Not so much a problem for me.” Ducks
smirked at Riv, who could only laugh in return. “It’s
weird to hear this thing talking for me. It doesn’t sound
anything like me, you know. Wonder if it’s even a real
voice?”
“Are you kidding? The guy who sold his voice for
this program is living fat and happy in Napolom by now.
You want me to turn it off? I can read your typing on the
screen.” He got up from the bed, reaching for his
notebook to change his settings.
“I kind of remember my voice now,
sometimes…yeah. If you don’t mind, I mean. Until I can
talk for myself it seems weird to borrow someone else’s
voice.”
“No, of course I don’t mind. Rather wait to hear
your voice.” Riv winced. Shit, there was a
conversational flow that needed to be diverted. It was
entirely too easy to fall into that pattern with Ducks, and
he didn’t know if that was ever going to be an option. Thanks. He reached for something out of sight, and
Riv tried not to be fascinated by the line of his throat
when he took a long swallow.
“Ping! I love that stuff.” The sudden craving