Hello and Happy Holidays to everyone. I’m Brita Addams and I’m excited to be here on Book Brew. I brought an excerpt from my latest release, Beloved Unmasked, a gay historical romance that takes place in the late 19teens and early 1920s in New Orleans.
The scene takes place on the day Storyville, the famous red light district closed. You’ll meet Spence, a young man who worked as a prostitute and his friend Pic (David,) as they say good-bye to familiar territory.
First the blurb and then the scene. Please enjoy.
Giveaway: A random commenter on the post will receive one of my backlist books, their choice. Beloved Unmasked is excluded from the giveaway.
Blurb:
Born to a spiteful prostitute in Storyville, the red-light district in New Orleans, David comes into the world as Picayune, meaning “of little value,” or, as his mother reminds him, “nothing.” In the early 20th century brothels and clubs, his love of music sustains young Pic until a life-changing meeting places him on the road to respectability, and Pic reinvents himself as David Reid.
As David realizes happiness for the first time, conscription forces his friend and first love, Spencer Webb, into the Great War. While he pursues a law degree, letters from Spence connect David to his hopes for the future. After staggering news at war’s end, David must find a way to move forward. Under the tutelage of his benefactor, David’s career prospers, but specters from Storyville threaten all he’s worked so hard to achieve.
The past holds both pain and love. Will facing it head-on destroy David or give him everything he’s ever dared dream?
November 12, 1917
Unable to stay away on the Tenderloin’s final day, David strode into Miss Rotie’s place and headed straight up the stairs to Spence’s room. He hadn’t visited since the end of October, just after the insurance companies canceled policies on all District houses. “To add insult to injury,” Emile said. Rumors flew by way of the newspapers that the madams might, on their way out of the District, torch their places. No one had so far. Those who had already fled the area simply packed up and made the slow exodus into the underground of the city. Others would follow in time, and the more unyielding of the residents would stay until the witching hour, just to show the cops they weren’t going easily.
The blue door at the end of the hallway stood open, as did Spence’s door. As David approached, the cursing in Spence’s room reached beyond foul proportions. He peeked around the doorjamb. “What’s going on?”
Spence had a duffel bag on the bed and a wad of clothing in his hands. “I’m fucking leaving for training and then France. Me. God’s gift to men. Can you imagine me carrying a gun?”
David staggered into the room and sat on the unmade bed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Spence stared, his eyes heavy and red. “I did, so many times my heart hurts. But not to your face, because I don’t know how to say good-bye to you, Pic.” He convulsed and turned away. “God, I’m so scared.”
David jumped up and wrapped his arms around Spence from behind. “When do you leave?”
Spence covered David’s hands. “A week until I go to Camp Jackson, but I have to be out of here by midnight.”
“Come home with me to Emile’s. You can stay with us until you leave.”
Spence turned in David’s arms and rested his head on David’s shoulder. “I don’t know nothin’ about fightin’, Pic. I’m a lover. God, what am I gonna do?”
David held him tight until Spence took a sharp breath and backed away.
“I suppose staying with you and Emile is better than rentin’ a crib for a week.”
“No reason to do that. You could live in a hotel for a week, you miserly bird, but I want you to stay with us. We’ll have a good time.”
“I’m ready to get out of here””I think.” At the door, Spence turned back into the room. “Done a lot of good times in here,” he said with a watery laugh. “You think my life will ever be the same?”
A tear stung David’s eye as he put an arm about Spence’s shoulders. “Maybe one day. I’ll never pass here again without looking up at that window.”
“Don’t come by here, Pic. This place is the moldering carcass of an experiment gone wrong. I won’t be hangin’ out the window ever again, but I’ll always remember seein’ you down below.”
“I know, but you had a good run. You got everything?”
“Everything that matters. The rest don’t travel well.”
“Wait.” David grabbed the monogrammed pillows and tucked them under his arms. “You’ll want these when you get back. I’ll keep ’em for you.”
“Too bad we can’t take the chaise.” Spence laughed.
“I’m out of hands. Let’s go.”
“You go. I’ll be right out.”
They shuffled down the hallway. Someone giggled behind a door. Farther along, two girls argued. Spence sped up. “Remember these words, if you don’t remember any others. Never get in the middle of a cat fight.”
“Sounds like good advice.”
Downstairs, Spence held audience, kissing and hugging his way toward the double doors where Miss Rotie stood, dressed to the nines in a long gown, her jewelry gleaming in the late-afternoon sunlight. A breeze blew her wispy gray hair across her stern features. “I’ll miss you, Spencer. You made me, and yourself, a small fortune. When you get back, find me at my place up on Dumaine. You’re welcome there anytime.”
“Find me a rich older man, will ya? Tell ‘im I’m comin’ back for ‘im.”
While Miss Rotie chuckled and assured Spence she’d be on the lookout for his dream man, David’s heart broke at Spence’s tone. Instead of self-assured flippancy, he spoke with heart-rending resignation.
In the street, they dodged young boys carrying boxes and loose possessions from the houses Up and Down the Line. Wagons and motorized vehicles lined Basin Street. The cops twirled their billy clubs as they monitored everyone’s movements. Some chatted up the whores. One carried an orange beaded lampshade, while another, an armful of fur coats. They willingly took a few dollars to turn the other way while the girls turned their last tricks before the madams locked up the houses.
Spence waved to a couple of the girls as they came out of Delores Landford’s. “I don’t want to be anywhere around at midnight when the cops run everyone out. Couldn’t stand to see the streets empty. I know you didn’t have a good shake of it, Pic, but this place took me in when I didn’t have a window or a pot.”
“I guess everyone’ll take away their own feelings.” He certainly had.
In front of the long stone staircase outside Lulu White’s Mahogany Hall, they encountered E.J. Bellocq, his camera set up in the shade before a black screen, a plush rug spread across the sidewalk.
“Hi, E.J. Waitin’ for someone?”
“Hello, Spencer. Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Some of the girls want exit pictures, and I can’t deny them now, can I? I’ll capture the end like I did the beginning.”
“What kind of photography are you going to do now?” Spence asked.
Bellocq frowned beneath his well-groomed mustache and sighed heavily. “I’m not sure. I’ve been around here a long time. This is a very sad day, but I suppose there will always be photographs to take.”
“You never brought me the one you took of me.”
Bellocq tipped his hat back on his head. “I am sorry. I will print it up and get it to you. Give me an address, and I’ll send it on.”
Bellocq patted his rumpled coat and produced a pencil and a tattered piece of paper.
Spence took them. “What’s Emile’s address?”
David relayed it, and after Spence wrote the direction, he handed the paper to Bellocq. “Leaving in a week. They say I’ll end up in France.”
“France?” Bellocq patted Spence’s back. “I’m sorry you must be a part of such an enterprise. Say, why don’t you fellows pose for me while I’m waiting? I’ll print you up a couple of copies so you’ll each have one.”
David frowned and tugged on his ear. “I don’t want to.”
Spence put his valise to the side. “Oh, come on, Pic. E.J. ain’t askin’ ya to take off your clothes or nothin’.”
Spence grabbed David’s arm and pulled him in front of the screen. “Doesn’t do to smile, ’cause it takes so long to flash, your face’ll hurt.”
Spence put his arm around David’s shoulders and braced his head against David’s. “Okay, E.J. Shoot away.”
Several moments later, and despite the sun, the flash blinded David, much to Spence’s delight. He chortled and slapped his thighs.
“Very funny.”
“Sorry about that, Pic. I thought you remembered the flash.”
David rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, I remembered it. That doesn’t mean I knew when it was coming.”
Bellocq pulled the glass plate from the camera and replaced it with another. “Thank you, fellas. I’ll send the prints along with the other.” In his shy manner, Bellocq stuck out his hand. “I wish you luck, Spencer. Come see me when you return. I must photograph the return of the conquering hero.”
“I ain’t no hero, but thanks, I will, and thanks for this, huh?” Spence pointed to Bellocq’s setup.
“My pleasure. Ah, my subjects have emerged.”
A beautiful girl strutted down the staircase and across the walkway. A white fur stole hung loosely from her arms. She’d slipped one hand inside a huge fur muff. “Where do you want me, Mr. Bellocq?”
He removed his hat and motioned to the rug in front of the screen. “Excuse me, Spencer and Pic.”
“Of course. Thanks, E.J.” Spence waggled his eyebrows. “Say, ladies, lookin’ good.”
They giggled. “Like you care, Spencer.”
Spence laughed in his full-throated way and, with a hand on David’s shoulder, pushed him on down the street. “The sooner I get outta here, the better.”
Buy links for Beloved Unmasked.
Dreamspinner Amazon All Romance Ebooks
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