The End has come…

In the beginning there were men…two of them. Alex and Leo. Their story, An Unlocked Heart by K.C. Wells, amazed and thrilled me. I loved Leo, strong and dominant, and his need to protect Alex struck a chord within me. This was the first BDSM novel that I read that really hit home. The men were perfect counterpoints to one another. Alex needed Leo’s guidance, especially with all the turmoil he suffered at home. Leo needed Alex to make him feel complete. I was certain that the author couldn’t top this book.

Then came Thomas and Peter. Oh, holy hell. The tears that book evoked stunned me. Although K.C. wasn’t graphic about what Peter had endured, it still tore me apart to see how this young man suffered. I was honored when K.C. asked me to talk through the plot with her. I made some suggestions that she used in the story.

While she was writing it, she asked if I would ever consider writing a book with her. I said no. Immediately. No hesitation. Because I did not think that my writing was on par with hers. But as I worked that night, I thought about a potential story. A boy from the United States, who desperately needed someone who wanted him, who would keep him, gets pulled into the machinations that swirled through Collars and Cuffs at the time. K.C. liked the idea, and we started writing Someone to Keep Me.

I’m going to admit something here. Ben wasn’t meant to be liked initially. He was meant to grow as the series continued. We didn’t want the ‘perfect’ Dom for Scott, who wasn’t really the perfect submissive. We wanted to watch the two of them as they grew into their roles. We know that not everyone was happy with these two, and we’re okay with that. We think their story grew as the series went on, and are quite pleased with how their story ends. Scott is still not perfect. Ben is a lot better than he was, but he still has things to learn. But, carrying on…

Our collaboration continued, and we tried to do different things with the stories. Our next joint book, Damian’s Discipline, broached the subject of Domestic Discipline, and also introduced Jeff, the young man who was ‘responsible’ for bringing Scott to the UK. Not everything was as it seemed, though. Jeff wasn’t a submissive, at least not by the standards of the other young men at Collars & Cuffs. Still, he needed guidance, and Damian needed to help him. So they travelled their own path.

And then came Eli and Jarod. I’m going to admit, no book has ever made me cry in the opening chapter the way Dom of Ages did. From the start, we knew this book had to be something powerful, and we think we hit the mark. Jarod lost his master of two decades in a plane crash. Now Phillip was fabulously wealthy. He doted on Jarod. When Phillip died, everything he had went to his boy. But it meant nothing to a fifty year old submissive. He’d give it all up in an instant to have someone in his life to take charge again. That person turned out to be Eli.

Now Eli wasn’t perfect. In fact, in the beginning he was a right bastard. He always wanted what Jarod offered, and he thought he hit the jackpot with the man. But then he slowly came to realize that while he had gotten everything he wanted, Jarod was getting the shaft (figuratively). And he vowed to make up for that. And he tried. But his first attempt showed him exactly what he had to lose, and he redoubled his efforts to make Jarod aware he was cherished. This started the two of them on the path to finding each other.

Then came the phone call. That bloody, fucking call that changed everything. The one that showed Eli how much Jarod needed him, and how much Eli loved his pet. God, the tears this book yanked from me left me desert dry. By the time it was done, I think K.C. and I had both been put through the emotional wringer. And comments from readers showed that Eli and Jarod found a place in their heart, too.

And then came the ending. Where someone dies. We didn’t say who. We wanted to start the final book with a bang. We also wanted to tie up loose ends that had been left dangling, but there was a desire to make some of the men we’d met, even tangentially, get their HEA. People like Joe, the loudmouth Dom from Someone to Keep Me (who Leo and Thomas, in their infinite wisdom got to help them force Ben to see what stood there for the taking). He shows up a few times over the next few books. Always on the periphery, but no less there. And we had a young man who needed him, too.

Miles and Pietro, stalwart members of the club, who never got their own story get their own Ending of a sort, and it’s important to all of the members of Collars & Cuffs, because it’s the thread that pulls the whole thing together in the end.

The end. God, what a ride. I can’t believe this journey is over. Leo and Alex, Thomas and Peter, Scott and Ben, Andrew and Gareth, Jeff and Damian, Alan and Dorian, Eli and Jarod, and finally, JJ and Darren. All of them became family to us. We laughed, we cried, we fretted. And then we had to say good bye.

But even if the series is over, their lives will always inspire K.C. and I to strive to achieve new things. As Eli says, “It’s not good bye, pet. This might be the ending of one story, but I promise you, it’s the beginning of another.”

And what stories they’ll be.