Eight Seconds

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Synopsis

Former bareback bronc rider, Cam "The Professor" Chester spends his days working as a pickup rider for a Philadelphia area rodeo and his nights having one-night stands with men he meets in the local gay bars. As an openly gay man, he's been subjected to homophobic slurs and the other cowboys tend to give him a wide berth, but he didn't realize just how much they hated him until he's knocked out cold while alone in the showers one night.

For barebacker Wyatt Knott, The Professor has been his rodeo idol, and after meeting the handsome, blue-eyed cowboy in person, the bisexual Wyatt is instantly smitten. When he finds Cam unconscious in the shower, he takes him home to tend his injury, and very quickly finds himself having sweaty, unforgettable sex that he wants to be a whole lot more, even though Cam is resistant to the idea of a relationship.

As the two try to figure things out, Cam reports his attack to the rodeo's owner who claims there's nothing he can do since Cam didn't see his attacker and there were no witnesses. However, when Cam is about to take it to the police, he finds himself drugged and tied to a chair with a gun pointed at him, and Wyatt may be the only one who can save him.

Review

Eight Seconds is a stand-alone, M/M, erotic romance novelette. Cam, nicknamed The Professor, is the quintessential cowboy whose life revolves around rodeos and writing country songs. After one too many injuries left him unable to continue bronc riding, he got a job as a rodeo-pick up rider. As an out-and-proud gay man, he's earned some enemies on the circuit, but none he thought would actually do him harm until one night someone bashes him on the head while he's showering in the communal bathroom. Bareback rider Wyatt has idolized The Professor since he started competing at rodeos. As a bisexual man, he has no shortage of buckle bunnies warming his bed, but he also enjoys male company sometimes, too. He can't believe his luck when the dashing blue-eyed Professor is the one to pick him up after his latest ride. Later that evening, though, he hears someone fall in the shower, and when he goes to investigate, he finds Cam unconscious with a head wound. The former EMT takes Cam home and tenderly cares for his injury, which turns into unforgettable sex, but when Cam doesn't seem to want him around afterward, Wyatt is hurt. Cam is more of a one-night stand kind of guy and doesn't think he wants a relationship, so the two men have a lot to work out. In the meantime, Cam brings the attack to the attention of the rodeo owner who seems reluctant to do anything about it since Cam can't identify his attacker and there weren't any other witnesses. But just as Cam is about to take it to the police, he finds himself drugged and tied up, about to be murdered, and desperately in need of Wyatt's rescue again.

I recall buying Eight Seconds quite some time ago based on the cover blurb, which sounded interesting. Unfortunately after reading it, I felt like the author tried to fit too much into too short of a space, and it came up lacking. The characterizations had some intriguing bits, such as Cam's country music songwriting side gig and Wyatt's need to keep his sexuality under wraps so that he can earn enough money on the circuit to take care of the grandmother who raised him. However, it never goes much deeper than merely learning these tidbits about the two men. I also hesitate to even classify the story as romance, because Cam and Wyatt don't really share any genuinely romantic moments. They have sex, they argue, and Wyatt rescues Cam a couple of times from the people who are trying to harm him, and that's about it. They don't even kiss until the final paragraph of the story. This isn't much on which to base a commitment, but the fact that they do commit to one another, giving the story an HFN ending, is the only reason I was okay with categorizing it as romance. Another thing is that the narrative moves at a lightning fast pace, leaving little room to explore the seriousness of the homophobia that's present. While I know that the level of hatred seen in the story actually exists, I felt that the villains' actions lacked proper motivation or logical sense. I got the impression that Cam had worked for the rodeo for quite some time and been out of the closet for the entirety of that time, so I couldn't help wondering why now, other than as a convenient plot device. One last troublesome thing is that the author switches POVs without any warning, so I sometimes had to backtrack to figure out whose perspective I was reading. I think that if the author had expanded her story into a longer novella or novel, it could have been really great. As is, though, Eight Seconds, while not a bad way to spend a couple hours of my reading time, was a little too short to be fully satisfying, ending up being no more than an okay read.

Note: This book contains explicit language and sexual situations, including light bondage, which could be objectionable to sensitive readers.

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Barrie Abalard

Themes

Light Mystery