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    A Trick of Memory
    A Trick of Memory
    A Trick of Memory
    Ebook103 pages1 hour

    A Trick of Memory

    By Christiane France

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    About this ebook

    When Lee Stanger and Reno Jackson meet in a Las Vegas bar, they feel an instant and mutual attraction, plus the feeling they've met somewhere before. But they couldn't have met previously, since Lee has never been to the west coast, and Reno has never been farther east than Denver. And both men have good reason not to go digging up the past in the hope of figuring it out. 

    Over the course of the evening, however, Lee has a series of fragmented and puzzling flashbacks about an event from his past that includes a man who looks like Reno. Or could he be confusing two unrelated incidents, and if so, are they connected in some way?

    Until now, Lee has chosen to ignore medical advice and allow an unpleasant experience that happened eight years ago to remain a blank in his mind. But with details starting to resurface and a burning need to remember exactly what happened, he can no longer afford to suppress the memories, no matter how painful or traumatic. Whether he wants to or not, he knows it's time to fill in the blanks...

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChristiane France
    Release dateNov 20, 2018
    ISBN9781386755937
    A Trick of Memory

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      Book preview

      A Trick of Memory - Christiane France

      A Trick of Memory

      When Lee Stanger and Reno Jackson meet in a Las Vegas bar, they feel an instant and mutual attraction, plus the feeling they’ve met somewhere before. But they couldn’t have met previously. Lee has never been to the west coast, and Reno has never been farther east than Denver. And both men have good reason not to go digging up the past in the hope of figuring it out. 

      Over the course of the evening, however, Lee has a series of fragmented and puzzling flashbacks about an event from his past that includes a man who looks like Reno. Or could he be confusing two unrelated incidents, and if so, are they connected in some way?

      Until now, Lee has chosen to ignore medical advice and allow an unpleasant experience that happened eight years ago to remain a blank in his mind. But with details starting to resurface and a burning need to remember exactly what happened, he can no longer afford to suppress the memories, no matter how painful or traumatic. Whether he wants to or not, he knows it’s time to fill in the blanks.

      A Trick of Memory

      Third Edition

      This book was previously published as Reincarnation. The author has not changed.

      This book is a work of fiction. While references to actual places or events may occur, the names, characters, incidents and locations are from the author’s imagination and any resemblance to anyone, living or dead, is coincidental.

      A Trick of Memory

      Copyright © 2011, 2016, 2018 Christiane France

      Cover art © 2018 KC Kendricks

      All Rights Reserved

      Reproduction of this digital e-book for file sharing or selling, regardless of whether any type of currency is exchanged, other than what the author grants, is strictly prohibited by law. Piracy is a crime.

      WARNING: This book is intended for readers over the age of 18.

      It contains explicit sexual content and language.

      A Trick of Memory

      Chapter One

      After spending the day in the air-conditioned comfort of his office at the Neapolitan Hotel, Lee Stanger stepped into the blazing heat of early-evening Las Vegas. He mentally cursed the fact his car had chosen what he guessed to be one of the hottest days in the year to give him trouble. Whether it was plain bad luck or divine retribution for some forgotten misdeed, he had no idea. He’d figured the problem was nothing more than a small glitch in the fuel line. But the mechanic had shaken his head like a doctor delivering bad news, said it took time to fix fuel line problems and he wouldn’t have the vehicle ready until sometime tomorrow soonest. And no, sorry, they couldn’t help him with a loaner because they were fresh out.

      Lee thought about grabbing a cab rather than walk. Then changed his mind when he saw the long lineup outside the main entrance and realized he’d have a fifteen-minute wait, minimum. Taking off his tie, he shoved it in the pocket of his pants as he crossed the street. Hot was an understatement. Even this late in the day, the temperature was well over a hundred degrees and the occasional blast of cold air from the open doors of some of the casinos didn’t offer much relief. It was also the start of the weekend. The sidewalks, as well as every restaurant, bar and other business establishment, were jammed with tourists. As Lee neared the end of the block, he hesitated, tempted to forget his plans for the evening and head home to his apartment. He could take a long dip in the pool, and then later, call out for pizza or Chinese.

      After a couple of unusually stressful days dealing with two of the most obnoxious, demanding jerks he’d met since moving to Vegas, he needed to kick back and forget about business for a few hours. He didn’t like losing out on a deal. If he went home, instead of relaxing, he knew he’d sit around and beat himself up, trying to figure out where he’d gone wrong, instead of accepting the fact that, no matter how hard he tried, he’d never win them all.

      With his shirt already sticking to his back, and his mouth full of dust from the nonstop construction that was as much Vegas as the slot machines, he stepped through the next open casino door he came to for a moment’s respite from the heat. In comparison to the cut and thrust of business New York style, Lee’s new job as a project manager for the renovation division of the Trenton Corporation was the job of his dreams. But no job was perfect. He knew the law of averages decreed that every once in a while, people like the Winkevski brothers were bound to come along—clients who seemed hell-bent from the word go on driving him crazy by changing their minds every two minutes.

      First, they’d wanted to buy the small downtown hotel in as is condition and take care of the renovations themselves. Then they’d taken another look, figured the kind of image they wanted to project required expert attention, so could Trenton do it with their own personal designer’s input?

      By noon today, they’d decided it would be best if they left Trenton to do the renovations the way Trenton had planned prior to their offer to buy the place as is. But before Lee could rewrite the contract for about the tenth time, the younger brother had called little more than an hour later to say they were no longer interested in buying the hotel. They’d found a better deal elsewhere. The man had then just hung up. No goodbye, no thanks for Lee’s efforts in trying to please them, and not even one single word of apology for having wasted Lee’s time.

      Shoving the Winkevski brothers and everything to do with his job out of his mind, Lee took a bill from his wallet and sat down at the first twenty-five-cent machine he came to. Inserting his money in the appropriate slot, he pushed the max button, then waited while the reels spun and eventually came to a stop with a single cherry on the pay line. His prize was four credits, so he continued hitting the button, smiling to himself as the machine went through the usual performance of a few small hits and a whole lot of heart-stopping near misses.

      He was down to his last three credits and had just hit the button for the final time when another guy strolled along the row and sat down at the next machine. Catching a fast glimpse of gelled hair, sequined tee, ripped jeans, black nail polish and exaggerated eye and face makeup, Lee cringed inwardly...until he remembered this particular casino had recently begun featuring celebrity lookalike dealers at the poker tables.

      Any luck? The stranger accompanied his words with a raised eyebrow and a little provocative lip-licking. The kind of deliberately appraising look that would, in Lee’s opinion, have been more at home around a bus station or a public toilet than a world-famous casino on the Vegas Strip.

      Lee gave him a noncommittal shrug. He had no idea who the dude was supposed to represent, but he had the whole promiscuous gay boy on the prowl act down letter perfect. Then again, maybe that’s exactly who he was—an enterprising gay boy using the situation to hook up. This, after all, was Vegas. The greatest show on earth when it came to smoke and mirrors, and Lee had been in Vegas long enough to have given up trying to figure out what was real and what was merely illusion.

      Returning his attention to the machine, Lee watched the reels spin, then gradually slow, but as he started to leave, they settled down to reveal a row of three identical bars and a prize of twenty credits. Hoping the fact he’d won all his

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