Affogato

Affogato BrewBiz Book One E.M. Lindsey Affogato E.M. Lindsey Copyright © 2023 All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, places, jobs, or events is purely coincidental. Cover by: Natasha Snow Designs Editing: Abrianna Denae Content warnings: This book contains a video of a breakup going viral that was taken without the consent of the main character, an attempted non-consensual kiss not between main characters, audism, ableism, identity struggles, and some mentions/instances of homophobia, past childhood neglect and language deprivation in the form of denying d/Deaf children access to sign language. Contents Foreword Author Notes Affogato Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Epilogue EM Lindsey Links Also by E.M. Lindsey About the Author Foreword The primary language in Affogato is American Sign Language. In the book, it is translated rather than transliterated, so it reads as English, however ASL has its own grammar and structure. If you'd like to know more about ASL grammar, please refer HERE to the Lifeprint website. This book also uses some colloquial ASL phrases and idioms that cannot be directly translated exactly. Those will be shown in italics. Always remember, if you plan to learn any signed language, choose a Deaf instructor. This book also contains an autistic character which is a very diverse spectrum disorder, and not one-size-fits-all. Some of Bodhi’s traits are sensory-seeking which means a preference for physical touch and movement, and selective mutism which affects both voice and ASL. This book also does not use person-first language, I.E. characters are Deaf people, not people who are Deaf, or they are autistic, not people who are autistic. Person-first language is a personal choice, and not everyone’s preference. Despite finding success in his career, the BrewBiz Deaf Café owner's love life is another story. Because Caleb's longest relationship just came to a screeching halt when his ex cheated. Then dumped him. Publicly. And the video of it went viral. Resigned to his fate of being famous only because the world saw his public humiliation, Caleb turns sour and bitter. It's easy to hide his feelings after that, and it's even easier to ignore what his heart really wants: the new hire who's so anxious, he jumps at his own shadow. It also doesn’t help that Bodhi is too young, too good looking, and too sweet for a man like Caleb to ever deserve him. Especially when Caleb's been nothing but terrible to him from the moment they met. But there's more to Bodhi's story than meets the eye, and he might just be the man who can teach Caleb the meaning of love without strings, or expectations. The kind of love that leads to real happily ever afters. Chapter 1 “It’s not personal. But it’s a good time to tell you that I think we should break up.” Caleb blinked, then shook his head like maybe he was just high on coffee fumes or something and wasn’t understanding his boyfriend correctly. But no. No, apparently, he was. Cameron stood there with that little smirk on his face Caleb always fucking hated, his hands hanging kind of loose in the air like he couldn’t be bothered to sign with more than the bare minimum effort. Caleb told himself the tremble in his fingers was from the caffeine and not from the adrenaline rushing through his system as he was apparently getting dumped, “I saw you on Instagram kissing some guy, and you’re dumping me, and telling me it’s not personal?” Cameron was also dumping him in front of an audience, Caleb suddenly noticed. He zeroed in on the expression Cameron wore, and the way his pupils were dilated, and he immediately knew his now-ex had not only planned this, but he was enjoying it. Cameron was the kind of guy who liked to laugh at people who tripped and fell on the street, so it was no surprise he was getting pleasure out of hurting Caleb in front of a crowd. He didn’t know why he expected better, but he had assumed Cameron would have allowed him to retain some of his privacy in a moment like this. They’d been together for three years, for fuck’s sake. Caleb sort of assumed he’d earned some kind of respect. Or, at the very least, dignity. Cameron’s whole chest moved with his sigh. “Okay fine. It is personal, but shit happens, C.” C. Like he couldn’t be bothered to use Caleb’s actual sign name, which was hardly any more effort than the letter. “And even you have to know that things between us haven’t been great. I mean, why do you think Javier and I started sleeping together.” Well, no. He hadn’t known things were so bad his boyfriend started cheating, thank you very fucking much. He knew that over the last two years he’d been busier than he’d ever been in his life because owning and running a café was the hardest thing he’d ever done. He was fighting people who wanted to turn his all-Deaf café into a gimmick instead of taking him seriously as an actual business. And he was learning a whole new skill set because he definitely did not have the kind of mind for marketing or numbers. So maybe he wasn’t as present as he’d been when they first got together, but he thought Cameron had understood that sometimes people had to make sacrifices for their dreams. God knows he’d done that enough for Cameron over the years. But apparently, he was wrong about that too. And now he couldn’t get the gorgeous, dark-haired