Paper Swans

Paper Swans E.M. LINDSEY Paper Swans 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. Edited by Kiki Clark and Susie Selva Cover by: Cate Ashwood Designs Content warnings: mentions of narcissistic parenting, childhood neglect, and abandonment. Paper Swans They’ve spent years sharing everything with each other. Love. Loss. First kisses. And quiet promises. But the one thing Domenico will never be is Shiloh’s. It’s a cruel fate, but it’s one Shiloh can live with so long as Dom is happy. So long as they never stop being friends. But when Shiloh asks Dom to go as his date to a costume party, he realizes his best friend is going to discover a few things about him he’s never told anyone. A few things he’s afraid to say aloud to himself. While Shiloh doesn’t think Dom will abandon him, it might just change the dynamic of who they are, and that’s not something he’s sure he’s willing to live with. Paper Swans is a standalone book that was previously released in the Heart2Heart volume 5 anthology. Paper Swans has been expanded into a 35k word short novel now with a dual POV and additional spicy scenes. It features best friends to lovers, epic pining, comfort food, emotional support chickens, bad limericks, origami, lipstick, red dresses, and the sweetest most satisfying happily ever after. EM Lindsey Links EM’s Discord EM's Patreon EM Lindsey's Website Free Short Stories EM Lindsey's Amazon Account EM Lindsey on Instagram EM Lindsey on Bookbub Contents Paper Swans EM Lindsey Links Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Epilogue Also by E.M. Lindsey About the Author One “Oi, mate. Are you going to share or what?” Shiloh tucked his sandwich close to his body like he was about to be forced to fight to the death to keep his lunch. “Absolutely not.” “Has anyone ever told you how cruel you are?” Jules asked, sinking lower in his seat. Shiloh rolled his eyes and took a massive bite of his food, grinning in Jules’s direction. The light was coming in through the window just so, which made the entire room completely washed out, making him unable to see anything except where Jules’s shadow contrasted with the sun’s rays. Not that he really cared. There was very little in this meeting he gave a single fuck about. The headmaster had it in his head that all the teachers needed to attend these godforsaken workshops to keep up to date with education techniques, presumably ignoring the fact that nine-year-olds were just tiny sociopaths who weren’t clever enough to do more than emotionally torture them all year long. And by the time they either sprouted into fully-fledged psychopaths or outgrew their vicious tendencies, they’d be well out of Shiloh’s classroom and torturing form teachers. Frankly, he’d made the best idea when he started studying education, though his best friend thought he should have just come to work with him in his bakery. Of course, Dom had been on about it since his parents had turned over the keys and high-tailed it back to Naples. Dom didn’t seem to care at all that all Shiloh had to do was be near a tray of bakes and they’d burn down to tiny lumps of coal. Dom had never cared about that sort of thing. He and Shiloh had been attached at the hip since they were seven, and Shiloh had been absolutely arse over tit in love with Dom—the quiet sort of unrequited love—since he was sixteen and coming to realize he was gayer than the day was long. Dom had always humored his crush, Shiloh figured, since he’d never called him out on it, and Shiloh knew he was obvious. He’d never given anyone the time of day who Dom didn’t approve of, and every date he’d attempted to go on over the last several years had ended with him either on Dom’s sofa eating leftover cookie dough or on the phone with him wondering why his life was such a shitshow. It was a rhetorical question because Shiloh knew damn well no one would ever measure up to his baker, but Dom was kind enough never to bring it up. Someday, Shiloh knew he’d be standing at an altar watching Dom marry the love of his life, relegating Shiloh to the weekend friend who’d show up for Sunday dinner with whatever produce and eggs his dad’s farm had managed to produce that week. And he’d do it all with a smile, ignoring the way he’d be slowly dying inside. But that was a fate he’d resigned himself to when they were sixteen, and Shiloh had walked in on Dom kissing Sarah. Luckily, it hadn’t worked out with her. She was now going on her eleventh year of dating the asshole in the seat next to Shiloh in the meeting, and if she were to ever accept a proposal, it would be one from Jules. But the fact remained, even when Dom had come out as bisexual—three years after Shiloh had quietly and sobbingly confessed he was gay—Shiloh would never be the man for him. And that was fine. Really. He had his friendship. And his sandwiches. “You act like they’ve been blessed by the Virgin fucking Mary,” Jules mumbled, and Shiloh could hear him rustling around in his bag. Shiloh just grinned as he finished half the sandwich, then tucked it back into the bag and fished around for what he knew was lying at the bottom. An intricately and perfectly folded bit of paper with a message on the inside. He