Andrew Q. Gordon's Blog, page 63
July 23, 2013
Wednesday Briefs: Second Shot – The Senior Year – 18
Blake stop outside the restaurant door, heart racing. He didn’t know how long they stood there, but it had been long enough for the late August humidity to make him start to sweat.
“We don’t have to do this.” Ethan’s voice reminded Blake he didn’t come alone. “At least not today.”
“No.” Compared to what Jason and Peter did to keep their relationship a secret at first, he and Ethan had it easy. And it still sucked. “It’s time. Enough know already that even if I don’t say anything, most will find out sooner or later. At least this way, we can do more things. No more hiding.”
“Not that I mind the things we do when hiding, but I understand. Ethan slipped his hand into Blake’s. Wiggling a bit he entwined their fingers and squeezed. When Blake felt him start to pull back he tightened his gripe. “I’m proud of you, Blake. I’ve been out long enough that sometimes it’s hard to remember how it felt when I did it.”
“Shall we?” He nodded toward the door.
“Like this?” Ethan sounded mildly amused.
“Yeah, why not?” He hadn’t really figured out how he would tell everyone, but this seemed perfect. “I wasn’t sure I could make a speech, but holding hands will do all the talking necessary.”
The smirk turned into a smile – the wide, take up the whole face and make Ethan’s eyes crinkle – kind that made Blake’s heart beat just a tiny bit faster. “It’s got a certain style. And you know how I abhor common things.”
Ethan waggled his eyebrows, making Blake laugh. His angst ebbed just enough for him to feel like he could move his feet again. “Thanks.”
He knew without Ethan, he’d chicken out. But together, he felt bolder, stronger, and more confident to face the issue. That Ethan took a day off work to come a day early only fueled his resolve. For them to be equals, Blake needed to have the same level of commitment to Ethan. And that meant not asking him to hide who he was anymore.
Exhaling loudly, he never took his gaze off the wooden door. “Okay. Let’s go in before dinner is over.”
His sweaty hand nearly slid off the handle, but Blake managed to get the door open. The smell of ‘bar food’ hit his nose, making his stomach do flips. Anything he ate right not had the risk of coming right back up and the aroma of burgers and fries didn’t help.
Voices, laughter and the thump of bass from the sound system filled the small spaces as the entered the restaurant. The hostess, an older woman with her blonde hair pulled back in a bun, chewed her gum loudly as she eyed them up and down.
“Table for two?”
“Um…no, we’re with a group.” Blake resisted with everything he had releasing Ethan’s hand when she focused her eyes on their joined hands. “The soccer team?”
“Back that way and to the left.” She nodded down the dark paneled hall toward an open where most of the noise seemed to come from.
“Thanks.”
Blake heard Ethan’s voice, but didn’t say anything.
“I can do this.” He whispered, silently repeating it with every step. Ethan tightened his grip around Blake’s fingers. “Breathe.”
He forced a smile he didn’t quite feel. “Right.”
Crossing the threshold, Blake felt his body tingle. He almost checked to see if they’d cross some kind of field you only saw on Star Trek, but he knew it was his imagination. His eyes scanned the room for Darryl and Jason, trying not to look at his other teammates.
At first everyone ignored him and Ethan, too wrapped up in whatever they were doing. But as soon as the first set of eyes looked their way, heads started to turn. Later when he’d had time to reflect, he’d remember the shocked expressions on a few faces, a couple smiles, but no angry glares. Not that he’d been looking for trouble, but he figured it best to know the room.
Ethan tugged him gently forward. “They’re down there.”
Jason smiled then turned to Peter – Peter? He never came to team dinners. Dean stood up, blocking Blake’s view of his captain.
“Why am I not surprised?” Dean smirked, his eyes moving from their hands to Ethan.
“Whoa there, little D. This–” he raised their hands slightly, “–was Blake’s idea.”
Dean squinted and glared at Ethan for a second, then turned to Blake. “Mind if I thump your boyfriend?”
Boyfriend? He and Ethan had never talked about their status like that. But it felt like the right word. “Um, no, I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t, Dean.”
“Fine.” He shrugged, a lock of blond hair sweeping down across his forehead. “But if he calls me that again, I can’t promise I won’t.”
Blake let out a nervous laugh. “I’ll make sure he plays nice.”
When they moved toward a pair of vacant seats, Jason shook his head. Before he could speak Ethan waved his hand at their friend. “Don’t you start too. This was his idea. Said it was better than a speech.”
Blake finally let go of Ethan’s hand and despite his whole body shaking, he managed to sit down without breaking anything. “I heard someone else called a team meeting to come out. Since that’d been done, I figured I’d try something new.”
“Thank god. Fewer speeches.” Dean said. He reached across the table for a plate of wings, but Eric snatched it back at the last second.
“No way, Tellermouch You ate yours.” Eric grabbed one and took a big bite. “Get your big bro to buy you some more, little D.”
The table laughed as Dean sat back and folded his arms on his chest.
Blake ignored the laughter and comments, scanning the tables for his teammates reactions. Most ignored him, having returned to their conversation. A couple freshman stole glances his way as they talked and everyone else seemed caught up in Dean and Eric’s antics.
Blake started to relax when a hand landed on his shoulder.
“So.” Matt’s deep voice drew all eyes in Blake’s direction. “What have we here.”
Check Out The Briefs Of These Other Flashers:
July 21, 2013
New Releases: Monday July 22, 2013
All authors face the same daunting task – how to get their book noticed. In an effort to help some of my fellow authors, every Monday I’m going to post some of the numerous new books that have been released. For the most part these will be M/M Fiction with a heavy bias on Romance. That will probably evolve over time, but for now that’s were it is.
I’ve not read everything that is listed, though I’ve probably read or will read many. Which means inclusion on the list isn’t an endorsement or suggestion. You should read the blurbs provided to see if you’re interested. I’ll post reviews to books I recommend under the ‘Books I Reviewed’ tab. This is just a partial list of what’s new for visitors of my site to check out. That said if you end up reading something listed here and want to comment – please do. I reserve the right, however, to delete nasty or personal comments.
If you’re an author and want to include a new release, email me your blurb, cover image, buy links and any personal links you want included. No excerpts, interviews, giveaways etc. Those are welcome, but can be discussed separately.
Directing Traffic, by Charley Descoteau
Blurb:
A new love was the last thing on his mind . . .
Neil Sedwick expects to spend his vacation in a sleepy tourist trap mourning his late partner’s death. Instead, he puts his recently acquired CPR certificate to use and saves an elderly resident’s life. But it’s the survivor’s nephew, sexy middle-school teacher Ty Bigelow, who causes Neil to reevaluate his routine and consider reopening his heart.
Though the electricity between them is undeniable, Ty is struggling with his own feelings of inadequacy, and Neil is moored to the past. Even the healing peace of an old man’s garden and the ever-changing waters of the Oregon coast may not be enough to prepare Neil to overcome a crisis of the heart.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3917
MM Good Book Reviews gives Directing Traffic 4 Hearts: One of the best “first times” I’ve ever read . . . .
Superhero by; Eli Easton
Blurb:
It’s not easy for a young gay artist like Jordan Carson to grow up in Jefferson, Wisconsin, where all anyone seems to care about in middle school and high school are the sports teams. But Jordan was lucky. He met Owen Nelson in the second grade, and they’ve been BFFs ever since. Owen is a big, beautiful blond and their school’s champion wrestler. No one messes with Owen, or with anyone close to him, and he bucks popular opinion by keeping Jordan as his wingman even after Jordan comes out at school.
Their friendship survives, but Jordan’s worst enemy may be himself: he can’t seem to help the fact that he is head-over-heels in love with a hopeless case—his straight friend, Owen. Owen won’t let anything take Jordan’s friendship away, but he never counted on Jordan running off to find a life of his own. Owen will have to face the nature of their relationship if he’s to win Jordan back.
A Young Adult m/m romance from Harmony Ink
Buy Link:
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4081
Author Bio:
Eli Easton is a new nom de plume for an author who has primarily published mystery thrillers in the past. As an addict of m/m romance, she decided to tip her size-nine toe in the water and write in the genre herself. “The Lion and the Crow” is her first published m/m novella. She has two short stories out now and three new m/m romance books coming out from Dreamspinner in 2013. You can get news about her books on goodreads here:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7020231.Eli_Easton
Or visit her blog:
July 17, 2013
Author Profile: Henrietta Clarke
Today’s guest author is Henrietta ‘Rietta’ Clarke. Rietta was kind enough to host me earlier this year so when her new book came out I was only too happy to return the favor. For those who don’t follow her on twitter, I’d suggest you check her out by clicking the link at the end of the post. She’s here today to talk about herself, her writing and her new release, The Truth About Riley. So since this is her day, I’ll stop and let you hear from her.
Author Profile: Henrietta Clarke.
Welcome Rietta. Why don’t you start by telling everyone a bit about yourself.
Thanks, Andy; it’s lovely to be here. =)
Okay, about me? I’m a quirky Yorkshire lass with the hoarder gene, who collects everything from DVDs to books to keyrings to addictions to phobias. Fortunately, the addictions are mostly harmless: reading, bad TV, chilli in any form… I am, however, in imminent danger of becoming a caffeine addict—blame the writing. I seem to do it best with a cup of strong coffee in my hand. The general impression people seem to have of me is “sweet”, which is fine by me. It makes a good cover for my plans to conquer the world with snuggles and rainbows. Bwahahaha!
How long have you been writing?
Pretty much since I could hold a pen! The first story I can clearly remember writing is a modernised Enid Blyton-style mystery for children—that was when I was six, and I haven’t stopped since.
Do you write in any other genres besides m/m?
I wouldn’t exactly call M/M a genre, per se, more like an umbrella category within which I write mostly contemporary but dabble in other genres such as paranormal and sci-fi.
In terms of romance, though… absolutely. M/M is my favourite to write, but in the pipeline—some of it a long way away, but still there—I have some F/F, some M/F, some M/M/F… I’ll happily write anything that occurs to my muse if the story is good and the characters need to have it told.
I’m unsure at this point though whether to publish the upcoming M/F under a different pen name, so if your blog followers have any thoughts, I’d be delighted to hear them.
Sports? The Arts? Theatre/Film/Television? Which would you pick if you couldn’t write?
Oh, God, I honestly don’t know! I wouldn’t be me if I couldn’t write. Are we talking tragic accident where I lose the ability, or never having had it in the first place?
Tragic accident?? Heavens no. Just a what if you couldn’t/wouldn’t.
The Truth About Riley is your first novel – talk about it for bit.
First, a brief summary—Riley is suffering from a lack of self-confidence and affection as a result of the facial disfigurement he obtained in a fire a couple of years ago. Cameron just had a four-year relationship end really badly, and his ex advertised his cell phone number as a phone sex line in revenge. Riley calls the number, the two men get to talking, and gradually they begin to fall in love with each other—over the phone, because Riley is too scared to show Cam his face because he’s really been enjoying being treated normally and doesn’t want to lose that.
Basically, it’s a story about having to find a certain measure of peace with yourself before you can hope to find it with another person, but how sometimes it’s that other person who helps you to get there.
The premise is really quite interesting – most of the book takes place in dialogue between the two characters, but there’s an interesting side twist – that readers will need to buy the book to find out about. But what gave you the idea to write this type of story?
Riley actually started as an anthology submission written in response to a prompt which can essentially be summed up as “meeting through a small ad”. So that’s where the idea initially came from—I looked at the prompt and my muse said “vindictive ex; phone sex ad; caller who wouldn’t normally respond to that kind of ad.” I thought “okay, sounds good,” and sat down to think of a good reason for someone who wouldn’t normally call a phone sex line to do so in this instance. Riley popped up and said “well, this is what happened,” and it all spiraled from there. The dialogue is a direct consequence of the characters’ situation. It’s also been the tiniest bit problematic for me as a writer, because when I sat down to start writing something else after Riley, my action-writing skills were definitely a bit rusty—“what do you mean, these people are in the same room? How does that work?” Riley was great fun to write though.
Tell us something(s) interesting that is not in the blurb?
Oh, goodness, that’s a bit of a hard one since what’s interesting to one person may not be to another. Is the fact that Riley is an M/M romance author interesting?
I have to confess that Riley’s best friend Drew—my favourite secondary character—is as we speak posing with a hand on one hip and the other on his heart, pouting: “C’mon, honey, what about me? I’m interesting!” (I shouldn’t be surprised by this. He does have an audience here.)
One other thing that may be interesting—it certainly made my publisher and I chuckle bemusedly—is that Riley has been linked on Twitter by a group that tweets about new releases in parenting-type books. I guess they must really love Riley’s mother?
Were your characters based on anyone you know?
Not in the slightest. I do have one book in the pipeline where several of the characters are reminiscent of people I know. It’s not something I ever set out to do, but sometimes my subconscious just takes over and it happens. Not with Cam and Riley though.
What’s your favorite part of the writing process?
Please don’t shoot me, fellow authors, but I actually really enjoy doing edits. I definitely write from my subconscious, so the edits are where I have more of a chance to get involved, to take that raw material that came from somewhere inside and chip and carve and polish it into something—I hope!—wonderful. It’s wonderful to me, at least, to think that these seventy-nine thousand words came from nowhere and suddenly they’re sitting on my bookshelf in paperback form.
What’s your least favorite?
Anyone who follows me on Twitter, all together now: TITLES! I’m SO bad at coming up with titles. Riley was christened by my beta, and I’m sure she’ll be thinking up more titles for me in the future.
I’m also not so keen on blurbs, and don’t even get me started on synopses… Basically, all the formalities that have to happen before you can thrust your book at your publisher and say “publish this!”
Since there is always another story to tell, what are you working on now?
That in itself is quite a story—I was at the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet this past weekend, and on Sunday morning we had a panel about representing the entire QUILTBAG in fiction, which basically started by a flat statement that asexuality is virtually unrepresented right now. I had to stand up and say “well, actually, I’m working on an asexual romance as we speak.” That seemed to go down well, so I’m hoping when it’s published there’ll be some interest, if only to see if I did pull it off.
And since anyone who knows me knows I cannot work on just one thing at once—my muse has ADD—I’m also working on a handful of anthology submissions for various publishers, as well as the sequel to The Truth About Riley. There’s always another story, true, but for the moment Cam and Riley’s is not over.
What have you read lately that most people haven’t read but should?
Hmm, I actually have no idea what most people have or haven’t read, so this is quite a tricky one to answer. I’m going to take the easy way out and tell you about the best book I’ve read lately.
As I mentioned, I was at the UK Meet last weekend, and during a brilliant panel on humour, Josephine Myles read an extract from her book The Hot Floor, and it amused and intrigued me enough that I went straight home and bought the book. I devoured it with great relish, giggling the whole way through. It’s not a book to read if you’re not a fan of graphic sex or if threesomes offend you, but if you’re good with those things: so funny, such incredible, loveable characters, and so freaking hot! I will definitely be reading it over and over again. (And Jo herself is fabulous too, very nice and funny.)
If you could meet any writer, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Only one? Oh, God, that’s such a hard choice! Maybe Enid Blyton, since she’s the one who started me writing. Or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, because Watson is the first character I fell head over heels in love with (I was eight.) Or P.G. Wodehouse, just because… If I had to pick one, probably P.G. Wodehouse. That would be an amazing day or dinner or drink or whatever. I just adore his sense of humour and the homoeroticism of his novels.
I think you managed to slip in three by my counting. 
What’s a fun – non-writing – day for you?
Any day when I get to see my best friend. We live a fair way apart so I don’t see her nearly enough, which means when we get together it’s always loud, crazy and hilarious. Mind you, I’m not sure that counts as an answer to this question as since we’re both writers, writing or at least plotting is generally involved.
Besides reading and writing, what else do you enjoy?
Sleeping! Working four jobs, I don’t get enough of it. (Though three of those jobs are writing, editing and proofreading, so don’t go feeling too sorry for me—I love almost all my jobs.)
In my waking hours, I enjoy swimming, sewing, and vegging out in front of bad TV.
Last question is all yours – feel free to talk about anything you want your readers to know about you, your book, anything at all.
I’d like to take this chance to say a massive “THANK YOU!” to everyone who’s bought the book so far. I’ve been literally staggered by the novel’s very presence in bestseller lists, never mind its position, and I know that none of those amazing, humbling things I’m feeling right now would be possible without my readers. I’m just so grateful to everyone who’s taken a chance on Riley so far, and really hope you enjoy it. Thank you all so much.
Thanks for being my guest, now it’s time to plug your work –
Before I plug, thanks for having me! It’s been great to be here today. =)
Blurb:
Riley Aylworth’s life has been completely devoid of intimate contact since a fire three years ago left him with horrific facial scarring, so when he finds an ad for a phone sex service, he decides to give it a call. Except that the number is not a phone sex service—it’s the revenge Cameron Kirkwood’s ex-boyfriend took on the uptight advertising executive after Cam forgot their anniversary and accidentally put him in the hospital. Needless to say, after thirty-nine disturbing calls seeking phone sex, Cameron is at the end of his tether and yells at his fortieth caller. What he doesn’t expect is for Riley to hit redial and yell right back.
The argument helps both Cameron and Riley vent about their issues, and when they’ve calmed down, they decide to exchange numbers and talk again. From this decision springs a friendship that, over time, grows into a gentle romance—all over the phone, because Riley is too scared to meet Cam in person. Showing a potential boyfriend his disfigured face is the fastest way to get rejected, right? Even a month of scorching hot phone sex can’t change his mind, no matter how hard Cam tries to persuade him that with their phone chemistry, the sex would be so much better in person.
Meanwhile, Cam is haunted by the scarred blond he seems to be seeing everywhere, and Riley can’t get the handsome brunet who always seems happy to see him out of his mind. It’s a shock to both men to realise that the guy they’re falling for over the phone is also the man who brightens their day with just a smile; but it’s one thing to let a stranger smile at you and quite another to let him close enough to see into your soul. If Riley can’t break down the walls in his mind and believe that Cameron loves him in spite of his scars, their relationship may be doomed before they’ve even had a chance to kiss.
Buy Link:
http://www.bottomdrawerpublications.net/#!the-truth-about-riley/c1igv
Excerpt:
In the end, it took Riley two days to pluck up the courage to call the number in the ad. There was a delicate balance between hunger for interactive sex and shame at the thought of paying for it. He was still debating with himself when he stripped naked and crawled into the middle of the bed sometime after eleven p.m., phone in hand, the bedroom door firmly closed to keep his beloved but inquisitive Samoyed, Bella, from interrupting. Once he’d entered the number slowly and carefully, checking every digit three times, Riley lay back, closed his eyes, and pressed the device to his ear.
“Cameron Kirkwood.”
The answering voice was one part professional, one part exasperated, and one part sarcastic, and Riley frowned. Call him paranoid, but this did not seem like a good start. Weren’t phone sex operators supposed to ease you into the conversation and make you feel comfortable? Riley felt like a teenager caught masturbating by his mother.
“Um, hello. I’m calling in response to your ad . . .”
In response to your ad? What was he thinking, speaking so formally? There was something in the voice that compelled it, perhaps. It was a nice voice, but it didn’t sound at all like he’d imagined a phone sex voice to sound.
“I work for an advertising agency—I deal with hundreds of ads every week. Did you have a specific one in mind?” Yeah, definitely sarcasm now, and Riley had a horrible feeling he might have dialed the wrong number. But he’d checked so carefully . . .
“The . . . phone sex one?” he questioned, voice small. Maybe the guy only moonlighted as a phone sex operator?
Maybe not. The sigh that drifted back down the line in response was the most aggravated Riley had ever heard.
“Look, buster, that ad is not for a phone sex service; it’s my vindictive asshole of an ex-boyfriend’s death warrant. If you want to get your rocks off, you desperate, horny freak, go find yourself a fucking rentboy, but don’t call this number again.”
The dial tone cut across any apology Riley might have made, and he stared at the phone in disbelief. How rude! So maybe that was a fairly sucky situation, but was it really so hard just to say “sorry, wrong number”? Without stopping to think it through, he hit redial, sitting bolt upright and dragging the comforter over himself.
“Look, I told you—” the voice answered, sounding as pissed as Riley felt, and Riley let him have it.
“No, you look, you judgmental bastard! Where the hell do you get off yelling at people and calling them freaks for one tiny, innocent mistake? It’s not my fault you have issues with your ex—”
“Innocent? Yeah, I like that, when you’re calling a phone sex line—”
“Shut up! Shut the fuck up! You know nothing about me! You have no fucking idea why I’m calling a phone sex line; if you’re not one, the least you can do is politely tell me I have the wrong number.”
“You think I haven’t been doing that? How about I advertise your cell phone number as a sex line? Call me back when you’ve fielded thirty-nine disturbing phone calls from horny assholes insisting they have the right number and begging for all sorts of fucked up shit and tell me you’d be polite to lucky number forty!”
“Believe me, if I had forty people queuing up to have sex with me, I’d be sending ‘lucky number forty’ a fucking bouquet!” Riley shot back honestly with a stab of pain.
“Well good for you, slut! They don’t want—”
“Don’t call me a slut, you fucking, uptight prick! You know nothing about me!”
“So enlighten me, why don’t you? Tell me what’s so magical and special about phone sex that you think you need to be treated like royalty!”
“Fuck royalty; I’d settle for human!” Riley was vaguely aware that his voice was shaking. “Look, Cameron or whatever your name is, whatever issues you have with your ex, you’ve got it easy, believe me. Just change your number, write him an apology or get a restraining order, and just chill the fuck out, okay?”
~~~
Cameron should have resented being told to chill the fuck out by the man who had phoned him back to yell at him, but the truth was he felt better now than he had since that first phone call forty-eight hours or so earlier. Arguing with a complete stranger had given him an outlet to vent about the situation, and he felt some of the tension seeping out of him.
“What’s your name?” he asked impulsively, calming his tones, and he could almost feel the surprise radiating off the stranger as he replied.
“Sorry, what?”
“Your name,” Cam prompted. “If you’re going to try and slap me in the face with reality, or whatever it is you think you’re doing, I’d at least like to know who I’m talking to.”
A pause, and then the stranger’s voice sounded again, much more pleasant now the anger was fading out of it.
“Riley. My name is Riley.”
Bio:
Henrietta Clarke is a quirky Yorkshire lass who had the misfortune to discover the path she was actually meant to take in life three days into an intensive postgraduate course. Now free from the hell of law study, she divides her time between working as a lunchtime supervisor in a primary school, training as a fiction editor, and writing her own stories. When she’s not working, Henrietta can usually be found in the kitchen, hanging out with her parents and eccentric dogs or baking cupcakes. Every remaining second is spent reading or sleeping—sometimes simultaneously.
A hopeless romantic who is as much in love with the English language as with all the delicious fictional men it creates, Henrietta suffers from abibliophobia and has a serious book-buying addiction as a consequence. The day there are no unread items on her Kindle will be the day the Earth stops turning. Her other addictions include bad TV and chilli in any form, and she collects everything from books and DVDs to china elephants, keyrings and photo frames—most of which stay empty far too long. She has a minor obsession with rainbows, and plots everything in purple Sharpie.
Social media links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/riettaelisa
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Henrietta-Clarke/489679787744604
Blog: http://rascalsandrainbows.blogspot.co.uk/
July 16, 2013
Wednesday Briefs: Second Shot – The Senior Year – 17
Watching his finger slowly move off the doorbell, Blake wondered if he should have called before coming over. Problem was, he knew if he had to call first, he’d probably not follow through. No, he told himself. He needed to do it, and no time would ever be right.
Peter opened the inner door and his eyes flicked wide. He opened the screen door and stepped back. “Blake.”
“Hey Pete. Is Jason here?” He wondered what Peter thought of all the time he spent alone with Jason. Probably nothing, he decided. Jason would sooner cut off his leg than cheat on Peter. It seemed the one constant since he got to school; Jason loved Peter in a way Blake hoped to feel about someone someday.
“Yeah, we’re just finishing dinner.”
Blake shook his hand and stepped back. “I’m sorry, I should have called first. I’ll come back.”
“No, it’s cool.” Peter opened the door wider. “We’re almost done. Well all but Darryl and Dean bitching.”
Blake had started to move back toward the door and stopped. Maybe it wasn’t a good time after all. “Huh?”
“The proverbial cupboard was bare, so they left me to go buy dinner.” Peter shrugged then waved Blake in. “Let’s just say they didn’t appreciate eating healthy.”
With a quirk to his lips, Blake stepped over the threshold. “Vegetarian?”
His question drew a quizzical look from his host. “How’d you guess?”
“Dean mentioned something about you trying to kill him with healthy food.” Laughing, he remembered that first day of practice. “He said you bought vegetarian food and he had to go out for a burger before he starved to death.”
Peter’s amusement turned into a frown. “Figures. He’s making plans to make a ‘chow run,’ as he called it, in a bit so there’s plenty left.”
“Um…” The idea of eating right now made his already churning stomach start doing flips. “Thanks, but right now my stomach isn’t doing so well.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just…just have some things on my mind. That’s kinda why I came over to speak to Jase.”
The look of concern faded with a glint of understanding. “Ah.” Peter turned and led the way.
The voices from the kitchen turned into laughter just as they arrived. Dean looked like he’d swallowed a bug as he reached for his glass.
“Ut ut ut.” Darryl stopped Dean from grabbing his water. “The bet was you’d eat it all without any help. Drinking is definitely outside help.”
With a pained expression, Dean turned toward his older brother. Jason shook his head.
“Sorry, little bro, Darryl’s right.” Jason’s grin almost matched Darryl’s in size. “You can’t wash it down with water.”
“What now?” Peter asked as he took the seat next to Jason.
Without looking up, Jason slid his hand onto Peter’s leg. “Dean bet Darryl he could eat the rest of his dinner without any help.”
Watching Peter cover the hand with his made Blake more than a bit jealous for the easy ‘coupleness,’ as he called it, that they shared.
“And what did they bet?” Peter used his free hand to pick up his glass.
Before answering, Jason freed his hand and stood. “Blake, you want something to eat?”
“I asked already, he’s not hungry.” Peter looked from Jason to Blake. Jason’s eye opened just a bit wider as if he picked up on a hidden meaning.
“Oh. Did you want something to drink?”
“Ha!” Dean pointed to Peter. “See, I’m not the only one who thinks rabbit food isn’t meant for human consumption.”
“Um…” Jason’s eyes darted toward Blake for an instant before settling back on his brother. “I don’t think that’s the issue.”
Dean stabbed a piece of what looked like tofu and turned his gaze on Blake. “Sure it is.”
Blake froze. What he did next would decide a host of things, not the least of which could be his friendship with Dean and Darryl. But he’d come for a purpose and backing down now wouldn’t help. “Sorry, Dean, I actually like vegetarian food – well most of it, anyway.”
“Oh.” Dean stared at the food on his fork before he reluctantly pushed it in his mouth.
“So what’s up?” Darryl pushed his chair back and shifted his attention from Dean to Blake.
His resolve started to fail as he stared at his co-captain. Telling Jason his plan seemed easier, but the others would find out soon enough. “I wanted some advice on how to handle something with the team.”
Jason’s face gave away nothing as he pushed his plate a bit further away. “Did you want to talk to all of us?”
“No…I mean, I didn’t plan to, but it’s fine.” If he couldn’t talk to these four, how could he address the team?
“Does this have anything to do with Ethan?” Dean’s question drew surprised looks from the other three housemates. Noting the silence, Dean scanned their faces. “What? Like I don’t know what’s up? I mean they were in the room next to me and I wasn’t so drunk that I couldn’t hear.”
It felt like a fire exploded on his face, but Blake nodded. “Um…yeah, Dean it does, sorta.”
“Cool. Ethan’s a good guy.”
“If it means anything,” Darryl said, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “I figured it out too, but not because I heard anything from the guest room. You know it’s not a big deal right?”
“Well it kinda is.” He didn’t know how much to say about Matt, not that it had been a problem since the day they nearly came to blows.
“You mean Matt?” Jason asked.
“Kinda, yeah.”
“Has there been a problem since Monday?” The concern in Jason’s voice had Blake shaking his head.
“No, but that doesn’t mean he’s fine all of the sudden.”
“Actually,” Jason suddenly looked embarrassed. “With the trial and everything I totally forgot to tell you that he and I talked.”
Although he assumed they had, hearing it from Jason still surprised Blake. “And?”
“Let’s just say if you’re planning to come out to the team, he won’t be a problem.”
Check Out The Briefs Of These Other Flashers:
Nephylim
MA Church
Cia Nordwell
A.R. Von
Lily Sawyer
Victoria Adams
Tali Spencer
Julie Lynn Hayes
July 15, 2013
Purpose by Andrew Q. Gordon
Reblogged from MM Good Book Reviews:
Title: Purpose
Author: Andrew Q. Gordon
Genre: Science Fiction/Other Paranormal, Suspense
Length: Novel Plus (270pgs)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (21st June 2013)
Heat Level: Low
Heart: ♥♥♥♥♥4 ½ Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: Forty years ago the Spirit of Vengeance—a Purpose—took William Morgan as its host, demanding he avenge the innocent by killing the guilty. Since then, Will has retreated behind Gar, a façade he uses to avoid dealing with what he’s become.
Pixie's review of Purpose is up on MM Good Book Reviews.
July 14, 2013
New Releases: Monday July 15, 2013
All authors face the same daunting task – how to get their book noticed. In an effort to help some of my fellow authors, every Monday I’m going to post some of the numerous new books that have been released. For the most part these will be M/M Fiction with a heavy bias on Romance. That will probably evolve over time, but for now that’s were it is.
I’ve not read everything that is listed, though I’ve probably read or will read many. Which means inclusion on the list isn’t an endorsement or suggestion. You should read the blurbs provided to see if you’re interested. I’ll post reviews to books I recommend under the ‘Books I Reviewed’ tab. This is just a partial list of what’s new for visitors of my site to check out. That said if you end up reading something listed here and want to comment – please do. I reserve the right, however, to delete nasty or personal comments.
If you’re an author and want to include a new release, email me your blurb, cover image, buy links and any personal links you want included. No excerpts, interviews, giveaways etc. Those are welcome, but can be discussed separately.
The Truth About Riley; by Henrietta Clarke
Blurb:
Riley Aylworth’s life has been completely devoid of intimate contact since a fire three years ago left him with horrific facial scarring, so when he finds an ad for a phone sex service, he decides to give it a call. Except that the number is not a phone sex service—it’s the revenge Cameron Kirkwood’s ex-boyfriend took on the uptight advertising executive after Cam forgot their anniversary and accidentally put him in the hospital. Needless to say, after thirty-nine disturbing calls seeking phone sex, Cameron is at the end of his tether and yells at his fortieth caller. What he doesn’t expect is for Riley to hit redial and yell right back.
The argument helps both Cameron and Riley vent about their issues, and when they’ve calmed down, they decide to exchange numbers and talk again. From this decision springs a friendship that, over time, grows into a gentle romance—all over the phone, because Riley is too scared to meet Cam in person. Showing a potential boyfriend his disfigured face is the fastest way to get rejected, right? Even a month of scorching hot phone sex can’t change his mind, no matter how hard Cam tries to persuade him that with their phone chemistry, the sex would be so much better in person.
Meanwhile, Cam is haunted by the scarred blond he seems to be seeing everywhere, and Riley can’t get the handsome brunet who always seems happy to see him out of his mind. It’s a shock to both men to realise that the guy they’re falling for over the phone is also the man who brightens their day with just a smile; but it’s one thing to let a stranger smile at you and quite another to let him close enough to see into your soul. If Riley can’t break down the walls in his mind and believe that Cameron loves him in spite of his scars, their relationship may be doomed before they’ve even had a chance to kiss.
Buy Link:
http://www.bottomdrawerpublications.net/#!the-truth-about-riley/c1igv
Author Bio:
Henrietta Clarke is a quirky Yorkshire lass who had the misfortune to discover the path she was actually meant to take in life three days into an intensive postgraduate course. Now free from the hell of law study, she divides her time between working as a lunchtime supervisor in a primary school, training as a fiction editor, and writing her own stories. When she’s not working, Henrietta can usually be found in the kitchen, hanging out with her parents and eccentric dogs or baking cupcakes. Every remaining second is spent reading or sleeping—sometimes simultaneously.
A hopeless romantic who is as much in love with the English language as with all the delicious fictional men it creates, Henrietta suffers from abibliophobia and has a serious book-buying addiction as a consequence. The day there are no unread items on her Kindle will be the day the Earth stops turning. Her other addictions include bad TV and chilli in any form, and she collects everything from books and DVDs to china elephants, keyrings and photo frames—most of which stay empty far too long. She has a minor obsession with rainbows, and plots everything in purple Sharpie.
Email: heclarke@hotmail.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/riettaelisa
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Henrietta-Clarke/489679787744604
Blog: http://rascalsandrainbows.blogspot.co.uk/
Haunted; by Brynn Stein
Blurb: When Lenard Blake is forced to leave his wife, he divorces not just her but her influential family, who makes it impossible for him to keep his job as a Denver police officer, never mind to find another one anywhere in Colorado. But a rural police force in Virginia has an opening, and the move could be just the change he needs, so Lenard buys a house based on an Internet ad. But when he arrives, he finds that the house looks nothing like the ad… and it’s haunted as well.
Lenard doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but he decides to research his supposed ghost anyway. Soon he learns that fifteen years ago, Jason Miller was murdered in the house, and his entire family died under suspicious circumstances. As he makes friends with his ghostly companion, they join forces to try to solve the old murders. Along the way, they find there are some things that conquer even death.
Buy link: Available July 17, 2013
Author Bio:
Brynn Stein has always been a bibliophile and a closet writer. Many years ago, she found the joys of writing fanfiction, which provided an opportunity to “come out of the closet” with her writing. She enjoyed some success writing fiction for various fandoms—even winning several awards, but noticed that she liked writing “alternate universe” stories, meaning that, except for the names and vague situations in common with the fandom she was writing for, most of the story was original. When the opportunity came along to finally publish original fiction, she grabbed it with both hands.
Brynn lives in Virginia with her two two-legged children, and four four-legged ones. Her supportive family encourages her writing and provides a sounding board for fledgling stories. When she isn’t writing, Brynn teaches children with special needs and edits other people’s manuscripts. In free time, she reads anything she can get her hands on, and haunts bookstores. She draws and paints, and enjoys the outdoors—especially if she can get to the beach—and is always thinking about her next story.
Social Media:
Brynn’s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/BrynnStein
Brynn’s Blog: BrynnStein2@wordpress.com
Brynn’s Dreamspinner page: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=887
July 11, 2013
Tali Spencer Talks Swords And Sorcery
Tali Spencer is an amazingly talented author who’s been writing Fantasy and Science Fiction since the days when paperbacks were still the rage. Her shift to eBooks enables a greater range of people to enjoy her marvelous talent. With her new fantasy book - Thick As Thieves – released this week, it’s appropriate that she is writing today about two of the biggest elements of fantasy - Swords and Sorcery.
Tali Spencer: Swords and Sorcery.
Fantasy is probably the oldest form of literature and readers who love fantasy have numerous subgenres of fantasy to choose from. One of the most boisterous is sword and sorcery, famous for the adventures of Conan and other barbarians. But what exactly is sword and sorcery?
I like Joe McCullough’s classic formulation, “Fantasy with dirt.” Sword and sorcery doesn’t play in palaces; it fights in the gutters and back alleys. Instead of princes and high wizards, its heroes tend to be outcasts and thieves. They’re too busy saving their own skins to give much thought to saving the world or winning a kingdom, though they might occasionally notice they’ve done so by accident. More often than not, they leave a mess. Sword and sorcery heroes are the working class guys of fantasy. They get stuff done but the higher class characters of fantasy wouldn’t invite them to tea because they tend to break things and leave bodies all over.
There’s often an element of horror to a sword and sorcery story as well. Danger or the unknown lies around every corner. Robert E. Howard’s Conan carved his way into fantasy history by swinging swords at creatures spawned from pulp horror. Even magic is more sinister in sword and sorcery, where it’s usually portrayed as untrustworthy and loaded with consequences for those who use it. Magic often goes terribly wrong and ordinary men like our heroes have to defeat it.
The opening chapter of Thick as Thieves features a hulking down on his luck barbarian, a pretty male witch, a dungeon, and inventive use of a unicorn horn.
Blurb:
After Vorgell the barbarian fucks himself with a unicorn horn, he ends up in a cell with Maddog, a pretty young thief. It’s lust at first sight for Vorgell—but honestly, he can’t help it. Unicorn horn is a potent aphrodisiac, and now he can’t stop thinking about sex. Luckily, Madd is one male witch who knows how to put Vorgell’s new magical body to good use when he tricks Vorgell into a kiss that helps them escape.
Vorgell may desire sex in general—and Madd in particular—but Madd has no intention of being screwed by a man twice his size. He has problems of his own, including an enchanted collar that causes him to desire his most hated enemy. He wants that collar off as soon as possible, but that requires stealing a basilisk egg from the castle they just escaped.
Drawn together by lust and magic, the two men join forces and soon find themselves up to their necks in witches, wizards, and trouble. Vorgell and Madd might just be perfect for each other, but first they have to survive long enough to find out.
Excerpt:
Vorgell tumbled against the hard floor as the cell door slammed shut behind him with a clang far too final for his liking. Maybe Baron Flemgu hadn’t been kidding when he’d promised to lock him away and let him rot.
“Oh, lovely. A roommate.”
Startled, Vorgell looked over his shoulder. Another man sat in the corner, wrapped in a cloak and hogging the cell’s only patch of light and probably warmth. From what Vorgell could see of him, he didn’t look like much of a threat. He was small, dark-haired, and beardless, with the soft looks of some high lord’s fancy boy. Vorgell had golden hair and a warrior’s body, boasting the scars of many battles. He came from the mountains far to the east of this land, though his band of warriors had been captured and consigned to a slave trader. That indignity had lasted only as long as the slaver’s skull. Since then, Vorgell had made his way to the city of Gurgh—a den of murderers and thieves he had gladly departed so he might try his luck at hunting witches in the wooded wilderness around Baron Flemgu’s castle. And now he was here, in a cell at the tail end of a string of bad decisions.
Difficult as it was to ignore the other prisoner, Vorgell pushed himself upright and peered up at the high barred window. Judging the distance, he crouched and then leapt. He was able to grasp the window ledge with his fingers and pulled himself up until he could just see the top of a line of trees.
“Impressive,” said his companion. “I would have thought you too bulky to make that jump.”
“I’m tall.” That was an understatement. He stood head and shoulders even over the tall men of Scur, and the men of Gurgh were not fit to hold his spear. Vorgell released his grip and dropped back down, landing on his feet. He turned eagerly to his pretty cell mate, happy that in his travels he had learned to speak the local tongue. “My name is Vorgell.”
The little guy snorted. “All that gets you, apparently, is guest accommodations in the baron’s tower.”
“Same fine accommodations as you. What did you do to piss off the baron?”
“You first, big guy.” A smile like a fisherman’s knife flashed his way. The boy had pretty teeth and secretive eyes with long thick lashes, set in a face fetching enough to belong to a girl. Vorgell’s cock thickened, his excitement coming to a boil despite his efforts. He couldn’t help it. For the last three days, all he’d wanted to do was have sex.
“I killed a unicorn,” he managed, though he couldn’t stop staring. The other man’s body possessed a delicate, graceful build that only encouraged thoughts of fucking him here and now. “I was hungry. Thought it was a deer. Turns out unicorns aren’t very big.”
Smile vanishing, his companion sat up straighter. “You killed the unicorn?” His black cloak fell open just enough to reveal a tempting glimpse of skin beneath a stained shirt. “What about the horn? What did you do with that?”
Vorgell flushed. “I was hungry, as I said. There were these berries growing where the unicorn had fallen, and—”
“Love berries. They grow wherever unicorn blood falls.”
“Yes.” The baron’s magicians had explained it. “Well, I ate all the berries I could find, and—”
“And for the rest of the night, you were hallucinating and as horny as a ram.”
“So they tell me. All I remember is having vivid dreams about, well, erect members. Apparently the creature’s horn was too… shapely to resist. When the baron’s soldiers caught me, I was fucking myself with the thing. Unicorn horns dissolve inside, did you know that?”
“Actually, I do.” At least it sounded as though the man believed him. “Are you telling me your barbarian ass consumed the whole horn?”
“Yes,” he admitted.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4002
Author bio:
Tali Spencer fell in love with writing at an early age and never stopped. Thanks to a restless father, she grew up as a bit of a nomad and still loves to travel whenever she can. Her longest stint in one place was Milwaukee where she went to college and enjoyed a series of interesting careers including respiratory therapist, airport executive, and raising three surprisingly well-adjusted sons. She later married her true love and put down new roots in Philadelphia, where she lives in an ongoing Italian American family sitcom. At least she’s learned how make good pasta. When not writing, Tali reads everything from sweet goofy romances to Lebanese cookbooks, manages her fantasy football team—go Gekkos!—and takes long walks with her loving, if slightly neurotic, poodle.
Visit Tali’s blog at http://talismania-brilliantdisguise.blogspot.com
E-mail: tali.spencer1@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tali.spencer
Twitter: @tali_spencer
Purpose is up for Book of the Month
Purpose has been nominated for book of the month on the blog of Sid Love. If you get a chance, please go vote for it. You can vote twice a day every day until July 15, 2103. Thanks
AQG
July 10, 2013
Author Profile: Brynn Stein
Today’s guest is a new, but not so new author. Brynn Stein has been writing for at least a decade, but only recently decided to try and get published. Her latest book, Haunted is slated for release on July 17, 2013, is a novella that . . . well I’ll let her tell her own story.
Author Profile: Byrnn Stein
1) Tell us about yourself – be as specific or vague about personal details as you feel comfortable - where do you reside, age, family, pets, etc.
I live in Virginia with my two daughters, two cats, my cocker spaniel and my daughters’ crazy Australian Shepherd, who, I’m sure, was Houdini in another life. Both my daughters are very supportive of my writing, and have developed permanently attached slash glasses. (‘Slash’ being what m/m is called in fan-fiction).
2) How long have you been writing? And do you write in any other genres besides m/m?
I’ve written fan-fiction for over ten years. Before that, I just wrote for me. Until very recently, none of my stories were actually romances, though they did all feature strong emotional attachments between two male characters. It seemed to be a pretty small step from there to m/m romance.
3) Haunted – Where did the inspiration for this book come from?
Actually, a form of the story came about as an answer to a fan-fiction prompt, but it was always an AU (alternate universe…meaning not using the ideas from the fandom anyway) and I was fighting it to keep it fan-fiction. A friend suggested I rewrite it and just let it go where it wanted, instead of trying to fit it into the fandom, so I did that. It was a lot more fun once I stopped fighting it. The same friend suggest I submit it to Dreamspinner Press.
4) One of your main character’s is cop the other is dead. Interesting combination. Do you have a law enforcement background?
I do not personally have a law enforcement background, but my nephew is a police officer and the lead character kind of reminded me of him. When I stopped fighting the character and just let him tell me what he wanted to be, it turned out to be a detective. The idea to have one character be a ghost came from the fan-fiction prompt.
5) Tell us something interesting that’s not in the blurb.
Jason (the ghost) enjoys trying to make Len blush…and usually manages it pretty easily.
6) This was your first published book – talk a bit about what it felt like when they accepted your manuscript.
I was ‘over the moon’. My youngest and I actually danced around the living room. She’s a dancer…so it seemed like a good idea at the time.
7) The process of working with an editor, cover artist etc is vastly different from a beta reader or someone who ‘edits for you.’ How did you find the process?
I didn’t know what to expect, at first, so I asked a lot of questions. Everyone was very helpful and had great ideas. It was fun working with the artist. I had a rough idea of what I wanted for the cover, and like to draw, so I drew the idea. Paul Richmond ran with it and really made it come to life.
8) What’s your favorite part of the writing process?
Getting on a roll…having ideas come so fast and fully formed that I can hardly keep up and get it down on paper fast enough.
9) What’s your least favorite?
When my characters refuse to talk to me.
10) Tell us about what you’re working on next?
I’m about 40,000 words into a story about a man recovering from a car accident, his private male nurse, and the nurse’s handicapped son.
11) If you could meet any writer, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Isaac Asimov, no question. His Foundation Trilogy is at the top of ‘favorite books ever’ list.
12) What’s a fun – non-writing – day forou?
Spending time with my family. On our last vacation, my girls and I went jet skiing on the ocean, then spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach…pretty much a perfect day. On normal fun days, we go shopping or out to dinner. We also love to go see movies…especially science fiction.
13) Besides reading and writing, what else do you enjoy?
I love to draw. I’ve sold several portraits of people and animals. Lately I’ve gotten into drawing m/m pictures (G rated). I also enjoy singing and playing the piano.
Thanks for being my guest, now it’s time to plug your work -
Blurb:
When Lenard Blake is forced to leave his wife, he divorces not just her but her influential family, who makes it impossible for him to keep his job as a Denver police officer, never mind to find another one anywhere in Colorado. But a rural police force in Virginia has an opening, and the move could be just the change he needs, so Lenard buys a house based on an Internet ad. But when he arrives, he finds that the house looks nothing like the ad… and it’s haunted as well.
Lenard doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but he decides to research his supposed ghost anyway. Soon he learns that fifteen years ago, Jason Miller was murdered in the house, and his entire family died under suspicious circumstances. As he makes friends with his ghostly companion, they join forces to try to solve the old murders. Along the way, they find there are some things that conquer even death.
Excerpt:
No matter how hard he tried, Len could just not get used to seeing his lover out in the cold weather in just a T-shirt and jeans.
“Can’t you… like… manifest a jacket or something?” he finally asked.
“What?” Jason gave his well thought-out reply.
“You’re freezing me to death just making me watch you in that damned T-shirt.” Jason just smirked and Lenard continued. “Come on, old man. You can ‘think’ your clothes off. Why not think some on?”
Jason seemed to think about it. “I can ‘think’ my clothes off because my physical form is just mind over matter anyway, so I pretty much look like whatever I want to… I think.”
“So want a coat on.”
“Why?” Jason smiled. “I’m not cold.”
“Why not?” Lenard asked. “I know you can feel stuff.”
Jason leered. “Oh, I can definitely feel stuff.” When Len didn’t say anything, the ghost continued. “I feel the cold. It just doesn’t bother me.”
“Well,” Lenard grumbled, “it bothers me! Put on a damned coat.”
Jason looked like he was thinking and then was suddenly wearing a beautiful leather jacket. “This is my favorite jacket. I was almost always wearing this. Well, not when I worked in the workshop, so that’s why I didn’t die in it. Probably a good thing, because I’d be really pissed if my jacket got messed up.”
Len didn’t really like it when Jason resorted to gallows humor, but he smiled anyway, just as the ghost plopped into the snow and started to roll around.
“You’re going to ruin your jacket.”
“Len,” Jason burst out laughing. “It’s not really here!” The coat disappeared. “None of it is.” Jason was suddenly naked in the snow.
“Oh my God!” Lenard exclaimed. “Put the clothes back on!”
All the clothes reappeared, and Jason doubled over laughing until a snowball exploded on his chest.
Author Bio:
Brynn’s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/BrynnStein
Brynn’s Blog: BrynnStein2@wordpress.com
Brynn’s Dreamspinner page:
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=887
July 9, 2013
Wednesday Briefs: Second Shot, The Senior Year – 16
“Thank you, Mr. Tellerman, you’re free to go now.” Judge Milton gestured to the exit to the witness stand. Jason found him pleasant enough, but he’d seen first hand what happened when he got mad. “Please don’t discuss your testimony with anyone else.”
“Yes sir.”
Walking out of the courtroom proved harder than walking in. Instead of the backs of everyone’s head, now he had to face them as he left. Ignoring Jordan and his attorney proved easy enough; he decided to look at his and Peter’s families seated behind the prosecutors. But when they started to smile, he had to fight the urge to grin back.
All joy drained away once he spotted Jordan’s family glaring at him from the back row. Jordan’s sister especially shot daggers at him with her eyes.
“C’mon, Jason,” Mary whispered in his ear. Her hand between his shoulder blades kept him walking. “They’re not worth your anger.”
Muffled voices came from inside the witness room and Jason found Peter inside talking with the detectives in charge of the case.
All three looked up expectedly.
“And?” Detective Belle asked for the trio.
“Aside from the little ruckus he caused at the bench, Jason did great.”
“Hey.” His frown failed when she winked at him. “That was so not my fault.”
“Actually it wasn’t, but you seem so serious, I was trying to lighten the mood.”
Peter stood up and stood next to Jason, slipping their hands together. “Are we done?”
Mary’s face softened when she smiled. “Yes. I don’t expect either of you will need to testify again. But as a precaution, I can’t let you go back in and hear the rest of the case.”
“Like I’d want to?” Peter mumbled his words, but Jason heard them.
“Will you let us know what’s happening?” Jason knew his parents would be there, but he asked anyway.
“Of course, but I don’t expect closing arguments tomorrow given what I know about the defense case.”
* * *
Stepping into a pair of blue Graydon shorts, Jason wished he hadn’t missed practice for the second day in a row. Running alone sucked and it did nothing to get him ready for the start of the season. Thankfully they didn’t need to go back.
He grabbed a white tee shirt on the way out and hoped Peter had made it back with dinner. When he reached the kitchen, he found Darryl sitting alone, drinking a protein shake.
“Couldn’t wait for dinner, D?” Jason noticed a second glass and pointed toward it. When Darryl nodded he picked it up and started to drink.
“Trust me, vegetarian food is something I could wait forever for. Who let Peter pick?”
Downing half the contents, Jason put the glass on the counter and wiped his mouth. “Had either you or Dean thought to get something, you could have avoided letting Pete choose. Now?” he shrugged.
“Noted.” After pointing his glass at Jason, Darryl downed the rest and sat back. “So how did it go?”
“I only got to see and hear my part, but from what my parents said, it isn’t going well for Jordan. Not that his attorney isn’t doing a good job. But even money can’t spin gold out of garbage.”
“Yeah, well your Pop helped level the playing field.” He started to laugh. “I’ll bet it shriveled up Hank Colmar’s nuts when he learned your family was going to outspend him helping the government.”
“Honestly, I don’t care a fuck about the Colmars. They act like I’m the one who did something wrong.” He stared into the remainder of his drink and nearly dumped it down the drain. “This tastes way worse than anything Pete will get at the vegetarian place.”
“Yeah, but we don’t drink it for taste. Dinner is supposed to taste much better than a protein drink.”
Jason laughed–really laughed–for the first time all day. “I got nothing.”
“I know you don’t. After all these years you ought to know better than to argue with me. I’m always right.”
“Oh?” Jason arched an eyebrow at his friend. “So the time you said we could sneak out of your parents house at 2 a.m. without setting off the alarm, I imagined that we got caught?”
“Hey, how was I supposed to know my dad changed the code that night.”
“Mhmm.” Jason swallowed the last of his drink. “And you said we could use garbage can covers to protect us when we did the Mentos and Diet Coke Project.”
Darryl shook his head and waggled his finger. “Like that was my fault you threw the bottle wrong and it sprayed us both with coke.”
Jason rolled his eyes. “And it’s somehow my fault you told me the sun tan oil you used would be fine when we went the beach.”
Darryl opened his mouth as if to speak, then started to laugh instead.
Jason turned his back and started to rinse his glass. “Exactly.”
“No wait,” Darryl managed between gasps of laughter. “You have to admit, you were an amazing shade of red.”
“Dude, you basted me in oil. I wasn’t red, I was cooked like a rotisserie chicken.”
Darryl started laughing harder. “You were running like a chicken too the next day.”
“Practice was horrible.” Even his tee shirt felt like sand paper. “You almost gave me sun poisoning, you know.”
“I sad I was sorry about a hundred times.” Darryl’s faux look of contrition hadn’t improved in the five years since this happened. “And I did give you a sponge taped to a back scratcher so you could apply lotion to your back.”
“It’s a good thing you’re not a doctor if that’s the best bedside manner you’ve got.” Remembering the stick, Jason started to laugh as well. Peter chose that moment to come home.
Standing in the doorway with a big bag in his arms, he smiled at the pair. “Did I miss something?”
Before Jason could say, “no”, Darryl said, “Did Jason ever tell you about the time he tried to broil himself in butter?”
Looking more amused by the moment, Peter peered down his nose at Jason. “No, but it sounds hot. Do tell.”
Check Out The Briefs Of These Other Flashers:
