by Shona Husk
‘Because you were very quiet on the way down.’
‘I’m fine, I can walk in anywhere and be fine.’ Ripley put his hand on Pierce’s leg. ‘But I am worried for you because you are all tense and paranoid.’
Part of him wanted to restart the engine and take off to anywhere but here. But he’d told Blue he was coming and if he didn’t show up now, that would make it look like he had no spine.
‘You know it’s not because I’m embarrassed to be seen with you, right?’
‘I know … for me it was so long ago that I’d forgotten how anxious-making introducing a boyfriend could be. I swear I threw up twice before my first boyfriend came around after school—and he wasn’t even staying over, we were going to the movies. Mum was going to cancel because she thought I was sick.’
Pierce smiled. ‘I’m not going to throw up.’
‘There you go; you’re already doing better than I did.’ Ripley grinned. It was hard to imagine him ever stressed out.
However, Pierce had seen the darker side to Ripley. Beneath the smiles and careless attitude there was a man who could be wounded, and who demanded more from himself than anyone else ever would. He’d trained for several hours already this morning. The topic of what would happen if he didn’t get full range of motion back was still off limits.
‘There’s no way I would ever take a boyfriend home.’
‘Maybe not, but this is your family. The same way the company became mine while I was in the States.’
Pierce nodded. That was true. Ripley’s family had left him behind to move on with the show. He could’ve gone back to the States to recuperate but he’d stayed. The only thing Ripley did know was he wanted to stay in Australia so he could see his father more.
See him more. They were doing this relationship thing properly.
Pierce pushed out a breath. ‘Well, I suppose I’d best do this, now we are here.’
Ripley leaned over and kissed his cheek. ‘You will be fine. We will be fine.’
Pierce got out of the car and grabbed the six-pack of beer—he wasn’t planning on making this a late one or on drinking too much. He could hear the music already. ‘Maybe I should’ve told them beforehand.’
‘Nah, this is way more dramatic.’
‘Would you like to go first and dazzle them with some fancy footwork?’ Maybe if they were all looking at Ripley, they wouldn’t notice him slinking in.
Ripley shook his head. ‘Oh no, this is your moment, not mine.’
Yeah, all eyes would be on him, waiting to see who he’d brought. The gossip would be all over the boat come Monday morning. He knocked on the door.
He was about to knock again when it opened.
Blue glanced at him then Ripley. ‘Glad you could make it. Haven’t got the meat on yet, but not everyone is here.’
After a moment’s pause Pierce realised he was going to have to do some introductions. ‘Blue, this is Ripley.’
Blue stuck out his hand. ‘James, but no one here will call me that so I won’t be offended if you don’t.’
‘Lover, you’re here!’ One of the guys ran up the hallway and stopped at the door. His gaze flicked between Ripley and Pierce.
Ripley leaned in. ‘I have to stop calling you that.’
‘Yeah, but I don’t mind it when you say it.’
‘Can we clear the door, then Lover can introduce his partner.’ Blue issued the order and everyone edged back outside.
Someone said, ‘it’s a dude’.
Ripley gave Pierce’s hand a squeeze as they moved through the house, but didn’t keep hold. Under the patio were half a dozen sailors and three girlfriends.
Now he wanted to be sick, but as heads turned to greet him he could almost see the snap as their attention focused. Blue pressed an open beer into his hand.
Only one way to do this. ‘Everybody, this is Ripley, my boyfriend.’
Then Pierce took a sip of beer and waited. There was no taking that back, but it felt so good to say out loud. He was able to put down the weight of the half-truths and hiding. It had grown heavier over the years without him even noticing.
‘I’m the ballet-dancing girlfriend.’ Ripley put a hand on Pierce’s shoulder. ‘You’ll have to work out for yourselves which part was a lie.’
Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then some smart-ass piped up. ‘Obviously the ballet dancing bit, because you’re prettier than my missus.’
He got a slap from his girlfriend for that. After scowling at her boyfriend, she smiled at Ripley. Pierce knew that smile; somehow, just by walking into the room, people wanted to know Ripley.
‘Are you really a ballet dancer?’
‘Yes. Currently injured.’ Ripley touched his shoulder.
She patted the chair next her. ‘Tell me how you guys met. I don’t want to listen to boat talk all night.’
Pierce let the tension he’d been holding onto ease a fraction. It was going to be fine. They were going to be fine.
Epilogue
Three months later
Pierce unlocked the door. The flat was bare, but it was his as of yesterday. ‘It’s not much.’
‘You have your own place … a mortgage, like an adult or something.’ Ripley walked in and looked out the glass sliding doors to the view over the park and out over the bay to Garden Island and the navy base.
Pierce could see HMAS Stirling from his balcony and only had a fifteen-minute drive to work. It was going to be nice not living on the base.
‘I told you I was looking for a place.’ He’d put the offer in a month ago, but had waited until the key was in his hand before saying anything. Ripley hadn’t wanted to get involved—he’d made that clear when Pierce had started looking. This was Pierce’s place, not their place. Which had taken the expectation away but at the same time reminded him they were still creeping forward. This time it wasn’t him holding things back. It was Ripley.
‘I know … but I go away for one week and it’s done.’ Ripley was just back from going to San Francisco for a week to pack what had been his life over there. They had spoken everyday but he’d been extra tense and moody since being told the results of his Huntington’s test were ready. Pierce wanted to ask about what Ripley planned to do, but he didn’t want to press those sensitive buttons. This was supposed to be a good day. They had few enough days together left as it was.
In three weeks Pierce would be leaving, and he’d be gone for far longer than a week and there’d be no nightly phone calls. He’d be gone for three months. Neither of them had ever done anything long-distance before and it was terrifying. What if the ground gave way beneath them?
‘This is exactly what I wanted and more, it even has a second bedroom.’
Ripley frowned. ‘Why do you need a second bedroom?’
Pierce shrugged. This had seemed like a really good idea while Ripley was away. He’d thought that Ripley would see what he was hinting at and leap at the offer. Now … it might be too much.
‘You’re messy, thought you might like the extra space.’ He pulled the spare key out of his pocket. ‘The key is yours if you want it. I mean, I know I’m not going to be here, but if you don’t want to stay at your parents’ place …’ Pierce wanted Ripley to say something, anything.
Ripley closed the distance in a couple of quick steps. ‘Are you sure you want me cluttering up your first place?’
‘Yes.’ He held his boyfriend. Hopefully they could live together and not drive each other to the edge.
‘I’ll help you move.’
‘No you won’t, because you have to watch your shoulder.’ Besides, a couple of the guys off the boat owed him for when he’d helped them move.
‘It’s fine. Starting partner work next week.’
Pierce nodded. If everything went well, then Ripley could be moving over east at the end of the year. That they had talked about. And would be another hurdle. They had to get over this one first. Could they do long-distance? Many couldn’t, even though they tried.
Ripley drew b
ack, his face going from sunshine to serious in a split second. ‘I went to see the counsellor yesterday.’
‘To get the results? I thought we were going together when you were ready?’ How had Ripley kept that one a secret?
‘I was going to ask you, but then I thought if it was bad I might want a few days to pull myself together. Then I almost rang you as I went in. Then I almost changed my mind about finding out.’
‘Did you?’ He held Ripley’s gaze. It had to be good news. He was here and he wasn’t a mess. It had to be good.
‘Yeah.’ Ripley didn’t smile though.
‘Oh God …’ Pierce pulled him close again. ‘I’m sorry.’ He didn’t know what else to say. He knew Ripley’s dad well enough to see what was in store. For a moment he couldn’t breathe.
‘It’s good. I’m not going to get it … but there is a chance I could pass it on if I have kids, because I have a few more repeats than normal.’
Pierce sighed. He didn’t let go of Ripley. He was going to be okay. Until that moment, Pierce hadn’t realised how much he’d been worrying about the result. Then his brain caught up with the rest of what Ripley had said. ‘You want kids?’
‘Eventually … don’t you?’
‘I hadn’t thought about it.’ Really, he was twenty-three; he barely had his life together. Was this a conversation they should’ve had earlier?
‘I’m thinking five to ten years away.’ Ripley looked at him. ‘You should see your face.’
‘You need to work on how you break good news.’
Ripley smiled. ‘Good thing I haven’t told my parents yet.’
‘You told me first?’ That felt big.
‘Thought I should. You stuck with me even though everything else around me was rough.’
‘That’s what you do for people you care about.’ He brushed a lock of Ripley’s hair aside and kissed him. He needed to believe that this was all going to hold together.
‘I’ll be here when you get back. I missed you so much while I was away.’
‘I’m not gone yet.’ But the weeks would fly by.
‘I know. We still have three weeks … best make the most of it.’ Ripley gave him a grin. ‘Want to give me the tour, show me where our bedroom is?’
‘There’s no bed in there.’
Ripley shrugged. ‘What makes you think I was thinking that?’
Pierce ran his hand over the fly of Ripley’s jeans and felt the hard ridge of his erection. ‘Just a guess.’
But he took Ripley’s hand and showed him to their bedroom.
Thanks for reading In the Spotlight I hope you enjoyed it.
If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage shonahusk.com, join my newsletter http://mad.ly/signups/119074/join, follow me on twitter @ShonaHusk, or like my Facebook page www.facebook.com/shonahusk.
You can also follow me through my publisher’s page here www.escapepublishing.com.au
Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.
You’ve just read a book that ties into my Face the Music series. The other books in this series are Out of Rhythm, Out of Place, Out of Time and Out of Chances.
If you liked this book, here are my other books Secret Confessions—Backstage: Kelly and Secret Confessions—Sydney Housewives: Meagan.
This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you’d like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please turn the page.
BESTSELLING TITLES BY ESCAPE PUBLISHING…
Out Of Rhythm
Shona Husk
They might be one of the hottest up-and-coming bands in Australia, but the members of Selling the Sun have a lot to learn about life, love, sex, and each other.
Coming off a successful Australian tour and prestigious industry award nominations, Gemma Field’s life should be perfect. Instead her parents want her to get a real job, the second album isn’t coming together, and her best friend, Kirsten wants nothing to do with her.
Falling for her best friend was never going to make life easy. After an almost accidental drunken kiss almost six months ago, they aren’t even talking. Gemma can’t even talk about it with anyone – not her family, not her bandmates, not even the one person she used to share everything with. Instead she lives in a space of indecision and pain, and it’s affecting all aspects of her life, including the band.
Kirsten Vincent missed Gemma like crazy, but did she miss her as a friend or as something more? She’s confused and Gemma is hurt, and the consequences of a bad decision will affect more than their personal lives. Will another kiss, a sober kiss, a kiss with intent, do more damage, or could it be the start of something more?
Secret Confessions: Backstage—Kelly
Shona Husk
An all-access pass to Sex, Love, and Rock ‘N Roll. Because what happens on tour doesn’t always stay on tour…
From Australia to the world…
Chicago. The last stop of their wildly successful US tour sees Australia’s biggest rock band, The Screaming Tuesdays, in sultry, summertime Chicago to play two sold-out shows. But the stage is not where the action is, and no one knows what goes on behind the scenes…
Kelly knows what he wants. He’s known from the moment he first saw Jasper. But months have passed and he’s done absolutely nothing about it. Now the tour is on its last legs, and the chance to chase his true feelings is fading fast. Can Kelly face his true desires or will he live with the regret of inaction?
Secret Confessions: Backstage Bundle
KM Golland, Eden Summers, Lexxie Couper, Zaide Bishop, Shona Husk and Rhian Cahill
Secrets revealed in this exclusive digital bind-up!
From Australia to the world…
Chicago. The last stop of their wildly successful US tour sees Australia’s biggest rock band The Screaming Tuesdays in sultry, summertime Chicago to play two sold-out shows. But the stage is not where the action is, and no one knows what goes on behind the scenes…
Secret Confessions: Backstage
Reading order:
Chase—KM Golland
Josh—Eden Summers
Yanis—Lexxie Couper
Theo—Zaide Bishop
Kelly—Shona Husk
Jet—Rhian Cahill
Connect with us for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Sign up to our newsletter
Share your reading experience on:
The Escapades Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Watch our reviews, author interviews and more on Escape Publishing TV
ISBN: 9781489221056
Title: In the Spotlight
Copyright © 2016 by Shona Husk
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Limited, Level 13/201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
® and ™ are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited and are used under license to the Publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in Australia, New Zealand, the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.
www.escapepublishing.com.au
bsp;
Shona Husk, In The Spotlight