by T. A. Chase
“Why would we sneak out?” Gram frowned.
“Reporters have the lobby and the front covered. From what Quentin said, they’ve talked to Roscoe and he claims you’re gay, Kasey, and Gram’s your boyfriend.” Garrett looked worried.
“Shit. Why can’t people mind their own business?” He slammed his fist against his thigh. “The reporters aren’t going to let this go.”
“No, they aren’t, but you don’t have to make any statement until you’ve talked to James. Leave through the kitchen and we’ll drive you to the airport.” His brother grabbed his suitcase while Gram closed and zipped his.
Kasey gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to sneak out of the hotel like he was a criminal. He shouldn’t be made to feel like he was wrong because he loved another guy.
“Don’t fight this battle right now, love. Go home, make your plans and tell the public if you want.” Gram brushed a thumb over Kasey’s forehead, smoothing out his frown.
They went down and ducked through an employee’s door to meet up with the hotel manager who led them through the back door Where Quentin waited, holding the limo door open.
Garrett strolled to the limo. It didn’t matter if anyone saw him. Gram and Kasey were next, leaving the building together. Kasey focused on the vehicle and hoped they got out of there without anyone seeing him. The alley of a hotel wasn’t the place he wanted to come out in.
“There he is,” a voice shouted.
He cringed, but didn’t speed up. He wouldn’t make the reporters think he was scared of them. Gram was climbing into the car.
“Hey, Johnson, why don’t you introduce us to your girlfriend?”
Gram turned, anger flashing in his eyes. Kasey stopped and turned to face the group of reporters and camera men heading toward them. He took two steps before Quentin moved in front of him to stop the media people from getting too close. Both Gram and Garrett stood on each side of him, flanking him.
“Don’t let them irritate you. That’s what they do, and you’ll suffer for it,” Garrett murmured under his breath.
“Come on, Johnson. Brothers share everything. Do you and your brother share your girlfriend?” The same voice called out.
Kasey couldn’t see who was yelling, but he scanned the crowd. Many of the reporters looked uncomfortable and a few wouldn’t meet his eyes. He and Gram gazed at each other for a few moments. Gram shrugged, letting him know it was up to him what he wanted to do.
“You’re here to ask me whether the comments made by Wilson Roscoe about my sexual orientation were true.” He made a point of meeting each reporter’s eye. “Why should I answer any questions when people who are supposed to be professionals make asinine comments like that?”
“We’re sorry, Mr. Johnson.” One of the reporters stepped forward.
Kasey tilted his head in acknowledgement of the man’s apology. He took a deep breath. Gram’s hand touched his hand and without thinking, he grasped his lover’s hand to gain some courage. Hearing a click and seeing a flash, he realized the camera men noticed their connection. Gram squeezed, signaling his support.
“I’ll make one announcement. After that, you can contact my agent for any other statements. You have managed to find your way into a part of my life you have no right to be in, but I’ll let you enter for a moment.” Kasey slid his arm around Gram’s shoulder, bringing their bodies closer together. “This man is my lover and my partner. He means everything to me and if the public can’t deal with it, then they’ll have to work out their issues.”
“You could lose endorsement deals. Aren’t you worried about that?” The question shot out of the crowd.
“Sure, I’m worried about that, but not enough to give up the person I love.” He gestured toward Garrett. “I’m finally following my brother’s example. I might be young, but I’m not stupid. The media and the public are going to blow this all out of proportion and make it the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with.”
Gram’s arm encircled his waist.
“In the end, whether I keep my endorsements and my job playing basketball or not, all the drama will be worth having found the man I’ll love forever.” He grinned at the reporters. “Thank you and now we have a plane to catch.”
They all climbed into the limo and drove off, leaving the reporters behind. Kasey sighed and rested his head against the seat. “I better call James before someone else gets a hold of him.”
Gram laid his hand on Kasey’s knee and gripped it tight. “Thank you.”
“I did it for myself as much as for you. How can I claim to be any kind of mature adult when I hide the most important part of me?” Kasey kissed Gram quick and hard. “I’m not willing to hide you. You’re stuck with me now.”
“Good thing I love you then.” Gram smiled back.
The next days and weeks would be hard to deal with, but as long as Gram stayed beside him and held him, Kasey would face whatever happened with his head high. Hiding was no longer an option.
About the Author
T.A. Chase lives a life without boundaries. Being fascinated by life and how different we all are, he writes about the things that make us unique. He finds beauty in all kinds of love and enjoys sharing those insights. He lives in the Midwest with his partner of nine years. When he isn’t writing, he’s watching movies, reading and living life to the fullest.
To learn more about T.A. Chase please visit www.tachase.com Send an email to T.A. Chase at [email protected].
You never forget your first time…
Diving in Deep
© 2008 K.A. Mitchell
Cameron Lewis loves his job as an instructor/trainer for a water safety firm that inspects water parks. He gets to travel from March through September, always moving on to something different. When a strange emptiness starts plaguing him, he chalks it up to turning thirty.
He manages to shake off the feeling—until he walks into a classroom and discovers that the eye candy in the front row is actually a very grown up version of his best-friend’s kid brother.
Noah Winthrop never forgot his first time. Scary, painful and then absolutely amazing—and with Cameron, the guy he’d always wanted. He’s had a crush on his brother’s best friend since puberty and now nothing will keep him from finally getting Cameron Lewis to notice him.
Even though Cameron once rejected him, Noah is determined to get it right this time.
Warning, this title contains the following: explicit male/male sex, graphic language, and mild Dominant/submissive action.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Diving in Deep:
For a guy who wanted to get things started, Cam took an awfully long time organizing his materials and fiddling with the DVD player. Noah flipped through his handouts, glancing up through the tails of his bangs when Cam dropped a binder. He shouldn’t take so much pleasure in upsetting Cam’s equilibrium, but since he’d been doing it to Noah since he figured out what his dick was for, he thought Cam kind of deserved it.
When Cam finally faced the room and urged people to their seats, Noah could feel Cam’s attention just from the number of times he didn’t look Noah’s way. As the DVD played through Spinal Injury Management, Noah caught the nervous drum of Cam’s fingers against his hip where he leaned against the podium. The Cameron Noah knew had always been too confident to fidget, and Noah really hoped he was the reason. As soon as he’d seen Cameron’s name pop up on the schedule, he’d been wondering how six years had changed the guy, how Cam would react when he saw Noah again.
He’d stopped comparing other guys to Cam after that first year, but Noah couldn’t say he’d forgotten him, forgotten that night—one scary and perfect night.
***
Cam hadn’t stopped drinking after the best man’s toast, but they were both a lot less drunk than they were pretending when Noah followed Cam up to his hotel room after Adam’s wedding reception. When Cam turned and looked at him in the hall, Noah didn’t know what was making him sweat more, the way his heart pounded in his throat, the t
angle of nerves in his stomach or the throb of his cock in his tuxedo pants.
Cam leaned against his door for a few minutes, just looking at him. He twisted the keycard through his fingers.
Noah’s mouth went dry as he watched those long fingers twine around the card. “I turned nineteen last month.”
“Don’t remind me.” Cameron swiped the key and opened his door.
Noah was pretty sure something in his head was going to explode as he waited.
“Come on in.” Cam held the door open after he’d stepped inside.
He sounded more amused than horny, but Noah didn’t care. He hurried through before Cam could change his mind.
All through the reception, Noah had tried to force some kind of recognition out of Cam, taking every opportunity to get next to him, brushing up against him in the limo—anything to convince Cam he wasn’t just some kid anymore. Noah knew he’d gotten one or two appraising stares, knew he didn’t look fifteen anymore, but every time he had thought Cameron would walk over and say something, Cam had turned and talked to someone else.
Finally, Noah had walked out of the ballroom and into the hotel bar. The bartender had given him a look, but since Noah hadn’t tried to order anything, the guy hadn’t chased him out. Not that Noah needed more to drink. Adam and their older cousins had been handing Noah drinks all night anyway. He’d watched a pool game for a few minutes until he felt someone next to him. He didn’t have to look to know it was Cam. The hair on Noah’s arms had stood up like he was picking up some kind of vibration in the air.
“So.” Cam had breathed alcohol on Noah’s face as he turned in Cam’s direction.
Noah swallowed, then just stared. Anything he said could screw this up, and he couldn’t, not now when Cameron was finally looking at him like Noah had something Cam wanted.
“Still think you’re gay?” Cam whispered.
Noah laughed. “I know it.” He’d straightened up. He’d grown another inch in college, and Cam had to look up at him.
“Hmm. We’ll see.” Cam winked before he stepped away, swaying a bit as he made his way out of the bar.
Now, Cam leaned against the wall in the small entry hall of his hotel room. Maybe he was too drunk. Noah felt a pang of guilt and turned back toward the door. Cam caught Noah’s arm and pressed him into the opposite wall.
Then it was Cameron slamming into him, Cameron fucking Lewis grinding against him, eyes staring into Noah’s with pupils so wide only a thin rim of green showed around the black. Noah’s dick went from throbbing to aching.
“This what you’re after, Noah?”
Noah couldn’t speak so he just wrapped a hand around Cam’s neck and hauled his head forward. Cam’s lips parted in a smile against his, and as Noah’s tongue slid inside, that wet rub went all the way down to his dick. He tightened his legs to hold himself up against the rush of blood flooding his cock.
Cam’s mouth was sweet from champagne, and he laughed into Noah’s kiss, hands tangling in Noah’s jacket as Cam worked on the buttons. Giving up on the buttons, his hand pressed lower, rubbing Noah’s cock through his trousers. The feel of Cam’s hand on Noah’s dick, even through the layers of clothing, had his head swimming, and he was going to come way too soon if he didn’t do something now.
Noah grabbed Cam’s lapels and shoved him backward across the hall. Cam was still laughing as his back hit the wall with a thud, laughed as Noah’s tongue licked down Cam’s neck. He stopped laughing when Noah dropped to his knees.
Noah clenched his fists to stop his hands from trembling before he reached for Cameron Lewis’s fly. How many times had he done this in his fantasies? How many times in the last year had he sucked some guy at a party and wished it was Cam in his mouth, shooting thick and deep in his throat?
Revenge can’t heal a wounded soul.
Untamed Heart
© 2008 Ally Blue
When Leon Fisher finds his lover butchered in their bed, he does what any good assassin would do—he gets revenge. But killing the murderer doesn’t make the pain go away. Instead, it sends him on a vicious downward spiral into alcoholism and depression.
In a bid to force Leon to sober up and regain his edge, his mysterious employers—known only as “the organization”—send him to a private property in the wilds of Alaska. In the lush and remote Tongass National Forest, Leon encounters Grim, a strange but alluring young man who saves Leon’s life after a bear attack, then brings him to a cabin in the depths of the woods to recover.
Leon doesn’t expect to fall in love with this odd, subservient person, yet he can’t deny what he comes to feel for Grim. But Grim has a past he doesn’t talk about. A past just as dark and ugly as Leon’s. And both pasts are about to catch up with them.
Warning, this title contains the following: explicit male/male sex, graphic language, intense violence, drug and alcohol use, and references to past abusive situations.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Untamed Heart:
That evening, easing his aching body gingerly onto the bed, Leon decided he’d been severely underestimating Grim all this time. He’d watched Grim clean and gut fish, skin and dress rabbits, birds and deer, but he’d never appreciated what hard work it was. He’d assumed the whole thing was as easy as Grim made it look.
It wasn’t. Raw flesh, Leon quickly discovered, was tough, and the ligaments and tendons holding the joints together even tougher. Grim’s knives and cleavers were hefty and well-honed, so sharp that when Leon accidentally cut himself, he didn’t even feel it, but it had still taken him a considerable amount of effort to separate the deer’s legs from its body. He hadn’t dared to help Grim skin the carcass after that. His injured shoulder had begun to ache, and his arms felt weak. He was afraid that if he tried to skin the animal, the knife would slip and he would cut himself again. Or worse, cut Grim.
“Sorry I wasn’t more help,” Leon said as Grim came back inside, arms wet to the elbows, carrying the dinner dishes he’d been washing in the little stream behind the cabin. “I’ll get the hang of it eventually, I swear.”
Grim smiled as he stacked the clean dishes on the hutch. Shadows from the failing light outside made his dimple seem deeper than normal. “You did fine, Leon. Especially for your first time. It’ll get easier, don’t worry.” He grabbed a long match from the dwindling supply beside the woodbox, kindled it in the stove and lit the kerosene lantern. Carrying the lantern over to the bed, he placed it carefully on the floor and sat on the futon beside Leon. “Are you hurting? I can give you a massage, if you want.”
Reaching up, Leon brushed the hair from Grim’s eyes. “You don’t have to do that. You must be tired too.”
“Not really. I’m used to it. You’re not.” Grim slid both hands beneath Leon’s sweater. His fingers were icy from the cold water of the stream, making Leon’s skin pebble. “So, would you like a massage? Or would you rather have something else?”
The familiar gleam in Grim’s eyes told Leon precisely what Grim meant by “something else”. In an instant, Leon’s fatigue was swept away by a wave of desire so intense it froze his breath.
Ignoring the way his sore muscles screamed at him, he locked his arms around Grim’s waist and rolled so that Grim lay underneath him. Grim squeaked in surprise. He stared up at Leon with wide, lust-dark eyes, panting through parted lips. His hands clutched Leon’s shoulders so hard it hurt.
“I want to fuck you,” Leon said, his voice low and rough.
Grim’s eyelids fluttered. His face flushed pink. “Okay. Will you let me up? So I can undress and…and everything?”
Leon shook his head. Every time they had sex, it was doggie-style. Grim hadn’t said no on the one occasion when Leon had requested a different position, but he’d been so clearly uncomfortable fucking face-to-face that Leon had changed his mind.
Not that he didn’t enjoy taking Grim from behind. He did. Very much. But he could no longer ignore his desire to watch Grim’s face while they fucked, to look into his eyes when he
came.
“Not yet,” Leon whispered, drawing his fingers down Grim’s cheek in a soft caress. “Just lie here for a little while. Let me touch you. Okay?”
The apprehension Leon had expected filled Grim’s eyes, but it wasn’t strong enough to drown out the need pouring off him in palpable waves. He nodded.
It was all the permission Leon needed. Standing up, Leon undressed as fast as he could. Grim lay still, his gaze raking up and down Leon’s body. Naked, Leon knelt on the bed and started pulling off Grim’s clothes. Grim tried to help. When Leon batted his hands away, he kept himself busy stroking as much of Leon’s skin as he could reach.
Once he had Grim undressed, Leon nudged his legs apart and knelt between them. He reached over to the little bedside table Grim had built the previous month and grabbed the tub of cooking fat they’d started using when the lube ran out. The smell of it wasn’t pleasant, but Leon figured that was a small price to pay for the pure bliss of sinking his cock into Grim’s body.
Grim hadn’t needed much preparation after their first few times together. At this point, a couple firm strokes of Leon’s thumb was usually all it took for Grim’s hole to open up. Normally, Leon would plunge his prick into Grim’s ass the second the tight muscles relaxed enough. Tonight, he wanted to take his time. To touch and tease, caress Grim inside and out until all his inhibitions melted away and he gave himself up completely to Leon.
Fingers coated with grease, Leon scooted backward enough to bend forward and kiss the tip of Grim’s cock. Grim let out a surprised shout and tried to squirm away. Leon stopped him with a hand across his hips.
“Relax,” Leon murmured, pressing his cheek to the inside of Grim’s thigh. He pushed two fingers into Grim’s ass, drawing a ragged moan from Grim. “I want to suck your cock. Let me?”