by Knight,Riley
Rapture Coil
a friends-to-lovers romance
Amazon Kindle Edition
Rapture Coil © Riley Knight 2016.
Cover design by Ravishing Romance Designs
All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embodied within critical reviews and articles.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
The author has asserted his/her rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book.
This book contains sexually explicit content which is suitable only for mature readers.
First LoveLight Press electronic publication: August 2016
http://lovelightpress.com
Rapture Coil is set in the USA, and as such uses American English throughout.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Prologue
Liam
The show that night was the first show that the band had ever gotten paid for, and Liam had busted his ass to make it happen. He’d pounded some serious pavement, going to venue after venue, taking free shows just to get the exposure but always focused on the end goal, to actually make money doing what he loved.
That night, he’d finally done it. Sure, the venue was a bar where Liam and the rest of the band had to wear special bracelets so that they weren’t accidentally served alcohol that they were legally too young to be drinking. Sure, the bar was so loud and the patrons were so drunk that they probably wouldn’t have noticed if Judgment Day happened right then and there.
The fact was, Liam had gotten them a paid gig, and that was something that he’d been working for ever since junior year of high school. He and his best friend Adam had fought to make this happen, and now it had, and it was all up from there.
There were five band members and all of them were in high spirits as they left the bar. Each of them had two twenty dollar bills in their pocket that they hadn’t had before, and from the excited sound of their voices, Liam knew that they were all flying just as high as he was.
Well, almost all of them. Adam was strangely quiet, and he had been for weeks. Then again, the poor guy was probably tired. They’d only been out of high school for a few weeks, but Adam had picked up a job in the bank where his mother worked, and they were working him pretty hard.
That night, Adam had barely said two words, Liam realized. Everyone else had been so happy. Adam had been amazing with his guitar that night, as he always was, but that hadn’t put a smile on his best friend’s face.
It seemed that very little did these days.
The other guys wandered off, heading for their own houses, and Adam turned to do the same, but Liam shook his head. It was time for them to have this out. Something was bugging Adam, and Liam wanted to know what.
“I’ll give you a ride home,” Liam offered, and Adam looked at him thoughtfully, then sighed and nodded. Together, the two men walked toward Liam’s beat up old car, the one that barely got him around.
With the money that the band could bring in, maybe he could finally get a car that would work properly. Anything could happen.
Once they were in the car, Liam looked at Adam, taking in every inch of his face. Still just as beautiful as ever, with his green eyes, shoulder length wavy blond hair and surprisingly delicate features for a man, but those eyes looked haunted and there was a frown etched on those sensual lips like it would never leave.
“Okay. What’s going on?” Liam didn’t beat around the bush. It wasn’t his style, and besides, this was his best friend. He wanted to hear what was happening.
Adam shook his head.
“I guess I could play dumb, but that probably wouldn’t fool you,” he said, then ran his fingers through his own hair in a gesture that had been instinctive to him all through high school.
Liam laughed softly, shaking his own head and starting the car. It started, though only barely.
“Nah. So what’s up, man?” he asked, heading back through the quiet, dark streets toward Adam’s house. Funny thing was, Adam had been so focused on whatever was going on that he’d been ready to just walk away from Liam, who was his ride. There was definitely something on his mind.
“They want me to cut my hair,” Adam said, his voice sounding dull and quiet. “I’ve been just tying it back, but mom says if I get a haircut, there’s a good chance I can get a promotion.”
Liam frowned. He didn’t like that idea. Adam’s hair was a part of his look, but he supposed it was Adam’s body, not his. He didn’t see himself cutting his own shoulder length hair anytime soon, but that was his choice.
“Are you going to do it?” he asked, trying to keep his voice casual. Once more, he had to remind himself that it wasn’t his call to make.
But Adam didn’t answer the question, not directly, and that made Liam frown. Adam was supposed to be able to tell him anything. That was how it had always been.
Well. Almost anything. There was one secret that Liam had always kept from Adam, but he always would. Their friendship was not something he was going to jeopardize over his hopeless attraction to a very straight Adam.
“The job pays more than three times what my current one does. But it will mean a lot of overtime, probably, moving to salary instead of an hourly wage. I won’t have time to be in the band anymore.”
Somehow, Liam had gotten them to Adam’s house, despite the growing sense of horror he was feeling. This couldn’t be real. He couldn’t be hearing what he thought he was hearing.
Dimly, he heard Adam keep talking as he pulled up and parked outside his house. The huge house that had been bought with the money that Adam’s parents had brought in from their high paying, soul sucking jobs.
Adam was going to be working a lot of overtime, he said. Adam was going to need to focus on his new career, he said. And on and on it went, until Liam wanted to scream his denial of the whole situation until the whole upper class neighborhood where Adam lived was shaking.
“You’re leaving?” Liam asked, and he was dimly amazed by how steady his voice sounded. His world was falling apart. He and Adam had created this band years ago. How anyone could walk away from something like that, Liam didn’t know.
“Yeah,” Adam said quietly, and mercifully, there were no more words. No more justifications that wouldn’t have done anything to help anyone.
“You know, you and I used to have a term for people who did stuff like this,” Liam said quietly. “People who gave up their dreams for a noose of a necktie and the promise of more money.”
“Liam, don’t do this,” Adam said quietly, but Liam couldn’t be deterred.
“It’s called selling out,” Liam said, and even though the words were terrible, he didn’t regret them even after they were out. Because it was true, damn it.
If Adam had decided to move up in the bank but stay in the band, Liam would have none of these thi
ngs to say. But Adam, well, he was giving up. They were just on the brink of making it, hopefully, and Adam was leaving.
For the first time, Liam wasn’t sure if he even knew Adam at all.
“It’s called having something like a future,” Adam snapped, and in that moment, he reminded Liam sharply of Adam’s father, who was someone that Adam had never liked much and the feeling was mutual. “Look, let’s be honest. The band isn’t going anywhere. It’ll never make anyone enough money to live on. It’s time to grow up, Liam. You should do it, too. You’ll never make it anywhere working minimum wage at a skate shop.”
Liam stared. Seeing this was very strange. His best friend turned corporate.
What had happened to the Adam who had made fun of his job in the bank right along with Liam? The Adam who had taken nothing seriously? Shaking his head, Liam gave a soft sigh.
“Just get out,” he said quietly. How they were going to fill Adam’s guitar position, he didn’t know, but right then, he didn’t care. Right then, he needed to get away from the betrayal that he was feeling.
“I don’t want to lose you,” Adam said, not moving, and in that one vulnerable moment, Liam felt like maybe he was actually seeing the real Adam, one that had, he now realized, been buried deeper and deeper through the last couple of months.
Liam shook his head.
“Unlike you, I don’t sell people out,” he said, knowing the words were cruel. Then again, maybe Adam didn’t even care. Once, that had been the worst sort of insult that could be used against someone, sellout. Adam had changed so much, and it was only that night that Liam had realized it.
He’d been living in the past.
“Nothing has to change!” Adam reached for the handle of the door. “I mean, other than me leaving the band. We can still hang out, right? Still be friends?”
Liam shrugged.
“If you still want to,” he said hopelessly. Even if Adam did right now, he didn’t see how the other man would continue to want to. Once Adam was fully absorbed by the banking culture, would he have any interest in his rocker best friend?
How long until they just had nothing in common anymore?
“Okay,” Adam said, and it was like his conscience had been assuaged. He even gave Liam a smile and would have reached over to squeeze his shoulder if Liam hadn’t glared at him. Though he and Adam had always been physically affectionate with each other, he wasn’t even close to being in the mood right then.
Then Adam was gone, and for the first time, he was glad. It was a horrible feeling.
Maybe people wouldn’t understand just why he was so upset. After all, Liam had said that he wanted to stay friends, so what was the problem?
The problem was betrayal. He and Adam had made a promise to each other to see this band succeed, and Adam had broken that promise. The other members of the band were going to be just as furious as Liam was, only Liam planned to actually stay friends with Adam as long as the other man allowed it.
God, what a mess. Liam had been riding high just a half an hour ago, but now, the list of things that he had to do seemed a mile long. He had to find another guitarist. Hopefully Craigslist could help with that. He had to break the bad news to the rest of the band.
He had to somehow recover from this and move on, because no matter what Adam said, he believed that his band had a future and he was determined not to give up on it.
Liam didn’t even put music on. He just drove to his home on the wrong side of the tracks in silence. The run down old apartment was the best he could afford, but he’d needed to live on his own.
So much to do, and so little will to do any of it. Without Adam, a lot of the glow had gone out of the project.
Not that Liam was going to give up on it. He was far too stubborn for that. Far too stubborn to give up completely on his best friend, too.
Chapter One
Adam
In the years that had passed since Adam had left the band, he’d climbed the corporate ladder, just as his mother had promised that he would. By throwing himself into work, by working the overtime, picking up any extra hours he could, attending any financial training that was offered, he soon rose up until he was managing an entire branch of his bank.
Adam knew that he was the golden boy of this little corner of the national banking world. He was the youngest branch manager in the state, and everyone seemed to want to suck up to him. He was on the way up, and people seemed to hope that, if they attached himself to him, they would be drawn up, too.
It was great to be popular, except that it was honestly mostly a pain in the ass. Adam had no idea if anyone actually even liked him. That was a huge reason why Adam liked hanging out with Liam, even though it would seem on the surface like the two had nothing in common any more.
Liam had been friends with Adam when he was no one, and honestly, Liam had seemed to like Adam better that way. Liam really knew Adam, they’d had nights where they gotten just a little bit tipsy and shared all sorts of things with each other.
Liam would be his friend no matter what. That much had been proven when Adam had quit the band all of those years ago. At first, Liam had been so angry, and Adam had been sure that he’d ruined things forever.
It hadn’t worked out that way. Oh, there had been tension for awhile after that, and Adam knew very well that the rest of the band that he was no longer officially involved with hated him for selling out. Even though he and Liam still worked on a lot of the music together, Adam had no place in that world any more.
But Adam hadn’t walked away completely, he hadn’t been able to. Maybe that was why Liam hadn’t, either. At first, it seemed like the strain would surely break their friendship apart, but it hadn’t. And that was one of the major miracles that had touched Adam’s life.
He needed Liam. Liam kept him grounded, gave him something to do in his life that made it so that he wasn’t completely wrapped up in the bank.
That was why almost every Friday night, Liam and Adam had ongoing plans. Adam would watch Liam and his band play, if they had a gig, and as the years had passed that had happened more and more often. Then they would go back to Liam’s house, drink some beers, and watch a movie or play some video games.
It was the middle of tax season, and Adam had to work late, as he had every day that week. It was expected of all management, of anyone on a salary, really, but when he was done, his exhaustion didn’t stop Adam from jumping into his brand new Lexus and heading for Liam’s house.
Once or twice, he’d skipped this weekly veg out session, and he’d regretted it every single time. Better to be a little bit short on sleep than to miss this chance to relax.
Driving up to the run down old apartment building where Liam still lived, Adam parked his car, turned on the security system, locked the doors very carefully, and only then walked away. His car had never been stolen or anything, but this wasn’t a great neighborhood.
He forgot about all that, though, when he walked through the door into the old apartment building. The lock had been broken a long time ago and never fixed, so he didn’t even have to buzz up, but he barely thought about that anymore.
Finally, he was at the door, knocking at it and then pushing it open. The knock was more to announce himself than to request entry, though it still blew his mind that Liam kept his door unlocked. With the building not being all that secure, it seemed dangerous.
Then Liam was jumping up off the couch, and he barely had time to smell the delicious aroma of pizza before his best friend was in his arms, hugging him.
One thing that had always drawn him to Liam was how free with his emotions he was. He wasn’t afraid to hug, or to touch, and he was just generally an open, affectionate person. Adam had grown up in a house where those things just didn’t happen on a regular basis, and he loved it.
Even now, as an adult, no longer living in his parents’ house, he was not surrounded by people that he could hug very often, if at all. If he did it at work, he could be hit by a sexual harassment
lawsuit, so he tended to just settle for a handshake, instead.
As he let himself be wrapped up in Liam, Adam closed his eyes and just soaked it in. It felt good. Damn good.
“You made it,” Liam said, pulling away to smile at him. The man seemed especially happy today, though he was, in general, a pretty laid back guy and usually had a good attitude.
Liam’s eyes, a particularly distinctive shade of green-gray-blue that changed color on a regular basis, were practically glowing. He couldn’t seem to stop grinning.
“Yeah, I made it. Distractions, please.” Adam tilted his head, looking at Liam. “Starting with, what’s going on with you?”
Liam beamed. It was like he had just been waiting to be asked, and he was more than happy to tell.
“At the show tonight, there was a manager there. She’s heard our stuff on YouTube, and she’s interested in representing us.”
Adam stared. All of those years ago, he’d been so sure that the band was going nowhere, and that Liam would be going nowhere, too, if he chose to keep going down that path. Through those long years where Adam worked his way up the corporate ladder, Liam and the other guys had done more than Adam had ever expected, gotten several paid gigs, and it was rare that they would play for free anymore.
Still, he hadn’t honestly thought that a manager would ever be interested in the band. A surge of some ugly emotion went through him. Jealousy, maybe? How ridiculous was that, when he still had to make at least ten times what Liam did?
How ridiculous was it that he still cared about how much they made, like it was some sort of competition? Sometimes, it was difficult to get his parents out of his head, and they had always been big on worth being defined by the number in one’s bank account.
“Be careful, Liam,” Adam said abruptly. “She’s probably just looking to scam you guys. I bet she asked for a ton of money up front, right?”
It made him feel a little better about his ugly feelings if he wrote it off as concern for his friend. From the look Liam gave him, though, he wasn’t fooled. His best friend really did usually seem to know what was in Adam’s head.