The Worst Best Luck (19 page)
Read The Worst Best Luck Online
Authors: Brad Vance
To his astonishment, it was Rocky who pulled away first. Rocky who looked away from him as they separated, until he could get out of Dex’s gravity, and reassemble his stage face.
“Thanks, man,” Rocky said with a polite smile. It took Dex a stunned moment to reciprocate, to put his own mask back on.
“Thanks, yourself.”
Then they stood side by side, their hands joined in triumph, raised over their heads to accept the crowd’s love. Then Rocky dropped Dex’s hand and went back to his band, clapping for them and goading the crowd to do the same.
Dex felt as if he’d lost his balance, as if the hand Rocky had let go of was flailing for something to break his fall. For a moment he’d been ready to give it all up, all of it, just to be with Rocky for even a second longer. But it had been Rocky who’d let go of him, who’d sent him back to his old life.
Dex smiled and waved and applauded his own band, but inside something cried out the way you do when you drop a cup, in that moment before it hits the ground, already knowing that something was shattering, gone forever.
It should have been a triumphal march, Rocky knew, as he left the stage and everyone backstage congratulated him. He nodded, smiled, and kept moving.
That was a close call, he told himself as he rode a rented Vespa back to the motel. He’d almost done it again. Almost fallen in love with Dex fucking Dexter.
How did this always happen to him? How did he always choose the ones who… No, the question was, why did he always choose the ones who wouldn’t love him back? Why did he always go into these one-way relationships with a bucket of whitewash in hand, frantically painting over every crack and warp and rusty nail? I might as well paint my own eyes shut.
But Dex was worth his attentions, wasn’t he? He was so talented, so sexy, so…
“STOP IT!” He shouted out loud as he steered the little scooter into the parking lot.
The band was waiting for him in the lot. They’d taken a car, on the freeway, to beat him back here just for this. Korey had a bouquet of roses in his hands, and Jet popped a magnum of champagne as Rocky took off his helmet. Sam the keyboard player grinned and did a Mary Catherine split, shouting, “Superstar!”
Rocky laughed. “What, no tiara?”
“You earned one,” Rick the guitarist laughed.
“I didn’t have time to get one,” Korey said, handing him the bouquet. “Miss America, you’re beautiful.” He hugged Rocky, slapping him on the back. “Seriously, dude. That was…fantastic. Epic. One of those moments, you know?”
“Yeah, it was,” Rocky agreed. He nodded at the band. “You guys were awesome. The way you meshed with Dex’s band, it was like you’d been jamming together for years.”
Korey nodded. “Right? It was magic. And you and Dex, well…” Korey flapped his hand around as if he’d burned it.
“Yeah, dude,” Jet said. “You and him. I would pay to see that.”
“That’s not gonna happen, I can guarantee you.”
“Why not?” Jet insisted. “You want it. He obviously fucking wants it. What’s standing in your way?”
Rocky let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “What’s in the way? Everything, dude. Everything.”
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Brad Vance Romance…
When Rocky met Dex, it was hate at first sight. Country superstar Dex Dexter represented everything that budding rock star Rocky McCoy had left behind him in the Deep South – the religion, the homophobia, the hypocrisy, the lies. And Rocky represented everything that Dex had denied, had turned away from, had refused…
When Rocky met Dex, it was love at first touch. Double booked in the same slot on the main stage at CrossFest, they fought for the microphone like two dogs fighting over a bone. And when their hands met…
Rocky has had enough. “No more falling for straight guys. No way. No matter how hot. Especially if the ‘straight guy’ looks to me like a major closet case.”
Dex has had enough. “No way. I can’t be gay. I can’t lose my family, my friends, my career. I can’t.”
What they’ve had enough of doesn’t matter. It’s what they’ve never had enough of that will bring them together…
All Dane Gale ever wanted was to be a successful writer. After a few sessions with his new friends Rose and Sherry at a romance book club, well, the more romances they read, the more they’re convinced they can do better. And do they ever! They join their creative forces to become “Pamela Clarice,” self-published romance novelist. When they look for a cover model for their first book, Dane sees the photos that will change his life.
Paul Musegetes is the world’s most popular romance cover model, and the most secretive. Dane soon finds himself obsessed with this supernaturally handsome man, and when he meets Paul at the Romance Writers’ Ball on the Summer Solstice, he and Paul connect for one night of passion…
After that night, Dane's a writing machine. He can’t stop writing romances, and every story he touches turns to gold. But he also finds that he can’t write anything but romances. And soon he's spending every waking moment of every day writing another after another...
Then Dane finds out that this Midas touch has a heavy price. After the next Summer Solstice, he’ll never write again. Not a romance, not a serious novel. Nothing. Not even a grocery list. And that leaves him with only one option – find Paul, and get him to break the curse. But before he can do that, he’ll have to track down Paul’s equally mysterious photographer, Jackson da Vinci…
Two promising college athletes meet, each needing something only the other can give him…
When Roger and Brian lock eyes on the first day of school, a friendship is born. Both men are hungry for connection – Brian needs the acceptance, encouragement and support he never had growing up, and when he finds out his new best friend is gay, it brings his own identity into question. Roger needs a big brother, a best friend, but that will never be enough, especially not when he’s this close to big, strong, handsome Brian.
And both men want something more – careers as professional athletes. For Roger, the demands of the closet, the need to reject the love of a man to fulfill his love of the game, will be a crushing burden. For Brian, his downfall will be the substances he uses to get an edge over the competition, and to suppress his gnawing self-doubt and guilt.
One set of desires will bring them together, the other will force them apart…
When Jamie walks through the door of the Humane Society, it’s not just an animal who needs rescuing that day. Tom is there to adopt another service dog into the Canine Comrade Corps, but it’s Jamie his heart goes out to. But each man turns away, walks away, from the potential pain, the rejection, the knowledge that it’ll all end in tears…
Jamie knows damn well that the HIV he contracted from an unfaithful lover has put him out of the dating game forever in the small town of Santa Vera. Tom lost his legs in Afghanistan, and got new ones, yeah, but with a side order of PTSD to go, he thought grimly. The real problem is that only now does he realize he’s gay, now that the revelation would be just one too many things to put his family through, after everything else they’ve had to deal with.
So both men grin and bear the loneliness, put their feelings on a shelf, even as Jamie’s volunteer stint at CCC turns into friendship and, despite their resolve, something more…
Brad Vance Erotica…
WARNING:
The story you have just read is a romantic novel with erotic overtones. The following stories are heavy duty M/M erotica with (eventual, sometimes, it’s complicated!) romantic overtones. You’ve been warned – now have fun!
Many of my erotic works have been ADULT FILTERED or BLOCKED on Amazon. For adult filtered titles, you’ll need to search on Brad Vance in the Kindle store, not from the main page. For banned titles, you’ll need to look for them at other retailers…
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