Don't Read in the Closet volume one (6 page)

“I would have noticed
you without any of it, you know.”

“Yeah right.”

“Really. In fact, I did.
Before the ceremony had even begun, I couldn’t take my eyes off you. Believe
me,
you definitely stand out in a crowd.”

“Never used to,” Achan
mumbled. “You never looked twice at me before.”

“Yes I did. I just… I
saw… well I was young and I saw a friend. I still do. But…”

“You left,” Achan
accused. “You finished your training at the academy and you took off. You never
even looked back. You never—”

“More fool me.” Dashiel
swallowed hard against the knot of emotion lodged deep in his throat. “I’m
sorry, Achan. I never meant to hurt you.”

“You did, you know. When
you and Gareth left, it hurt so
bad
.”

“I’m here now. I know it
doesn’t make things right, but if you’re willing to give me a chance, I promise
I won’t be going anywhere again.”

“Really?”

“Really. Not without
you. That is… if that’s what you want.”

Dashiel was surprised to
see Achan looked away again. “It’s just… you kind of have a reputation.”

“What reputation?”

“As a player.”

“What?” Dashiel
sputtered.

“I can’t do that, Dash.
I don’t want it to be like that with us.” Achan shrugged and lowered his gaze.
“I figured the only chance I had
was
to sneak in and
steal your heart while you weren’t looking.”

Dashiel hated seeing the
anxiety and shadow of uncertainty in Achan’s face. Without any warning, he
moved to pin the smaller man beneath him along the length of the couch. Achan
let out a surprised squeak, and then they were nose to nose—no room for
ambiguity or doubt or insecurities.

“I’m not a player
anymore, Achan. Haven’t been for a long time. It’s one of the reasons I never
took Kresh up on his offer. I haven’t been interested in those sorts of games
for years.”

Achan’s eyes were wide
and Dashiel allowed one slow blink of dawning comprehension before he moved in
to claim Achan’s lips.

The kiss was firm and
demanding and designed to show how much he wanted to make things work between
them. But just as Dashiel was about to completely lose
himself
to the sensation, he felt a sharp stab to his right ass cheek.

“Ow! What the—”

Looking back over his
shoulder, Dashiel’s jaw dropped as he saw a golden tipped arrow clutched in
Achan’s hand.

“Like I said, you do
have a certain reputation, you know,” Achan said. “I plan on keeping you
interested.”

Dashiel couldn’t hold in
a chuckle. “Oh I’m starting to realise there’ll never be a dull moment with you
around, babe. Believe me.”

“And don’t you forget
it!”

Dashiel went back to
kissing Achan, but not before reaching back and wrapping his hand around the
arrow in Achan’s hand. He wasn’t stupid enough to risk another poke in the ass
from the little imp.

Finally, pulling away to
breathe, Dashiel rested his forehead against Achan’s.

“Achan?”

“Mmm?”

“They don’t work on
Cupids. We’re naturally immune.”

Achan froze beneath him
as Dashiel plucked the arrow out of Achan’s suddenly unresisting hand and
tossed it across the room away from them.

“Oh,” Achan said in a
rather small voice.

Dashiel kissed him
softly—a tender reassurance. “Doesn’t mean we don’t fall in love though.”

“It doesn’t?”

“No.”

Dashiel smiled down at
Achan—a smile full of promise. And then he went back to kissing. Something he
was sure he would never get enough of, no matter how long their existence
lasted.

THE END

Author bio:
WHO IS JADE? Jade was born
in 2010 after a prolonged pregnancy and labour of over thirty-four years!

Yes,
she is a pseudonym. A work of my fevered imagination, which never seems to
grow
tired of inventing new characters. And this one's a
whopper. One that seems to have taken over my life to the point I'm no longer
sure where she ends and I begin! Still, it seems to be working for us.

I’ve
decided she’s about twenty-four. Enjoys long walks in the country, because she
doesn’t have five kids and a husband to care for. Eats as much chocolate as she
wants, because she never has to worry about putting on weight (must be all
those long walks!). And can often be found planning her next whirl wind world
tour or endlessly typing away (without any interruptions) on another hot and
steamy erotic romance. It might be space pirates; it might be shifters or a
lonely vampire with a thing for the girl next door, one thing’s for sure, she
loves variety and can’t wait to meet the next characters destined to fall in
love.

Jade
Archer’s Website:

www.jadearcher.com

Also
By Author:

Journey
of the Wyvern: The Stowaway

Sandpipers:
Another Little Secret (free read)

The
Nu Hayven Chronicles: Treacherous Sun

Portals:
Sharing Paul

Portals:
Crying Wolf (free read)

Portals:
Devon’s Revenge

Portals:
Ethan’s Freedom

Contact:
Where to Find Harte

Contact:
Why Jay Ran Away

Contact:
How to Steal Blade

Contact:
What To Do With Lore

Selected by J. P.
Barnaby

Dear Author,

I found this picture and I think the two young guys could have
been through any number of things to get the point where we see them.

[PHOTO: Two young men share a quiet moment on a bed. One, dark haired
and wearing a tank top, lies on his back on the pillow. The other, shirtless
and toned, braces over him. Their foreheads touch, eyes closed, faces still,
nose brushing nose. The supine man's hands close gently on his lover's arms.]

Sincerely,

DH Starr

Genre:
contemporary

Tags:
virgin,
May/December, apocalyptic, impact event, tragedy, sex with a minor

Words:
5,177

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

by J. P. Barnaby

“The collision
will occur at 10:38 Eastern Standard Time this evening near the Indiana- Ohio
border just west of Fort Wayne. NASA has deemed the asteroid a planet-killer
and the devastation will be absolute. All attempts at rerouting or destroying
it have failed. President Burns has declared a Federal State of Emergency and
authorities advise citizens to stay in their homes for these last few hours of
civilization. WNIV will be going off the air to allow employees time to spend
with their families. Indeed, God help us all.”

The radio went dead as Will Southerland lay on the floor staring
at it, his heart racing as he tried to come to terms with the announcement. The
impact had been a possibility since astronomers first spotted the asteroid
three months before, but to hear the finality in the disc jockey’s voice
terrified Will. His mother and sister cried softly on the couch somewhere above
him while footsteps padded on his other side as his father paced the length of
the living room in their small Chicago condominium.

“I need to go get my mom,” Will’s father said quickly. “She is
all alone in the nursing home, and I want her here with us when…when the end
comes.”

“Albert, you heard what they said,” his mother reasoned. “I want
her here too, but what if something happens to you?” After a moment, the
absurdity of her statement apparently struck her. Of course, there was a chance
that he could die in his attempt to reach the nursing home, but in the grander
picture, he would be dead inside of twelve hours anyway. With a resigned nod,
she lifted her face to receive his kiss. After grabbing his wallet, keys and
the handgun he kept in a locked drawer near their bed, former Marine Sergeant
Albert Southerland walked out the front door and locked it securely behind him.

The thunderous sound of his father’s boots in the narrow hall
faded as his father reached the elevator. It took about twenty minutes under
normal circumstances to reach where Grandma Pat lived, but these circumstances
were anything but normal. Traffic was generally light on their short monthly
visits. If his father returned, it could take hours. Will’s stomach rolled and
he looked around the room for something to focus on. His mother and
eleven-year-old sister Ella still sat huddled together in a futile attempt to
find comfort.

“Mama, will it hurt?” Ella asked in a small voice, her head
resting on their mother’s shoulder.

“No, baby, I don’t think it will,” Sarah Southerland told her
sweet daughter while rhythmically pushing the girl’s short brown hair back from
her face and letting it fall again. Will thought the gesture comforted his
mother as much as it did his sister. Ella hadn’t reached the stage of teenage
rebellion where her brother seemed to be entrenched, and leaned into her
mother’s affection. For the first five years of his life, Will had been the
only child, the sole target of his mother’s love. His sister’s birth had forced
him to share the most important person in his young life, but his relationship
with his mother deteriorated even further when he reached his teens and his
sister grew into a miniature image of his mother. They had the same long, shiny
chocolate colored hair and almost waifish build. Ella had inherited her
mother’s crystal blue eyes, which shone bright when she laughed, while Will’s
were a dull, muddy brown. He’d also been stuck with his father’s reddish-brown
hair, and an infinite number of freckles, making him feel perpetually stuck at
the age of six. However right then, he couldn’t muster the normal resentment
that he felt for his family.

The whole world had changed in the span of a heartbeat.

Suddenly, the tiny living room with its fine antique furniture
and carefully selected décor seemed incredibly confining. The weight of his
mother’s grief and his sister’s fear made it hard for him to breathe. His heart
pounded at the idea that he would be dead before the world could see another
sunrise.

“I’ll be in my room,” Will
choked
and
stood up quickly, lurching slightly as he staggered to his room. Once he closed
the door, the feeling of panic didn’t diminish as he’d hoped it would. Closing
his eyes, he began to pace from one side of the small room to the other. As he
passed the dock for his mp3 player, he considered turning on some music, but
didn’t think he had anything in his playlists that would help his mood. Each
song would just remind him of all the things he would never get to do. At
sixteen-years-old, Will’s life had really just started, and in a few hours, it
would end without giving him the opportunity to experience anything on his own.
He’d spent his entire life living in the shadow of his father’s expectations.
There were so many things that he wanted to do—go to a concert, go to New York,
fall in love, and have sex with someone other than himself.

Christ, he’d never even
kissed a guy.

Will understood that he was gay, he’d known for about a year
because that’s when 4D moved into the building. He’d had more wet dreams about
4D than any underwear model or movie star he’d ever seen. The guy could have
been a model, but judging by some of the equipment Will had seen him bring up
the elevator, he was an artist of some kind. Probably in his late twenties or
early thirties, the guy just screamed sex. When his long brown hair wasn’t tied
back, he kept it pulled behind delicate ears. Will
loved
when it was loose and spent a great deal of time wondering what it would feel
like between his fingers while he gazed into the man’s perfect face.

One night after swimming practice, Will had been in the elevator
alone with 4D. The man had been on his cell phone for the entire four floors
they were together, talking in a melodious accent that sounded Spanish. Will
wondered what it might be like for him to cry out Will’s name, or beg in broken
English for Will to suck him.

As he rubbed himself lightly through baggy jeans, Will’s reckless
fear of his own impending death suffused him with desperate courage. He walked
over to his overflowing closet and picked out the tightest T-shirt and jeans he
owned. Stripping completely, he put on the clothes and added a large button
down shirt to hide how snug they were. He slid his small bottle of cologne into
his pocket and walked down the hall into the living room.

“Mom, I’m going to go check on Mrs. Fitzsimmons and maybe sit
with her for a while. She shouldn’t have to be alone tonight,” he lied, trying
to sound earnest and convincing. If 4D wasn’t home, or didn’t want to let him
in, maybe he would go see old lady Fitzsimmons. But he was going to take his
shot at 4D.