Campus Cravings BK House: Volume Five
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When sparks fly, life in BK House will never be the same.
Hershie's Kiss
For blind Tolerance Director, Charlie Salinger, life has never been easy. Taught at an early age to appear ‘normal', he moves through life one carefully placed step at a time. He's a hard man to get to know and an even harder man to love.
Retired Marine, Jack Hershie has lived his life for the corp. Always doing what was expected of him, Jack endured a tortuous marriage in the name of proper conduct. Now, at the age of forty-three, Jack is ready to live his life by his own set of rules. See what happens when you put two strong Alpha males into the same house.
Theron's Return
When a near tragedy calls thirty-seven year old Theron Demakis back to BK House, he is once again reunited with Michael Storm. For weeks, Theron has done his best to bed every woman he knows in an attempt to forget his errant feelings for the young college student. But it didn't work. Faced with caring for Michael, Theron wonders if he'll be able to put his feelings aside in the name of the Demakis family. Being the only bi-sexual son, it's up to him to continue the family name.
Twenty-three year old, Michael had given up on life. The one thing he wanted to live for was Theron. When Theron abandoned him to flee back to his safe heterosexual life in New York, Michael shut down completely.
Now Theron is back, and Michael is once again faced with something he can never have. Maybe settling for a short-term affair is better than never having Theron's arms around him again.
General Release Date: 15th June 2009
Hershie's Kiss
“Dammit!” Charlie cursed as his knee came into contact with the pointed edge of a table. “Michael!” he yelled.
He heard footsteps coming down the stairs. “Yeah?”
“Did you move this table?”
“Yeah,” Michael said. “I thought it would look better there.”
Charlie ran his hands over his closely cropped hair. “Let’s go through this again. I’m blind. Therefore I can’t see when you move something. I have this place totally mapped out in my head and when you fuck with that map, I get hurt, and then I get pissed. Got it?”
“Sorry,” Michael said. “I’m just so bored. When will the other students start moving in?”
“A week from now. Please, in the future, don’t move anything unless you tell me about it.”
“Yes, sir,” Michael said.
He could hear the young man’s tread as he went back up the stairs to his room. He felt bad for the twenty-three year old, but he wasn’t a damn playmate. Wasn’t it enough that he’d procured a scholarship for him after his parents kicked him out and disowned him?
Trying to visualise the new placement of the table, Charlie committed it to memory. He walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. The cool air against his skin felt so good he stood for several moments.
“What are you looking for?” a deep voice asked from the doorway.
Charlie’s jaws tensed as he gripped the refrigerator handle. He’d know that rough voice anywhere. “What the hell are you doing back here?”
“I thought I lived here,” Jack Hershie said.
Charlie heard him walk further into the room. He didn’t dare turn around. Jack had broken his heart and he wasn’t about to welcome the man with open arms.
“I’d like the chance to apologise.”
“Won’t help,” Charlie said. He shut the fridge and walked to the kitchen island. As he ran his fingertips over the smooth granite, he thought of the first time Jack had taken him there. They’d been at each other’s throats for months, until their passion got the better of them. What would he have done if one of the students had walked in? The thought still shamed him. “You left me high and dry without so much as an explanation,” Charlie added.
“I know. That’s what I want to talk to you about.”
Charlie shook his head. “I thought what we did meant something to you.” He’d been torn apart when Jack received that phone call and shot out of his life. “But obviously I was wrong.”
“It did,” Jack murmured.
“Not enough evidently.” He would not give in. No matter how sad and defeated Jack sounded.
“My ex-wife was killed.” Jack said.
Charlie stiffened. Hell. He didn’t even know Jack had been married. “And that was such an emergency that you couldn’t take ten minutes to say goodbye? I’m not even going to get into the fact that you haven’t called.”
“I have a son,” Jack stated.
Double Hell. Who the fuck had he slept with? Did he know anything about this man? “Why didn’t I know any of this?”
He knew he sounded pissy, but damn. He’d really liked this man. He’d fought his attraction tooth and nail, afraid he’d be hurt. He’d had lovers in the past, plenty of them, but they never stuck around. His body was fine to fuck in the dark, but everyday life with a blind man was always too much of a hassle for them. He’d thought Jack would be different. Hah! The joke had been on him.
Charlie heard Jack shuffle his feet. “Can we go to your apartment and talk about this? I know from the parking lot there aren’t many people here, but I’d rather no one interrupted us.”
Theron's Return
“What’re you doing?” Charlie asked.
Michael continued to flip cards towards the trashcan. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Very funny,” Charlie said.
Stopping mid-flip, Michael looked up at Charlie. Shit. He did that all the time. “Sorry. I’m just chillin’.”
Charlie leaned against the doorframe to Michael’s dorm room. “Should you be in class?”
Michael closed his eyes and tossed the remainder of the cards onto the floor. School. He hated it. He hated everything right now, especially himself. “I’ll probably flunk the class anyway,” he mumbled.
“Well you definitely will if you don’t get your ass up. What’s more, you’ll probably lose your scholarship. Do you have anywhere else to go? What are you doing screwing up your life like this? Christ, Michael, this is your last semester before you get your Masters.”
“I know!” Michael jumped off the bed and pushed past Charlie. He went into the communal bathroom and into a stall. Damn, what do I have to do to be alone? He heard the door open and groaned. “Give me a break, Charlie.”
“You know I would if I thought it would help. Have you still been keeping your appointments with Dr. Pressman?”
He wondered whether he’d get away with lying. Dr. Pressman was a nice enough guy, but no way in hell would Michael admit to the man what had happened in LA. Instead of lying, Michael chose to remain silent.
“Is it Dr. Pressman? Should I call Theron? Would it be easier to talk to him?”
A bark of strained laughter erupted from Michael’s throat. “Right. Theron couldn’t get away from me fast enough.” He saw what a sick fuck I was. Hell, what had he been thinking coming on to a straight guy like that? Worse, he’d developed feelings for the man even after he’d humiliated himself in the shower. There was just something about the way Theron took care of him those weeks they were together.
Michael put his face in his hands. That’s what happens when you start to care about people. They drop out of your lives like you never meant more to them than a wad of gum on the bottom of their shoe.
“Michael?”
“Please leave me alone,” he begged. He just wanted it to stop, all of it, the pain, the loneliness, and the memories. Fuck, those memories wouldn’t let him sleep for more than twenty minutes at a stretch. He was so damned tired. The only thing that would make him happy at this point was to go to sleep and never wake up.
“Will you be down for dinner?” Charlie asked.
“What time is it now?”
“Almost three-thirty.”
Yeah. He had plenty of time. “We’ll see. I’m gonna go lay down. Don’t let anyone disturb me.” Thank god Sam had moved in with Jace, and he had a private room for the time being.
The door opened and shut, signalling Charlie’s departure. Michael stood and went back to his room. As if on automatic pilot, he walked towards the closet and removed his shower bucket. Holding the razor in his hand, he wondered if the blades would be long enough. Maybe he’d have to take the damn thing apart first. Michael rolled his eyes. Figures.
An avid reader for years, one day Carol Lynne decided to write her own brand of erotic romance. While writing her first novel, Branded by Gold, Carol fell in love with the M/M genre. Carol juggles between being a full-time mother and a full-time writer. With well over one hundred releases, one thing is certain, Carol loves to keep busy writing sexy cowboys, shifters, bodyguards, vampires and everything in between. Although series books are her passion, Carol enjoys penning the occasional stand-alone title.
As founder and President of GRL Retreat, Inc., Carol helps organize the annual GayRomLit Retreat. Now in its sixth year, GayRomLit is an annual retreat that brings together the people who create and celebrate LGBT romance for a one-of-a-kind, must-attend gathering of dynamic, informal, and diverse fun.
Carol loves to hear from her readers. You can take a look at her Website and follow her on Facebook. She also has a Website dedicated to her Cattle Valley Series.
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