A Novel in the Long Pass Chronicles
Will Ashford lives in two closets. He meets his wealthy
father’s goals as both the quarterback for the famous SCU football team and a
business major, but secretly he attends art school and longs to live as a
painter. And he's gay. But if he can win the coveted Milton Scholarship for
art, he’ll be able to break from his father at the end of his senior year.
In a painting master class, Will meets his divergent
opposite, Noah Zajack. A scarred orphan who’s slept on park benches and eaten
from trash cans, Noah carefully plans his life and multiple jobs so he has
money and time to go to art school. Will's problems seem like nothing compared
to Noah's. Noah wants the scholarship too and may have a way to get it since
the teacher of his class has designs on him, a plan Will isn't happy about.
EXCERPT
“You’re not telling me that your own parents don’t know
you’re gay? No way.”
“Way. I’ve never come out to them.”
Noah opened his mouth, then closed it. Being alone looked
better and better. “How is that possible? Did you just decide you like guys
last week or something?”
“No. I think I pretty much knew when I was twelve.” He
smiled. “Our neighbors had a son who was about sixteen. His bedroom was across
from mine. I used to peek through the curtains and watch him dress. Watched him
jerk off too. Man, he did that a lot.” Will laughed. “I got hard every time,
and I ended up beating my meat as much as he did. One day I finally realized
that he had a sister who walked around the backyard wearing, like, nothing. I
never looked at her, just him. That’s when I got worried.”
Had Noah ever been worried about being gay? Maybe a little.
“But you date a girl. I saw you with her hanging all over your body.”
“Yeah. For the last couple years I’ve had sex with girls. I
hoped I was bi.” He leaned his elbows on his knees and shook his head. “It
doesn’t work very well. I even had to take Viagra once. I finally gave up and
broke up with her.”
“When?”
“Today.”
“Jesus.”
He smiled, kind of sad. “Yeah, it’s been a helluva day.”
“So are you going to come out now?”
His golden eyebrows drew tight above that straight nose. So
damned Aryan. “I wish I could. No, that’s a lie. I dread the whole thing. But
the truth is, if I come out, the whole team takes it in the ass. Other teams
will harass me, which means my guys will defend me. Some of them will. And
they’ll get suspended for fighting. Anyway, it’s a fucking mess trying to come
out in team sports. I’ve got to wait until after I graduate.”
Noah frowned. “If big-time athletes like you never come out,
it will never change.”
“I get that and I hate to say this, but I’ve got enough shit
in my life without carrying the damned rainbow flag.”
Noah sucked in his breath to call the guy a pussy. And
stopped. Coming out had been no big deal for him. Just one more weird thing
about weird Noah. No one expected anything different. Will’s life was another
whole pile of bullshit. Different but maybe not better. “So why did you come
here?”
The green eyes glanced up, then away. “To tell you I didn’t
lie to you about my name because I wanted to deceive you. I’m just so deep in
lies I can’t see over the top.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you want me to know? Why did you care?” He held his
breath.
Will frowned. “Did you just have sex with Masterson?”
What the—? He pushed himself back on the couch. “What the
fuck business is that of yours?”
He didn’t look up. “If you’re committed, spoken for, I want
to know, that’s all.”
“Nobody speaks for me. I’m committed to no one. And I’ll
have sex with whomever I please, got it?”
Will looked up from under his eyebrows, and this time he
grinned. “I just wanted to check to see if you were too tired.”
Noah suppressed a snort. “What makes you think I’d want to
have sex with you?” He tried to keep his lips from turning up.
“You kissed me, remember?”
The smile must show by now. “What if I didn’t like it?”
“Not an option.”
“You think you’re that good, huh?”
Will steepled his fingers in front of his own smile. “Yep.”
“I might catch girl cooties from you.”
“You’ll have to take that chance.”
Noah cocked his head at the big, handsome quarterback. Did
he dare suggest it? Hell, the guy ate painters for breakfast. “There’s just one
thing, jockoid.”
“What?”
“I like to top.”
“Oh. My. God.”
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