Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
About the Author
Look for these titles by Evangeline Anderson
How far would you dare to go…to win it all?
Maverick Holms and Duke Warren share almost everything—a college soccer team, an apartment and the same extremely competitive nature. Thanks to that never-back-down spirit, they’re about to share more than they bargained for.
The game is “gay chicken”. The rule: get as close as possible without kissing, and the one that pulls away first is the loser. The problem: neither of them likes to lose. It isn’t long before the game becomes an excuse to touch and kiss in every possible forbidden way. And after they pose for a gay website to earn extra money, things really heat up.
Suddenly Duke is talking lifetime commitment, and Mav is backpedaling as hard as he can, not sure if he’s ready to accept all his best friend is offering him. Or the truth about what he is.
Warning: Hot M/M sex inside. Do not open this book if you don’t like the idea of two deliciously muscular best friends becoming lovers.
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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.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520
Macon GA 31201
Str8te Boys
Copyright © 2009 by Evangeline Anderson
ISBN: 978-1-60504-590-0
Edited by Heidi Moore
Cover by Scott Carpenter
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: June 2009
www.samhainpublishing.com
Str8te Boys
Evangeline Anderson
Dedication
Dedicated to my loyal M/M readers. I get more e-mail from you than anyone else and I love you for it. Keep reading and I’ll keep writing.
Chapter One
“Dude, I need some green. They’re gonna fuckin’ kick us outta this joint if we don’t come across with the rent. And just because this is our last month here doesn’t mean I wanna spend it sleeping on the sidewalk.” Daniel Warren, aka “Duke” flopped down beside his roommate, Maverick Holms, on the beat-up black leather couch that faced the flat screen. He had short, spiky dark blond hair and a surfer-boy tan and his eyes reminded Mav of melted-chocolate brown. Despite his depressing words, he didn’t seem too concerned over the prospect of being kicked out of his apartment. But then, Duke never got too upset over anything. He had an easygoing personality which was good considering his size. Six foot four and all muscle—if he’d wanted to be a bad ass he could have pulled it off easily and it wouldn’t have been a pretty sight. So it was a good thing he was almost always in a relaxed mood.
“We would’ve had plenty of money to pay the rent if you hadn’t spent it all on ‘victory weed’,” growled Mav, wishing Duke wouldn’t take up so much of the couch. There would have been plenty of room on the beat-up leather sofa for two regular sized people but he and Duke were both big guys. Mav was about an inch taller and just as muscular but other than that he didn’t think he and Duke looked that much alike. In fact they were almost complete opposites since Mav had dark brown hair that just missed being black by a shade and pale blue eyes. He was also the more serious and quiet of the two. Not that it takes much to be quieter than Duke, he thought, shooting his roommate and best friend a look. I’ve been through hurricanes that were less noisy and didn’t make as big a mess.
“Ah, c’mon, Mav.” Duke punched his roommate in the bicep. “Had to have something to celebrate with—we won the finals! It’s our senior year and we finally pulled it off. Tell me that trophy didn’t look sweet when they handed it over.” He grabbed Mav in a headlock and started to wrestle playfully. “Admit it. Come on—admit it.”
“Cut it out, Duke.” Mav brushed halfheartedly at the muscular arms encircling his neck. But he had to agree that the victory his roommate was still excited about had been a satisfying win. Duke was the captain of the University of South Florida men’s soccer team and Mav was the goalie and they had finished their final season as champions. Being on the team was the way they’d met in the first place and before the end of their freshman semester they’d decided to room together.
At first it had been a rough transition living with a guy like Duke. Mav liked things neat and Duke was a total slob. Also, Mav liked to get his sleep and was serious about his schoolwork and Duke was a party waiting to happen who flew through his classes by the seat of his pants. The disgusting thing was how easily he made good grades while Mav had to work for his. Then again, Duke was headed for business school after he earned his BA and Mav was looking to become a pharmacist. Organic chemistry was considerably harder than business models and graphs, Mav often reminded himself. Still, despite the differences in their personalities, or maybe because of them, they were best friends and he wasn’t really mad at his roommate. But they did have to get the rent money from somewhere.
“I say we take your precious flat screen to the U-pawn and see how much we can get for it,” he said, sitting up straighter and pretending not to notice that Duke’s muscular arm was still around his shoulders. The casual touching was another thing he’d learned to get used to when it came to Duke—his roommate was a very affectionate guy.
“Are you nuts?” Duke gave him an incredulous look. “Mav, no way are we pawning the flat screen. What would we watch porn on if we did that?”
Mav shifted awkwardly on the couch. “You’re the one who always wants to watch that shit instead of study.” He remembered the last time they watched some of his roommate’s extensive collection of X-rated titles together and the memory wasn’t exactly…comfortable. In fact, just thinking about it made his face feel hot. But Duke didn’t seem to notice his embarrassment.
“Captain Dick and His Big Tits Cum Ship just isn’t the same without the flat screen. Neither is ESPN for that matter.” His strong fingers dug into the base of Mav’s neck in a seemingly unconscious massage as he talked and Mav made no move to get away from the intimate contact.
“You straight boys and your breeder porn.” The new voice came from the only other seat in the living room of their apartment—a deep wicker chair with a red paisley beanbag cushion that Mav had inherited from his older sister when she’d decided to redecorate. Ethan Rames looked up from the brand new iPhone he was playing with and made a disgusted face. “All kinds of pussy here and vagina there…ugh! Don’t know how you watch that shit.”
“Hey, at least we’re not watching guys do each other up the ass, gay boy.” Duke said the words without malice, a grin on his all-American features showing that he was kidding.
It had surprised Mav at first that an alpha male jock like his roommate would have gay friends. He himself had come from a somewhat repressive background where “those people”, as his mother called them, were almost never mentioned, let alone befriended. But Duke’s own mom was divorced and had tons of gay shopping buddies so Duke was completely at ease, even around the out and proud Ethan and his partner, Evan. The two gay Es, he
called them and the name had stuck around the USF campus where it seemed like Duke knew and liked everybody no matter what their sex, sexual orientation, religion, race or major.
“If you need money so badly, you and Maverick should do what Evan and I did,” Ethan said, still playing with his new toy. He seemed to be having trouble programming the phone and was frowning in concentration at the tiny screen in front of him.
“And what’s that, Eeth? You and Ev making your own gay porn now? Suckin’ each other’s cocks for big bucks?” Duke grinned at Ethan and made a motion with the hand that wasn’t massaging Mav’s neck like he was bringing a thick shaft to his mouth.
“C’mon, Duke,” Mav said, frowning. He was surprised all over again at how easily his jock roommate talked about gay sex. At the beginning of their friendship it had made him really uncomfortable until he’d gotten used to it. Lately, however, he found the subject filled him with anxiety all over again for reasons he couldn’t define. He kept his disquiet to himself—mostly anyway. It wasn’t easy when Duke really started going. Like now.
“I mean, I always wonder,” Duke continued conversationally. “Which one of you pitches and which one catches. Who sucks and who swallows?”
“We both do, if you must know.” Ethan gave him a halfhearted glare. It was impossible to be mad at Duke because no matter how crass his question, it was always accompanied by a charming grin. “But Evan’s the top in our relationship, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“So then he’s riding your ass when you guys are making the gay porn?” Duke asked with mock seriousness. “Because it’s the same with me and Mav here. I get on him and ride him like the sweet little bitch he is and he loves every minute of it.”
“I told you, Duke—cut that shit out,” Mav growled, shrugging off his roommate’s massaging hand in sudden irritation. Why couldn’t his best friend ever leave him alone? Why did he always have to be saying such embarrassing, ridiculous things? Things that turned into pictures in Mav’s head he’d rather not be thinking about. It would be bad enough if they weren’t already sleeping together almost every night—well, not sleeping together but sleeping in the same bed, their bodies touching, their arms around each other…
“What?” Duke interrupted his train of thought. “Hey, Mav, you know I’m just kidding. And seriously, I really want to know how the gay Es are making their money. Haven’t you noticed all the sweet toys they have lately?” He nodded enviously at the GPS phone Ethan was holding.
“I was going to tell you until you started denigrating my sexual orientation.” Ethan put a chocolate brown hand to his hip and gave Duke a look.
Duke sighed. “You and your ’tude. You know I’m just kidding you, Eeth. So come on—give.”
“Well…” Ethan spoke slowly, his concentration still taken up by the new phone. “Have you seen those flyers on all the billboards around campus—the ones looking for male models?”
“Are you serious?” Mav was startled into asking. “I thought that modeling agency was the front for some kind of gay website.”
“And so it is, dear boy.” Ethan looked up from the phone’s screen and arched an eyebrow at him. “They’re looking for pretty boys willing to pose together so Ev and I went in and walked out a cool two grand richer. But the site photographer told me all the applicants he’s been getting are twinks and he’s looking for something different.”
Mav frowned. “Twinks?”
“Effeminate gays with slender, swimmer’s physiques like Ev and myself,” Ethan elaborated. “He’s looking for some jocks now for a new site that’s going to be called Str8te Boys. Only spelled with an eight instead of an a. Very hip-hop.”
“Str8te Boys? Why the hell would anybody want to see two straight guys, uh, getting it on?” Duke demanded.
Ethan shrugged. “For the same reason you breeders like to look at lipstick lesbians having gay sex. I know you wouldn’t want to watch two diesel dykes rug munching each other, would you?”
Mav shivered. “Uh, that’d be a no.”
“There you go, then,” Ethan said. “You want to see pretty girls getting together instead. The same way some people—and not all of them are gay men, mind you, a lot of them are kinky little straight girls—like to see straight boys together.” He sighed. “And besides, there’s just something so hot about the idea of two pretty straight boys having their first time…touching each other…feeling their way…not really sure what they’re doing but willing to try just about anything…”
“Enough already.” Duke made a face and raised a hand to stop him. “So you’re saying they’re opening a new site just with straight guys as models?”
“Straight-looking boys because believe me, just because a guy looks like a straight on the outside doesn’t mean he can’t be a big old queen on the inside,” Ethan emphasized. “Straight-looking boys who don’t mind getting close to each other for a few pictures and a lot of ‘green’, as Duke so charmingly calls it.”
“How close?” Duke asked, frowning suspiciously. “Like, suck each other’s cocks close? ’Cause I don’t think Mav and I are up for that, Eeth. Even if we are about to be thrown out on our asses if we don’t make the rent.”
Ethan gave them a searching glance before shaking his head. “I didn’t think you would be, or I wouldn’t have mentioned it,” he murmured. “But no, as it happens, you can just do a few casual shots with your shirts off and still clean up. He’s looking more for the suggestion of sex than the actual act, I believe.”
“Suggestion of sex?” Mav frowned. “What the hell does that even mean?” Not that he was considering this, he told himself. But still…
Ethan sighed and put down his phone. “Tell you what, I’ll show you. Where’s your laptop, Duke? Or did you pawn it for drugs?”
“Hey, that victory weed was the only smoke I’ve had in the last six months,” Duke protested, frowning even as he got up to go get his laptop. “You know my body is a temple.”
“Yeah, but your mouth is an atheist,” Ethan shot back.
“Hey, good one.” Mav grinned and Ethan winked.
“The boy is hot. The boy is on fire.” Ethan licked his finger and pressed it to his ass while making a little hiss sound, as though he’d touched something hot.
“Yeah, yeah, we know you’re a flamer,” Duke growled, returning with the laptop. He handed it to Ethan. “So show us what you mean by a ‘suggestion of sex’, gay boy.”
“Fine.” Ethan’s slim brown fingers flew over the laptop keyboard for a few minutes and then he handed it to Duke. “Like that, straight boy.”
Duke looked at the image on the screen with a frown, as though expecting to see something that turned him off. After a moment, however, his face cleared and he looked up at Mav.
“Hey, roomie, come look.”
“Bring it here if you want me to look,” Mav countered. He didn’t want to move from the safety of the couch. Not because he was lazy—because the neck massage Duke had been giving him earlier had resulted in a distinct problem. His shorts were baggy enough to hide his semi-erect cock if he remained seated but if he stood… Mav clenched his jaw. It was better to stay sitting until the problem went away.
“All right, lazy ass.” Duke sauntered across the room and settled on the couch again, way too close for comfort. Not that Mav told him to back off—he never had in all their years of rooming together and it would look weird if he started now. Instead he looked down at the Toshiba screen.
He’d been expecting something kind of gross—like one of those Hot, Hairy Holes or Bears and their Boys sites you sometimes ran across on the Internet by accident while trolling for porn. But the pictures on the screen were surprisingly mild.
A montage of four photos grouped in a banner format ran along the top of the screen. As Ethan had said, both of the models in them were slender and effeminate and obviously gay. In one picture two guys were walking together, holding hands. In the next one they were horsing around—one of them had jumped on the oth
er one’s back and was whispering in his ear. In the third both of them were shirtless and one of the guys was sitting between the other one’s legs, a faraway look in his eyes.
But it was the fourth picture that really captured Mav’s imagination. In it, one of the pretty gay boys was leaning back against a white frosted window with clear, pure light pouring in around him. His partner was cupping his cheek and they were staring into each other’s eyes soulfully. Like they’re talking without saying a word, Mav found himself thinking.
The caption beneath the pretty-boy banner read simply, Imagine us, together.
“Wow.” Duke blew out a breath that ticked Mav’s ear. “That’s… I don’t know if we could do that.”
Ethan snorted. “What are you talking about, Duke? The two of you are always all over each other—playing gay chicken and all that shit.”
“That’s right—gay chicken.” Duke nodded. “I play because I am the king and still reigning champion. Nobody can beat me, can they, Mav?” He turned to Mav with an irrepressible grin.
Mav groaned and glared at Ethan. “Don’t get him started.”
But it was too late. The website and any idea of earning money to make the rent was lost. Duke was off and running.
“Gay chicken, gay chicken…” He turned to face Mav on the couch, one arm around his neck and the other hand on Mav’s muscular thigh. “Come on, Mav, you know you want me.”
“Cut it out, Duke. I’m not in the mood,” Mav growled.
“Sure you are. You’re always in the mood.” Duke leaned closer, smiling tauntingly.
Mav frowned at his roommate. Any other guy would have backed off at the dangerous look in his eyes but he knew Duke didn’t back down for anyone. Neither did Mav as a general rule, even though he wished he could. But he couldn’t, because for some reason he was still hard—harder than ever in fact—and if he jumped off the couch now, his state of arousal would show. There was nothing to do but sit there and play the stupid game until his annoying best friend gave it up and moved on to other things.