Forever For Now E-Book

Scotty Cade

• Herausgeber: Dreamspinner Press
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 116

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Leeland Jeffers is a contented single man with a thriving career in Atlanta. He's had a few unsuccessful relationships over the years, but no one has even come close to his first love, Harrison Rhinehart. They met in college when a mutual friend, Suzie Garrison, introduced Harry into their close-knit group. When the supposedly "straight" Harry made a move on Lee, the two men entered into a tumultuous secret love affair. In their senior year, the relationship finally ended when Harry informed Lee he was marrying Suzie. Since graduation, the college friends have drifted apart. However, an unexpected invitation to a destination wedding seems set to reunite them all. Lee's speculation on whether Harry and Suzie will make an appearance threatens to derail his attendance. But Lee decides the hell with it and makes plans to go, Harry Rhinehart or no Harry Rhinehart.

Leseprobe

As always, to my husband, Kell, for his never-ending support, but also to my dear friends for whom these characters were developed. Jeff, Nancy, and Ed, I miss you all and hope to be able to spend some time with you in 2015.

Acknowledgments

NEITHERTHIS book nor any of my books would ever see the light of day if it weren’t for my editor and friend Andi Byassee. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Chapter One

LEELANDJEFFERS stood in front of the door to his midtown Atlanta condo, struggling to dig his keys out of the pocket of his khaki slacks while holding on to two bags of groceries, his leather satchel, and the day’s mail, which was tucked tightly under his arm. He somehow managed to unlock the door and get it open just before everything went south and hit the floor with a thud.

“Well, fuck me,” Lee barked, dropping to his knees and trying to stop the vegetables from rolling out into the hallway.

“Anytime, handsome,” a sultry voice said from above.

Lee stared at the tan Gucci loafers adorning feet with no socks and then made his way up the royal blue suede slacks to a muffin top squeezed between the fitted pants and a way-too-tight mesh tank top. Capping this visual journey was the smiling face of Lee’s portly new neighbor, who was leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest. Lee studied the man’s two inches of unbleached hair growth, the platinum blond remainder taking on a dingy yellowish glow from the fluorescent lighting in the hallway. Lee’s first thought was Man, is he in dire need of a touch-up. Followed by, I love the color of your hair, but how do you get your roots so dark?

Lee flashed an insincere smile. “Curt,” he said, continuing to gather his runaway vegetables.

“Dropped your groceries?” Curt asked.

No. I’m just crawling around on the floor picking up tomatoes for the hell of it. Here’s your “stupid” sign.

“Just trying to do too many things at once, is all.”

“Want some help?” Curt asked, bending down, picking up a stray cucumber, and offering it to Lee, but not without caressing it and winking.

Lee quickly took the cucumber out of his neighbor’s hand. Note to self: throw that away.

“No, thanks. I think I have it covered, but I appreciate the offer.”

“It’s all so healthy,” Curt added, ignoring the brush-off and looking down at the array of fresh fruit and vegetables on the floor, then back up to Lee. He smiled seductively. “I guess it’s true when they say you are what you eat.”

Done with this interaction, Lee used his foot to push his satchel and the half-empty grocery bags out of the way enough to clear the door. “I’d love to chat, but as you can see, I have my hands full,” he said and attempted to close the door.

Curt put a foot out at the last minute, preventing the door from closing. “My offer still stands, you know.”

Lee cocked his head to one side. “Come again?”

“I always do,” Curt said, licking his lips.

Trying to keep his cool, Lee ignored the comment and asked, “What offer?”

“To fuck you.”

“Seriously, Curt? Did you bump your head on the way over here? How many times do I have to tell you I don’t sleep with married men? Go home to your husband.”

“Are you sure?” Curt asked. “I just had my sac, crack, and back waxed. I’m as smooth as a baby’s ass.”

Lee’s face automatically scrunched as he pitied the poor soul who’d had to complete that process. “As delightful as that sounds, I think I’ll pass,” he said. “Now please get your foot out of my door before it stays there permanently.”

Curt chuckled and removed his foot. “Maybe another ti—”

Lee slammed the door closed with a thud and sighed. “The nerve of that guy. I’m through being nice to him. Besides, if it is true that you are what you eat, he must be a four-cheese lasagna.”

Lee shoved his groceries back into the paper sacks and carried everything to the kitchen.

He finished putting it all away, tossed the cucumber into the trash can, twisted off the top of a longneck Bud Light, and tuned his stereo to NPR. Then he kicked off his shoes and sat down at his desk to go through his mail. The top piece was junk mail, and he sighed and took the first draw of the cold brew as he tossed the offending missive into the wastebasket. After putting the bills aside, he discarded more junk mail before encountering an ivory-colored envelope addressed to “Master Leeland Jeffers & Guest” in elegant calligraphy. When he flipped the envelope over to see the return address, he smiled warmly. “Well, whataya know. Finally!”

He slid the tip of his Waterford crystal letter opener into the corner of the flap and sliced neatly along the top of the envelope. He sorted through the contents until he found the invitation.

SARA-GRACELANDON

AND

THORSTENDEREKMICHAELS

INVITEYOUTOTHECELEBRATION

OFTHEIRMARRIAGE

ONSATURDAYTHETWENTY-SEVENTHOFJUNE

TWOTHOUSANDANDFIFTEEN

ATTHREEO’CLOCKINTHEAFTERNOON

THEMONTECRISTOESTATESATPUEBLOBONITO, SUNSETBEACH

CABOSANLUCAS, MEXICO

After thumbing through the response card, menu selections, and accommodation information, Lee saw a folded piece of paper. He opened it and read a handwritten note.

Lee,

Please please please say you’ll come.

You’ll love Cabo and it will be a great chance for the “Party Pak” to be together again.

I promise it will be fun.

XXOO Sara-Grace.

Lee slowly put everything back in the envelope and tossed it on his desk. He took another sip of his beer, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. The Party Pak. He hadn’t thought about that name in years. His mind drifted back to his days at Berry College in his hometown of Rome, Georgia, and his close-knit group of friends. Once, someone had referred to them as the Party Pak because they were always together and usually having a great time. The name had stuck, and they’d adopted it for the entire four years of college. He wondered if Nan and Tate had received the same invitation.

Nan Martin, now a professional caterer, had been his best friend and the looker in the group. She always reeked of Jungle Gardenia, and her sometimes blonde, sometimes brunette, and sometimes red hair always complemented her beautiful smile. At the same time, her changing hair color gave their group plenty of material for poking fun at her.

She had also loved to cook, hence the catering, and over their four years together made sure all of them had a home-cooked meal at least once a week. Lee thought if it hadn’t been for Nan, they would all have been either severely overweight from fast food, or nothing but skin and bones from living on ramen noodles.

Tate Edwards, Nan’s husband, had been the pleaser in the group. He was ever so practical and the only one the entire group invariably had trouble talking into joining them in whatever stupid prank they had concocted after a night of drinking. In the end, Tate had always come through and gone along with them, but moaned and bitched the entire time, swearing they were all going to jail. He was very handsome in an understated sort of way, with deep-set blue eyes and chiseled features—a very intense look, to say the least. He quickly developed a crush on Nan, and from day one, Tate moved heaven and earth to get her whatever she wanted.

The ringing of his cell phone interrupted Lee’s thoughts. He looked at the caller ID and smiled.

“Helloooo?”

“Good God, Gerty,” Nan screamed through the phone. “You’ll never guess what I just got in the mail.”

Lee chuckled. “Might it possibly be an invitation to Sara-Grace and Derek’s wedding?”

“Oh my God,” Nan squealed with joy. “You got one too.”

“Did yours come with a note from Sara-Grace?”

“Does a fat man fart? Of course it came with a handwritten note. What did yours say?” Nan asked with a great deal of curiosity in her voice.

Lee read Nan his note word for word. “And yours?”

“Pretty much the same,” Nan replied. “So?”

“So, what?”

“Are you going?”

“Hell if I know. I just opened the damn invitation ten minutes ago.”

“Leeland Jeffers, I know you like the back of my own hand, and I would bet my life you decided the minute you read that note. So don’t piss on my boots and tell me it’s raining.”

Lee smirked. He loved and hated that Nan knew him so well. Of course he’d decided as soon as he read the note, but he wasn’t going to give it to her that easily. He clammed up and made her wait.

“Well?” Nan finally asked.

Lee sighed. “I’ve always wanted to go to Cabo San Lucas, so yes, I think a trip is in my future.”

“I knew it!”

“Come on, Nan. It’s Mexico. You know how much I love chicken enchiladas with brown men and rice.”

“Tell it,” Nan replied through her laughter. “But seriously, Lee. Have you really thought this through?”

Lee knew what Nan was getting at, but again he was going to make her work for it. “Sure I have. I need some rest and relaxation, and Cabo is just the place.”

“Lee. You know if we both got a personal note in our invitation, the entire Party Pak got the same note. And I mean everyone.”

“What’s your point?” Lee asked.

“You damn well know my point,” Nan said.

Nan’s hesitance was palpable, so Lee finally spoke again. “And besides, it will be fun to get the old gang together.”

“You know the old gang includes Harry,” Nan added. “Seriously, Lee. How long are we gonna dance around this?”

“Dance around what?” Lee asked.

“Fuck,” Nan hissed. “Harry, you idiot!”

Lee chuckled. “Harry and Suzie have as much right as any of us to go to their friends’ wedding.”

“And you’re okay with seeing them—I mean, him—again?”

“I saw them at your wedding, and I’m still standing, aren’t I?”

Nan sighed again but didn’t say anything. Lee figured she’d finally gotten the message. He was determined not to go down that road with her. Not now, anyway.

But in true Nan form, she couldn’t control herself for long. “Dammit, Lee, can’t you be straight with me?”

“Honey, ‘straight’ isn’t in my vocabulary.”

“All right, I’m gonna hang up now, but do you think he’ll show?”

“I don’t care if he shows or not.”

“Call me when you’re ready to be an adult about this,” Nan said in a huff. “Bye, Lee.”

Lee listened to the click as she disconnected the call.

“When hell freezes over,” he whispered as he put the phone on his desk.

OFCOURSE Lee had thought about Harry and how he was going to feel seeing him again. At Nan and Tate’s wedding, Lee had still been so angry with Harry he could barely stand to be in the same room with him. But now? The anger had long ago disappeared, and all that was left was an emptiness he’d never been able to fill and the memories of their time together.

Lee sighed and took a pull off his beer. If he were being honest with himself, that part scared him the most.

“Jesus Christ, Lee!” he said, getting to his feet. “Don’t let Nan get you going. Besides, Harry is probably bald with a basketball-sized gut. Who wants that?”

Lee stood and looked at himself in the mirror. He sucked in his stomach and puffed out his chest. “Not bad. You’ve held up pretty damn well. Eat your heart out, Harrison Rhinehart.”

With a sigh, Lee sat back down and forced himself to think about Harry. He’d been the strong and extremely silent type. He was over six feet tall, weighed about two hundred and twenty pounds, and had rugged, masculine good looks. His blond hair and green eyes had Lee mesmerized from the day they’d met, and he’d suffered the biggest crush on Harry for the entire freshman and sophomore years. Lee had loved the fact that Harry was so easygoing. After a mere few drinks, he could easily be talked into doing just about anything.

Lee smiled when he remembered that time in their junior year he’d convinced Harry, for fifty bucks, to paint a big S on his chest with liquid shoe polish and swim across the campus pond wearing nothing but a plastic shower curtain tied around his neck.

From the beginning, Lee had been out and proud, and no one in the group had ever seemed to give it a second thought. But Harry, he’d always been sort of asexual. He gravitated to the ladies the first two years of college, but Lee had never seen him leave with any of them or date one more than a couple of times. On occasion, when it was just the two of them, Harry would quiz Lee about what it was like to be gay or to have sex with a guy. Although Lee thought it odd, he’d never really given it a second thought.

When their junior year ended, Lee’s father had offered them both internships at his law firm. Students couldn’t stay on campus year-round, and Harry couldn’t afford a place of his own, so Lee had invited him to live with his family over that summer. And in the confines of Lee’s bedroom, Harry and Lee had somehow become lovers. And it was Harry who had made the first move.