Archive for writing
Where the Devil Dances available now…
First up is Where the Devil Dances. It’s been re-released by Total e-Bound and is available for general download today. Yay! Click here to check it out.
Next up is Leaving Home, which is now available from Total e-Bound for immediate download if you’re a VIP at TEB. đ Buying it means you get a 10% discount and you get to read it four weeks before it’s available to the general public. Woot! Click here if you’d like to read the blurb again…or download it. Remember, this is book Four in the Home series, and is about Peter, Les’ accountant.
And last but not least (by any means) is A Sticky Wicket in Bollywood. It’s up for pre-order at Total e-Bound. If you pre-order, you get a 15% discount and it’ll be in your inbox the day it gets released. đ Click here to check it out.
I’m sorry about not posting anything last Friday. I hit the ground running, and totally forgot about the blog until I got home late Friday night…lol. I’ll try to do better this Friday. đ
I finished edits on Threadbare Gypsy Souls, which comes out next Sunday at Amber Allure. And I’ll be working on edits for Sharp Dressed Man from MLR Press. I don’t have a release date for that one yet. Might not have one until all the stories are edited. They had a good response for the Mixed Tape anthology call, so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of great stories to go with mine.
Devon Rhodes and I are still working hard on Chasing the King of the Mountains, which is the second book in the International Men of Sports series. We’re over halfway done, and hoping to finish it by next week. Yay!
Again, I have several short stories I’m working on. Some for MLR Press, some for Amber Allure, and some for TEB. Hoping to finish them up by the end of April. We’ll see how many I get done by then.
Well, I better get cracking if I want to accomplish anything today. đ Hope you all had a marvelous Easter weekend, and have a great Monday as well.
Happy Monday
I love his eyes. đ
I hope you all had a good weekend. I did…well aside from my BIL being stabbed, but he’s doing well, so we’re hoping for a full recovery.
I did some writing over the weekend. Worked on Remove the Space Between Us and Choices Sealed by Fate. I’ll be adding more to them throughout the next week. Also, did some writing with Devon Rhodes, on the second book in the International Men of Sports series, Chasing the King of the Mountains. We’re also hoping to have that finished by the end of the month. Which is only a week away. Yikes! Where the heck did March go?
I’m hoping April will start the warming trend. I’m getting tired of it being cold all the time. đ Oh well.
I hope you all have a great Monday.
Wednesday Work in Progress…
I wasn’t sure what to share with you, though I could give you a little glimpse into the story I’m expanding for Total e-Bound, but I might have already posted a snippet before I turned it in the first time.
I think I’m going to give you a peek at the story I’ve been writing out long hand. đ It takes place in the early 1900s at the moment anyway…lol. I might change my mind about that part of it, though it’s a little late for that, considering how much I’ve written so far. So here you go….and I’ve got started typing it in, which is good. đ
Choices Sealed by Fate copyright c. 2013 T.A. Chase
Excerpt-
The shrill scream bounces along the street like a kidâs toy ball, no direction to its pattern. I round the corner in time to see two men struggling while a dame flutters around them like a hummingbird trying to figure out how to sip from their violent encounter.
Before I can intercede, a shot rings out and one man crumbles to the ground. The dame screams again, causing the remaining guy to point his pistol at her.
âHey there,â I shout, not sure why Iâm stepping into a problem that has nothing to do with me.
They both turn to look at me, and since the street lights were behind me, all they see is a very large silhouette of a man who sounds Irish, which in Boston, usually means police.
Iâm not a copper, but hell, if he wants to think I am, Iâm not about to tell him the truth. The man with the gun takes off, and maybe my first instinct shouldâve been to go after him, but Iâm no hero either, and Iâd just gotten done doing a little fighting of my own. Iâm in no mood to chase after a person whoâs all ready shown heâs not afraid to kill a man.
âOh Tommy,â the lady cries, drawing my attention to her once more.
She hovers over the man, reinforcing my image of a bird by fluttering her hands at me. âIs he dead?â
How should I know is what I want to say while staying as far away from them as I could, but what little manners my ma managed to beat into me before she died kicked in.
âIâll check,â I mumble as I shuffle forward, every muscle in my body protesting the postponement of a nice hot soak in my bathtub.
My knees creak as I kneel, then press my fingers to Tommyâs neck like Iâd seen a doctor friend of mine do. He was checking for a pulse, so I figure I should do that.
Considering thereâs a good size hole in the manâs chest and an ever-expanding pool of dark liquid under him, Iâm pretty positive Tommyâs dead.
âI called the cops,â someone yells from one of the windows overlooking the killing spot.
I wave to acknowledge them before standing. âIâm afraid your Tommy has expired, miss.â
âOh,â she wails and sobs into a lace-edged white square fabric. Some kind of dainty handkerchief I image.
Once more I hear Maâs voice berating and guilting me into my next actions. I approach the girl like I would a wild dog. Have to be careful not to frighten her because I donât want her screaming again. My headâs already pounding from the beating I received earlier.
Slowly, I wrap my arm around her shoulder, tugging her against my chest. Sheâs too caught up in her own grief to worry about me, so she curls into my embrace like a kitten seeking shelter.
If Iâm any other kind of guy, Iâd be taking advantage of the opportunity to hold a shapely dame in my arms, but Iâm me, and a dame-shapely or otherwise-doesnât interest me at all.
Of course, most of the girls who hang around in my world are as hard-nosed as the men. They take what they can get by seducing a guy, then cutting him off after bleeding him dry. The girls I deal with are smart women of the world, and they wouldâve picked my pockets clean after two seconds of being this close to me.
âItâs all right, miss. The police are on their way. Theyâll be able to help you.â I pat her shoulder, awkwardly comforting her while trying not to get her clothes dirty.
Iâm not sure how long we stand there in that strange tableau. Me, the big Irish bloke who looked like heâd gone ten rounds with a bear, which is close to the truth. The pretty little dame who shouldâve never stepped foot on this side of Boston. And Tommy, the dead guy, growing deader and colder every second.
But finally the police arrive and relief sweeps over me. No more offering fake comfort to this woman. I can leave and go soak my bruises. My bodyâs tightening up on me, unused to going this long without being pampered after a fight.
âWhat happened here?â The first copper asks as he approaches us.
She quickly transfers her trust to him. âIâm Samantha Smith.â
Immediately, policemen surround her, and Iâm pushed aside, unneeded and not nearly as interesting as the possibility of being smiled upon by one of Bostonâs reigning society princesses.
Someone calls for the chief to be brought down here Smiling, I edge further from the crowd, hoping to make my getaway without anyone being wiser or remembering I exist. I donât want to get mixed up in whatâs looking like a gossipmongerâs dream. I donât want to talk to the police for my own private reasons, and I donât want my name in any paper that might care this murder.
âWhere do you think youâre going?â
Swearing silently, I freeze, then glace over to my right. My gaze meets a pair of big inquisitive brown eyes, and suddenly Iâm aching in an entirely different spot.
Now here is someone I could be bothered with. I donât like dames who are too fragile and curvy. Give me a strong body with angles and muscles, and Iâm a happy man.
I have a couple inches of height on him, being six-one to his five-ten, and Iâm broader everywhere, but something in the set of his chin tells me heâs a scrapper, and can probably handle his own in a fight.
New Covers…
First of all, sorry about missing last Friday. I lost track of what day it was, and completely forgot about posting anything. đ But here I am today to share with you two new cover. As you can see the first one is Stealing Life, the new version that will be out at Total e-Bound  July 1st.
And the second cover is for Home Sweet Home, the last book in the Home series. This one will be out in May at Total e-Bound. đ
I happen to love both covers very much and I can’t wait to hold them both in my hands in print form.
I’ll be working furiously on Chasing the King of the Mountains this week. It needs to be turned in, plus a couple other stories as well. I have one story that I’ve been writing out long hand, and I’ll need to be typing that in at some point, but maybe closer to the end of the story. Also, the other stories I’ve been working on are all still there…waiting for me to finish them…lol
I hope you have a great day.
Wednesday Work in Progress…
I’m going to share a scene from a story I’ve been working on for a while. It’s the third story in the Rupert’s Legacy series. From Yesterday tells the story of Phillip and Carlos, two men searching for their way in the world.
From Yesterday copyright c. 2013 T.A. Chase
Excerpt-
Shoring up his emotions, Carlos pulled away and smiled. âYouâre right, hermanito. Iâm just tired. It was a long shift, and I wanted to visit you before I go home.â
âSit.â Miguel motioned to the empty space next to him on the couch.
Carlos flopped onto the cushion with a huge sigh. He let his head drop back and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. Miguel reached over and squeezed his hand.
âYou work too hard, Carlito. You need to get some rest or youâre going to get sick, and not be able to visit me.â Miguelâs concern showed on his face and in his voice. âYou are my only visitor.â
Pain hit Carlosâs heart and he pressed his hand to his chest. God, knowing that his happy laughing brother was cut off from his family and friends hurt Carlos. Yet it wasnât Miguelâs fault. Being gay wasnât something Miguel chose, and he certainly didnât decide to go out and get AIDS.
The only thing Miguel chose to do was be out and proud of who he really was, and while the consequences werenât what either of them hoped for, it meant Miguel didnât have to hang his head because of hiding. Carlos wished he had his brotherâs strength.
Carlos had known he was gay since he was fifteen, but he still dated girls through high school and college. Oh, heâd gone out and had sex with men as often as he could, but it was a secret and something he didnât talk about with anyone.
The girls were for his father, to convince him his oldest son was a man in every way. He was expected to set an example for his three younger brothers. Yet when Miguel came out, Carlos silently cheered.
âItâs okay. I know why they donât come, and itâs their loss. When Iâm gone, theyâll have to remember how they treated me. And when they get to Heaven, theyâll have to explain to Mama as well.â
Carlos snorted. âYouâre right, and I think that would be the hardest thing to do. Mama always was protective of you.â
âI was her baby. Of course, she loved me.â Miguel leaned slightly into Carlosâs shoulder. âI never told you what she said to me the night she died.â
âNo, you didnât.â Carlos wrapped his arm around Miguel, holding him close.
âYou and Papa had stepped out of the room to talk, and Julio and Paul hadnât gotten there yet. I was sitting beside her bed, holding her hand. I didnât know what to say or do. I mean I was only seven and didnât really understand death all that much.â Miguel plucked at a string hanging from the hem of Carlosâs T-shirt.
âIâm sorry, hermano.â Carlos rubbed his cheek along the top of Miguelâs head. âIt was a hard time for all of us.â
Miguel chuckled softly. âItâs still hard for Papa.â
He nodded. âYouâre right. Heâs never gotten over losing her.â
âAnyway, she looked over at me, and told me to climb on the bed. I did it, though I was afraid of all the tubes and machines. I didnât know if I would hurt her in some way.â Miguel paused and Carlos stayed silent. It was his brotherâs story, so they would take it at his pace.
âI laid next to her, and she put her arm around me. She could only whisper, and I could tell her soul was getting ready to leave. She just had a look about her.â
More silence. Carlos understood what Miguel meant. Heâd seen more than his share of patients die, and they all had a certain look like their souls were ready to go on to whatever waited for them on the other side.
âShe told me she loved me, and it didnât matter to her if I was different from Julio and Paul. I was still her baby. I didnât understand what she meant at the time. She died soon after and all I remembered for months was the sadness.â
Carlos drew a sharp breath. How had his mother known about Miguel and had she known about him as well?
âSomehow Mama knew I was gay, and Iâm pretty sure she knew about you as well, Carlito. When I realized I liked guys, I panicked and freaked out. I knew Papa wouldnât accept me at all, and I risked being banished from the family. Yet Iâd dream of what she told me that night. I knew I couldnât be a coward because she loved me.â
âMama always loved you best,â Carlos teased.
Miguel grunted in agreement. âSure she did, man. Iâm pretty awesome.â
Carlos laughed, but his happiness slowly faded. âIâm sorry I couldnât stand up with you, Miguel. I should be more of a man, and not let you be the only one Papa hates.â
His brother pushed out of his embrace and glared at him. In that moment, Carlos was reminded of his mother. Miguel was the only brother who took after their mother.
âCarlos Mendoza, donât say that. Youâre more of a man than Papa and our brothers ever could hope to be. Just because you havenât told Papa youâre gay doesnât mean youâre a coward.â Miguel put his hand on Carlosâs chest. âIt means youâre smarter than me. I should have waited until I could move out on my own. I knew how he was going to react.â
âWell, Iâve saved up enough money to get my own place. Iâm going to look this weekend when I get off work. I was thinking Iâd try to find someplace closer to here, so I can see you more often.â
âAnd so you can finally get a boyfriend,â Miguel commented with a gleam in his eyes.
âIâm not sure a boyfriend would work for me right now.â Carlos shook his head.
Heâd never had a serious relationship with either sex. All of it was too big a risk when he was younger, and now he worked so much, he didnât have time for anyone except Miguel.
âOh, a boyfriend always works.â Miguel frowned. âIâm worried about you, Carlito. Iâm afraid youâll spend all your energy on me, and will be alone when Iâm gone.â
âI donât spend all my energy on you. I wish I could, but I just donât have the money or the place to take care of you.â Carlos looked around the bright airy room they sat in. âThatâs why I was so happy when a spot opened up for you here. This placeâs got a great reputation, not only among charities, but among the medical field as well.â
Wishing for a Home is out now…
Wishing for a Home is available now at Total e-Bound, if you didn’t get it when it was available before. I did add some to it, but I don’t think there’s a significant amount that anyone would notice. đ You can check it out at Total e-Bound here.
I finished Sharp Dressed Man last week, and submitted it to MLR Press. As soon as I get a release date for it, I’ll let you know. đ
I’ve been sick, so after I finished SDM, I haven’t done much, though I did start a new story at 1 am..lol. My mind wouldn’t let me turn it off, and I wrote the first chapter and part of the second before I forced myself to go back to bed.
I’ll be working on King, Remove the Space Between Us (which is the new title for my Billionaire story), From Yesterday, and the story I started the other night (which doesn’t have a title yet) this week. Hopefully, one or two will be finished by the end of the week. đ
Oh, and I registered for GayRomLit. So I’ll be seeing everyone in Atlanta in October. đ
It’s raining here, so it’s a good reason to stay inside, curl up on the couch and type away on some stories. đ
Have a great Monday, everyone.
New Cover….
Here’s the beautiful cover for Threadbare Gypsy Souls. Isn’t is gorgeous? Trace did a wonderful job getting all the components I wanted in there. The wolf and the motorcycle. đ It’ll be out in April. Woo-hoo!
Also, thank you for making The Whore of New Slum the #1 bestseller at Amber Allure’s site, and making They Walk Among Us #5 on that same list as well. đ You are awesome.
I’m planning on finishing Sharp Dressed Man today, and sending it off to my editor at MLR Press. I trimmed out the words I needed to on Fallen: Chicago to get it down to an acceptable length, and sent it to TEB. Have to go back and finish filling out the form to go with it though…lol. Forgot to double check and make sure I filled it all out. đ
The Fallen series is a M/F series I’d written a long time ago under my other pen name, Tiffany Aaron. I decided to get them republished instead of languishing on my laptop. So the first four books will be out this year, hopefully. I’m adding another four books to the series as well. (Because I’m a glutton for punishment apparently..lol) I’ll also be writing new stories as Tiffany, but don’t worry. I’m not going to stop writing TA stories.
My main focus will be on my M/M stories, but every once in a while, it’s nice to write something different. I hope you don’t mind me mentioning my M/F books here. I will have a separate website for Tiffany Aaron eventually.
So once Sharp Dressed Man is done, I’ll be working on Chasing the King of the Mountains, my book I’m co-authoring with Devon Rhodes, and adding to the short story I subbed to TEB for their Billionaire antho that didn’t get in. I’m adding more to it, so it can be a single title release. Woot! Once that’s done, I have a few other stories I need to look at and decide which I want to work on.
Well, I hope you all have a great weekend.
Wednesday Works in Progress
This week’s work in progress is titled Sharp Dressed Man. It’s a short story I’m submitting to MLR Press for their Mixed Tape call. Had to pick an 80s song, and use it as inspiration in some way. My story is about two men who were best friends in high school, then reconnect at their twenty-fifth class reunion. What neither one of them knew was that other had always been in love with him.
Sharp Dressed Man copyright c. 2013 T.A. Chase
Excerpt-
âHeâs coming, Daniel.â
Dan held his phone away from his ear as his sister squealed. âWhoâs coming where?â
Sheâd have to forgive him for the question since he was standing in the middle of his flat in London, trying to figure out what he needed to pack and what he could leave behind.
He still didnât have a place to stay in New York, but he wasnât really worried about that. He had a few friends there who would let him crash with them until he found an apartment.
The important thing was he had a job doing what he loved, and he wouldnât have to worry about money. If he was a little lonely? Well, that was his fault. Heâd dated a lot of guys since college, but none of them stuck. Or maybe he should say he didnât stick with any of them.
âJames Stanton is coming to the class reunion.â Sandy squealed again, and Dan imagined her jumping up and down like sheâd done when they were kids.
He chuckled. âWhy are you so excited? From what Mom told me, Jimâs gay. Youâre definitely not his type.â
âTrue, but Iâm sure you are, and this would be so romantic. High school best friends meet up later in life, and realize theyâve always been in love with each other. They fall in love again, and live happily ever after.â She sighed.
âMy dear Sandy, youâve been reading too many romance novels again. Life doesnât happen like that. For all I know, Jim might have a boyfriend or a partner heâs bringing to the reunion. Or maybe he likes big hairy guys wearing leather.â
âUgh!â
He burst out laughing. âI know. Thatâs a rather disturbing thought, isnât it?â
âYeah. Mostly I just donât want to think of James like that.â
âAs gay?â Dan spun around in a circle, searching for the one box he knew was going with him. It held all his memories from high school, and he suddenly had the urge to pull them out to look through.
âOh no. To be honest, I wasnât surprised when either of you came out. No, I donât want to think about James with a leather daddy.â
To be honest, Dan didnât want to think of Jim having a leather daddy or a partner either. He wanted to believe that Jim had waited years for Dan to get his head out of his ass, and come looking for him. Of course, he knew better, but still he could dream.
âAnd you canât tell me you want to think James might have a partner,â Sandy called him out on that.
He sighed. âIâm trying not to think about it, Sandy. I canât wait to see him again, but what if heâs forgotten about me? What if he left Michigan, and pushed me to the back of his mind as just a fond memory of high school?â
After admitting his worse fear to his sister, Dan sat on the floor of his empty flat and frowned. âIâm pathetic, arenât I?â
âOh honey, no you arenât,â Sandy reassured him. âYouâre a hopeless romantic just like me, and you canât help hoping that the man youâve always loved will love you. You know what? Iâll bet you your entire Fall line, that when you meet up with James at the reunion, youâll find out heâs been thinking about you since high school.â
Dan thought about it for a second. âAll right. And if Jim treats me the same as he did back in high school, or acts like he barely remembers me, I win, and youâll be giving me Apollo for a year.â
âApollo?â Sandy sounded like she wasnât sure about the bet. âHow do you know the place you get in New York will let you keep a tortoise? And why would you want Apollo anyway?â
âBecause he was mine until I went to college. I want him back.â
Sandy hemmed and hawed for a few minutes, then finally agreed. âAll right. We have a bet, and I canât wait to be the only person in Freeland wearing haute couture designed by her famous brother.â
âYouâre an evil woman.â Dan laughed.
âNo. Just sure that Iâll win. I donât know if Momâs ever told you, but Jamesâ mother always asks about you.â
âThat doesnât prove anything except that Mrs. Stanton is a nice person. We donât know if Jim ever asks about me.â Dan wasnât hinting for disagreement or anything. He simply pointed out the truth.
âBut he does. Mrs. Stanton told Mom that James asks about you every time they talk, which is why she asks Mom whenever they see each other.â
He could tell she was grinning. He spotted the box with his memorabilia, and reached out to grab it. After tugging it to him, he opened it and grinned when he saw his ZZ Top albums on the top of the pile.
âThat doesnât mean he wants to date me or anything like that. Hell, I donât know. I thought it was a good idea to go to the reunion, but maybe itâs not. Maybe I should just chalk it all up to a high school, and move on.â
âDonât you dare do that, Daniel Allen Perkins. Donât you run away from this. It might be turn out the way youâre imagining, or maybe-just maybe-youâll get the best surprise ever,â Sandy ordered him.
Closing his eyes, Dan touched the album and took a deep breath. As odd as it sounded, he took courage from it, since it was at a ZZ Top concert where he first realized he loved his best friend, then spend all of senior year trying to make sure Jim didnât know about it. He hadnât been worried about being gay or anyone else finding out he was gay.
All he worried about was that Jim would find out about him loving him, and not reciprocating. Danâs fear was losing Jim as a friend, and yet after graduated, he still did. They went their separate ways, and Dan hadnât seen Jim in twenty-five years.
It was strange that theyâd never been home at the same time, but from the moment Dan got out to California, he immersed himself into college and the fashion world, knowing what he wanted to do from the beginning.
Over the years, heâd heard about Jim thru his mom talking to Jimâs mother. He knew Jim was successful at his accounting job, and that didnât shock him because Jim always liked numbers. The one thing he listened the hardest for was when his mother talked about Jimâs boyfriends, and hid a burst of relief each time she said that heâd broken up with one.
Quick Post
this is just a real quick post before I head out for most of the day. đ Just wanted you all to know that a lot of progress is being made on the short story I started a few days ago. So much in fact, that I ended up changing the name…lol. No longer is the title Pray for the Thunder. It’s now Sharp Dressed Man. The title change doesn’t affect the story, so I didn’t have to go back and rewrite anything. Which makes me happy.
Oh, and Chasing the King of the Mountains has been started as well. Devon and I have the prologue done, and I’m working on the first scene in Chapter One. đ Â I also have Final Line Edits for Home Sweet Home to finish today. So I’ll be busy once I get back home…lol
I hope you all have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend.
Wednesday Work in Progress…
Better late than never…lol
Okay so my snippet for today’s WIP comes from Pray for the Thunder. It’s a short story I’m sending to MLR Press when it’s finished. It’s for their Mixed Tape sub call. đ It’s about two men who were best friends in high school. They drifted apart after graduation, then twenty-five years later, they meet up at their class reunion. đ
Pray for the Thunder copyright c. 2013
Excerpt-
His phone rang, he grabbed it then checked the id screen. âHey Andrea, what do you need?â
Danny winced as his assistant started screaming in his ear. What is it with women screaming in my ear? âAndrea, take a deep breath, and repeat what you just shouted.â
âThat red silk you ordered from Singapore hasnât arrived yet, and we need to get the clientâs dress for the BAFTAs.â
He could hear the panic in her voice, and he shook his head. âAndrea, what did I tell you?â
âNot to freak out,â she said.
âRight. The silk will be here in the next day or two. We already have the measurements and the patterns set. As soon as the silk gets here, we can knock that dress out within a day. We still have three weeks before the awards ceremony, and sheâs not even in town yet.â Danny tried to soothe Andreaâs fear. âHave we ever missed a deadline?â
âNo, but thereâs always a first time for it.â Andrea took a breath, and Danny interrupted.
âThis wonât be that time, honey. I talked to our supplier, and he told me the fabric shipped out last Tuesday. It takes a week to get to us, so we should be getting it tomorrow or Thursday.â Danny lay back on the floor to stare up at the ceiling. âI will work day and night until the dress is finished, though you know sheâd look beautiful in a gunny sack.â
Andrea snorted. âMaybe we could start a new fad.â
Danny laughed. âOnly if we get to dress her all the time because sheâs the only one in the world who could make a sack look good.â
 âTrue, and her husband. We could make a gunny sack tuxedo for him.â Andrea sounded like she was starting to calm down slightly.
âI donât make menâs clothes, though,â Danny pointed out.
âNot that youâre not doing enough all ready, but maybe you should think about looking into designing a new line. There are a lot of guys out there who would kill to have you dress them.â Andrea paused for a second, then continued, âDidnât last yearâs Oscar winner practically beg you to design a suit for this yearâs ceremony?â
âYes, but I told him I like to undress men, not dress them.â
Andrea gasped. âYouâre didnât tell him that?â
Danny rolled his eyes. âOf course I did, Andrea. Itâs not like itâs a big secret or anything.â
âI know, but still to just blurt it out like that? How did you know he wouldnât beat you up or something?â
âSeriously? Heâs not going to risk his reputation as a good guy by beating the snot out of me. Anyway he laughed at me, then said if I ever decide to go into menâs clothing, heâd be the first one to endorse it. Also, heâd be willing to walk the runway for me.â
âThen why donât you do it?â
Danny shrugged, even though she couldnât see him. âI just havenât gotten inspired by any guy Iâve met yet.â
âI understand.â Andrea changed the subject, and they talked about other designs for another hour before hanging up.
After that, Danny packed a couple more boxes while listening to GNR, whose record Appetite for Destruction had been the soundtrack for his entire junior and senior year. His favorite song, Sweet Child Oâ Mine, was the one song heâd listen to over and over again because it took him back to the most important moment in his life. The instant when he looked over at Jimmy, his best friend, and realized he was in love with him.
Heâd never thought about being gay or liking men. It wasnât anything anyone talked about, aside from teasing and joking about being someone being a fag. Suddenly to have a light blub go off in his head about why he hadnât been attracted to girls before was like getting hit by lightning. It had thrown him for a loop, though he tried to act like there wasnât anything different going on. As far as he knew, Jimmy never figured it out.
 Danny headed to bed, knowing heâd probably dream about Jimmy that night like heâd had for most of the twenty-five years since they said good-bye.
