Bad boys. That's the only thing standing between Isaac and his happily ever after. But they are all he seems to be attracted to. To change that, he decides to bad-boy-detox to find the man who's good enough for him. But will he manage to fix his bad boy problem when the two bad boys he fears losing his heart to the most insist on dragging him back into their lives? One, a guitar-strumming rock star bad boy he had a one-night stand with and swore to stay away from. Two, the neighbourhood bad boy who also happens to be his high school love who broke his heart years ago. Isaac knows letting both boys back into his life could be a big mistake. But…what if it could be different this time round? Maybe he can find his happily ever after with the right bad boy…right? MATURE LANGUAGE & THEMES|BXB|LGBTQ+ [THIS IS A SPIN-OFF OF LOVING JUDE, BUT CAN BE READ AS A STANDALONE BOOK.] Updates MON/WED/FRI
View MoreThis night is shit, I think as I shove my phone back into my pocket. I have no idea why I thought coming to this party would be a good idea. I should be on my way home right now, where I’m needed.
Right, as if I have anything to offer.
I just got off the phone with Mum, and what did she tell me? We need to find ten thousand dollars within the next four months. If we don’t have that money within that period, my sister could very well lose her sight forever.
I curse and kick a pebble lying next to my feet, sending it flying into the lawn.
Where the fuck am I supposed to get that kind of money in such a short time? It would help if I already had my certificate. With that, I could probably get a decent entry-level job. And maybe make about a quarter of that amount before the time was up.
No matter which way I think about it, we are fucked. The only way we could possibly make that much money so fast is if we sold the house.
I shake my head instantly at that thought. No. We can’t lose the only thing we have been able to hold on to since my father passed and our finances went to shit.
But even as I think that, I know that unless I find an alternative source of money, that’s exactly what we might have to do. It’s not like we can let Daisy go blind just because we don’t want to sell the house.
You know what? Maybe that’s what we should do. We can sell it, pay for the surgery, and buy a smaller house. Once I get a good job, it won’t take long to get us a better one.
Sounds like a solid plan. If we can get through this, we’ll be fine. I’m done with university, and that’s one huge load off my mother’s shoulder. Now, all we have to do is ensure Daisy gets that surgery in time and recovers fully.
“I didn’t take you for a wallflower.”
I startle, pushing my back off the wall I’ve been leaning on and looking towards the direction the voice came from. But I already know who it is even before he rises from behind the bushes that are a few feet from where I’ve been standing for the past twenty minutes or so.
Benjamin Lockwood.
The very last person I wished to run into tonight.
“The party is that way, you know,” he says, nodding towards the house while brushing his hands over his pants, then straightening his black button-down shirt.
“Says the one hiding behind the bushes,” I say, making sure not to sound spooked by his sudden appearance. How long has he been there? Did he hear my conversation on the phone?
He grins, then parts the bushes with his hands and steps through them, emerging on my side. “You’re the one who has been hiding, Isaac. When was the last time I saw you?” He makes a show of tilting his head and frowning as if in deep thought. “Damn, I can’t recall.”
You know what? Maybe it’s time to get back to the party and try to enjoy it. It’s my last college party, after all. It would be a shame to let it go to waste.
“Look, I gotta get back,” I say, getting ready to walk back to the house.
Ben drops his thoughtful stance. “Do you hate me that much?” he asks.
I frown. “What?”
“Every time we have been in the same space since that night, you find an excuse to leave as fast as you can. Like, come on, Isaac. It’s been months. It was just sex. No big deal. You made it clear that you didn’t want to revisit that, and I’m cool with it. So what’s this acting like I’m going to trap you into a marriage every time I so much as look your way?”
I look away from him. Away from those dark brown eyes I definitely don’t think about almost every night. And I try, I really try, not to think about that night all those months ago.
But who am I fooling? I think about that night enough even without anyone mentioning it. And here he is, addressing the elephant in the room.
“I don’t hate you.”
That’s what I say.
Because what else can I say? He is right. I’ve avoided him like the plague since that night. But he’s so wrong if he thinks that’s because I can’t stand being in the same space with him.
Hate him? Gods, I would love to be able to do that.
Hate him so much that I don’t think of him every time I get myself off. Hate him so much that on those days that I feel incredibly lonely and just want someone to hold me, it’s not him I think about. Hate him to the extent that I don’t hate myself for being a coward about what we could have been.
Because we could have been so much more, I know it.
But I couldn’t let that happen. Not when he’s another of those bad boys I seem drawn to like a moth to the light. Bad boys who I’ve been trying hard to shake off. So yeah, getting into anything with a guy who’s pretty much the poster child for bad boys—tattoos; check, long hair; check, all that dark clothing; check, the damn motorcycle; another check, and he’s in a fucking rock-band; check—is not on my to-do list.
“What is it, then?” he asks, taking a step closer to me. “Why do you always run away whenever I show up?”
“I don’t,” I deny.
“We both know that’s bullshit, Isaac.” He takes another step forward, and if I don’t move back, he’s soon going to be in my face. “So, tell me. Is it that you don’t like me as a person? Or was I so bad in bed that you didn’t want to give me an opportunity to talk you back into it?”
Bad in bed? Yeah, right, that’s the entire reason I find myself whispering his name whenever I’m cumming into a wad of tissues. And it would take less than talking me into it to get me back there… So he’s kind of right about that second part. I do avoid him so I won’t give in to the temptation to feel his body against mine again.
About his personality? We would likely be close friends right now if I hadn’t tumbled into bed with him barely a month after meeting him for the first time.
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell him. I shrug. “It’s not like we’ll be running into each other anymore.”
I just completed my final year, and the only thing that’ll bring me back to this city is my graduation ceremony four months away. This could very well be the last time we see each other.
“It matters to me,” he says, passing a hand over his hair. Tonight, it’s in a low bun. But when I look at it, all I can picture is running my fingers through the long tresses while he lays his head in my lap, writing in his music notebook. And that scenario is not just a creation of my imagination. It actually happened. One of the things that happened in the course of that one night, that made me realise that if I had learned anything from my past, I should get away from him quickly before I lost my heart to a bad boy again. “I want to know. We could have been friends, Isaac. I want to know why that too wasn’t an option.”
Because it never was…
“Look, Ben. Can you just forget it?”
“No,” he says automatically. “That’s the problem. I can’t seem to forget it.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” I tell him.
He laughs. A laugh that has nothing to do with being ecstatic. “Fuck, I should have known. Pretty boys like you always turn out to be the worst heartbreakers.”
Did he just call me a pretty boy?
“So that’s it, uh? I’m doomed to spend the rest of my life wondering why you shut me out?”
I shift on my feet. “Why would you do that? Don’t you have a steady stream of boys and girls coming in and out of your bed like every night?”
“Exactly. I have a steady stream of boys and girls in my bed, and all of them would kill to come back a second time.” His eyes narrow as he takes another step towards me. “You, on the other hand…”
Is that it? Is that what has been bothering him all this time? That I never went back?
“Did I bruise your ego?”
“A little.”
His reply surprises me. I was expecting him to insist he was confident in his bed skills or something.
Before I can say something, he adds, “It’s not much about you not wanting to come back as it is about the fact that you were the one person that I wanted to come back, but you never did.”
Is he being serious right now? I don’t know if he has noticed, but he is kind of laying out his heart in the open right now. Bad boys don’t do that. They would die before they let someone who rejected them know that they wanted them back. They would be busy acting like they couldn’t give two shits about whether you landed back in their bed ever. In fact, they would make sure to let you know that you were a poor fuck and laugh at the idea of you thinking they wanted you back.
So him telling me this? It doesn’t fit with the archetype…
Ah. I get it. Unless he wants to have the last laugh. Act all vulnerable, get me where he wants me, then spit me out. Be the one to cast me out this time.
But even as I think that, I know Ben isn’t that kind of person. He is sincere, that much I know. There’s no other way he would have become fast friends with my roommate, Jo.
And now I feel like a horrible person for not giving him the simple answer he wants.
Maybe it isn’t all that simple, but does it matter? This could be the last night we ever see each other. Telling him the truth won’t change anything at this point, will it?
It’s not like I’ll keep living with the perpetual fear of him appearing at Jo and I’s apartment in Simon’s company, as he has a few times in the months we have known each other.
It’s only fair that I set him free of his misery.
I sigh and turn away from him “Let’s not drag this any further, please.”“Ash and I have not had that kind of relationship for five years now,” he says. “And when we did, it only lasted for a few months before I realised what a huge mistake it was and put an end to it. He has tried to revive it many times, but I’ve long made it clear that my affections for him only go as far as being his brother. I know, I’ve given him way too much leeway than most siblings would. Allowed him to affect who I could and could not get close to. But I drew the line at you.”He pauses for a moment, and then continues,“You must have seen him kiss me, and you also must have not stayed long enough after. Because if you had, you would know that I pushed him away, and I assured him that I’d always be there for him as his brother, but to not ask more of me.”I stay rooted to the spot even when I feel him move closer.“And,” he continues, “like I did two months ago, I told him that I’m in love with you, and I wa
Two days after I get home, the door to my room–or rather, my hideout, since I’ve hardly left it since I got back–bursts open and Jared appears.A retort is ready on my lips to ask him to get lost when he beats me to it. “Your sister is in the hospital.”I blink at him, and then push myself up from my lying position on the bed. “What?”“She developed a migraine in class and passed out on her way to the infirmary. The school called an ambulance…your mother couldn’t reach you on your phone. So she called me.”Fuck. I get out of bed and look around for a pair of pants. Jared throws one at me, and then a t-shirt.“Is she okay?”“Looks like she needs to get that surgery asap,” he tells me.Shit. She was supposed to have one more month. We haven’t yet put together enough money, and–“I sold the truck,” Jared says.“What?”“I got six grand for it. I would have informed you earlier if you were taking visitors or, I don’t know, taking calls.” He is annoyed, and he isn’t hiding it. He walks past
“Hey, I want to run by the cafe, do you want anything?” I ask Jack some six hours later. We are in the waiting room outside the operating room where Ben’s mother is still in surgery. While Ben brought me along, Ashton brought Jack.Ms. Lockwood has been in surgery for more than four hours now. We got here two hours ago at around nine in the morning after a two-hour flight. Ben’s two sisters were already here. A few minutes ago, an OR nurse came by and said they were running out of Ms.Lockwood’s blood type, O-, and if one of the siblings could donate. It turned out that only Ashton is compatible. Ben accompanied Ashton to do the transfusion. Now, it’s just Jack and me and the two sisters in the waiting room. Nobody knows how the operation is going, but knowing that Ms. Lockwood has lost so much blood doesn’t sound good. “I’ll come with you,” Jack says, jumping to his feet as if he is dying to get out of here. We take the elevator down to the hospital’s first floor, where the cafete
Two Months LaterI’ve just gotten out of the shower and pulled on a pair of sweatpants when there’s a knock on the door. I grab a tshirt and pull it on as I head to the door. There’s already a smile on my face as I expect to find Ben on the other side. Tonight was the last show on the first leg of the tour. Beginning tomorrow, we’ll have a two-week break, and then begin the second leg. There’s an after-party going on at the hotel bar, from which I escaped a while ago. Ben said he would come up after a few minutes.When I open the door, my smile falls instantly when I’m faced with a crying Keri.Before I can ask what’s wrong, she throws herself at me, her arms going around my neck and her crying face onto my chest.“Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask worriedly, patting her shoulder gently and pulling us away from the doorway. “I fucked up,” she cries as I shut the door behind us. “I don’t know what to do.”“What did you do?” I ask, reaching up to remove her arms from around me so that I can
I cannot tell whether Ben is mad or not. He isn’t exactly avoiding me–at least not in the way he used to avoid me whenever he was pissed off in the past. But he also hasn’t exactly spent more than ten seconds in my company. We are having a family fun day event at the children’s hospital. Apparently, Ben volunteered to run a coffee truck for the day–he has experience working as a barista. As soon as the band’s performance was over, he got busy serving snacks and making all sorts of drinks for all attending. When I gather enough courage–and ignore most of my shame–to approach him at the truck, he sends me on an errand right away. When I get back, Keri has joined him. I don’t know what I hope to tell him–this isn’t really the best setting to get into that sort of conversation. So I decide to wait until we get back to the hotel.In the evening, I knock on his suite door and wait. It’s been about an hour since we got back from the hospital. It’s early evening and we don’t have any oth
“What are you doing? No…stop–” my plea dies in my throat as I bring my teeth down on my lip to keep a moan from escaping.“You want me to stop?” he asks, his voice in my ear, his palm rubbing up and down my crotch. I’m getting hard, I’m craving his touch, but I know it’s wrong. I shouldn’t want this.“Huh?” he asks, his fingers now moving to my button, popping it open, then working on my zipper. “Should I stop now?”Yes. Stop.But instead of saying those words, my fingers dig into his blond hair, pulling him closer. He chuckles against my neck, and then he is sucking on my skin.I hear their voices.“Please…” Stop, they’ll see. We shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t want to hurt him. All are words I want to say, but all that comes from my mouth is his name. “Jared.”It doesn’t sound like a warning. It sounds like a wanton plea to touch me more. And he does. And then they are there, and I’m suddenly tangled in sheets…his sheets, in his room back at home… He is holding me in his arms, mov
I don’t think this is keeping it lowkey.I can feel Keri’s penetrative gaze on me, and it’s not helping the blush I’m trying to keep off my face. “I’m good,” I say, shoving Ben’s hand away when he holds his fork to my mouth, asking me to have a taste of his sausage. Yes, he said that out loud, with a wicked glint in his eyes and a slight lift to the corner of his mouth. “Maybe you’ll like mine better,” Adam says from my other side, his fork appearing in front of my mouth. “It’s quite delicious. Go ahead, wrap your mouth around–”“Fuck off,” Ben tells him.“I was not talking to you,” Adam tells him, and then he wraps his arm around my shoulder. “Isaac, whose sausage do you want?”“Nobody’s.”“You have to choose one.”“I don’t like sausages.”“Now you are just lying.”“They are too salty.” I didn’t mean to encourage this double-entendre conversation, but I can’t resist. “That they are,” Adam agrees. “Especially when they’ve got some sauce on them, right? The sauce is especially salty
I stumble back, my body colliding with the door behind me. For a few moments, I’m frozen, my mind taking its time to register what’s happening.While my mind struggles to make sense of things, my body goes off on its own. My lips part under his and my hands latch onto his forearms. His lips pry mine insistently. A moan slips past mine as I let him in completely, holding back nothing. It’s just a kiss. A kiss I’ve been dying to get. I can allow this much before the reality of the situation glares in my face. We’ve been here before, and I don’t want to be burned again. So I’m just going to take this kiss, nothing more.I move my hand from his arm to his waist, gripping him tight. Our bodies press together, top to bottom. He thrusts his hips forward, and his covered erection grinds over my own. The jolt of pleasure that travels throughout my body elicits another moan from my lips. My other hand finds its way to the back of his neck, where it grips tight as I deepen our kiss. Heavens, I
This is not a good idea. If Adam was right about me being responsible for keeping them in line, I think I really am going to lose my job.“Guys, I think that’s enough for toni–”“One more,” Ashton interrupts me, his eyes set firmly on Adam. Adam, who’s grinning mockingly. Ashton and Ben have lost three games in a row now. Ben is doing most of the dying, and each time he dies, they both have to drink. Adam and I are yet to drink up our first cans. If we keep on, they’ll both be drinking their fourth. “If you say so,” Adam says, obviously having no qualms about playing for as long as possible.“Isaac is right,” Ben says, sliding his phone into his pocket and leaning back on the couch. He shuts his eyes and rests his forearm on his forehead. “We’ll get them another day, Ash.”“Don’t be a pussy,” Ashton tells his brother.“I’m pretty sure I’m not the one being a pussy in this situation,” Ben mumbles.“What?” Ashton demands, his voice on edge.Oh no. It’s one thing trying to diffuse thin
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