River... Redeemed (Studs & Steel Book 2) Read online

  River… Redeemed

  Studs and Steel #2

  Kindle Edition

  Heather Mar-Gerrison Copyright 2016

  Beautiful front cover design by:

  selfpubbookcovers/RavenandBlack

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work.

  I stared at him. He might just have been the person I’d been waiting for my whole life – but he belonged to my best friend – and that really fucking sucked, but it was the way it was...

  Prologue

  River

  I was really looking forward to Jake’s visit. I hadn’t seen him in so long and I was genuinely excited. He’d called quite out of the blue and since we’d talked, I’d felt more positive somehow – more alive. It was hard to explain…

  When he called I could hardly believe it, I put the phone to my ear, “Jake?” I asked, “Is that really you?”

  He laughed, his big hearty laugh that I absolutely loved, “Yes, it’s really me – sorry I haven’t been in contact for a couple of months…”

  “Hey, no problem – you’re a busy guy.” Busier than I am, with my half-arsed attempt at working...

  There was a beat of silence and then, “I’m actually after a bit of a favour.”

  My heart leapt, “Anything, mate – you know that. I would do anything for you.” I swallowed the lump in my throat, “The only reason I’m still here is because of you.”

  He sounded concerned about me, making the lump in my throat expand, threatening to cut off my air supply… “Oh, now that’s not quite true,” he said softly, “– you’re stronger than that and you know it.”

  I shook my head. I wasn’t all that sure I could have survived that night if he hadn’t come swooping in like Superman… “Yeah, I guess.” I croaked, because I knew that was what he wanted to hear. I took a deep breath and attempted to pull myself together, “Anyway – enough about me – what about you – I take it you got the job, then?”

  He chuckled, “Yeah – I was absolutely made up!” he exclaimed, “So we’re coming to your neck of the woods since that’s where the job is – and that’s where you come in – do you know where we can rent – reasonably cheaply?”

  I didn’t have to think – I rattled around my fucking huge house all by myself apart from when the guys crashed with me – they could damn well live with me! “Here.” I said, “Pay whatever you want for rent – you could stay for free, but I know you won’t do that – so just pay anything. Pizza in exchange for a room!”

  There was a slightly stunned silence at his end.

  “Jake? You still there, man?”

  “Seriously?” He asked, “We can stay with you?”

  “Sure,” I said with a laugh, “I’ve got four fucking bedrooms, dude – you could have a room each – but I’m guessing…” I trailed off. Of course they were having sex. Jake and I had regularly swapped notes on a good fuck in the past. There was no way they weren’t having a real relationship.

  “Wow.” He said, “Thanks.”

  “What’s your boyfriend’s name again? Jamie, wasn’t it?”

  “Jodie.” He said quickly.

  “Yeah, that’s right – Jodie – what’s he like?”

  Was it my imagination or was the conversation becoming a little stilted? He didn’t seem to want to talk about Jodie… “He, uh, well – he’s great. What do you want to know?” he sounded a little defensive. Almost as if he was warning me off, he added, “He’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m happier than I’ve ever been, dude.”

  I was pleased to hear it. If anyone deserved to be happy it was Jake. “I’m glad – I’m so happy for you Jake. You truly deserve to be happy.”

  I heard Jake sigh on the other end of the phone, “And you do too, River.” He said, his voice soft and gruff.

  I shivered even though the heating was on. His words struck a chord with me from when we were younger and my parents were shipping me off to my Aunt Hilary who was a little more welcoming – and a lot less homophobic than they were, until I was eighteen and could be shipped off permanently to my new home – here. He’d said something along those lines back then too. I hadn’t believed him then anymore than I believed it now… “Yeah, right. Thanks.” I said, unable to think of anything else to say, “I am happy – I love dancing and I got a job doing just that...”

  “Thank you so much for this, River – it really means a lot to me – to us.”

  I felt a slight pang in my heart that he’d found someone who was willing to move across the country for him while all I was doing was fucking my way through the gay population of the county… “It means a lot to me too, Jake.” I said, “I’m really looking forward to seeing you, mate.”

  “You too.” He agreed, “Love you.”

  “Love you.” I said and I meant it. He was the only person in this world that I did love.

  *

  So, Jake and his boyfriend, Jodie, were coming together – I hadn’t even had to think when I offered for them to stay with me – might as well since my roommate had walked out on me six months ago – my fault I guess… I had no idea he was looking for a relationship with me – I was just looking for fun. I should have left him alone but he had such a great arse…

  As I’ve previously mentioned, I lived alone; the only benefit of my parents having more money than sense – or heart – is that they’d bought me the house on the understanding that I never darkened their doorstep ever again… No really, that’s exactly what they did, almost as soon as I came out to them – or rather – after I was forced to come out to them, following a rather brutal beating by some homophobic arseholes who were once my mates…

  Well, that wasn’t likely to happen again any time soon – I wasn’t that skinny little twink anymore – I’d decided that wasn’t ever going to happen to me again and had joined a gym almost as soon as I’d moved in with Aunt Hilary. To be fair to her, she’d actively encouraged me to join the gym in order to make some new friends and to bulk up a little – I had a lot to thank her for.

  Having continued to keep up my fitness regime, finding it more than a little addictive, I was now a very respectable height of five feet ten and my body was a slender, but muscled thing of beauty – not many guys even realised I was gay until I gave them the come on – but strangely enough, I was still more attracted to the twinks than any other guys – guess some things never changed…

  Chapter 1 – Moving

  Jodie

  I adored Jake. I had done from the first moment we’d met when I’d literally bumped into him – while I was carrying a tray full of meals for the lunchtime rush. Yeah, I know – not my finest hour…

  But we’d looked into each other’s eyes, felt the connection, realised we were on the same page and instantly fell in lust with each other – and we’d been together ever since – coming up for our first anniversary.

  I’d never been tall – I was five feet eight and a half and eight stone wet through – yeah, I screamed ‘twink’ from the way my hips swung when I walked, right through to my flirtatious giggle – but fuck it, I was who I was… and Jake loved me anyway, so what the hell?

  Jake. Even just thinking his name made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. He was a hundred kinds of adorable. So attentive and so damned brainy – that’s why we were moving
down to stay with his mate, River... I know – what sort of a fucked up name was that? Anyway, whatever… River said we could rent a room off him and it was close to the fantastic job Jake had just landed, so who was I to argue?

  I was so proud of Jake – he’d graduated the year before and had finally been offered a job that was in the exact field he wanted – he was joining a really good accountancy firm and had been provided with a car and a really great pension. They wanted their pound of flesh mind you – it was going to mean long hours and we wouldn’t see each other quite so much – something I was really dreading since I was, so far, unemployed…

  My dad and his girlfriend Marcia were really supportive of me, though, and they’d loaned me some money to keep me going while I was supporting Jake, albeit, only in an emotional capacity. I’d promised that I’d pay it back just as soon as I was in paying work and I was damned well going to make good on that promise. I’d gotten a first in English and I was sending away for all sorts of jobs – none that I really wanted but hey – who could be fussy in the worst recession of modern times? What I really wanted to do was write for a magazine or something – but those jobs were so hard to come by – in my spare time I wrote slushy romantic novels – yeah. I was that boy…

  Anyway – it passed the time when Jake wasn’t around and I’d planned on publishing the finished product myself – who knew? I could be the next big thing…

  Chapter 2 – Good life…

  River

  I spent most of my days writing songs and playing them to myself in my room. I generally wrote mushy love songs about a guy I was never likely to meet. I knew what I wanted in life – and that was someone to love; someone who loved me back and that I’d want to spend the rest of my life with – I’ll grant you, it wasn’t much of a goal when it came to careers but what the hell?

  What I currently had in life was a string of one night stands – a great sex life, I’ll agree – but it was shallow – I craved the feeling of connecting with someone and in that moment of being with someone it almost happened – but then it was gone again the moment the guy got up and awkwardly let himself out of my house – I’d never once woken up with a guy after a pick-up. I was definitely a bit of a whore… I just wasn’t getting paid for it…

  I was really looking forward to seeing Jake again though – we’d never had that sort of a relationship – he was more like a brother to me. He’d stood up for me when I got bashed – not to the guys who beat me up – oh, no – they never got punished for what they did. Everyone wanted to believe it was just a big misunderstanding between a bunch of guys who were friends – it wasn’t though. Once they found out I was gay – they cornered me in the showers of the local swimming pool where I’d agreed to meet them and knowing they could beat me to a bloody pulp without any cameras recording their actions, they thought they’d get away with their sick plan. That was where Jake found me, naked, unconscious and hypothermic. The bastards had left me to die in there.

  No, Jake stood up to my parents who were just horrified that I was the victim of a homophobic attack – they couldn’t believe their perfect son was gay – so they made arrangements for me to stay with my aunt until I was old enough to be classed as an adult and then they gave me a house with a legally drawn up document that I had to sign to say I would never contact them again. Such love…

  Anyway – that was a long time ago and I was no longer that person. I was buff, talented at what I did and protected by Peyton McKenzie – or rather, I was protected by Buzz, the bouncer, who was one of the best mates a man could ask for.

  Buzz, Simon and Seth were my best friends after Jake. Buzz and Simon were brothers, Seth was their mate – I’d met them when I was living with my aunt and working at a bar in the evenings as a waiter. Buzz was the bouncer – a big bear of a guy – no one got past him. His younger brother Simon was just as tall as Buzz, but less bear-like and was a waiter just like me, and just like me, he loved dancing. Seth, his best friend from school, was one of the barmen.

  When Mum and Dad bought me the house I naturally had to move – which meant uprooting myself from a really rather comfortable life with my Aunt and two cousins – and to my surprise and delight all of the guys came with me. Simon, Seth and Buzz shared an apartment not too far from where I lived and they generally spent their days off around at mine. We’d all found part-time jobs but when Studs opened and I was offered the job as a dancer, it seemed perfect to me for my mates to all work there too – and it had worked out perfectly. Working in a nightclub that was open all night and busiest at the weekends meant that we had no real pattern to our days off – but all working at the same place we saw each other most of the time anyway.

  I fucking loved my job – dancing on a podium. It wasn’t everyone’s idea of a great career – and I guess I couldn’t go on doing it forever – but right now I was only twenty-one. I wasn’t thinking about being thirty-one – and I guessed I’d still be able to shake my booty like the next guy even then – if Channing Tatum could still move like he did in Magic Mike in his thirties, I was damned sure I could too…

  Since my position was a dancer at the club, it was was still part-time – as was Simon’s and so I also spent three afternoons a week waiting tables at a small family run restaurant. I wasn’t sure how long that was going to last, since the owner’s daughter was finishing college and he was making noises about giving her more hours. Since it was only a casual set up, I wasn’t particularly bothered, apart from the fact that it was a damned cheek to be kicked out in favour of a family member. The rest of the week was my own – I ran to keep fit and went to the gym to tone my body and sometimes I even hit the pool for a few lengths. It was a great place to pick up guys too – but not nearly as good as the nightclub. I could generally find someone to hook up with there and take back to my place...

  I slammed the front door behind me as I made my way to my car, which was a little mint green Fiat 500. It was nothing flash but that was the way I liked it. I might have had a decent amount of money – the house wasn’t the only pay off – but I didn’t like to flaunt my wealth. I didn’t want a boyfriend that was only with me for my money… I preferred them to think I lived modestly – which I did – I hated using the money my parents had given me.

  They had deposited a healthy amount in my account that they’d opened when I was a baby – and to my surprise they’d signed it over to me on my twenty-first birthday – three years after they’d given me the house. It was fair to say that I didn’t actually need to work if I didn’t want to – but what the hell else was I gonna do with my time? I’d had ideas of being a singer once upon a time – I had a pretty good voice – but I had no idea what sort of songs I wanted to sing – I could both read and write music and was self-taught at playing the guitar. I’d also learnt to play the piano when I was small – of course all little rich kids did… I’d written all sorts of songs but they were all so damned melancholy, I doubted anyone else would ever want to hear them, so I just played them to myself whenever I was alone.

  Who was I kidding? I was always alone one way or another. I had no brothers or sisters; my best mates were like a threesome and I was the odd one out – oh, sure they loved me – hell, they’d moved halfway across the country with me but I still felt that I just didn’t really seem to fit in... anywhere.

  I drove through the leafy suburb towards the city centre. The nightclub I danced at was a massive warehouse-sized building on an out-of-town shopping centre site. It was called ‘Studs and Steel’ which was incredibly fitting for a gay club and even though it hadn’t been open for all that long, it was the most popular gay club for miles.

  I’d landed this job after a really good night out at another club where I’d been sort of dating the owner’s son, Mitch, I say sort of dating because I really wasn’t the dating type – we regularly met up and had great sex together – he called it dating. Anyway, Mitch had dared me to get up on the podium and dance – so I did. I had nothing to lose and everything to
gain. One way or the other, I was gonna be getting laid…

  So I got up on the podium and I just let the music take me over – when I did that I could dance all fucking night without stopping. I loved to dance more than I loved to do anything else – well, apart from sex…

  Anyway – Mitch’s dad, Rob, caught up with me after hours and told me that he’d love to hire me but some guy called Peyton McKenzie, an old friend of his, was hiring for his new club. Rob was going to leave the club he was at once the lease was up and go to work at Studs and Steel anyway. “It’s a better opportunity for someone like you, River.” He said, “You’ll make a fortune in tips with those moves, son.”

  So, thankfully, even though Mitch and I eventually drifted apart, I got the job and on my recommendations, Simon, Seth and Buzz all got jobs too. Buzz was an excellent doorman, Simon got as many tips as I did from the punters for his dancing and Seth kept everyone happy from behind the bar. It was great.

  And now I had some really great news for them – my best friend from back home was coming to stay – with his boyfriend of the past year, Jodie…

  To my annoyance they weren’t as chuffed about the whole thing as I was. In fact they were almost hostile about it. Seth’s easy smile instantly turned to a frown when he heard that Jake’s boyfriend would be joining us, “Oh, God,” he said, rolling his eyes, “You’d better remember he’s his guy,” he said in a warning tone, “– and not one of your challenges.”

  If he’d been talking about anyone other than my best friend, it would have been a fair comment. But this was Jake he was talking about. I shot him a hurt look, “Like I’d ever do that to Jake – he’s like my brother, dude.”

  He just shrugged, “Hasn’t stopped you in the past,” he reminded me of my bad behaviour, “– what about Mitch?”