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  “A Second Chance at Love”

  M/M Gay Romance

  Max Hudson

  © 2019

  Max Hudson

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This book is intended for Adults (ages 18+) only. The contents may be offensive to some readers. It may contain graphic language, explicit sexual content, and adult situations. May contain scenes of unprotected sex. Please do not read this book if you are offended by content as mentioned above or if you are under the age of 18.

  Please educate yourself on safe sex practices before making potentially life-changing decisions about sex in real life. If you’re not sure where to start, see here: http://www.jerrycoleauthor.com/safe-sex-resources/ (courtesy of Jerry Cole).

  This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner & are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Products or brand names mentioned are trademarks of their respective holders or companies. The cover uses licensed images & are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any person(s) that may be depicted on the cover are simply models.

  Edition v1.00 (2019.05.29)

  http://www.maxhudsonauthor.com

  Special thanks to the following volunteer readers who helped with proofreading: William G. Wallick, Jon Niehus, E.W. Gregg, Bob and those who assisted but wished to be anonymous. Thank you so much for your support.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter One

  Ten Years Ago

  “Has anybody seen Faedra?” Mischa yelled into the ear of the last guy he saw his friend flirt with. The music was great and the combination of alcohol, strobe lighting and Senior Year exuberance had everybody in a trance.

  The blond-haired boy turned his unfocused gaze on Mischa and shook his head. Mischa took note of his blown pupils. It was unlikely he could remember his own name at this point. Mischa shook his head and left the living room that had been transformed into a throbbing dance floor. He’d searched almost everywhere on the ground floor and had given up on any hope of making it down into the basement. The stairway leading down there was choked with smoke and smelled of an assortment of illegal substances that he wasn’t supposed to be able to identify.

  Instead, he turned his attention to the stairway leading up. It was more than likely that Faedra had made her way to someplace “quiet” with the exchange student she’d been flirting with for months. Sebastian was cute, quiet, and in so much trouble if he’d managed to fall into Faedra’s clutches.

  Mischa decided to start at the end of the hall and make his way back down. He’d just managed to sneak a peek into the bathroom before he heard the familiar call of Faedra’s laugh echoed through the hallway closet. He stopped and pulled the door open.

  “Fae? Is that you?”

  Faedra held her hand up against the offensive light and nearly hissed at Mischa.

  “Oh, sorry! Just checking; you disappeared on me,” he said, trying to quickly close the door before Sebastian’s good Catholic upbringing kicked in and guilted him out of what promised to be a wild night in a hallway closet.

  “Don’t leave without me, okay?” Faedra called through the door.

  “You got it,” Mischa said.

  Having done his duty as a responsible friend, he had every intention of heading back down to that throbbing dance floor in the living room. In a few short days he would be free. A graduate with a promising future ahead of him. This was his farewell to Central High School and the nightmare that had haunted the hallways and dogged his steps; Daniel Mann, or simply Dan the Man!

  The guy was dumb as dog shit, but that didn’t keep him from becoming fabulously popular with the ladies and unceasingly annoying to Mischa. It began in middle school when Dan was a struggling athlete, trying to keep his grades high enough to stay on the school’s basketball team. Mischa had to admit that the only reason he’d taken note of Dan was that he was smitten. Who wouldn’t be? Dan was one of those guys who never went through an awkward adolescent stage. He went from being a cute kid to a gorgeous teen with barely a breakout to show for it.

  Mischa, on the other hand, struggled through acne, a body that remained averse to retaining any muscle at all, and a gait that was just a little too prancy to be unnoticed. Yup, he was the swishy art kid, and that suited him just fine. But it did make him slightly less than popular in the boys’ locker room. In there, like almost everywhere else, Dan was king. He played basketball and football and had the body and the bravado to show for it.

  What started as letting the cute boy copy his English homework turned into what he'd thought was a real friendship. And then descended into a daily routine of avoiding a jerk who seemed to revel in putting Mischa in uncomfortable situations. Daniel was friendly enough when he was alone, but Dan the Man was rarely on his own. And when he had a crowd his favorite passtime seemed to be making Mischa the butt of some juvenile joke.

  That’s when Mischa swore off cute boys and athletes. They were all style and no substance. Unfortunately, Dan never grew out of this phase, and their mutual animosity followed them all through high school. Luckily, Mischa found his tribe amongst the AV Club and its band of misfit devotees. They made horrible parodies of their favorite movie scenes, produced cringe-worthy PSAs, ran the school announcements, and covered the football and basketball games. That meant that he crossed paths with Dan more often than he cared to admit. It also meant that their uneasy relationship developed into a lovely simmering hatred.

  This year had been the worst. This year their dueling words had resulted in several scuffles. It was the first time Mischa had ever been in a real fight, and even Dan seemed surprised by how well he handled himself. It was proof that you never know what you’re capable of until you are pinned against a wall by a three hundred pound gorilla.

  The word was out that Dan had been scouted by a university on the other side of the country and his family was moving away. Something about downsizing their life now that they didn’t have kids at home. Mischa suspected that they were finally going to get a divorce, now that Dan was out of their hair. Faedra thought he was being an asshole for thinking that way, but it wasn’t as if Dan’s were the first parents to stay together until their kids graduated in order to give them a “complete family.” Dan’s mom never looked happy whenever he saw her, and his dad was a well-known asshole who worked as a foreman at the local factory.

  “With a kid like Dan, it’s a wonder that poor woman didn’t run away ages ago,” he’d said to Faedra.

  “You never know, maybe he’s like that because his parents are unhappy.” She’d been sympathetic the whole time.

  “You’re just saying that because you want to jump his bones.”

  “I already did, and I’m telling you he’s not as one dimensional as you think he is.”

  Mischa nearly choked on his cherry soda as he scrambled to get details out of h
er.

  “What? When? How was it?”

  Faedra cocked an eyebrow.

  “Jealous?”

  “Curious,” Mischa scoffed.

  “After Homecoming, when that jackass dumped me because I wouldn’t give him a blowjob behind the bleachers. I was pretty bummed so I decided to walk home. He saw me walking and gave me a ride. We talked a little bit and then one thing led to another,” she said.

  “Wait! Didn’t he take Tiffany Ikner to Homecoming?”

  “He did, and he saw me walking after he dropped her off at home. I heard she started her period and ruined her dress,” she chuckled.

  “So you just got in the car with my archnemesis?”

  “It was cold, my feet were killing me, and he was a real gentleman about it. I even sat in the backseat.”

  “Uh-huh, so how did you get to talking from the back seat?”

  “Actually,” she leaned closer. “He asked about you.”

  “Me!”

  “Yeah, he just said ‘you’re Mischa's friend’ like that was an explanation or something.”

  “And you said yes and then gave him a tongue lashing for being such an asshole,” Mischa pressed.

  “I started to, but he wasn’t the way I thought he would be. I mean, he’s not a genius or anything.”

  “Yeah, who knew that spending your free time crashing into other people would make you a little short on intellectual stimulation.” Mischa rolled his eyes.

  “True, but I don’t think he is really after you the way you think he is. I mean, I think he has his own problems and he doesn’t really know how to deal. Like, maybe he wanted to be your friend but he didn’t know how.”

  “Try not pantsing me in front of the entire gym class or not launching spit wads at my head from the back of the class or not pushing me into the lockers every time you pass by. Or maybe just not calling me a sissy.”

  “True.” Faedra nodded and fell silent.

  “So?”

  “So what?”

  “So, how was he? Did you think I stood here listening to you so I could get the secrets to his soul? The guy is a walking cliché but he’s still hot as fuck and you are the closest I am ever going to get to fuck him so spill it!”

  “He was...gentle, and slow. He took his time like he was in no rush to do anything. It was nice, and then he dropped me off at home,” she said with a silly smile.

  “Ugh,” Mischa groaned. “You’re so lucky. I wish I could screw him once and then never see him again.”

  They both laughed. Mischa had to admit that he felt a little jealous but he was mostly jealous that Faedra had a sex life at all. Most guys he knew lost their virginity by the end of sophomore year, yet he managed to cross into technical, legal adulthood with his innocence intact. There just weren’t that many out gay guys in their little city, and Mischa wasn’t interested in being a secret boyfriend.

  But now, it was all over. Next week Dan the Man would be a memory and Mischa would be on to bigger and better things, and possibly even a boyfriend of his own. Mischa made his way back down the hall pulled along by the thumping of the music from downstairs. He was so engrossed in the vibrations echoing through his body that he didn’t notice when one of the bedroom doors opened behind him. He vaguely thought he heard somebody call his name before two clammy hands clamped down on his mouth and he was hauled back, up off of his feet and into a bedroom.

  Chapter Two

  Mischa kicked several times before he finally made contact, forcing his attacker to spin him around and drop him.

  “Ouch! Fucking asshole!” The larger boy grabbed his shin and moaned loudly.

  Mischa looked around the room wildly. His attacker was between him and the door and he needed a way out.

  “Fuck, Mischa, why did you do that?”

  Mischa blinked hard.

  “Daniel?”

  “No, it’s the ghost of Christmas past. Who the fuck else would it be?”

  “Why are you here?”

  Mischa looked around the room again. It was pristine. The whole room looked like something out of an interior design catalog.

  “Where else should I be? I live here.”

  Mischa’s jaw dropped open.

  “Bullshit! This room is too nice for somebody like you. It doesn’t even smell like gym socks.”

  “Not in this room, dumbass. This house! This is my parents’ room. Don’t tell me you came to this party and didn’t even know whose house you were in?” Dan stumbled over and sat down heavily, still rubbing his bruised shin.

  “Okay, I won’t tell you.”

  “Fuck, Mischa, they call me a dummy. How did we go to school together for so long and you never knew where I lived?”

  “Because I hate you and I don’t care where you live,” his deadpan voice and unflinching eyes cut Daniel deeply.

  “I’m not exactly excited about you either,” he said.

  “Then why did you pull me in here?”

  “To apologize!” Daniel bellowed at him.

  “What?” The notion was so ridiculous that Mischa couldn’t keep from laughing.

  “I know I’m a jerk, okay. But I didn’t mean to...no, I mean I meant it but I didn’t always want to.”

  “You weren't intending to be a jerk but it was just easier than trying to be nice to me in public.”

  Daniel looked down at his bare feet and nodded slightly.

  “That’s not how it went, exactly.”

  Mischa exhaled impatiently.

  “Look, Dan, I get it. I got outed and you got nervous. You didn’t want anybody to think you were a homo just because you were nice to me. I get it. But this isn’t a made for TV movie. You don’t get to give me one secret apology three days before graduation and think that six years of you being an asshole gets wiped away.”

  “I know.” Daniel stood up, his eyes still on his feet. He shifted his weight several times, opening and closing his mouth as if he had something else to say, but couldn’t find the right words.

  “Just get out of the fucking way,” Mischa pushed Daniel’s solid six-foot frame but couldn’t make him budge.

  “I’m really sorry,” Daniel repeated softly.

  “I don’t care.” Mischa tried to move him once again but failed.

  “You have to believe me. You have to accept my apology.”

  “Why? Why do I have to believe anything that you say? After graduation, we won’t ever see each other again. It doesn’t matter what I think,” he said, feeling a faint trembling in his chest.

  “It matters,” Daniel said, looking at Mischa’s face with a tiny flicker of hope in his eyes. For the first time, Mischa noticed the smell of alcohol on his breath and the damp look of his eyes.

  “What are you doing locked in here, anyway?”

  “It’s my parents’ room.”

  “So?”

  “I don’t want anything to happen to their stuff.”

  “So you decided to lock yourself in your mom’s room while the party of the year rages downstairs in your living room? Not buying it.”

  “I don’t care what you believe,” Daniel snarled.

  “Liar. You want me to accept your apology but in the next breath, you lie to me about why you’re hiding in your mom’s bedroom. You’re not secretly trying on her underwear, are you? Because I’m gay but I’m not into that shit,” Mischa teased.

  “Fuck you, okay,” Daniel’s temper flared up and Mischa took an unconscious step back. “You don’t know anything about me. You think you know so much, you have everybody all figured out, and you don’t know shit!”

  “You’re right. I don’t know a thing, I should get out of here. If you could just move out of the way, I’ll get going.”

  “Make me.”

  “Come on, Dan. We both know I can’t make you do anything.”

  “Maybe you can just ask nicely,” Daniel smiled darkly, lifting one side of his mouth and glaring at Mischa.

  Mischa swallowed and cursed himself for being so i
nsanely attracted to this jerk. Despite his desire to punch this guy in the face, he couldn’t deny that Daniel’s tangle of dark hair and dramatic eyebrows made him the poster boy for every bad-boy fantasy anybody has ever had in life. And with him standing there, his hands crammed into his shorts and his muscles rippling beneath his sleeveless t-shirt, it was hard to deny that he was in danger of losing his nerve.

  “I’m not playing games with you, Daniel. Move!”

  Daniel closed his eyes and a lewd smile spread across his face.

  “Say it again.”

  “What?”

  “Say my name again. Call me Daniel.”

  “I’m not playing this game, just move!”

  Mischa didn’t see him move but he suddenly felt crowded by Daniel, as if he was swelling up and filling all of his senses.

  “Say it again,” he whispered.

  Mischa took a deep breath and held his ground. He could feel his toes curl in his shoes and he balled his fists up by his side. The only options were to try and win a fight against Daniel or play along and hope that he would make it out unscathed.

  “Daniel,” he said.

  Daniel took a step forward and bent his head, smelling Mischa’s hair. For a moment, Mischa felt self-conscious. Did his hair smell like smoke? Would the acrid smell of hair gel turn Daniel off? Did he care? Why did he care and why did he find the act of being sniffed by an overgrown beer soaked jockstrap so fucking stimulating?

  “You stopped saying my name in the eighth grade. Do you know that?”

  “Why would I know that?”

  What happened in the eighth grade, Mischa wondered. Maybe that was the year he started dating. What was her name? Heather? Patrice? Carletta? All he could remember was that she’d been pretty close to the top of the middle school pecking order, and the two of them had been the most obnoxious couple ever. The rumor was that he fucked her in the teachers’ lounge bathroom and officially became “the Man”.

  But why did any of that matter now?

  “Because I always liked the way you said my name. You were the only person who called me Daniel.”