With this story's release, five more amazing stories by five incredibly talented authors are going to follow, each one connected by the characters facing the same hurricane. I've mentioned these five awesome authors before, but they are most certainly worth mentioning again. Here is the full line-up of authors for the Storming Love compilation:
September 5th - Gage and Collin - S.J. Frost
September 12th - Bradley and Mike - Stephani Hecht
September 19th - Bear and Travis - Parker Williams
September 25th - Austin and Troy - Kendall McKenna
October 3rd - Nelson and Caleb - Kaje Harper
October 10th - Doug and Neal - Diana DeRicci
There's going to be a whole lot of good reading ahead for everyone! I'm super excited for all the stories to release and very proud to have been part of this project.
And now, it's my pleasure to introduce everyone to Gage and Collin!
Blurb:
As a professional rider on the NRHA circuit, Gage Chapman has known success. He’s also known discrimination. Many people didn’t want an openly gay rider competing in the sport, much less winning again and again on his champion Paint stallion, The Shaman. Wanting to get away from it all, Gage had left Utah to set up a breeding farm in North Carolina and there, he found what he’d always hoped for, a man he could love.
Collin Maddox is the town deputy with his sights set on becoming sheriff someday. He knows local attitudes wouldn’t be real pro on voting a gay sheriff into office, so he’s kept his sexuality a secret for years. For all the care he has for Gage, his secret tore them apart, leaving them both with regrets and broken hearts.
Now Hurricane Lauris is coming in fast and strong. Gage has refused to evacuate and leave his horses behind. Knowing Gage is alone, Collin goes to Gage’s farm to help him, only to find himself trapped there. Hurt, anger, and passion erupts between them. As the storm rages around them, both men wonder if this is a new beginning, or the final ending.
Chapter
One
Gage stepped
outside and caught hold of his black cowboy hat, gripping the doorframe with
his other hand as the wind slammed into him. The hair on his arms rose with the
electricity and energy in the air and also, some fear. The slate-gray sky was
growing steadily darker. If he didn’t know it was morning, he would have
thought night was preparing to fall. The black clouds in the distance foretold
it was only going to get darker.
Hurricane
Lauris was coming and she was going to wreak havoc.
Gage
made sure the door to his house was securely closed, then looked across his
farm toward the long main barn up the dirt lane from his brick home. Fear made
his heart beat quicker than usual and it wasn’t for himself. It was for all the
lives in there: mares, foals, yearlings, youngsters in training, and most
certainly his stallion, Shaman. Twenty-one horses total, too many to evacuate.
When
word came of Lauris, and how big and powerful the hurricane was going to be, he’d
called the owners of the mares stabled at his place for stud service from Shaman
and told them to pick up their horses and get them to a safe place. All the
visiting mares were gone now, but it would’ve been a huge operation to move his
horses. Hell, it had been when he’d brought them out to North Carolina from
Utah a little over a year ago. He’d had fewer horses of his own then and it
still took a semi hauling a massive air-ride equipped trailer for the
cross-country journey.
On top
of that, even if he could’ve secured transportation, there was nowhere out of
the hurricane’s path that he could take all of them. He wasn’t about to hook up
his horse trailer, load a few of them, and abandon the rest to their fate. Whatever
fate waited for them, would be his as well.
Gage
scanned the empty pastures, watched young trees swaying and bowing with the
wind. There were no large trees near the
house, but there were several lining the main barn and he didn’t trust them to
hold. He’d already prepared the visiting mare barn for the younger horses and
ones in training. He’d moved half of them before his exhaustion caught up to
him and he needed to take a quick break.
He
still wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do, keeping the horses in the barn.
The shelters in the pastures were solid, the posts supported underground with
concrete when he’d had them built to be able to withstand high wind, but he
worried about something blowing into the pastures and hitting one of the horses.
Instinct would probably guide the older horses to seek out the safest part of
the pasture and he knew Shaman would guide his mares and foals to where they’d
be most protected, but he still didn’t want to risk letting the babies weather
this outside. And what if one of the trees near the pastures fell and crushed
the fence, leaving an escape for the horses to get loose?
Lauris
was his first hurricane. When he moved to the Wilmington area last year, that
first hurricane season had been a quiet one, and in turn, gave him a sense of
comfort he knew now he shouldn’t have had. When the news reports came in that
Lauris was going to hit landfall as a Category Four, his stomach had knotted,
his chest tightened, and he felt completely lost.
He’d
called the friends he’d made in the area with horses, called his vet, his
farrier, asking all of them for advice. For every one who said to keep the
horses in the barn, another person said keep them out to pasture. Since no one
had a solid answer, he went with his gut and decided he’d keep them in. Only,
he hadn’t thought of the trees near the barn until the wind started kicking up.
The visiting mare barn was new, same as the massive indoor arena he’d had built
off the back of the main barn, and there were no trees around it. Both
buildings would be safe. He hoped.
Gage
gave the eastern clouds another wary glance. He’d thought he would have more
time. He’d been working nonstop in preparing the farm and he was going to be
taking it down to the last minute.
The sky…he’d
never seen anything like it. He’d seen bad thunderstorms before, but they
seemed nothing more than a gentle shower compared to the fierce and dark power
in the sky at that moment. The clouds were so thick, rolling and swirling.
Lightning danced and flickered within them and it seemed the sun itself had
retreated from the heavens before the force coming in.
It all
made him feel so very small…and so very alone.
He had
sent his two farmhands away two days ago to be with their families and get out
of the storm’s path. He didn’t think it would bother him so much, facing the
storm on his own. The darkness growing, the winds strengthening, he wished had
he someone with him— a certain someone in particular. As far as that person was
concerned, hurricane or not, that didn’t make it different than any other day. It’d
been two months since he and Collin ended their relationship. The time hadn’t
eased the ache of missing him, or the hurt, anger, regrets…
Gage
took a deep breath. Now was not the
time to face all that again. He was sure he’d have plenty of time while this
storm raged around him to think on what he and Collin once had together…or what
they could’ve had. He wouldn’t have anything else to do except think. That
might be one of the most daunting things about this damn storm.
Taking
a deep breath to clear his mind, Gage stepped toward the porch steps. Out the
corner of his eye, he caught the flash of blue and red lights.
Gage
turned his head toward the lights. A police SUV rolled into his driveway and
through the open gates. He’d left the gates open in case they locked up when
the power went out, but he couldn’t believe who was coming up the driveway now.
The
SUV rolled to a halt, the lights blinking out. The driver’s side door opened,
Collin Maddox, deputy sheriff…his ex…climbed out, his black hair cropped too
short to be tousled by the wind.
They’d
started seeing each other four months after he moved here. Some punks had come
onto his property in the middle of the night, broke into his tack room, and
stolen three saddles. None of his saddles were cheap, but his show saddles
alone were worth a few thousand apiece and the thieves had gotten his favorite
one. Too bad for them, the tack room had an alarm and a security camera in it.
When the alarm sounded, he’d bolted out of bed, snatched his cell phone, and
raced out to the barn. The thieves were gone by the time he got out there, but
he’d called the police and it was Collin who responded.
When
Collin rolled up in his police SUV and stepped out, he almost forgot the reason
he’d called the police in the first place. He’d never seen a sexier or hotter
man than Collin. The need to offer smiles to Collin and throw in some hints at
being interested took over some of his anger at the thieves. Collin had stayed
professional as he took notes, but was also extremely
friendly, leading him to believe there was interest on Collin’s end, as well.
Two
days later, Collin had called him to report he’d found the thieves and his
saddles. To thank Collin for all his hard work, of course, he had to offer to
take him to dinner. Collin had accepted and it led to the most amazing night of
sex he’d ever had in his life. Many, many more followed for eight months…and
then, it was over.
And he
hadn’t stopped missing him since it’d ended. Though, from how pissed Collin
looked now, it didn’t appear as if the feeling was mutual on Collin’s end.
Collin
slammed the door closed and marched around the front of the SUV, glaring up at
him with eyes only a few shades lighter than the dark gray sky. “What the hell
are you still doing here? Not that I don’t already know.”
Two
months later and Collin had the same tone of voice as when they last spoke. Despite
that, Gage couldn’t stop his gaze from moving down Collin’s six foot two body
or his mind from remembering one of the reasons why they had been together. He’d seen Collin naked so many times, the crisp khaki
uniform shirt and dark pants didn’t hinder his mind from imagining Collin bare.
Collin’s
chest was thick with muscle, his abs well-defined, black hair dusting both his
chest and abs, thinning to a trail that led down to a long, veined cock, the
girth of which always left him feeling it the next day and wanting more. He
remembered the power and muscle in Collin’s legs, how good their weight felt up
on his shoulders when they’d switch and he was driving into Collin’s ass. And
that ass, the round curves of the cheeks, the heat and tightness of it on the inside;
he never could get enough of it.
Their
relationship had its problems, but the bedroom had never been one of them. If
sex would’ve been enough to make it work, they would’ve grown old together.
But it
wasn’t.
His
defenses rising from Collin’s reprimanding tone, Gage folded his arms across
his chest. “You’re right, you should know. I’m making sure my horses are going
to be all right.”
Collin
stomped up the steps. “Your horses will be fine. Get in the truck. I’m taking
you to the storm shelter.”
Being
four inches shorter, Gage tipped his head back to meet Collin’s gaze. “The hell
you are.”
Collin
snapped his arm out to the side, pointing to the east. “In case you can’t see
it, there’s a big fucking hurricane about to make landfall. It’s my job to make
sure folks are evacuated and safe, and you’re neither. Now c’mon.”
“Your job? That’s the only reason you came
here? Because it’s your fucking job?”
Gage
watched as Collin took a deep breath, turning his head to the side as if
looking at him would only increase his anger. Just like old times. They were
picking up right where they left off. He didn’t know how he could be so happy
and so pissed to see someone.
Collin
slowly brought his gaze back to him. As he spoke, his voice was unnaturally
even with forced patience. “What’s it going to take to get you to leave here
with me?”
“There’s
nothing you can do. I’m not leaving.”
“Of
all the stubborn…” Collin flung his arm back, pointing to the SUV. “Get in the
goddamn truck!”
Gage
stepped forward, closing the distance between him and Collin to half an arm’s
length. “I’m not leaving my horses!”
Collin’s
eyes narrowed with anger. “I know you love them. God knows you spent more time
with them than you ever did with me, but you can’t stay here and risk your life
for them!”
“Well
I sure as shit ain’t gonna leave them to fend for themselves! And maybe we
would’ve spent more time together if you wouldn’t have been ashamed to be seen
with me!”
“You
never did understand—”
“I
understood more than you ever realized! I tried to tell you that! I tried to be
there for you, but you didn’t want that! You didn’t want a relationship! All
you wanted was a fuck!”
Collin
spun away, storming toward the steps. “I don’t know why I thought I should come
here.”
“I
don’t know why you did, either. Other than it being your job.”
Collin
tore open the door to his SUV and glared up at him, raising his voice over the
wind. “That’s something else you
never understood. How much I care about you.”
Gage
took a step forward, but his voice caught in his throat as Collin slid into the
SUV and slammed the door closed. He stood motionless, despite how his mind
screamed for him to race down the steps as Collin swung the SUV around. He did
nothing, only stared while Collin sped down the drive and veered onto the
street.
Large
drops of rain began to patter down. Gage slowly lifted his gaze from the vacant
road to the sky.
What
had he done? Moments ago, he was standing here alone wishing for someone to be
with him, then when someone came, he drove him away. It wasn’t just anyone,
though. It was the one man who he wanted to be around more than anyone else and
at the same time, couldn’t bear to be with from the pain. And all that pain
from things unsaid surged through him, leaving his mouth running despite
wishing he could stop it.
It
made him wonder if maybe this wasn’t the first time he’d driven Collin away…
The
wind gusted harder. The rain increased, pelting him. Lightning flickered in the
black eastern clouds and thunder rumbled. Gage felt more alone than he ever
had. Considering some of the things he’d faced, that was saying a lot, but all
those past threats had come from people. He could handle people. This storm…it
was beyond anything he could handle and now he had to try to do it alone.
Copyright 2014 by S.J. Frost and MLR Press
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