Meet Rip and Gil...
RIP CORD:
The Ever After
Rip Cord trilogy, book 3
Jeanne St. James
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance, LGBTQ
Loose Id, LLC
Blurb:
Rip Cord, the infamous Bad Boy of the NFL, ends up on Gil Davis's front porch drunk as a skunk. Not only has he been fired by his franchise, but also his sports agent. His last brawl on the football field during a prime-time game was the final straw.
Accounting geek Gil Davis hasn't seen his on-again, off-again lover since the summer when the professional football player whisked him away for a kinky, sex-filled getaway weekend. But immediately after, Rip returned to the NFL and was on the road leaving no time for Gil.
Now Rip wants to come back into Gil's life one more time, this time to not only make a future with him, but to finally admit who he really is deep down inside. After hiding his sexual preference since he was a teen, Rip realizes he's made too many bad choices along the way. It's time to make the right choice with Gil.
But is Gil ready to forgive Rip for keeping him at a distance? And more importantly, after two false starts, can they finally live happily ever after?
Chapter One
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“Rip?”
Rip swatted at the annoying bug.
“Rip.”
Wait. That wasn’t a fly swarming his head. The high-pitched
whine was a female voice.
No matter what, he wasn’t ready to open his eyes. Hell no.
His head was still spinning and his stomach sour. Whoever it was could just
buzz off.
“Rip!”
A hand on his shoulder shook him. His head rattled. He
wanted to knock the block off the person touching him.
Why couldn’t he just enjoy his stupor? The sweet, sweet
numbness in his brain.
The hand shook him again, harder this time.
“Rip! Come. On. What are you even doing here?”
Reluctantly, he cracked open his eyes just enough to give
this person a piece of his mind. The part that wasn’t soaked in whiskey.
He cursed as he stared right into a woman’s face, barely
inches away from his. “What the…”
“Are you okay?” She continued before giving him a change to
answer. “Of course you’re not okay. You’re drunk as shit on my front porch.”
Ripley “Rip” Cord could hear the condemnation dripping from
her voice. He blinked in an attempt to clear his swimming vision. “Who…are…you?”
“You know who I am, you asshole.”
Rip’s muscles were screaming. He looked down and realized it
was because he was lying in a crumpled mess…in the corner of a porch…that
certainly wasn’t his.
He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping the vertigo would go away.
He needed to figure out what had happened and how he got here. But first, he
needed the world to stop spinning.
“Let me help you inside. Though I shouldn’t, you heartless
bastard.”
Rip squinted at the female leaning over him. Yeah, he did
sort of recognize her. Oh shit. Had he slept with her?
That was the last thing he needed right now. Some scorned woman
pissed at him while he was helpless. He’d end up with a knife in his heart. Or
his dick whacked off.
Nah. Couldn’t be anyone he’d slept with. Women weren’t his
thing, and he’d only hooked up with less than a handful throughout his life.
And whoever this was acted like a shrew. He swore he had better taste than
that.
He reached behind him bracing a hand against the brick wall,
trying to sit upright. Well, it wasn’t a complete failure, he ended up somewhat
vertical.
“Where am I?” he croaked.
The woman blew out an impatient breath. He looked at her
again, now that he was more level. Yes, he did know her. She was… He grimaced.
Katie. Gil’s roommate. Best friend. Co-worker.
Protector of broken hearts. Or at least one heart in
particular.
He groaned while dropping his head in his hands.
He was on Gil’s front porch drunk as a skunk.
His mouth started to water and he leaned over just in time
to heave his guts into the flower bed.
“Oh gross!”
What the hell. At
least he didn’t puke on her shoes. Which were butt ugly, by the way.
“Get up. How did you even get here? Why are you so drunk?”
So many questions. Not enough answers.
Mostly because he just didn’t know.
She leaned down, tucked her shoulder under his arm, and
pulled. He didn’t budge.
Not that he didn’t want to. Sitting on cold concrete was no
prize.
“I can’t do this on my own, ass wipe. You weigh a ton. You
actually have to help.”
With a grunt, she pulled again and he braced himself against
the bricks to leverage himself to his feet. She wrapped his right arm over her
shoulders, holding him along his back. Barely upright, he listed to the right.
Either he was tilting or the world was. The odds were, it was him.
He carefully concentrated on putting one foot in front of
the other as she unlocked the front door and helped him inside. Walking was so
difficult. He didn’t know how babies learned it. Baby steps. Duh.
He laughed at his own thought, which brought a frown from
Katie.
“This isn’t funny.”
He dropped his head in feigned shame. “I know. Sorry.”
He eyeballed the comfortable looking couch they passed.
Where were they going? A perfectly good resting spot was right there. If he
could just reach it and collapse onto those soft cushions. But no.
He wobbled and she stopped long enough to tighten her hold
on him. He grunted when she wasn’t too gentle.
“Where…”
“Shut up.”
Jesus, she was not
a pleasant person. He had thought she was nice at the class reunion. But he had
been so wrong about that. She was
evil. Pure evil.
She led him to a dark bedroom where she pushed him onto the
bed. Shoved, more like it. His stomach rolled as he bounced on the mattress.
Rip didn’t know how Gil put up with her. He was so nice. She
was just a—
She pulled off his boots and socks and his jacket, tossing
them aside.
“I’m making some coffee so you sober up some before Gil gets
home.”
All right, he had judged her too soon. Maybe she wasn’t half
bad.
“But I think every organ you have is pickled right now.”
Hopefully Kosher dill, since they were his favorite.
She suddenly disappeared. Rip looked around. He didn’t even
see her leave. He shrugged.
He tugged his T-shirt off and struggled to peel off his
jeans. He wasn’t sure how long it took him, but eventually he felt free. He
wiggled up the bed more and laid his head on the pillow.
He sniffed. What was that scent? Turning his face, he shoved
his nose into the pillow, inhaling.
He knew that smell. Gil.
This was Gil’s bed.
He pulled a second pillow to him and hugged it to his chest.
A sense of relief overcame him.
He was in Gil’s room and Gil’s bed.
He might have been drunk—okay, okay, still was—but he’d
landed where he intended.
In his lover’s room.
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, Katie was
shoving a mug of coffee under his nose. Damn, either she was as quiet as a
Ninja or he must have blacked out for a minute. Or ten.
“I’d help you sit up to drink it, but you’re naked in my
roommate’s bed. And I think he’d have a problem if I climbed in there with you.
Even if I was only trying to help.”
Rip struggled to push himself up. He got upright enough to
be able to sip at the hot brew.
His stomach rebelled.
With narrowed eyes, Katie sat on the edge of the bed
watching him sip the coffee. Something was brewing in that little head of hers
and he was sure he was going to find out what it was sooner or later. His bet
was on sooner.
“Is the coffee helping?”
On the surface her question sounded caring, but the pointed
gaze and the tightly crossed arms told him otherwise.
“Yeah. I’m drunk and
awake now.”
“Good. So…why are you here?” She pursed her lips stubbornly.
She wasn’t leaving without some answers. The sooner he answered, the sooner she
would skedaddle.
He blew across the hot liquid before taking another sip. “For
Gil.”
“For Gil, or for you?” Her gaze was unwavering as she waited
for his answer. Her left index finger was beating a pattern into her right
bicep. Tap, tap, tap. Tick tock. Tick
tock. Ding. Time’s up.
“I just told you.”
“Well, I think you’re here for yourself because you’re a
selfish shit. You need to stop playing with his emotions. You hear me?”
Rip winced. Holy
hellion. “I’m not.”
“Oh, you are. You need to man up and either be with Gil or
leave him the hell alone. He’s not your boy toy. You can’t just take him out to
play when you want to.”
Is that what she thought he was doing? Shit. Did Gil see it like that? “I don’t mean to—”
“Bullshit. I wish I’d never talked him into going to his
class reunion. He didn’t want to go, you know. I made him.”
Rip grimaced. “I know.”
“He had a crush on you, and you opened the door to more.
Between that night and the weekend at the cabin—”
“I never meant—”
“Listen Mister I’m-a-famous-wide-receiver-for-the-NFL, you
knew exactly what you were doing.”
“For your information, I feel the same way about him as he
does me.”
“Right.” Katie laughed bitterly. “You do know Gil loves you,
right?”
Rip glanced at her, eyes wide. “He… does?”
Sure. Gil has feelings for him. Hell, he has feelings for
Gil. But love?
“Of course he does, you shit. How could you not notice? Oh,
that’s right, you’re a thick-headed football player that only cares about
himself.”
“I care about Gil.”
“Then why don’t you act like it?”
Rip turned away from her and put an arm over his face. “I
don’t know,” he muttered.
He was sick to his stomach. Not only from the over indulging
but from what Katie said.
He’d never cared for anyone before. Never. His mom had died
when he was young, and his pop had been a complete asshole. And, fuck, he did not want to end up like
him. Unfortunately, he seemed to be headed down that same path.
First as being deemed The
Bad Boy of the NFL—not without good reason—and now with Gil. He never meant
to hurt Gil. He liked Gil. He always had. Even in high school. Yeah, so they
hadn’t been actual “friends” because they ran in different circles. Gil with
the geek squad and Rip with the jocks. But that was normal high school shit.
Right?
He had never picked on Gil in high school like the other
students had. No, it wasn’t just being picked on. It was downright bullying.
The night of their tenth-year class reunion, Gil had asked Rip why he hadn’t
ever come to his rescue. Rip’s lame answer was that he’d had a reputation to
uphold. He was the captain of the varsity team. He was a jock. It was a
bullshit excuse and he had apologized, of course. But it came too late for high
school. However, here he was again…trying to live up to his reputation of being
a badass pro football player.
And look where that got him…
Sobering up in his gay lover’s house. The lover whom he’d
been ignoring because Rip was too much of a damn coward to come out of the
closet and be his true self.
That’s because he always had to hide who he really was.
Always.
All he’d known most of his life was how to be a good
football player.
And now he didn’t even have that.
He emptied the mug and handed it back to Katie. “Thanks…and
sorry.”
Katie pushed to her feet. “You’re apologizing to the wrong
person.”
She beat feet out of the bedroom and slammed the door shut
behind her.
Fuck.
The Bad Boy of NFL
was no longer.
Now he was just a fuck up.
About the author:
JEANNE ST. JAMES is an erotic
romance author who loves an Alpha male (or two). She Banged Up,
was published in 2009. She is happily owned by farting French bulldogs. She
writes M/F, M/M, and M/M/F ménages. was only 13 started writing when she started writing since it gave her an escape from teenage angst! Her first paid published piece was an erotic story in Playgirl magazine. Her first erotic romance novel,
She has a few new releases coming up
in 2017. So keep an eye on her website at www.jeannestjames.com or sign up for
her newsletter.
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