Out of Nowhere

Hi gang! I hope everyone is having an amazing summer so far (unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case I hope you’re staying warm this winter!) Life for me has been a bit crazy lately, but mostly in good ways. I finally feel like I’m starting to grow roots and make friends here in Seattle, and I’m so happy with my life right now! As is my tradition, I want to tell you what’s been going on with me before we get to the BRAND NEW STORY I have to share with you.

So, one of the biggest new developments for me is very Seattle-related. For those of you who don’t know, Seattle is one of the most liberal, queer-friendly cities in the United States. We have this amazing neighborhood called Capitol Hill (which some of you might remember from the news a few years ago, when the locals expelled the cops from their neighborhood during the protests that broke out after the murder of George Floyd). Cap Hill is VERY queer, to the point that all the crosswalks are painted in the pride rainbow. And right in the center of all the gayness is our local leather & kink store, Doghouse Leather, the Pacific Northwest’s largest queer-focused kink shop.

The reason I’m giving you all this backstory is because Doghouse Leather reached out to me recently over social media, because of my novels “The New Job” and “Giving Notice”. Doghouse is *very* ABDL-friendly, to the point that they stock ABU and Onesies Downunder products and have an entire ABDL section of the shop. They also have an INCREDIBLE selection of kink literature and erotica… and they wanted to stock my books in their store! So… I can actually now say my books are “in stores, where available”! My humble little books are BEING SOLD IN AN ACTUAL BRICK AND MORTAR STORE!!

On top of that, I’m making friends here! I’ve actually had a REALLY full social calendar for the last few weekends, which is something I’ve never been able to say before. I’ve met and grown pretty close with some really awesome folks lately. Seattle is starting to feel like my forever home, and I’m so excited to see what the future holds for me!

So, on that note, I’ve started working on a brand new story that kind of speaks to the themes of starting over in a new place and finding all the things your life was missing. And that’s what I want to share with you today, chapter one of this new story, with more to come later this month. I figured you guys could probably use a break from the world of StartAgain, and I think I’m going to have a lot of fun with this one. That does NOT mean I’m done with Max Covington’s adventures, however. I’m already working on the planning process for the third book.

So, enough blabbering from me. The first chapter is laying the groundwork for what’s to come, so there isn’t a whole lot of sexy stuff happening JUST yet, but that’s coming very soon. I hope you enjoy chapter one of my new story, “Out of Nowhere”!

———

Adam sighed and closed his eyes. He could hear unmistakably loud, gutteral moans and grunts of sexual pleasure coming from the next room. Though he tried his best to shut the sounds out, he couldn’t help but envision what must be causing those primal, somewhat muffled noises coming from the wall behind him. Ugh. The neighbors were at it again, for the third time tonight!

For a moment, he considered banging on the wall to get their attention, but he immediately changed his mind. He had only been living in this apartment for two weeks, and he hadn’t met the people living in the next apartment yet. The last thing he wanted was to start his relationship with his new neighbors on the wrong foot. Instead, he reached over to his nightstand and pulled out his earbuds, hoping that their noise canceling effect would be enough to shut out the rhythmic grunting and moaning. He scrolled through his music app on his phone until he found a sufficiently calming playlist, and it immediately served to drown out his noisy neighbors. As tired as he was from his twelve-hour nursing shift at the hospital, he was asleep within minutes.

The next morning was a Saturday and, importantly, the start of his three day weekend. Adam was an ER nurse at St. Mercy Medical Center, but he’d only been in the job for a few weeks after a four month hiatus while he packed and moved, and so he wasn’t quite used to the four-days-on, three-days-off rotation schedule yet. He glanced at the clock and winced; it was nearly eleven in the morning already.

Adam emerged from the cocoon of his warm, plush bed and took a cool shower to help him wake up. Returning to the bedroom, he began rummaging through one of the many cardboard boxes lining the far wall. From the battered, tape-covered box, he withdrew a bright red tight-fitting t-shirt. He worked himself into the shirt, then went digging through a different box for a pair of heather gray sweatpants. He’d resolved to introduce himself to his neighbors after breakfast, and he found himself wishing he’d found time to at least unpack his wardrobe by now, if nothing else. He would’ve preferred to introduce himself in a nice pair of jeans and a button-up shirt, but he hadn’t opened those boxes yet. It was either sweats or scrubs, and all of his scrubs needed to be laundered. Sweats and a tee would have to be good enough.

Adam ruefully poured cornflakes into a slightly chipped coffee mug. “I am going to unpack a box this weekend,” he muttered to himself as he added milk to his cereal. He ate his meager meal quickly and rinsed the mug in the sink. Drying his hands, he nodded to himself. Time to meet the neighbors, he thought to himself. Maybe if I drop the right hints, they’ll cool it with all the loud 1AM fucking, he thought.

He stepped out of his apartment and took four big strides toward the neighbor’s door. He’d been lucky to get a unit at the end of the hall, so he only had neighbors to his right. Those neighbors, however, had been having loud sex at all hours of the night, every single night since he’d moved in. If I weren’t so exhausted and sleep-deprived, I might even find this amusing. Or hot.

He rapped a knuckle against the neighbor’s door four times, then waited for a moment. “Coming!” he heard a voice call from the other side. The voice was higher in pitch, and he couldn’t tell if it was a young guy, a woman, or a teenage girl speaking. In a moment, the door silently swung open, and a rail-thin blonde guy in a pale blue crop-top shirt and white shorts appeared before him. He couldn’t be older than twenty-five. Twink, Adam thought, suddenly feeling every one of his forty years.

“Um, can I help you?” the blonde asked, uncertain. Adam found himself wondering if the boy’s hair was naturally that blonde or if it was bleached. It was as pale as corn silk, and the boy wore it in a cute, spiky mini-mohawk. He had several piercings in each ear and a small stud in his right nostril.

Adam shook himself out of his thoughts, remembering why he’d come. “Hey, I’m Adam. I just moved into 208 next door. I thought I should come introduce myself. So, uh, hi neighbor.”

The boy gave Adam a bemused smile. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever had a neighbor just walk up and introduce themselves before. Not to say that I mind or anything,” he added. “Just, you know how people are in the city, everyone’s got their head down.” The boy extended a hand. “I’m Mikey. Nice to meet you, new neighbor,” he said with a smile.

Adam shook his hand. “Good to meet you, Mikey.” He returned Mikey’s smile. “So, do you like living here? In the building, I mean?”

“Oh yeah, and it’s convenient for my husband’s commute. Kevin works downtown. That’s where he is now, actually, but I’m sure you’ll get to meet him soon. Would you like to come in? I was just about to make some coffee,” Mikey asked, nodding his head toward the kitchen behind him.

“Oh, only if it’s no trouble,” Adam replied. “I don’t want to interrupt your morning. But coffee sounds really good, since I haven’t even unpacked my machine yet,” he chuckled.

Mikey shook his head. “Not at all, I’ve just been really lazy all morning. We were up late last night,” he said as he stepped aside for Adam to enter. “Oh… shit,” Mikey gasped, eyes wide. “You, ahh… I hope we weren’t too loud?” he said, voice trailing as he bit his lip.

Adam rubbed the back of his neck. “You sounded like you were having a really good time, at least?” he said, flashing an awkward smile. “That’s actually, ah, why I decided to introduce myself today.” He winced.

“I am so sorry,” Mikey said, chagrined. “That unit has been empty for almost a year, and we didn’t realize anyone had moved in. And Mrs. McCarthy, the lady on our other side, she’s a sweet old thing but she’s as deaf as a rock. Man, I… that’s awkward,” he groaned. “I’m so sorry, crap.”

Adam laughed. “No worries. Though I would really appreciate it if you, ah, enjoyed yourselves a little less vigorously after midnight. I’m a nurse over at St. Mercy, and after a twelve-hour shift I really need to get some sleep.”

Mikey walked into the sunny kitchen, but kept speaking to Adam through the open breakfast bar. “Man, I am really sorry about that. Won’t happen again,” he swore as he began working a very expensive-looking, industrial-sized espresso machine.

Adam shook his head with a smile. “Mikey, you’ve got espresso. I will literally forgive anything right now in exchange for a latte.”

The younger man grinned. “Deal. One latte, coming up,” he said as he began working the espresso machine like a pro. “How hot do you want your milk?”

“Warm, not too hot. Thank you,” Adam answered. “I gotta ask, are you a barista? Because I can barely make automatic drip coffee, and you’re making that monster machine look easy.”

Mikey grinned. “Not anymore, but I was a part-time barista all through college,” he said. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the loud frothing of steamed milk. In a moment, he passed Adam a mug of steaming, frothy latte. He’d even formed a leaf on the surface of the froth.

Adam took a sip, and the warm liquid was as good as anything he’d ever had in a proper coffee shop. “Oh god, yes,” he sighed contentedly. “This is so much better than the unfiltered tar we have in the breakroom at the hospital. So, if you’re not a barista anymore, what do you do?” he asked his companion.

Mikey had already started making his own drink. “Graphic design,” he said. “Freelance. Corporate logos, training video animations, that sort of thing. It’s not much, but it keeps me busy. Luckily, Kevin’s work more than pays the bills. He runs an art gallery downtown. Bougie rich-people art,” he added with vague disgust. “Portraits of seventeenth-century dukes, that kind of thing. Nothing with any soul.” He stuck his tongue out, and again Adam was reminded of how very young he seemed.

“Wow, so you guys both work in art. That’s pretty cool,” Adam said after another sip of latte. “Is that how you met?”

Mikey laughed a musical giggle. “Actually, we met online. Art didn’t even come up until we were out on our first date. Neither of us had wanted to talk about what we did for a living. Kevin thought being a gallerist made him sound boring, and I didn’t want to admit to being a cliché starving artist.” Mikey took his coffee mug in hand and nodded toward the living room. “Make yourself at home,” he said, gesturing toward the brown leather couch. He perched himself in a chair nearby, squatting on rather than sitting in the seat. His feet were bare, and he wiggled his toes contentedly as he sipped his coffee.

“Still, that’s really cool that you’re both in the arts,” Adam said. “But, okay… I’m sorry, but I have to ask. Which one of you was making all the noise last night? He chuckled lightheartedly, hoping Mikey wouldn’t take offense to the question.

The smaller man laughed openly. “That was me, sorry. Let’s just say… lots of my buttons were pressed at once. It was a good night,” he grinned.

“Clearly!” Adam said, hoisting his mug. “To world-rocking sex! It’s a lot of fun… or so I’ve been told. I, however, am extremely single.”

Mikey nodded. “Just haven’t met the right person? Or single by choice?”

Adam shook his head. “Just haven’t met the right person. I thought I had met The One with my ex, Danielle. We were together for five years, just as thick as thieves. We spent practically every waking moment together. It was a dream relationship.” He sighed.

Mikey frowned. “Can I ask what happened? Or is that too personal?”

Adam chuckled ruefully. “Oh, that’s easy. We hit an insurmountable incompatibility in our relationship. She wanted to have kids, and I wanted to suck cock. It would never have worked in the long run,” he said, grinning. When Mikey’s eyes grew wide, he elaborated. “It took me an unnaturally long time to figure out that I was gay. In fact, I didn’t realize it, not until Danielle pointed out that I was actively coming up with excuses to avoid sex with her, and that most straight guys didn’t have the kind of gay porn collection I had. Yeah, I know,” Adam said, laughing. “The hard drive full of gay videos wasn’t a big enough sign for me to figure myself out. Luckily, Danielle was a sport about it. We’re still friends, and she’s married now. Second kid on the way, even.”

Mikey laughed again. “Wow. Okay. Meanwhile, I knew I was gay all the way back in the first grade. I didn’t really know what it meant, but I knew I wanted to kiss boys. By late middle school, I knew I wanted to do a lot more than kiss them.” He smirked. “So, are you just new to the building, or new to the city?”

“New to the state,” Adam replied. “I grew up in a little town in Nebraska. Nowhere, Nebraska, if you can believe it. I can honestly say I grew up in the middle of Nowhere.” He laughed at his own joke, the go-to he used as an icebreaker whenever he met someone new.

“Oh wow! What was that like? Because I’m a SoCal transplant, myself. I’ve never done the small town thing,” Mikey said, folding his arms behind his head.

“Pretty much as boring as you would expect. There wasn’t much to do in Nowhere. And the nearest city is Lincoln, like two hours away. Although moving here has been a pretty big adjustment, I really like it.” Adam took another sip of his delicious latte. “It’s big, and a bit lonely, and overwhelming, and the traffic is so bad. But I really do like it here.”

“Well, I can’t do a thing about the traffic,” Mikey chuckled, “but I might be able to help with the lonely part. Would you like to have dinner with us tonight? I was going to make my really killer homemade alfredo, and you’d get to meet Kevin. If you’re free, that is. No pressure.”

“Wow,” Adam said, “that’s really nice of you. It sounds a lot better than the frozen entree I was going to microwave. I haven’t had a home-cooked meal since I got here. Sure, I’d love to.”

“Great,” Mikey said. “I’ve gotta dash out to run some errands in a bit,” he said, standing. Adam took the hint and rose from the couch, gulping down the last of his latte. “Head over around… seven sound good?” Mikey asked.

Adam nodded. “Perfect. Can I bring anything? Do you guys drink wine? Because I’ve got an unopened bottle of a really nice white in my fridge, if I can find my corkscrew.”

“No worries, we’ve got a corkscrew,” Mikey smiled. He escorted Adam to the door. “Oh, you don’t have any special dietary restrictions, do you?”

“Nope, nothing like that,” Adam said, gratefully handing Mikey his now-empty mug. “Thanks for the coffee, and I’ll see you at seven,” he said as he passed through the apartment’s entry.

“See you tonight!” Mikey chirped. He flashed a smile and closed the door behind Adam.

Nice guy, Adam thought as he returned to his own apartment. He eyed the stack of cardboard boxes in the kitchen. Fine, fine, he thought with a sigh. He approached the cardboard tower and removed the topmost box, then began hunting for something sharp to cut the tape with.