Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings

Gamble On Me | Ann Lister

Road to Rocktoberfest 2022

Release Date: November 15th, 2022

Publisher: Rock Gods, LLC

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Amazon US | Amazon UK

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Blurb

Two teenage boys were certain they’d be best friends for life. They had clear paths planned for the future and they were ready to take on the world. All it took was one deep—very adult kiss to throw them off kilter and their plans turned to dust. One chose a path toward stardom and stage lights, the other stayed behind in their hometown to pursue his own dream of being a cop. Both hoped they’d see each other again. Neither thought it would ever happen.

No one can turn back time but perhaps the future can be altered with a little luck—and a lot of love.

Gamble: I was fifteen when I realized I was in love with my best friend, Bix. Since then, not a day has passed when he didn’t cross my mind. I arrived in L.A. at eighteen with nothing more than raw talent and a dream and then fell face-first into drug addiction. But not before my band hit it big and earned us awards and million dollar paychecks. Success was one thing, but I still wanted Bix and the simple life we once had growing up on Starfish Island.

Bix: I spent a lot of years worrying about Gamble. The entertainment news was great about airing his dirty laundry which kept me aware of how low he was sinking. Now I worried he might not survive. I’ve wanted him since that one perfect kiss we shared graduation night and I’ve wanted a lifetime of more with him ever since. Too bad I don’t see a way it’ll ever happen.

Possible Triggers: Mentions of drug addiction, overdoses, recovery, and also a gunshot wound.

Gamble on Me is part of the multi-author The Road to Rocktoberfest 2022 series. Each book can be read as a standalone, but why not read them all and see who hits the stage next? Hot rockstars and the men who love them, what more could you ask for? Kick back, load up your kindle and enjoy the men of Rocktoberfest!

Excerpt

“Bix?” W asked. “Is that really you?”

He almost stumbled over his own feet as he quickly spun around. Our eyes locked, and the ten long years evaporated in that instant. I held my breath as his gaze raked over my body. I felt his eyes on me as if they were fingers, caressing me to the marrow of my bones. This appraisal was far different from any look he’d given me. But we were kids back then. I barely understood my own feelings for W, so I could only imagine how confused he was about me.

“Holy fuck. I can’t believe it’s you,” W said, and then he barreled across the deck and flung his arms around me, almost knocking me down in the process. The woman started laughing at us.

“Well, I guess I don’t need to ask if you two know each other,” she said and giggled. “Oh wait! Don’t tell me this is him?”

“Shush you, woman,” W said, his relaxed southern drawl already reappearing. “How ʼbout you give us some privacy instead of playing forty questions?”

“Fine, but I’ll be asking the questions later,” Daphne grumbled as she trudged toward the French doors that led into the house. “I’ll bring out some lemonade, and then I’ll leave you be.”

W ignored her words and continued to hug me. He cupped my head, roamed my back with his big hands, and finally pressed our foreheads together, which had me holding on to him even tighter. I gathered his shirt in my fists, unwilling to completely separate our bodies. After ten years of missing him, I wasn’t ready to let him go.

“I can’t believe you’re here—and I’m holding you,” W said. “I honestly wasn’t sure this moment would ever happen.”

“I agree,” I said wistfully. “I hoped and prayed I’d see you again, but I never thought it would be here in our hometown.”

“I let far too many years pass without contacting you, and I’m sorry about that,” W said beside my ear. “Fuck knows I wanted to reach out, but I was afraid of what you might say or that you’d hang up on me.”

“I would never have done that to you, and for the record, I would have been thrilled if you’d contacted me,” I said.

“I made so many mistakes with you,” W whispered. “Maybe now that we’re together in Palm Bay again, I can spend some time with you and explain myself and possibly correct some of my mistakes.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, W,” I said. “We were kids trying to figure out who we were and the kind of men we wanted to be.”

About the Author

Ann Lister is a native New Englander currently living in Florida with her husband. She has pulled details from her years living in the New England area and uses many local settings and landmarks in her novels.

After graduating art school, marrying, and raising two daughters, she established her own video production company. Her nearly two decades working in video production included work within the music industry and won her a coveted Telly Award.

It was her ‘behind-the-scenes’ exposure to the music world, her love of rock music, and the sexy musicians who create it that inspired her write Rockstar Romances. If you’d like a backstage pass into this illicit and sometimes taboo universe, then pick up one of her Rockstar titles!

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