Better Than Another Man

By HK Carlton

Better than Another Man is a love story between two best friends, Bryan and Carey. Bryan is straight and Carey is gay, but they stand by each other through the milestones of their lives, including Carey’s coming out.

But when a family tragedy strikes, Bryan turns to Carey for support, and their relationship moves in an unexpected direction.

Can a straight man and a gay man enter into an intimate relationship, or will it destroy their friendship forever?

Who knows Better Than Another Man...

Warning: this is a love story meaning that while there is love, there is not a romantic ending.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eXtasy Books Inc
• Release date: Jul 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781771116053

Book preview

Can a straight man and a gay man enter into an intimate relationship, or will it destroy their friendship forever?

Who knows Better Than Another Man…

Better than Another Man is a love story between two best friends, Bryan and Carey. Bryan is straight and Carey is gay, but they stand by each other through the milestones of their lives, including Carey’s coming out.

But when a family tragedy strikes, Bryan turns to Carey for support, and their relationship moves in an unexpected direction.

Can a straight man and a gay man enter into an intimate relationship, or will it destroy their friendship forever?

Who knows Better Than Another Man…

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Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Better Than Another Man

Copyright © 2013 H K Carlton

ISBN: 978-1-77111-605-3

Cover art by Ashley Waters

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by eXtasy Books

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Smashwords Edition

Better Than Another Man

By

H K Carlton

This book is dedicated to all those who have been forced to set their soul mate free.

Chapter One

I knew that Carey was different from me the minute I met him back in grade school. While all the other little boys, including me, were playing with cars and dump trucks, he bee-lined for the play kitchen and fit right in with the little girls.

It didn’t take long for all the other boys to take notice, and the bullying began. When Carey sent me that sad, confused, lost look, I couldn’t stand it and I stuck up for him. He stuck to my side for the rest of the day. Later, he said he loved me. I told him dudes don’t tell other dudes that they love each other. He looked down at the ground and his bottom lip trembled. I stuck out my hand, like I thought men did at the time, and I amended lightly, but I like you lots, too. He smiled, shook my hand like a man, and we were best friends from that moment on.

We made it through middle school, fairly unscathed. It was when we hit high school that our differences became glaringly obvious. He tried to be like all the other guys. We joined the football team, but I knew secretly he would have much rather have joined the pep squad, and he would have been great at it. He had all the right moves, on and off the field. His athleticism was undeniable, and whether he enjoyed it or not, he was a desirable addition to the team. We were the school’s two best receivers.

Carey also made a valiant effort to go out with girls. But he was still searching for something else.

We were a hit, the pair of us. Popular and constantly together. Good looking guys, if I do say so myself, but very different. He was blond and blue-eyed, almost pretty. He always had been, even when I first met him as a kid. He had these long sweeping lashes that framed his baby blues and made all the girls swarm. And that ever-present sadness that constantly permeated his being only added to his draw for the ladies. I knew it was because he had a secret, but they all thought he was dark and brooding.

And me, I was the polar opposite. I was upbeat, easygoing, typical jock and male chauvinist jerk. Nothing ever really bothered me, at least not that I let show. In looks, though, we were very different—everything about me was dark. My hair, eyes, even my skin, which has a permanent tan compared to Carey. We were both well built because of the sports. But it was painfully obvious to me and to Carey that no matter how hard he tried to fit in, it just wasn’t going to work. He did everything that I did, football, video games, the girls, and the parties, just trying to blend in. He was like my shadow. He emulated me, but he wasn’t like me. I knew Carey wasn’t happy, and while I was off being my usual narcissistic self, chasing cheerleaders—one in particular whom Carey absolutely hated and had made that fact very clear to me—he attempted to take his own life.

I found him on the bathroom floor at his house. No one else was home. My first reaction was panic, and then I cursed him out. I was so fuckin’ mad that he would do such a thing. How could he do that to me? But he looked up with the same pale helpless face of his, seeking for my help just like he had that first day of kindergarten, and my heart broke for him.

I managed to stop the bleeding, bound his wrists so his mom wouldn’t find out and it was our secret along with his long-suffering confession to me, on that cold bathroom floor, that he was gay. He didn’t have to tell me, I already knew, but he needed to admit it, out loud, for himself.

I cleaned up all the blood from the floor and I spent the night with him. We slept in the same bed and I held him. He cried and I comforted. I didn’t think I had it in me. But after seeing him like that on the stark white tiles, in the sticky bright red puddle, I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I’d almost lost my best friend that day and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I’d never take Carey for granted again. I realised, that as much as he needed me, I needed him in return.

I stayed with him that whole first week after, afraid to leave him alone, frankly. What if the minute I left or turned my back, he succeeded. Even when he went into the bathroom and took longer than I thought he should, I found myself pacing outside the door.

Other than that first