Through the Closet Door

By Rick R. Reed

Gregory seems to have it all: youth, good looks, a beautiful wife, a job he loves as an elementary school teacher, a quiet house on the beach ...

So why is Gregory so miserable? Why is he unable to control his lingering gaze on his neighbor, Jake, the handsome truck driver who lives just down the way? Why does Gregory spend his private time keeping a secret journal that details fantasies and memories of him locked in embraces with other men?

It’s summer, and the peaceful lake belies the turmoil in Gregory's heart. His wife wants to start a family, while Gregory wants to start something with Jake, but doesn’t dare.

Climbing out of the closet is never easy, but it’s even more difficult when doing so might shatter the lives of those around you ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Mar 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781634862721

Rick R. Reed

Rick R. Reed is an award-winning and bestselling author of more than fifty works of published fiction. He is a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Entertainment Weekly has described his work as "heartrending and sensitive." Lambda Literary has called him: "A writer that doesn't disappoint…" Find him at www.rickrreedreality.blogspot.com. Rick lives in Palm Springs, CA, with his husband, Bruce, and their two rescue dogs, Kodi and Joaquin.

Book preview

Through the Closet Door

By Rick R. Reed

Published by JMS Books LLC

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2016 Rick R. Reed

ISBN 9781634862721

Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

NOTE: This ebook was previously published by Amber Quill Press.

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For anyone making the difficult journey out of the closet.

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Through the Closet Door

By Rick R. Reed

Journal Entry (College):

I see through a flickering light, faded in time. I see only in this blue light, only in this memory. The figures pass before me, bare shadows in a rumpled room, heavy with the smell of sweat and cigarette smoke. The room is in complete disarray. Bedding thrown back carelessly, clothes strewn on spotted wall-to-wall carpeting…standard issue for college apartments. A dying pothos plant graces the windowsill, looking out on a dark and moonless light. The room’s dim light gives it an appearance of black and white unreality, like something from a movie. Perhaps I can get through this if I pretend I am an actor in a movie, something with a tawdry soundtrack with lots of lewd brass.

Light from a computer monitor illuminates me as I remove my clothing. I do not look at the screen, but know there are thumbnail images there of men in various stages of undress and arousal. Knees crack as I struggle out of my jeans, catching my ankle in the folds, doing an embarrassing little hop-skip as I struggle out of them. Sheepish grin toward the bed, where you lie, waiting. There’s no way to be graceful, no way to be smooth. Not with lust and nerves conspiring to force my heart to beat out a tribal rhythm. I grope through the darkness to the bed to find you there, already naked, the hair on your chest tracing a line down your stomach and farther south. Nameless. The room is cold. You are warm. I have never seen your face and I have seen it a thousand times.

Your hands are ghostly and white as they extend, your face is hidden in shadow. Excitement surges as you pull me toward you. Come here, you whisper, your voice husky, a growl. I can smell beer and cigarettes on your breath. I feel that same breath on my face as I move closer, feel your hand on the small of my back,