Secret Confessions: Backstage - Kelly

By Shona Husk

An all–access pass to Sex, Love, and Rock 'N Roll. Because what happens on tour doesn't always stay on tour...

From Australia to the world…

Chicago. The last stop of their wildly successful US tour sees Australia's biggest rock band, The Screaming Tuesdays, in sultry, summertime Chicago to play two sold–out shows. But the stage is not where the action is, and no one knows what goes on behind the scenes...

Kelly knows what he wants. He's known from the moment he first saw Jasper. But months have passed and he's done absolutely nothing about it. Now the tour is on its last legs, and the chance to chase his true feelings is fading fast. Can Kelly face his true desires or will he live with the regret of inaction?

Secret Confessions: Backstage
Reading order:

Yanis–Lexxie Couper
Theo–Zaide Bishop
Kelly–Shona Husk

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Oct 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781760378189

Shona Husk

Shona Husk is the author of over forty books that range from sensual to scorching, and cover the contemporary, paranormal, fantasy and sci-fi romance genres. Her most recent series are Face the Music and Coven of the Raven. She lives in Western Australia and when she isn't writing or reading, she loves to cook, cross-stitch and research places she'd one day like to travel. You can find out more at www.shonahusk.com, or find Shona on Twitter and Facebook. Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/k5n4n9

Book preview

Episode 5—Kelly

His thirtieth birthday was well and truly over. He squinted at his watch for a moment before the numbers came into focus.

Two a.m. It had been a fucking long day.

At least he had a hotel room to go back to instead of sleeping on the bus. As birthday presents went that wasn’t bad. His parents had rang, his sister had texted. His ex hadn’t bothered. But then Jasper hadn’t expected him to. It had been three months and, in that time, the only conversation had been about where to send his stuff.

Given that he spent so much time on the road, his parents’ place had been the best solution. It hadn’t been the time away that had killed their relationship.

It had been the ability to finally marry.

Brent had freaked about coming out and making such an obvious statement. He was worried people might boycott his medical practice if they knew. ’Cause gay was totally catchy like measles. That was when Jasper had realised they had never really been on the same page, even though they had been living together for the last year—when Jasper was home.

Once the knot holding the lies together had been unpicked, it had unravelled so fast he was sure he still had whiplash.

He signalled the bartender for another drink. Last one. He didn’t know what time the bar closed, but most of the road crew had already left.

Jasper lifted the beer and ignored the pale mark on his right hand where he’d worn the ring that Brent had given him. He needed to get out into the sun more. Then it would be gone, along with three years of his life.

His gaze drifted across the bar. There was a rowdy gaggle of girls who must have been at the concert and were just discovering alcohol. He smiled as he watched them in their short skirts. However, it wasn’t on the girls that his gaze got stuck, but the guy talking to them.

Kelly Temple, general stagehand and the drummer’s cousin. His jeans hugged his ass just right. And so they should. Kelly was nineteen, fit but lanky with the promise of filling out with a bit more muscle in another year or so. Jasper shook his head, feeling like an old perv.

Then he reminded himself that he was only thirty, and that there was nothing wrong with looking, as long as he wasn’t leering. Hmm, he might have had too much to drink to be a good judge of that. And he never fished in the pond where he was working. While he was fine with people knowing he preferred guys—and that became apparent real fast when he turned away the random girls trying to get favours—he didn’t want people being weird. It had happened before; not everyone was cool.

He got up and walked over to the pool table, hoping someone would give him one more game before he made his way to bed. Alone. Then he’d sleep in—the luxury of doing more than one show in a city—before getting up and making sure that everything was ready for the next show.

Kelly extricated himself from the girls and walked over. I’ll give you a game.

Despite the fact that Kelly was under twenty-one and couldn’t legally drink, he’d hung around. He was nice to everyone, appeared to get on with everyone and while Jasper had had some misgivings about having a family member on the crew, Kelly hadn’t been looking for a free ride around the States.

It was a pity he was heading to university back in Australia at the end of his holiday. Jasper would’ve given him a good recommendation.

"Rack them