Waiting on a Friend

By Megan Slayer

King Mason doesn’t want to spend another year alone. He loves his job at the men’s shelter, but there has to be more from life than work. He’s seen the pretty blond man around the community and can’t wait to make a move at the Christmas street party.

Randall Stevens has big plans for Christmas 1980, and all of them involve meeting King Mason. He’s fallen hard for the man, and his wish is to take things to the next level. Christmas Eve just might be the night -- except some wishes are meant to go sideways. Can Start Me Up help provide the solution he and King need?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Changeling Press
• Release date: Nov 26, 2020

Megan Slayer

Megan Slayer, aka Wendi Zwaduk, is a multi-published, award-winning author of more than one-hundred short stories and novels. She’s been writing since 2008 and published since 2009. Her stories range from the contemporary and paranormal to LGBTQ and BDSM themes. No matter what the length, her works are always hot, but with a lot of heart. She enjoys giving her characters a second chance at love, no matter what the form. She’s been the runner up in the Kink Category at Love Romances Café as well as nominated at the LRC for best author, best contemporary, best ménage and best anthology. Her books have made it to the bestseller lists on Amazon.com. When she’s not writing, Megan spends time with her husband and son as well as three dogs and three cats. She enjoys art, music and racing, but football is her sport of choice.

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Chapter One

King Mason tipped his face to the sky and breathed in the night air. For a December evening, the weather in Ohio was unseasonably warm. Probably good since the Christmas street party was scheduled for tonight. He wasn’t in the mood for dancing or drinking, but he wanted to be around people. For the last year, he’d drowned his sorrows in his work at the men’s shelter. He needed to forget his boyfriend, Chuck. Now ex-boyfriend. Chuck wanted to move on. He didn’t want a daddy. He wanted a pretty boy.

King gritted his teeth. Even thinking about Chuck’s term for him annoyed him. A daddy. So he was hairy. So he liked to take care of his partner. Was that bad? At least he could’ve been called a bear or something. He wasn’t super hairy, but more than a lot of guys. He’d never be pretty. It just wasn’t in his genetic makeup. He had scars from his antics as a child and would never not have five o’clock shadow. He looked rough.

He sighed and headed out to the street party. Guys he’d seen from the community, plus a whole lot more, had poured out to the streets. Guys of every shape, size, and so much red and green. Some guys had arrived in drag, sporting sumptuous glittery ball gowns and others with hair a good foot tall. He admired the drag queens. They had so much charisma and ferocity.

Christmas music played and lights glittered from every post. Whoever had done the decorating really liked the twinkle lights. Strands of tinsel blew in the slight breeze. The only way there could be more glitter would be to have someone tossing it from up above.

A guy sashayed passed King and flapped a length of garland at him. He’d decorated his blond wig with rhinestones and wore thick makeup, giving him the look of a tall version of the blond bombshell, Mae West -- except with a moustache. Come up and see me sometime, the guy said and grinned. When I’m bad, I’m better.

King nodded. Next time. Everyone loved those old Mae West lines. He wandered through the men to the knot of his friends. Seeing the guys he knew and the ones who respected him helped. They wouldn’t ask about Chuck, and they wouldn’t bother him to hook up with someone else.

That didn’t mean he didn’t have a wish for Christmas. He tipped his face to the stars and murmured his desire. Santa, I want a man for Christmas. A sweet one, who understands I want love and is willing to be a partner. Someone who will accept my idiosyncrasies and won’t run because I’m getting older. He doubted there was enough magic in the cosmos to grant that wish, but it didn’t hurt to try. He wished the handsome man he’d seen wandering the community would be there. Every time he looked at the pretty blond man, sparks shot through his system. He’d like to hang some tinsel on him and kiss him under the mistletoe.

King snorted. He never considered himself a romantic, but he’d like to try a little romance with the blond -- if he showed up.

Gonna wrap someone in tinsel and kiss them under the mistletoe? Todd asked. He’d made overtures toward King lots of times, but wasn’t quite what King wanted. You keep telling me I’ll get a turn, but you’re always off with someone. You want to tease me, don’t you?

I wouldn’t say that. King shrugged. I’ve been single for almost a year.

Then take me home. We can play a game and hide presents from each other. Todd trailed his fingers down King’s chest. Or fuck. Who needs presents when you can fuck?

I’ll take it under consideration. King smiled