Lissa Kasey - Boys Next Door: Ominbus: Multiple Story Edition (LGBTQ Books for Teens)

Boys Next Door Omnibus

LGBTQIA+ Teen Fiction

By Lissa Kasey

On The Right Track 2 nd Edition

Copyright 2019 Lissa Kasey

Cover Art by Red Leaf Design

Published by Lissa Kasey. All rights reserved. All art within commissioned and owned/copyrighted by Lissa Kasey.

Please Be Advised

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the authors imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Warning

This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the Author.

Listed below are the trigger warnings for this book. If any of these things bother you, please proceed with caution:

Family abandonment, toxic family dynamics

Hate speech language, and bullying

Memories of child abuse/neglect, sexual assault, and rape.

Mental illnesses including Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, self-harm, and Suicidal Ideation

Violence, minor mentions of events ripped from the headlines.

Eating disorders including bulimia, alcoholism, drug abuse, and recovery.

Rus phone pinged with a new message from Tommy.

Looks like another one, sorry.

The text was attached to a photo of the cover of a magazine featuring Ru kissing his ex-boyfriend Kris and then a smaller picture of Kris kissing another guy. Headline for that one was Vocal Growth Star Jilted!

Six months and still front page news.

He sighed. Leaving California hadnt helped. Here he was in the cold autumn of Minnesota, alone, but stalked by the conservative media who thought anyone under eighteen didnt deserve to recognize their sexuality.

He was gay. He had known for years. The mistake of telling his father when he was eleven etched firmly in his mind. Why did love make him a bad guy?

Being one member of a boy band that had traveled the world a few times and won a hefty number of awards, he was required to maintain a wholesome image. At least thats what his former recording studio had told him.

Wholesome didnt mean kissing another guy, even when he and Kris had been exclusive for almost two years. So, while it was okay for other celebrities to come out and show pride, anyone under the magical age of eighteen was ridiculed, cast out, and treated as a pariah of the community.

Overnight his world had turned from parties and stardom to infamy and ruin.

Do you need me to come stay with you? Tommy texted again. A former bandmate, and a good friend, Tommy hadnt cared when Ru told him he was gay. He did offer to kick the crap out of Kris after the guy had set them up to be photographed together, outing Ru to the whole world, only to then cheat on him. Would Rus heart ever stop breaking at the memory?

Ru texted back, He never really loved me, did he?

A second later the phone rang. Ru answered it, knowing who the voice on the other line would be. Im on my way to the airport, Tommy said.

You dont have to come all the way out here for me. Im fine. Virtually unrecognized here. Though Ru hadnt done much other than venture to his Uncle Dimitris restaurant. He was going to put on ten pounds before the week was over. Im just laying low. Trying to work on some music.

And not over that bastard Kris.

Maybe. But that part of his life had ended. In fact, so much had changed that Ru found himself more lost and depressed than he had most of his life. Hed always known exactly who he was and what he wanted. Hed never been more alive than when he was on stage, surrounded by cheering fans and bright lights.

His father had pushed him to become the musician he was with years of piano and guitar lessons, high-end tutors, and business sense. Ru found passion in the music and had made himself famous, trusting his dad to always be there.

Only that hadnt happened. Hed been abandoned for something he couldnt change. How many girls had he dated trying to be like everyone else? Fake smiles, and awkward moments of holding hands and rare kisses marred his past. His relationship with Kris had been the most natural and normal hed ever felt.

At least until the end.

Ru had been on his own a while now. Still loving the music and building his life around the fame hed crafted. But now he wasnt so sure he wanted to remain on that road. The constant flash of the camera, the endless judgment of strangers, and the never-ending loneliness, was that all that was left for him? Was that what hed worked so hard and given up his childhood for?

I dont want to talk about that.

Okay, so tell me how your meeting with the big M went.

Ru smiled. She was amazing. Probably had no clue who I was, but it was good. His publicist, Katie, had arranged the meeting to try to bolster Rus spirit. The woman was a miracle worker, but even meeting his idol could only lift him for a little while.

You been working on any new songs? I dont know what were going to do without you writing them all for us in the group. What Tommy didnt say was that AJ, another bandmate, was already on the search for a new guy to add to the ranks of Vocal Growth, as Ru had been released from the group when hed been outed.

Released was a nice term used in the media to make it sound like hed had a choice.

Havent really been inspired.

Ill be there in a few hours. Maybe we can hit the clubs or something.

Its really cold here. You know that, right? Ru couldnt imagine wearing most of his club clothes out in this weather. Hed have to find some fancy coat that would cover it all just to keep from freezing his nuts off. How do you go clubbing in Eskimo gear?

Its what, fifty degrees? You big baby. Just wait until January. See you in a few hours. Maybe go to Dimitris or something. I dont want you home alone.

They hung up, and Ru glared at the picture of the magazine cover. He dialed the driver hed hired, left the borrowed apartmentTommys, actuallyand headed out, unsure of where he would go. Anywhere had to be better than alone. Binks opened the car door for him, though Ru had told him a hundred times it wasnt necessary. God, it was so cold here.

Where would you like to go, sir? Binks asked.

I want to go somewhere there are people, but where no one will recognize me. Not shopping or whatever. I dont know. He needed to get to a bookstore and find something to read. Hed forgotten his book reader in San Diego. But a bookstore meant people who would want photos and autographs or even point and stare. Libraries had books, but he didnt think hed ever been in one. His homeschool instructor had issued him a MNSCUMinnesota State Colleges and Universitiespass, which allowed access to almost any library in the state. Is there a good library around here? Not a public onetoo many peoplemaybe a college one?

Would you like to stay in the city or head to the suburbs? The suburbs will likely be less crowded.

True enough. Anything near Dimitris? Tommy had been right. He didnt want to be by himself. Maybe hed stop in to see his uncle for dinner. God knew the man treated him more like a son than Rus own father ever had. Though Ru still hadnt seen his uncle since his outing had happened.

Yes, I know of the perfect place, Binks said, and off they went.

Ru paid little attention to the scenery they passed. The trees were pretty, all colors, and skies mostly clear. He should have felt inspired, but he hadnt written a note since arriving almost two weeks ago, and it worried him. Usually the music came easily; hed just sit down and there it was. But ever since Kriswell, their breakup, if a public outcry could be called a breakuphe hadnt written a damn thing.