Stories

Two friends meet ten years ago and fall in love. Only they don't tell each other

How I Got Carter is the story of Jackson Willard, and his discoveries on the way to catching the boy of his dreams, the incredible Carter Mulkins. Carter has always been the unattainable god of his wildest fantasies. But at the end of the summer heading into Jackson's junior year, Carter starts to show more interest in Jackson. Little by little their friendship develops, and little by little it becomes more than a friendship.

It's just supposed to be a fun night out. You’re at a bar and you meet a guy. He flirts a bit, you flirt back. Just a bit of harmless fun. But a few too many drinks later, he ends up at your place. A random hookup never hurt, you tell yourself. It’s not like you’re going to see him again. But what happens if it turns out he’s not just a random hookup. What happens if he’s actually someone who is part of your life. Well, that’s when things get complicated …

It's 2010, and Peter “Trout” Spencer is thirty-two, living a gloriously gay one-night-stand life. That is until an instance of mishearing by his grandmother at her eightieth birthday party throws his world off kilter. What she hears as “I’m going to get married in June,”—to someone called Wendy—is in fact, “I’m going to get Marisse and June,” his stepsister and her girlfriend. When she offers her six bedroom Hamptons house as a wedding present, Trout has a dilemma; in the world of fake news, could he be forgiven for seeking out a fake wife?

Sometimes the brain fails and the heart is left to pick up the pieces. Tyson, the son of a heartless politician and an abusive control freak, has survived four suicide attempts, and has now been committed to a psychiatric ward. With severe anger issues, unhealthy behaviours and a tendency to self-harm, Tyson's terrific treatment team fights a difficult battle. Another boy in the ward, Vladimir, suffers from schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress. Tyson thinks he's perfect.

Jonathan Hamilton transfers to Sunny Hill starting junior year to run away from his past and keep promises on which to build an uneventful, safe future. The biggest promise he makes to himself is to stay clear forever, by all means necessary, of straight bad boys and their unhealthy appeal.

But promises are only made to be broken, Jonathan discovers the truth of the old adage, as junior year barely starts, and he has a run-in with the ridiculously attractive Maddox Kingsley, the resident BMOC, and carrier of the frightful nickname of ‘Mad Dawg’. (Full description inside.)

Jared, Mike, and Adrian are like brothers from different mothers, and, like all siblings, whether by genes or chance, they like different things.

Jared wants a relationship, preferably one that lasts beyond a one-night-stand, Mike hides his vulnerable self under the pretense that he is into a niche fetish, and Adrian just likes to have fun.

In their quest to find the particular things that they believe would make them happy, they hook up, meet lovers, strike new friendships, and learn the taste of love and betrayal.

Does anything last forever?

This question is on the minds of all of our characters in this tale. This isn't a story of eternal happiness. Instead, it is one of using the time we have the best way that we can.

A life well-lived means that we go on long after our last breath - a fleeting life, rippling out forever.

Cocky firefighter Logan O'Donoghue is a total hothead. And that’s precisely why Aiden Kashima, a young culinary student and aspiring pastry chef, can’t stand him. But after a devastating fire destroys his apartment, Aiden finds himself taking up a bed in Logan’s fire station.

The tension and lust between them quickly blazes into a red-hot romance. Aiden may have a talent for baking sweets, but first he has to learn that love doesn't come with a recipe.

Chase has had a tough couple of years, and just when he thought the clouds were lifting, he faces another ending, one that threatens to send him back to a dark place. Hank was his rock, his perfect partner and best friend, but in one short evening, Chase managed to screw everything up. How will he survive the loss… and the guilt?