Shifting Gears (Crossroads Series Book 2) Read online

  SHIFTING GEARS

  A Crossroads Novel

  By

  Riley Hart

  Copyright © 2016 by Riley Hart

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  Published by:

  Riley Hart

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  All products/brand names mentioned are registered trademarks of their respective holders/companies.

  Cover Design by X-Potion Designs

  Cover Image by Alejandro Caspe

  Edited by Prema Editing and Hope Vincent. Proofread by Jessica de Ruiter and Judy’s Proofreading

  Formatted by Angel’s Indie Formatting

  Thank you to Riley’s Rebels members Joy and Shanen for letting me use your names.

  DEDICATION:

  To Rod Batterman. Thank you for your friendship, your support, and all the laughs. I can always count on you to make me smile.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Epilogue

  Bonus Content

  CHAPTER ONE

  Rod Nelson really wanted to fuck the man browsing the lube aisle.

  This wasn’t the first time sexy Brown Eyes had been there. More like the third visit in the last three weeks, and every single one of them he spent in lubrication.

  Obviously, he was having a whole lot more sex than Rod was lately, which had him slightly cranky. Who knew that starting his own adult store would keep him so fucking busy?

  But then…people liked sex, so it made sense that traffic at the shop stayed steady. Rod liked sex too, hence the whole reason an adult “romance” store worked so well for him. Sure there was always the Internet, and a good chunk of his sales came from there, but he realized a lot of people liked to buy their sex toys in person. There was something special about checking out the product rather than clicking a button. Plus, three quarters of his business came from spontaneous couples who wanted to add a little spice to their night. Drinking helped with that.

  He watched as Brown Eyes grabbed a bottle of Easy Ride—apparently his preferred brand—before making his way to the counter. As he approached, Rod straightened from his slouched position over the counter. Don’t hit on customers; don’t hit on customers; don’t hit on customers.

  Please let the customer hit on me.

  “Will that be all for you today?” Rod asked, as Brown Eyes set his lube on the counter—one bottle a week, just as he’d done before.

  In a gravelly voice, the man said, “Yep. Just like always,” and then he winked—fucking winked one of those sexy brown eyes at him. Great. Obviously the guy was a sadist and wanted to torture him.

  Brown Eyes glanced at Rod’s nametag and then chuckled. “Rods-N-Ends has a whole new meaning now.”

  He’d had the name picked out before he even applied for the loan for his new shop. It was smaller than where he used to work, but this place was his, and that was all he cared about. “I have a good sense of humor. What can I say?”

  Brown Eyes nodded. He had long, thick, dark lashes, and equally dark eyes. They were mysterious which sounded like a fucking cliché, he knew, but it was true. He was taller than Rod himself, with lean, hard muscle that didn’t come from the gym. Another cliché, he guessed. But Jesus, the man was pretty in a rough, masculine way that prompted those kinds of clichés.

  He shook his head, making the dark brown hair that hung over his forehead move. He looked to be older than Rod was, but only by a few years or so.

  “The place is yours, huh?” he asked, and Rod realized he was staring. He’d always had a weakness for pretty, rugged men, and this guy was exactly that.

  “Yeah, it’s only been a few months. I used to work about half an hour away from here, but some friends of mine talked me into trying to get a place of my own, and here we are.” He hated to admit Nick and Bryce had been right. In a lot of ways, Rod would have been completely comfortable floating by working for someone else, but he was twenty-five and being a clerk at an adult “romance” shop probably wouldn’t keep him afloat forever. So he’d decided to be a clerk at his own adult shop because that was a whole hell of a lot different.

  Rod let his eyes scope out the aisles of the store. There was a couple in the back, but other than them and Brown Eyes, the place was empty. “What about you? What do you do?” he asked.

  He held up his hands. They were beat up, but strong hands with veins running the length of them, callouses on the pads of his thick fingers. Looking closer, he noticed what looked like grease around his cuticles. It fit with his faded, slightly low-slung jeans with a hole in one of the knees. He wore a T-Shirt he’d obviously been working in as well. “Some kind of manual labor obviously. Mechanic?”

  Brown Eyes smiled. “Yep. Motorcycle.”

  “Shut the fuck up!” Rod said and when the other man’s eyes got bigger, he clarified. “No, don’t really shut up. It’s just that my friend, Bryce, is a motorcycle mechanic. It was Bryce and his boyfriend Nick who talked me into this place.” This was too big a coincidence. He glanced around waiting for Bryce to pop up from around a corner laughing his ass off. It was something he’d do—dangle a gorgeous guy with sexy eyes and faded jeans in front of Rod before playing some elaborate joke on him.

  “Really?” the man asked. “Small world. If he’s hiring, tell him I’m looking. I moved here about a month back and it’s been a little harder to find work than I thought it would be.”

  Jackpot, Rod thought, which probably made him an asshole because the guy was telling him he was out of work and Rod was thinking this could be a way in with him. “You’re going to have to give me your phone number then…you know, so Bryce or I can get ahold of you….” This is where you give me your name and phone number.

  “Landon, and you’re good.”

  “Oh, honey, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Rod winked at him, but then he remembered he didn’t really know for sure if this man was gay or not. “Are you gay?”

  “Nope.”

  Fuck. “Me either. What a coincidence.”

  Landon’s forehead wrinkled and then Rod said, “I’m giving you shit. I’m as gay and proud as they come and you’re fucking with me too. I know these things.”

  Before Landon could reply, the couple walked up and Rod wanted to tell them to go away. That wasn’t the best way to run a business so he grinned at them. Landon walked away, and he pretended he didn’t want to tell them they were fucking with his game. He rang up their purchase—edible underwear, massage oil, and whipped cream—and they were on their way.

  “Where were we?” Rod asked.

  “You were ringing up my order.”

  Damn it. Maybe he had been wrong about the guy. He hadn’t thought so, but it was a possibility. Either that or Landon just wasn’t interested in him.

  Rod scanned Landon’s Easy Ride, the whole time mentally chastising himself for hitting on a customer. “Ten sixty-five. And listen, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean—”

  “Bisexual.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m bi. Do you hit on customers often?”

  “No, but they’re usually not as sexy as you. The last ones who were ended up being two of my closest friends though…you know…Bryce, the dude who works on bikes like you.” Hint, hint. I have a hook up.

  Landon laughed a light, earthy laugh that made Rod smile. He liked it. He wanted to hear it again.

  “You’re relentless.”

  “No,” Rod corrected. “Just a hard worker when I want something. I don’t give up. That’s a good quality, or so I’ve been told.”

  “It can be.” Landon handed Rod a twenty, and waited for his change. “I have to be honest with you…I find people a whole lot messier than lube and my hand. I’m not really looking for anything more than
that right now. Friendship is okay though.”

  Awesome. First Landon had to put the mental image of himself jacking off in Rod’s head and then had to go and tell him that he was only looking for friendship. “I can do friendship. But I have to tell you, I wasn’t looking to marry you.” All Rod had been thinking about was a quick fuck. He quite enjoyed fucking his way through life.

  Landon nodded at him, obviously not planning on changing his mind about fucking Rod senseless.

  “So what’s your phone number, friend?” Rod asked.

  Landon smiled, and heat pricked across Rod’s skin. Damn it. Even his smile was sexy. First Nick and Bryce had to torture him with something he’d never have, and now Landon. He really had to stop meeting gorgeous men in adult stores who only wanted to be friends.

  ***

  Landon Harrison never expected to find himself in Virginia again. If he was being honest, he hated it here. Too many memories of fighting parents, which went from the plural to singular when his dad walked out on them, leaving behind a depressed mom who waited for him to return.

  He’d never felt like he fit in when he was a kid. He’d hidden the fact that he liked both men and women. Now, he didn’t give a shit. If someone had a problem with it they could kiss his ass as far as he was concerned. It had taken leaving to get to that place.

  The second he could, he’d been out of Virginia, leaving his mom and his sister, Shanen behind, but now he was back. Shanen was getting married, and she’d told him their mom had been acting strange lately. She was worried about her, which caught his attention. Depression had always been something his mom struggled with on and off. She’d broken down when his dad left. She didn’t handle big changes well and he figured since Shanen had stuck behind when he left, it was his turn to help out.

  And he was going out of his goddamned mind. Living at home after twelve years away made him feel like he’d stepped into a time machine and woken up as that eighteen-year-old kid who felt trapped and angry.

  He was bored. He needed a job, freedom, friends. He wouldn’t mind throwing sex in there as well, which brought him back to thinking about the pretty guy who owned Rods-N-Ends.

  He didn’t need three bottles of lube in three weeks, but hell, he was attracted to the man. Rod had short, dark hair, a round face that made him look a little younger than the people who typically attracted him, but that goddamned ass of his had done Landon in. As soon as he’d walked into the store the first time, Landon had wanted him. He’d definitely be a better time than Easy Ride and his hand, but then Rod went and mentioned the job. If he could possibly help Landon work on bikes other than his own again, he really didn’t want to screw things up by fucking the guy.

  That left him here, sitting on his childhood bed, alone, with his mom in the next room. How in the hell did this become his life?

  He looked around the room. The posters of half-naked girls were long gone, thank God. It didn’t resemble the way it looked when he was eighteen, but it felt the same—stifling and lonely.

  A knock came at his bedroom door, and Landon tossed the lube under his pillow like he was again that eighteen-year-old kid. Jesus, how was he going to do this? He definitely had to get a job and get his own place. He could handle living at home again, just not in the same fucking house. “Come in.”

  His mom pushed the door open. “Hey you. What are you up to?” She looked completely put together, with her brown hair in a bun and makeup on her face. She smiled, pulling the strap of her purse up her arm.

  “Not much. You heading out?”

  “Yes. Are you sure you don’t want to go with Shanen and me?”

  They were going dress shopping. He definitely didn’t want to go. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

  “You can meet us for dinner afterward. Jacob is taking us out to a steakhouse.” She smiled ear to ear, very happy about Shanen’s fiancé. His mom had always been a romantic. She’d had these big ideas about her relationship with his dad, friendship that had turned into love. What she hadn’t expected was how things had gone from there. He thought maybe she saw Shanen as a second chance.

  “No, thank you. I’m just going to hang out tonight.”

  She gave him another smile. He wished it could always be like this, that she could always be happy this way. “It’s good to have you home, Landon.”

  He tried to return her smile, wishing he felt it. “It’s good to be home.”

  The door closed with a quiet click. Guilt made him wish his words had been true.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “I’m in love,” Rod said the second Bryce picked up the phone.

  Bryce laughed. “Shut the hell up.”

  “What? Why is it so hard to believe that I’d be in love?” He crossed his arms as though Bryce could see him pouting.

  “Because I know you?”

  Rod winced; Bryce’s words stung. He didn’t even hesitate in his disbelief that Rod might be interested in someone. But then he remembered he liked being single and getting to do who and what he wanted. He didn’t need anything else. “Okay, maybe you do know me, but I could be in love if I wanted to. I could fall in love every fucking day, but this guy, I’ve seen him three times and I’m still in love with him.”

  Bryce paused for a second. “Seen him, seen him. Like dating? Or fucking?”

  Shit. “Well, neither actually…”

  Bryce barked out a laugh and Rod considered hanging up on him—the asshole. “He’s a motorcycle mechanic. Let me talk to Nick. He’ll understand. He obviously has a thing for that kind of man. He’ll have my back on this one.”

  “Well, men like me are irresistible…”

  Rod heard Nick scoff in the background and realized he was close enough to Bryce to hear Rod speak. “Ooh… Did I interrupt something? Let’s video chat and you can continue where you left off. You’ll never know I’m there.”

  This time both Nick and Bryce laughed. Rod couldn’t help but smile himself. He liked the men a lot. They’d become really close since the first time the couple had stumbled into the store he used to work in while looking for their first dildo. Being with each other had been the first time either of them had been with another man, and apparently Nick was very well endowed. Bryce was a lucky man.

  That had been over a year ago. Nick and Bryce were out to their families now and they’d moved into a new house together, where they had Rod over for dinner every once in a while. He and Bryce enjoyed making Nick blush.

  “Funny man. So what else is going on?” Bryce asked.

  “Do you happen to need any help at the shop? Landon mentioned just moving here and he’s looking for a job. I told him I’d ask you.”

  “Actually…this is perfect timing. We just had someone give his two-week notice yesterday, so we will be looking to hire. He’s welcome to fill out an application. I can’t make you any promises. I’ll have to see what kind of experience he has and how he’ll fit in, but tell him to apply. You really had a gay motorcycle mechanic come into Rods-N-Ends? I thought I was the only one.”

  Rod laughed. “Aww, are you feeling less important because you’re not the only gay motorcycle mechanic who likes to buy sex toys from me? Does it help that he’s bi? But then I guess you are too. Hmm…does it help that he only buys lube? And you were my first. You’ll always be special to me.”

  Nick laughed loudly in the background.

  “Fuck you both,” Bryce said, which only made the two of them laugh louder.

  Once it finally died down, they chatted again for a few minutes before Rod told them he had to go. He needed to call and save the day for Brown Eyes.

  He got up and walked into the kitchen for a glass of water before he went back and sat in the living room chair. The TV was on low in the background. He had a small, two-bedroom house that he could only afford because he’d bought it with the money he got when his dad died—money he only received because his dad had probably figured leaving Rod the old house in Oklahoma would be more of a hassle than it would be worth.

  He’d been sure to cut Rod out of getting anything else when he died—not that he’d wanted anything from the bastard—other than an old house with major foundation problems, that went downhill as you walked through it. That had been the least of the problems.

  He hadn’t wanted any part of the house or anything else, but then he figured the man owed him something for making Rod’s life hell, so he’d sold it for whatever he could get, and put the money down on this place. So now he was in debt with a house and sex-toy shop. Wouldn’t his God-fearing, gay-hating father be proud?