Playing With Fire (Glasgow Lads Book 3) (42 page)

“Not yet. They’re keen to develop it into something really big, with better animation—all the things I wanted to do if I had the time and a better artist than myself. But would you mind if I sold it? It is sort of your game.”

“I’ll always have
my
game. The world can have its own version.” Liam leaned in closer. “How much is this company offering?”

Robert’s lips twitched. “We’re still negotiating, but it’d be enough to get you through massage college ten times over.”

Liam stared at him, then shook his head. “No way, Rab. You put that money into your business where it belongs.” He held a fist to his own chest. “I’ll look after me, okay? You look after you.”

“I hope you only mean financially.” Robert slid a hand over the waistband of Liam’s kilt, imagining what lay beneath. “I plan to look after you in other ways as soon as possible.”

“Whoa.” Duncan stopped as he walked by, hand in hand with Brodie. Then he gave an embarrassed smile. “Sorry, Robert. It’s just a bit odd, you being gay and all.” He waved as they moved on. “As you were.”

“I’m not gay,” Robert said, loudly enough to be heard by Duncan and at least a dozen other people nearby.

Duncan turned to him, head lowered and brow furrowed. “What’s wrong with being gay?”

“Nothing. It’s just not what I am.” Robert let go of Liam to face Duncan full on. “I’m bisexual.”

“Oh.” Duncan blanched a bit, blinking. “Okay.” Then he turned his eyes upon Liam with a look of caution verging on pity.

“That’s right.” Liam took Robert’s hand again. “You should all envy me, cos no one knows how to treat a lad like a lad who knows how to treat a lass.” He delivered this convoluted sentence with conviction, his chin held high.

Duncan turned to Brodie, who was smiling at Robert with absolute acceptance. “Did that make any sense to you?”

“Oh aye,” Brodie said. “Completely.”

Duncan shook his head, then suddenly brightened. “Hey, this means Warriors have finally got all the letters in LGBT!” He pumped his fist. “Oh, before I forget—it’s snowing like mad outside, so none of us is leaving before morning. And since we’ve not had a proper match in weeks, I thought we could play a pickup game out in the courtyard after the reception.”

“Have we got a football?” Liam asked.

“Dunno,” Duncan said. “But before long we’ll have snowballs.”

Later, at nearly three a.m., the reception finally drew to a close. Jamie gathered the remaining guests onto the floor for the traditional last song, “Auld Lang Syne.” Everyone joined hands in a circle as they sang and swayed. They crossed their arms for the last verse and pushed toward the center together, then twisted about as they retreated outward, facing the opposite way while still holding hands. It was a simple dance, one that gave Robert a bittersweet twinge as he remembered sharing it with his parents.

Finally, after the other guests had been escorted to their hastily prepared emergency quarters in the castle, the Warriors, along with John, Andrew, Brodie, and Ben, made their way out to the courtyard.

“Holy shit,” Katie said as they reached the threshold. “I didn’t think it could get more beautiful.”

Robert caught his breath at the sight of the glistening courtyard. All around them, soft flakes clung to the thousands of Christmas lights, softening and refracting their gold-white glow. With its snow-glazed turrets and candlelit windows, Dunleven looked like a fairy castle.

The snow muffled their footsteps as the Warriors prepared a makeshift pitch, tracing touchlines and endlines and taking parking cones from between the guests’ cars to use as goals.

“It’s just like playing in the streets back home,” Liam said. “Who needs fancy equipment when—och!” He gasped as the cold wind whipped across his kilt—and presumably under it as well. “A jockstrap wouldn’t go amiss just now, though.” Wincing, he pressed down the front of his kilt. “California is sounding better and better.”

“That’s too bad,” Robert said, “cos I’m staying here.”

“You’ve not officially turned down the job yet.” Liam adjusted his sporran. “Shall I take this off? I mean, we won’t be—”

“I’ve officially turned down the job.”

“—running very fast anyway. Fergus would kill us if we slipped and hurt…” Liam looked at Robert. “What’d you say?”

“Amanda emailed me this afternoon to say I’d made the second round of the hiring process, along with three other candidates.” He took a deep breath. “I told her I didn’t want to waste her time, that I’d decided to stay in Glasgow.”

Liam’s eyes widened. “What’d she say?”

Robert smiled at the memory of Amanda’s response:
I SO UNDERSTAND (weeps at thought of Vancouver girlfriend). Now let’s discuss you selling us Tower of Spite
. “She took it well.”

“And what about you? No panicky feelings of regret?”

“None. You know why?”

“Why?” Liam asked, looking at him sideways as if bracing for an onslaught of sentimentality.

But Robert simply went over and put an arm around Liam’s shoulders, the same as he’d done since they were six years old. Then he tilted his chin to the swirling sky. “Because it never snows in Sunnyvale.”

Thanks for reading!

I hope you enjoyed this latest novel in the Glasgow Lads series. I’d love to hear your thoughts at
[email protected]
.

Curious to see how Fergus and John got engaged? Check out the steamy (literally) short story “
Play It Safe
.”

If you enjoyed this book, please consider introducing the Lads to others—online, offline, or anywhere in between. Thanks.

• Review
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  on Amazon
  
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  on Goodreads
  

Want more Warriors all to yourself? How about exclusive bonus material, including advance copies of twice-yearly Glasgow Lads short stories and early peeks at Evan and Ben’s novel (coming Summer 2016)? Then sign up for my mailing list at
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You’ll receive loads of Glasgow Lads stuff found nowhere else in the world—deleted scenes, author commentary, location shots, and more. It’s like having a wee window into my brain (there’s loads of empty space in there to make yourself comfortable).

You might even learn a few Scots curse words, which could be pure dead useful one day.

Glasgow Lads Series

More Warriors are on the way! Each stand-alone novel features a new couple, with prominent appearances by other characters we’ve come to know and love.

• Play On
  , Duncan & Brodie novella
  
• Playing for Keeps
  , Fergus & John novel
  
• Playing to Win
  , Colin & Lord Andrew novel
  
• Play It Safe
  , Fergus & John short story
  
• Playing with Fire
  , Liam & Robert novel
  
• Colin & Andrew short story, Spring 2016
  
• Evan & Ben novel, Summer 2016
  
• Liam & Robert short story, Autumn 2016
  

…and much more to come.

I can’t wait to share all the Lads’ stories with you. Sign up for my mailing list at
www.averycockburn.com/signup/
to be the first to know about new releases.

Author’s Note: The End is just the beginning

Playing With Fire
concludes what I consider “Season One” in the Glasgow Lads series. In the opening five tales, we’ve relived one of Scotland’s most historic years—2014—through the eyes of gay footballers and the men who love them. From July’s Commonwealth Games to September’s independence referendum to the first same-sex weddings on the last day of the year, I’ve tried to match the story with real-life events as closely as possible. Even the mid-December “weather bomb” was an actual thing!

When I first began this series, I knew that no matter what, I would see it through to Liam and Robert’s novel. In some ways they are the quintessential Glasgow Lads—tough but tender, using biting humor and macho bravado to (unsuccessfully) mask their vulnerabilities. Their story is Glasgow’s story: learning to adapt to an ever-changing world whilst holding onto the things that make them uniquely lovable.

So if the series ended here, it would probably feel complete. I mean, it’s got a wedding and everything, right? All that’s missing are the dancing Ewoks.

But I’d like to keep going into this uncharted future. Not necessarily to follow the events of 2015 (that’s SO last year), but to explore new stories and new characters—and of course, keep an eye on the current ones.

I couldn’t do it without you. I was told no one would read a contemporary romance series set outside the United States, unless it took place in an exotic location such as Paris or on a tropical island. Gritty, gallus Glasgow is not the first place most people think of when it comes to love.

But you’ve proven the doubters wrong. So thanks for making my dream come true. Here’s to a new year and a new season of the Glasgow Lads!

(Cue stirring rendition of “Auld Lang Syne”)

About the Author

Avery Cockburn (rhymes with Savory Slow Churn—mmmm, ice cream…) lives in the US with one infinitely patient man and two infinitely impatient cats.

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