A Gold Coast Collage Novel, Book 1
Brian Stagliano’s life should be pretty sweet right now. Two of his closest friends are getting married, and he’s taking a new, exciting step in his career as a doctor. Most amazing though, his best mate has been given the all-clear from cancer. But Brian’s normal has just been tipped A over T and the friendship he’s relied on for years is in danger. All because of five little words.
Andrew Fitzroy should be on top of the world. The cancer that’s haunted him is gone. He can finally get on with his life—except he doesn’t know what that life is anymore. Is he brave enough to come out as bisexual? Should he pursue architecture or stay in construction? Either way, Andrew knows happiness won’t be his until he has what his engaged friends have—love, joy, passion. So, he says those five little words to Brian—I’m in love with you.
Friends since childhood, Brian and Andrew have always been closer than brothers. Best mates. Nothing could ever tear them apart. Except for those five little words. Now, Brian’s not sure about so many things—their friendship, his own desires—and the foundation Andrew’s built his world on feels like its crumbling. But if they manage not to destroy everything they have together, Andrew and Brian might just find a new normal with each other.
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Hello! I’m L.J. Hayward and you may know me from the Death and the Devil series, MM romantic suspense about a spy and an assassin. Now I have a new story for you all, the first book in a series of MM contemporary romances set in my home city of the Gold Coast, Australia. The series is called Gold Coast Collage and book one is “The New Normal”, about Brian Stagliano and Andrew Fitzroy, best friends since they were kids. They’ve shared a lot of ups and downs, including the Big C, and now they’ll have to fight to survive the next one as well—the one where Andrew tells Brian that he’s in love with him.
Today I have an exclusive extract for you, a scene with a game of What Wallaby Where . . .
“Wanna go play What Wallaby Where?”
Brian scowled. “No.” He had absolute shit luck at spotting the wallabies in the reserve and the others had made a game of trying to be the first to see one. Brian swore he’d only ever said “what wallaby where?” once and yet it had stuck.
“Come on.” Andrew put a hand over one eye. “I’ll give you the advantage.”
He tried to resist but the sight of Andrew having fun, even at Brian’s expense, was too overpowering. Brian sighed and nodded.
“Awesome. Carls! We’re going to play What Wallaby Where,” Andrew called to her.
Carly waved them off with one hand. “Good luck, Bri Bri.”
“Thanks,” he muttered and trudged along with Andrew to the swampy region where the wallabies hung out. It was cooler under the thicker canopy but the scent of stagnant water was strong. The view was beautiful though, with the tall, ragged paperbark trunks and carpet of vibrantly green ferns.
Being the weekend, there were a lot of families out at the park and reserve, so it made spotting any wildlife hard when the animals were alerted by kids running back and forth along the raised boardwalk. Every wallaby Brian thought he’d found turned out to be a tree stump or blasé kangaroo. The smaller wallabies just weren’t around.
“What wallaby,” Andrew said, pointing.
Brian peered into the trees. “Where?” he asked before thinking.
Andrew snickered. “It’s gone now. You scared it off.”
“You’re lying.”
“I swear there was a wallaby. Look! It’s back.”
One eyebrow raised sceptically, Brian followed the direction of Andrew’s arm and sure enough, there was a squat, brown wallaby standing between two trees, its finely pointed face directed towards them.
“Look,” Brian whispered. “A wallaby.” He caught sight of them so rarely this was a treat.
Beside him, Andrew snapped a shot with his phone and a moment later, Brian’s pocket buzzed with an incoming message.
“So you can prove it to the others.” Andrew smiled at him. “I’ll even tell them you saw it first.”
“They wouldn’t believe you.”
“True.”
They wandered on, trying to find more of the elusive critters. Thanks to the presence of so many others, they had to keep close and Brian was very aware of every brush of Andrew’s arm and nudge of his hip as they moved over on the pathway to allow others by. The familiar scent of his deodorant drove away the damp rot smell of the swamp. Since the night of the epic wank, every moment Brian wasn’t distracted by work, he’d been thinking about almost kissing Andrew. About how much he still wanted it to happen. Kissing and . . . more.
“I’m sorry,” Brian said softly as they walked. “I shouldn’t have said those things. I didn’t mean them.”
“I know. I’m not upset about that anymore. Thanks for the apology.”
“I mean it.”
Andrew’s hand very briefly pressed against his lower back, half comforting, half guiding him off the boardwalk and back towards the water park. Brian shivered and concentrated on not running over excited kids. He felt the heat of that fleeting touch all the way out of the natural habit and into the man-made one.
Wandering around led them to a Ninja Turtles show. Standing at the back with the parents, they mimicked the ninja moves like the kids did. After the show, they bought nunchaku and sai to have mock fights with. Of course, Brian ended up on his arse in the wading pool.
“Smooth move, Raphael.” Andrew laughed and held a hand out for him.
Brian scowled up at him. “It was a strategic move, actually.” He took the hand and pulled Andrew in.
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About L.J.:
Hi! I’m L.J. Hayward and I’ll be your author for this biography.
Official Blurb
L.J. Hayward has been telling stories for most of her life, a good deal of them of the tall variety. She loves reading but doesn’t seem to have enough time between wanting to be a more disciplined writer, being the actual erratic writer she is, and working for dollars in a dungeon laboratory. She also lives on the Gold Coast in Queensland, but rarely sees a beach and can’t surf, though she thinks living on a houseboat might be fun. At least then she’d have an excuse to get a cat.
Me Just Rambling & Stuff
I’ve been telling tales (some of them of the tall variety) for most of my life. The first book I ever produced was about Easter, as I recall, and was written in crude pictographs. In my defence, I reckon I was about three. Stapler-binding was the format of choice (way, way before the advent of the e-book). First story with words (and pictures) was about a trip to the moon, in which I included the exhaustive research I did on the matter by saying it took three days to get there. Sadly, the trip was cut short when a puddle of blood (!! – quite gory for its day and age) was discovered on the moon, so the characters had to leave before the murderous aliens found them. Nail bitting stuff!
Beyond that, I don’t recall exactly when I began to think seriously about writing. I always enjoyed a creative writing exercise in high school, but hated scientific writing in university. Not enough room for drama or humour or unicorns. But even before I began writing stories down, I was writing them in my head. Serious writing started around the mid-twenties. Good writing started a couple of years later. Even better writing is still in progress.
As a pathology scientist, blood and medicine is a big part of my life and, naturally, have an influence on my writing. My first book, Blood Work, had its origins in how blood behaves in transfusions (vampires drinking blood is basically a transfusion, right? Right.).
Of course, recently I’ve moved into M/M romantic suspense, with the publication of Where Death Meets the Devil. I’m blaming Manna Francis’s Administration series for hooking me into the wonderfully wide and diverse realm of queer fiction. It’s a genre pool I plan on wallowing in for good long while. 😉
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