Book Title: The First Boy I Ever Kissed
Author: Suki Fleet
Publisher: Stars and Ink Press
Cover Artist: Suki Fleet
Release Date: January 11, 2021
Genre: Contemporary New Adult M/M
Trope/s: . Second Chances, Friends to Lovers, I have always loved you
Themes: Second chances, Bi awakening
Length: 35 000 words
It is a standalone story.
Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited
Universal Link | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Kim was the first boy Tommy ever kissed. The only person he’s been in love with.
But Kim broke Tommy’s heart when he left without a word. Can Tommy give him a second chance?
Blurb
It’s been over two years since Tommy’s heart was broken. Two years since Kim vanished from his life without a word.
Kim was the first boy he’d ever kissed. The only person he’s been in love with. He’d thought they were starting something when he showed his feelings on prom night, and they shared their perfect messy kiss, but he’d been wrong. He never saw Kim again. Until tonight when joy riders crash into the warehouse complex where he works.
Kim’s life is a mess. For two years he’s been involved with a criminal gang, trying to protect his mum from harm. He knows he has nothing to offer. But seeing Tommy again gives him the strength to try. If only Tommy wasn’t leaving the day after tomorrow to go travelling around the world. If only tonight wasn’t all they had.
Giving my statement doesn’t take long, and in less than half an hour I’ve changed out of my uniform, made a promise to pop in and have a boozy mince pie and some mulled wine with Kerry and Jill sometime tomorrow, and I’m on my way out of the police station.
Relieved to finally be finished, I take in a deep breath of cold night air, then head over to the bike rack where Glen’s chained my bike.
“You’re still doing your stunts, then?”
I spin around. Find Kim leaning against the wall, one leg kicked back against it, a twig that I at first think is an unlit cigarette, dangled between his fingers. Long wisps of hair have escaped his hood—they drift across his face in the breeze.
For a second, I’m too thrown to say anything. I open my mouth, close it, then find myself saying, “They let you out quick.”
There’s about a thousand things I want to say to him, to ask him right now, like why did he lie about his name, what the hell was he doing tonight, and why did he leave without a word two years ago, but yeah, that meaningless observation is the first thing that comes into my head. Fabulous. I pull a face.
“Police know I was coerced. Didn’t want to be in that car, didn’t have a choice.”
It doesn’t sound too likely—the police must hear that sort of shit all the time, but I don’t say that. Instead I crouch down in front of my bike.
“Sorry I spat in your face,” he carries on.
Pretending I’m focusing on working out the lock’s combination rather than just staring at it, I shrug. “You didn’t.” He only pretended to. If I’m honest, what’s bothering me more is that he pretended not to recognise me when he obviously did.
“Well, still, I’m sorry about that.”
I don’t respond. I’ve no idea what to say. So I try to give off an unconcerned, unbothered vibe, because really, I have no idea how the hell I’m supposed to be acting right now. Kim throws me into chaos—he always did.
He kicks off the wall and wanders closer. His clothes have seen better days. Tatty jeans, a frayed orange hoodie underneath a dirty-looking army coat that’s too thin to be keeping him in any way warm in this freezing weather. His trainers look like the garish ones he used to wear two years ago, only now they’ve got holes in. “Didn’t want Char to think I knew you.”
I rest my head on the cold metal bike rack. This conversation is confusing me. This whole situation. Maybe I’m just too tired. Adrenaline does weird things to your brain. And the whole incident with the four-by-four, then chasing him across the car park was a bigger rush than I’ve had in a while.
Maybe that’s why I do actually say, “Wasn’t sure you’d remembered me.”
But it comes out sounding so much more painful than I mean it to. It doesn’t hurt so much, not anymore. And why should I have assumed he’d remember me? Time passes, people forget things, it’s just life, I know that.
Some weirdly sad expression clouds his sharp features, but then he smiles, all teasing and light. “Who’d have ever thought the amazing Tommy Grace would turn out to be the tiniest bit insecure.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Fuck off.”
Kim grins, his sharp fox face alight. There’s no heat to my words, just like there’s no intended truth to his. It’s a game we used to play, his teasing and my reacting. It takes a lot to truly piss me off. Slow fuse and all that. Probably why Kim never did hold back on ribbing the hell out of me every chance he got.
He kneels down in front of me on the freezing concrete. It’s hard to look at him full on, so I don’t. When he smiles like that, like he knows what I’m thinking, like anything is possible, it still takes my breath away, still flips my stupid heart.
Suki Fleet is an award-winning author, a prolific reader (though less prolific than they’d like), and a lover of angst, romance and unexpected love stories.
They write lyrical stories about memorable characters and believe everyone should have a chance at a happy ending.
Their first novel This is Not a Love Story won Best Gay Debut in the 2014 Rainbow Awards, and was a finalist in the 2015 Lambda Awards. Their novel Foxes won Best Gay Young Adult in the 2016 Rainbow Awards.
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Congrats on the release. Loved the book!
I love the cover and think the book sounds like a great read.