Title: Two Truths and a Lyle
Author: DJ Jamison
Release Date: January 26, 2023
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: friends to lovers, oblivious to love, small town, demisexual awakening, new adult
Themes: figuring out where you belong, home/community, friendship
Heat Rating: 3 flames
Length: approx 31 500 words
It is part of the Games We Play series, but it works as a standalone. It does not end on a cliffhanger.
This is a prequel novella. Its release also means the series is complete.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Universal Link | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Blurb
Two Truths and a…wait, what?!
What happens when drunken idiots, aka your friends, use a silly drinking game to sideswipe you and your BFF with the truth bomb that you’re actually in love with each other?
Truman: You impulsively kiss the best friend you’ve been in love with for ages…then wake up with a hangover—and regrets.
Lyle: You freak out because you’re not gay or bi, before realizing the kiss wasn’t *actually* bad. Then you begin to wonder…should we do it again?
Two Truths and a Lyle is a cute, low-angst M/M romance with two oblivious best friends who are perfect for one another, a town full of quirky residents who get in everyone’s business, and a sweet sexual awakening.
This novella was previously published as part of a promotion, but some new content has been added.
“You wanna ask us something, just ask us.”
“Okay,” Darren said, not knowing when to keep his mouth shut. “Why aren’t you two banging already?”
I tensed up, heart thundering as Ly whirled toward Darren.
“Because we’re not,” he said.
“You’re just jealous of our friendship,” I added. “Because we are the ultimate friends. The best of the best. The bestest in the Westest. Okay, maybe I am drunk.”
Evan and Calista laughed. Good ole Tru, always cracking people up.
“Uh-huh,” Darren said skeptically, “’cause friends always climb friends like they’re a tree.”
I gasped even as I tightened my arms around Ly’s chest and nuzzled my face against his shoulder. Darren just didn’t get it. True besties didn’t impose dumb straight guy boundaries on each other—especially when one of them wasn’t straight. Or maybe that was more reason to impose boundaries? I dismissed the thought. I might be gay, but Ly and I had been friends for approximately forever. We’d learned to crawl together, and once you’ve seen a guy in a diaper… Well, I wasn’t into that kink, and I doubted Ly was either. I didn’t exactly ask about his sexual proclivities. We had to draw the line somewhere.
“Don’t taint our friendship tradition,” I cried, a little dramatically. I’d like to say it was the liquor, but I’m always a little dramatic. It’s part of my charm. “Ly has been carrying me around since second grade.”
He grunted. “Lucky me.”
“You love it.”
He wheezed a laugh. I had gained a few pounds lately. All muscle, baby. I’d joined the crew team in college because I was cool like that. Getting up at the butt-crack of dawn and listening to a guy yell stroke, stroke, stroke! It was a gay boy’s fantasies come true. Too bad the stroking never led to anything resembling fun or excitement. Our coxswain was a sadist. But at least I got to stare at rippling back muscles and build some rockin’ biceps.
I loosened my grip, aware I might be about break the back under me. “You can put me down if you want.”
He tightened his grip under my thighs. “And watch you fall on your ass? Nah. You’re a lightweight.” Somehow, I didn’t think he was referring to my pounds. “Told you to eat more nachos earlier.”
“Didn’t wanna,” I grumbled.
“You two do behave like boyfriends,” Evan said matter-of-factly, pushing up his glasses as he spoke. “The first time we all hung out, I thought you were a couple.”
“Ewwww,” I said, drawing out the word obnoxiously, even as a weird flutter started up in my gut. Maybe I’d pre-gamed a little too enthusiastically with shots of jungle juice before Kevin’s party. “That’s like…like…”
“Incest?” Ly suggested.
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.” I surreptitiously rubbed his chest. Yep. Still rock hard. “No brother of mine is ever gonna look like you. You have muscle DNA.”
He snorted. “Is that right? I thought I just worked out instead of sitting around on my lazy ass eating Garlic Gouda chips.”
“Hey, those are delicious,” I objected.
He shuddered beneath me. “Now I feel queasy.”
“And I do crew. I’m totally buffing up.”
He snorted, and Darren laughed behind me.
“If all my muscle is too heavy for you, you can put me down,” I offered again.
I was drunk, but not so drunk I couldn’t walk. It was just more fun to be ferried from place to place. I hadn’t lied; we’d traveled this way many times before. Sometimes we confused our other friends because we were close, but that’s how longtime friendships were. No matter what I wanted—or maybe just thought I wanted; it’d probably be a disaster if we tried to change our dynamic at this late date—I knew how Ly saw me. I was his pal, his bro, his overly dramatic best friend.
His burden to carry. Literally, in some cases.
“They even bicker like a couple,” Calista said, sounding amused.
“Tell me about it,” Darren said. “They should just kiss and get it over with.”
I opened my mouth to tell Darren what he could kiss—my ass—when Evan chimed in, blunt and honest as always. “Forget it. Those two are blind to what everyone else sees.”
Ly and I spoke at the same time. “We’re just—”
“Friends,” they chorused, laughing.
“Yeah, friends who have heart eyes,” Calista joked.
“Friends who secretly wanna get naked together,” Darren added.
I was half convinced he was pushing this issue just to make us feel awkward because he wanted to bone Ly. Well, he could forget it. If Ly was boning a guy, it’d be…well, not me. He liked boning girls. He should keep boning—oh, for fuck’s sake, now I was thinking like that juvenile. Ly should fuck, screw, make love—whatever!—with whomever he pleased.
As long as it wasn’t Darren.
“Guys, really?” Ly said, sounding uncomfortable. “Haven’t we exhausted this subject?”
“Yeah,” I added weakly. “Totally.”
“We’re best friends,” Ly said. “We’re close, but it’s not like that.”
“Ly is straight,” I added. “I’ve never thought of him as anything but my friend.”
Huge lie. But I told it with a straight face. After all, I’d been telling that one for years.
DJ Jamison writes romances about everyday life and extraordinary love featuring a variety of queer characters, from gay to bisexual to asexual. DJ grew up in the Midwest in a working-class family, and those influences can be found in her writing through characters coping with real-life problems: money troubles, workplace drama, family conflicts and, of course, falling in love. DJ spent more than a decade in the newspaper industry before chasing her first dream to write fiction. She spent a lifetime reading before that and continues to avidly devour her fellow authors’ books each night. She lives in Kansas with her husband, two sons, one snake, and a sadistic cat named Birdie.
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