Blog Tour, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway:
A Long Way Home by Blake Allwood
Coming Home Series, Book 1
With the odds stacked against them, will they be able to overcome, or will their pasts push them apart, forever?
Gib clings to family, while being afraid to trust them. As a former foster child, he clings to security denied to him in early childhood. When he begins having feelings for one of his best friends and fellow medical school student, all his issues are expanded.
Allan has everything a kid from a wealthy New York family could have. When he decides to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a Harvard trained doctor, he didn’t anticipate meeting and falling for the enigmatic Gibson Ridley.
With Allan’s daddy issues, and Gib’s fear of intimacy, the stakes couldn’t have greater risks. Can these two men work through their issues and give love a chance, or will they lose it forever?
NOTE: A Long Road Home is a low-heat, sweet, high drama romance.
Triggers: Death, loss of family members, orphaned children, trauma, fear of loss, recovery, homophobia…
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I danced with Fiona and Alexi, while Allen actively avoided me. Finally, I’d had enough. I spotted him at the bar by the dance floor, and I went for him, grabbing and pulling him out the front door.
“Why the hell are you avoiding me?” I asked. He looked stunned for a moment. I doubted he considered I’d confront him, at least not in public.
It didn’t take him long to regain his senses, though, and he tried to push past me back to the party. “No, I’m not letting you go back until you tell me what the hell has been going on.” I could hear my own Southern drawl, which rarely happened except when I was really tired, drunk, or in this case, mad.
“You know damn well why I don’t want to talk to you. You’re a total jackass, Gib.” I saw the tears and knew I’d pushed him to the brink. Allen looked utterly lost, and I couldn’t help but draw him into my arms.
He resisted and fought me at first, but it didn’t take long for him to melt into the hug. I felt the tears staining my shirt, and I ran my hand over his head, speaking quietly to him about it being okay.
Finally, he pulled away, but still didn’t meet my eyes. “I know you don’t feel the same way about me as I do about you,” he said, still sniffing. “I’m not pathetic, Gib. I didn’t… wouldn’t go to Nashville just for unrequited love. I treasure our friendship, or at least I did, but if you think I’m just running around trying to win your affection, then I don’t think we can be friends.” The tears were streaming down his face now.
Maybe it was the wine, the moment, or his tears that propelled me, but I cupped the side of his face in my hand. “It isn’t that I don’t have the same feelings for you, it’s that I’m afraid acting on them will destroy what we’ve got.”
“That’s almost worse,” he said with another flash of anger, pulling his face from my hand. “You mean you’ve felt the same… feelings for me, but you haven’t acted on them because you’re afraid? Afraid I couldn’t distinguish between you as a friend and you as a lover?”
“Not you, me.” I looked at my feet, but kept talking, “When my foster brother and sister took their relationship to the next level, I felt betrayed. I almost threw away my family, because I couldn’t separate our sibling relationship from their love for one another. It took me years to come to terms with it, and the pain still rises up from time to time to bite me in the butt.” Then, I looked Allen in the eye and saw he was hanging on my every word.
“I do care about you, and I think about you… that way from time to time too, but if I can’t manage my own family dynamics, what would happen when you get tired of me? Would I be able to continue to be your friend, or would I lose you?”
I sighed deeply, then pulled Allen to me again. “You don’t understand what it’s like to lose your family. I lost mine when I was about the same age as Chrissy. I remember going from one home to another and feeling terrified of the people. Some of them were mean, and others didn’t even notice I was there. All that changed when I arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Simmons. They were different from the start, and before I knew it, I felt they were family, like I belonged with them. When Olivia and Chase arrived a few months later, I was ecstatic about having my own brother and sister, and we loved each other from the moment we met.”
Allen pulled back and took my hand. He led me over to a bench and we sat down together.
“We were only nine years old when Mr. Simmons died. Mrs. Simmons was diagnosed with MS a couple years later. All three of us thought we were going to lose her too. It changed us, made us wary of others. We even kept Miss Margaret at a distance after she took over caring for us. I don’t think we realized that until recently, though. When Mrs. Simmons died, it crushed me. I found out the night we buried her that Olivia and Chase had started dating, and for me, it was like they announced they were done with me, like we weren’t a family anymore, and I was alone in the world again. In many ways, I’m still that little boy who lost his parents. I’m too afraid to date you, Allen. I’m afraid I’ll lose you.”
It was my turn to cry. I had, at some point, laid my head on Allen’s shoulder as I wept. I’d never told anyone my story. My fears were old and deep, but I knew if I didn’t tell Allen the truth, I’d lose him for real.
I didn’t know how long we sat there before Allen pulled me up, and guided me somewhere more private, so I could cry without publicly embarrassing myself. I was grateful for his thoughtfulness. The area was crawling with people since it was graduation, and seeing me crying like a baby on what should be a happy occasion would’ve drawn attention.
When I was finally out of tears, I realized I was lying down on a secluded bench with my head resting in Allen’s lap. He was brushing my hair away from my face with such tenderness, and seeing the compassion and understanding in his face sealed my fate. At that moment, I felt a connection unlike anything I’d ever experienced, and I knew I was his.
I sat back up, faced him, and said, “Tell me what you want. I’ll do whatever you want.”
Allen leaned in to cup my face and kissed me. “I love you, and have for quite a while. I want you to let me love you, and for you to love me back.” He never broke contact, stroking my cheek with his thumb as I nodded, and closed the space between us for another kiss. It started soft, but quickly turned heated as years of bottled emotions, want and need poured out of me. Fortunately, we were secluded by a hedge, because once I started kissing Allen, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop, not until I’d tasted every part of him.
Allen pulled back at one point, and laughed. “Damn, I really thought you didn’t like me.”
“You were wrong,” I all but growled.
He laughed even harder, and without warning, jumped up from the bench, and yelled, “Gib Ridley just kissed me!” I chuckled before getting up and kissing him again.
“I plan to do a whole lot more than that very soon.”
The smile on Allen’s face disappeared, and was replaced with an expression of longing. “Don’t promise me something you aren’t willing to give,” he warned, but with a hint of his old cheekiness that made me smirk.
“Oh, I plan on giving and taking… all night long!”
To celebrate the release of A Long Way Home, Blake is giving away a paperback or e-copy of the release!
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About the Author:
Blake Allwood was born in west TN, then moved to Kansas City MO after attending college in Lamoni, Iowa. He met his husband in 1995 and they officially married in 2015, once gay marriage was legalized. In 2017, he and his husband sold their home, purchased an RV and began traveling the country with their two dogs. Their travels provide the inspiration and settings for many of his novels.
Typically, Blake can be found relaxing in the RV or by the fire with his laptop and their Jack Russell Terrier, Buddy, curled up between his legs demanding attention. Denver, their Siberian Husky mix is often asleep at his feet or playing tug of war with Blake’s husband.
Connect with Blake:
www.blakeallwood.com
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https://www.instagram.com/blakeallwood9/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/blake-allwood
