In celebration of the release of my book EASY RYDER I'm hosting a giveaway party on my Facebook Page here: https://www.facebook.com/deannawadsworthauthor
Post something on my wall, a funny pic, a hot guy (no nude please) or just "hello" and be entered to win one of two $10 Amazon gift cards!!!
It's as simple as that! Good luck, and don't forget to pick up your copy of EASY RYDER today!! The first 20 print copies sold are autographed editions!
***the above contest is closed but BackToSchool is still open!***
BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP
While I am celebrating the release of a new book, lots of kids are getting ready to go back to school. When I was a kid this was both the most exciting yet worst day of the year. I've always been an optimistic glass is half full kinda gal, so even as a youngster I always had high hopes that each school year would be a good one. The reality of that, however, was not always the case.
In my book THE BEST EVER, the main character Jason Lewis is definitely not having a good school year. In fact he hasn't had too many of them ever.
Geeky, red-haired and socially awkward, jason is a prime target for bullies and as you will see from the following opening scene, high school is hell for Jason.
Until he begins tutoring senior star baseball player Blake Huntington. Jason and Blake don't know it, but this one afternoon is going to set the tone for the rest of their lives, shaping them into the men they will become.
With a little magic from madame Eve and her 1Night Stand datign service, the two men have no idea that seven years after high school this night is going to be THE BEST EVER
Blurb:
Jason Lewis is a self-proclaimed nerdy guy who hates his red hair. Bullied most of his life, at 22 social situations still
make him awkward. On a trip to the World Video Game Expo in Las Vegas,
Jason decides to enlist the help of Madame Eve in his failed romantic
endeavors. While at the con, he runs into sexy, professional baseball
pitcher Blake Huntington, the guy he tutored in high school. Blake
invites him to a party and after hanging out with his high school crush,
Jason begins to regret booking his 1NS "encounter" later that night.
But Madame Eve may have planned the best night ever.
~EXCERPT
“Hey, where are you going?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it!” Jason Lewis raced past his startled sister.
“Wait—”
“No!” He dashed upstairs, hot tears welling in his eyes.
Abby tried to be understanding but, twenty years his senior, his sister was far too old to remember the evils of high school. Besides she had been born gorgeous—red hair looked great on women—and she didn’t care what others thought about her. He wished he could at least pretend he didn’t care.
Jason hated high school. He fucking hated it.
It was like hell, only instead of Dante’s demons torturing him, he had the lacrosse team, the football team, and any other bully or popular creep who thought a skinny, redheaded dork resembled a punching bag.
Wiping furiously at his face, he threw open his bedroom door, grateful for the sanctuary. He chucked his ripped backpack and its ice cream-covered contents in the corner. His fifteenth birthday present from Abby, ruined after two months. Lips trembling, he headed for his bed, intending to dive under the covers and cry his eyes out until he forgot David Kilburn had emptied a milkshake all over him—to the very enthusiastic cheers and jeers of all the beautiful people in his high school.
The flush of a toilet drew him to a halt.
His gaze darted toward his bathroom. Who was there?
Oh crap!
Thursday.
Blake Huntington had come for his math lesson. Abby must have let him up already.
This was all he needed. Another jock. Not that Blake acted like the others. Jason had been concerned about tutoring the senior-class star pitcher, but the guy had turned out to be pretty decent for a jock. Not dumb but, like a lot of people, he had a difficult time understanding math. Six months from graduation, Blake’s parents had hired Jason, a sophomore mathlete, to tutor him twice a week. Blake had been recruited by a Big Ten university as a relief pitcher, but if Jason couldn’t help, he could forget the scholarship—probably the only reason he treated Jason like a fellow human being instead of duct-taping him in his underwear to the flagpole.
Jeez…that had been the worst day of his life. Abby had freed him when she picked him up for an orthodontist appointment. An orthopedic surgeon and a formidable woman, she had threatened to sue the school and the parents of all the kids involved. But he had refused to name anyone. Things would’ve gotten worse. He still remembered the look she’d worn—disappointed the little brother she’d raised refused to stand up for himself. He knew she wished he could be tougher.
But like all the bullies said, he really was a pussy.
Again, hopeless tears streamed down his face. He brushed at them, needing to get it together. Water running in the bathroom meant Blake was washing his hands and would be out any second. He wrestled his shirt off and grabbed a clean one from the hamper. Pulling it on, he glanced in the mirror. The dark orange hair—auburn, Abby called it—his pale face now red from crying, and puffy brown eyes behind his glasses. And the shirt was a wrinkled mess. He looked terrible.
He prayed Blake wouldn’t say anything.
The bathroom door opened.
“Hi, Blake!”
Drawing up short, the tall muscular jock jumped.
Waaay too chipper. Idiot!
A gorgeous smile cut through Blake’s tanned face. His wavy, jet-black hair, in need of a trim, fell over his ears. The kinda movie star hair Jason wished he’d been born with. His expression sparkled with happiness. Of course, what didn’t Blake have to be happy about? Attractive, rich, and athletic—he possessed the holy trinity of high school popularity requirements.
“Hey there, Jay.”
Butterflies danced in his stomach when Blake called him Jay. Well, they were more like pterodactyls putting on an air show, but that was beside the point. No one had ever nicknamed him before, and he liked it. More than he should. But he shouldn’t be experiencing butterflies or anything in the butterfly species or genus over another dude. For crying out loud, he didn’t want anyone to think he was gay. Might as well permanently tattoo the words “kick me” onto his back.
Jason wasn’t gay—no way! Being around jocks made him nervous, that was all. Nothing more. And just because no jock made him more nervous than Blake Huntington…that didn’t mean anything either. Right?
“What’s wrong?” Blake’s gorgeous eyes narrowed. His olive-colored jersey made them appear bright green today, but they were actually hazel, changing shades depending on what he wore.
He forced a smile, irritated at the older boy’s astuteness and at himself for noticing another guy’s eye color. “Nothing. You ready for fractions?”
Taking two steps closer, Blake studied his face, unsettling him somewhat. Then he crossed his long, muscular arms over his chest and announced, “You’ve been crying.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Did someone beat you up again?”
Jason’s eyes burned at the harsh way he said “again.” Retrieving his laptop for their tutoring session, he pushed his glasses up his nose. “No, just my allergies acting up.”
“Did allergies dump ice cream all over your backpack, too?” His voice oozed sarcasm like the sticky milkshake dripping from the ruined bag he held up in accusation.
Before Jason could stop it, his lower lip trembled. He turned away. “I had an accident.”
“It was David Kilburn, wasn’t it?”
Hands shaking, he set out the study books. He couldn’t see very well with the tears clouding his vision and fogging up his glasses. Feeling like the biggest loser in the world, he whirled on Blake, temper spiking. “No! Forget it, o-kay?”
He wanted to punch something when his pubescent voice cracked. Of course, it would do that in front of the eighteen-year old jock.
No wonder everyone picked on him.
Blake cursed. “I’m gonna kick his ass.”
“Thanks,” he began after a shaky breath. “But when you graduate, he’ll just be worse. I’m fine.”
He looked dumbstruck. “Your bag is covered in milkshake. You were crying. That’s not fine, Jay. You should take karate. That’s what you should do. Learn to defend yourself. And I should teach David to pick on someone his own size.” He pounded a fist into his hand.
This righteous indignation was not a side of Blake he’d ever seen before. No one but Abby defended him. But if Blake got involved, Jason would learn the real meaning of hell next year. “Just forget it, okay?”
“No. You’re my friend. If he’s bullying you, you need to tell me, and I’ll stop him.”
Friend.
Their tutoring sessions had been going on for a couple of months, and they got along fine. Blake even said hello in the hallway every day before Spanish class. Though that was just the kinda guy Blake was, nice to everyone and enemy to none. Did he actually think they were friends? Were they?
Though he spent more time with Blake than anyone else in school, it was for studying and that didn’t make them friends—Jason didn’t really have any of those. Sure, there were some fellow nerds he sat with at lunch, but they never hung out after school. He wanted to, but living the first ten years of his life as a sheltered home-schooler, he was too shy and awkward in social situations to initiate anything. Even after five years of normal school, he still didn’t know where to begin. Any friends he had, it seemed, lived in books and video games. That horrible realization on the heels of the afternoon forced the tears to spill free.
“Don’t cry, Jay,” Blake pleaded, sounding helpless.
Mortified, he made a beeline to the bathroom.
Blake stepped in front of him, his six-foot-two athlete’s physique an immovable mountain barring Jason from asylum. He drew up short, but before he could tell the dumb jock to get out of the way, Blake hugged him.
*************
I hope you enjoyed this extended excerpt from THE BEST EVER available where all eBooks are sold.
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Good Luck!
With Blake’s sports career, however, their relationship still needs
to remain on the down-low. As far as everyone else is concerned, Jason rents
the pool house at Blake’s West Bloomfield home. Blake is working with his
publicist and agent on if and when he decides to make their relationship
public, but unfortunately that might be some time in the future. 
