Book
title: Knobs
Author: Scotty Cade
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release
date: April 22, 2016-01-31
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Angus Conrad (Gus) McRae is a privileged Charlestonian
following family tradition and attending the Citadel, harboring big dreams of a
military career. With the infamous hell week behind him, he quickly realizes
being a Knob (a freshman cadet) is just as tough—especially for a man like Gus
who must keep his sexuality a secret. Then a sudden dorm reassignment places
him in a room with one of the football team’s top players: working-class jock
Stewart Adam (Sam) Morley—and life gets increasingly complicated.
Gus can’t imagine a man like Sam as gay, yet there’s
something between them—exchanged glances, the occasional innuendo. Sexual
tensions rise, leaving them more than friends but less than lovers. Gus and Sam
know there’s too much to lose and they must keep their attraction hidden. If they fail, they risk destroying their hopes
and dreams for a prosperous future in a military world that’s not yet ready to
accommodate masculine gay men.
“Are you
gonna come in and close the door behind you?” Gus asked sarcastically. “Or are
all the cadets going to get to see me in my underwear?”
Sam was sort
of standing there more for effect than anything, but his eyes were glued to
Gus’s body. His stomach was ripped, and the muscles in his thighs were visible
through the legs of his boxer briefs.
“Okay,” Sam
said. “If I close the door, will you at least talk to me?”
Gus shook
his head. “I really don’t think you want to hear what I have to say right now.”
“I think
you’re wrong about that,” Sam said, stepping in and allowing the door to close
behind him.
Sam removed
his cover and tossed it onto his bunk. He was tired of this cat-and-mouse game.
Instead of untying his shoes, he brought his left foot up and tugged at his
shoe until it came off. He tossed the shoe into the bottom of his locker,
making quite the thud, and removed the right one much the same way.
He turned
and rested his hands on his hips. “Are you gonna talk to me now?”
Gus didn’t
respond. He went to his closet, removed his toiletries bag, and headed for the
door. Sam took two steps forward, put both hands on Gus’s shoulders, spun him
around, and backed him up against the door.
Their faces
were so close Sam could feel Gus’s warm breath against his face.
Sam slammed
one hand against the back of the door while leaving the other one on Gus’s
shoulder. “Fuck, Gus! Yell at me. Curse me out. Do something. Don’t just give
me the silent treatment. You’re not leaving this room until you talk to me.”
Gus smiled
incredulously. “So, what? You’re gonna hold me hostage now?”
“If that’s
what it takes,” Sam said.
“Fine! You
want me to talk? Here goes. You are the most selfish bastard I’ve ever met.
You’ve treated me like shit since the first day we met, and I’m not going to be
your punching bag anymore. Please go to the Academic Officer and ask for a
transfer. Tell him we’re incompatible. I’ll back you up on that one.”
“I don’t
want a transfer,” Sam said, his lips now inches away from Gus’s.
“Why not?”
Gus said quietly through clenched teeth, just in case there were any stray
cadets roaming around in the hall. “You’ve done everything possible to offend
me and my family. Why not move on to another cadet? Go ahead, man, share the
charms of Stewart Adam Morley with the entire Citadel, one cadet at a time.”
Gus glared
at him, the normal bright silver-gray of his eyes now a dark, gloomy gray.
“Furthermore, you can fuck with me all you want, but leave my crazy family
out—”
Sam had
heard enough. Before Gus could finish his sentence, Sam covered Gus’s lips in a
crushing kiss.
This is where you really get to know Scotty Cade, the person.
There’s probably more information here than you’ll ever want to know, but here
goes:
I started my life in the city of New Orleans, better known as
the Big Easy and was raised along with my two sisters in a very small
neighborhood along the mighty Mississippi River. I was undeniably a momma’s boy
and enjoyed a lot of alone time with my stay-at-home mother before my younger
sister was born, while my older sister was at school and my Dad was at work.
I spent fun days with my mom around the house doing chores
riding on the back of her canister vacuum cleaner while we listened to musical
greats such as Etta James, Dinah Washington and Brenda Lee. I truly believe
this is where my love of music was born.
When the chores were done, we’d settle down for story time which
is where my love of reading and eventually of writing was also born. But all
that came to a horrible end when my baby sister came into the picture and I no
longer had Mom all to myself. Then another horrible incident struck — my sixth
birthday and the first grade. Oh boy, did I hate going to school. I went, but
not without kicking and screaming literally every morning until I was seven. My
poor mother.
Sharing my mother with my newborn sister and attending school
left us very little time together and I truly felt deserted. But I really
showed her. I jumped ship into my Father’s world. I was the only boy, so it was
the logical next step. He was delighted and I was again happy to be the center
of someone’s attention, I soaked it up everyday.
My father raised quarter horses as a hobby and some of my fondest
memories surround that time in my life. When we were older, on weekends the
entire family would pack up the horses and head to local horse shows where, my
father, my younger sister and I would compete in barrel racing and cutting. But
my most cherished memories are of my father and me taking long horseback rides
along the levies of the Mississippi enjoying lunch prepared by my mother. We
spent long summer days riding and jabbering about this or that or just enjoying
a comfortable silence. It wasn’t really the conversation or the silence that
was important to me, but the interest he took in my life that forty-five years
later, still makes my heart swell.
After my brief and unsuccessful marriage, one of those special
moments is where I found the nerve to come out to my Father. It was one of the
hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. He did much better that I and in the
end, wanted only my happiness. He was nothing but supportive and
non-judgmental. I am such a lucky guy.
Unfortunately, the lights in my life dimmed when my loving
mother died of colon cancer and dimmed yet again when my Father was diagnosed
with Alzheimer’s. Luckily, he never forgot who I was but he did forget that I
was gay and in a long term relationship with Kell, whom he adored when he was
healthy. The sad thing was every day when we talked, he would ask about a
girlfriend and each time I would have to tell him I was gay. The first two
years we went through this routinely but each time he seemed to take it a
little harder, so I finally gave up and allowed the disease to win. I simply
told him no girlfriend yet and moved the conversation along. That was difficult
for me.
One morning he slipped into a coma and never regained
consciousness. After several days taking nightly shifts at his bedside it was
my turn to stay the night. Long after my family had left, the aid came into the
room and gave him a bath, combed his hair and powdered him up. He looked so
relaxed and peaceful and ready to move on I couldn’t help myself. I crawled
into the hospital bed with him and told him it was okay for him to go. He’d
been a great father and husband and his wife, my mom was waiting for him on the
other side.
After a long moment I eventually slipped into the chair next to
his bed and watched his stomach go up and down until it stopped. That night he
passed away with me at his bedside. My parents were both wonderful, accepting
and loving people and I will remember their love as long as I live.
Oh boy! Enough of the sappiness. Let’s talk about my favorite subject.
Me.
I attended Louisiana State University, majoring in Marketing
with a secondary in Business Administration, but was lured away from LSU before
graduating by the offer of a job to manage a large well established furniture
store in New Orleans. I went for it. I stayed with that company for five years
and started making my way up the corporate ladder. I joined a high-tech company
in New Orleans and was transferred to Atlanta where I met the love of my life.
Kell and I have been together over twenty years now and we’re still going
strong.
I’ve worked for a total of six companies throughout my
twenty-five-year career and ended up as the Senior Vice President of Worldwide
Marketing and Public Relations for a very large company based in Atlanta.
Throughout my career I focused my writing capabilities on Marketing materials,
Annual Reports, Press Releases, radio scripts, broadcast media, and the likes,
but always had novels running rampant in my mind.
Over ten years ago, Kell and I gave up the corporate rat race
and bought a small hotel and restaurant on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in
Massachusetts. Can you imagine two southern boys ending up in New England, on
an island no less? What a culture shock – for us and for Martha’s Vineyard.
About three years into our venture, we hit burn-out and hired a general manager
to run the business while we took a year off. That is when I started my first
novel, Final Encore, and I haven’t stopped writing since. After that first year
off, Kell and I enjoyed our freedom so much that we purchased a forty-two-foot
motor yacht called “One Mo Time,” which is now where most of my writing is
done. And yes, “MO” stands for homo in case you were
wondering. We travel up and down the eastern seaboard biannually with our
Shetland Sheepdog, Mavis ending up in the South for winters and back up North
for the summers.
Luckily, the ideas for books keep coming and sometimes my
fingers are just not fast enough to get it all down. So I dance the dance
between my fingers and brain on a daily basis and can only hope for the best.
As a southerner who was raised to value commitment and fidelity, my characters
always find their way to long healthy relationships, however long it takes and
however difficult the path. I believe that in the end, the boy should always
get the boy. After all, I got mine.
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