Moving On

by Rob Colton

Betrayed by his husband and his best friend, Mason finds himself alone, living back at home with his mom. When his husband's friend Alex stops by to take him to lunch to talk, Mason finds he can't resist getting to know the other man.
21,913 words

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Short Stories, Romance, Gay, Friends To Lovers, Family

66 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Rob Colton is a software developer by day, and avid reader of romance novels at night. A romantic at heart, he loves stories that feature big, burly men who find true love and happy endings.

Stories can be found on Literotica, Nifty and Gay Authors under the username robcub32.

Reviews

[SheReadsALot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seem to have become a fan of this author. I can't quit his stories. I like the predictability of the characters we get, you know one will be a bear and the other will not be.

Mason (non-bear) is betrayed by his best friend and his husband. Unfortunately, Mason catches them in the act. But he find love in his cheating husband's best friend, Alex. The two of them become friends over time and it blossoms into love.

Now there were issues with the story, I think my main one is the lack of retribution from Mason for Dale, his husband and Damien, his best friend. Dale is an asshole and Mason just gave up too easily.

But Damien...oh Damien is selfish, egotistical, narcissistic, prick. "Friends" like him should come with a warning sign. And if I was Mason, you can believe Damien would have never gotten off so lightly. Pardon my rant: Damien is a dirty motherfucker that doesn't deserve the title friend. The slap he got is small potatoes to what he really deserved. And what is that pray tell? I'd have cursed him the fuck out as I do a TWO STEP ON HIS FUCKING BALLS! So lucky he's a fictional character. He pissed me off. Damien, I wish you'd get the plague in your diseased ridden mouth, your balls shrivel into dust from gangrene and asshole gets the Ebola virus, twice. You're lower than scum. I can't think of anything lower than scum, maybe shit of scum but know I am eternally waving my middle fingers at you. Dick.

Truthfully the story is about a 3 but I apparently have connected with a character or two, so 3.5 Stars rounded up.

P.S. Soap as lube? C'mon. And it's kinda underhanded to use a kid to manipulate a potential partner. But Mason was kind of a doormat, so I guess it works for him. *shrugs*

[Macky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read my version online at Literotica .com where Rob writes under robcub32. There's something about the way Rob writes that just does it for me and he's fast becoming a favourite because he has a sweet, simple, laid back style of writing which I just find so easy to read. The love stories are warm fuzzy romantic but when he hits you with the sex or a love scene its sort of a Hot erotic surprise in the way it contrasts with the sweetness of the romance.

The cheating aspect to the story did have me wishing that the perpetrators got a bit more retribution and I suppose in real life there would have been more arguments and thrashing it out between cheaters and cheatee but then again this is really quite short so I suppose it got pared back a tad because of lengh. Aiden the little boy is adorable but thankfully not precocious and Alex and Mase'scourtship is really lovely. Mase's mum is a lovely supporting character too.

All in all I thought this was a really endearing little love story that probably did lack a little bite but I still really enjoyed it. Left me smiling so that's a good thing!

[Mandy*reads obsessively* · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a free short. It deals with some interesting topics, but keeps them pretty light.
Mason has been in a committed relationship for 6 years, he even married his husband.
Imagine his surprise when he comes home to find his best friend and his husband having sex.

I had a few WTH moments that I just can't quite overlook completely, so I'll spoiler them.

Yeah, well, that was the end of the marriage and the friendship. And seriously I had a lot of trouble with that part, we are led to believe Dale hated Damian, why is he cheating on mason with him, regularly is seems.
Anyway, Alex a friend of Dale's, helps Mason pick up the pieces and they get involved and fall in love.

I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more of not for a few things :
Mason talks to a lawyer, but finds out filing for divorce is a bit more complicated, so he doesn't do anything more about it? Really? He moves in with Alex but it reads like Dale was the one that filed and got the divorce moving.
I don't know, i don't like that it sounds like mason just dropped it. If Dale hadn't done it, what then?

Then, remember Mason's ex is a cheater, yet a month after leaving him mason is sleeping with Alex WITHOUT condoms? Really? That bugged me.

Then, I think Ami is a bad influence on me, but seriously Mason calls Alex, well Alex. But all Alex seems to be able to call Mason after they start kissing is 'baby'.
Every single sentence is baby this and baby that.

And although Aiden is cute and a nice part of the story, I really did agree with Mason, Alex uses Aiden to get Mason to agree with things and to let him in. I'm not sure I liked that.



Ok, I'm nitpicking, it was cute and free and ignore my issues. But one more thing, this is the first time I have ever had a book end with this kind of last sentence :
“My ass contracted with every spurt of come.”

[Deeze · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a little work this could have been a great angsty read, as it stands its a simple, sweet, story with a tiny hint of angst and an adorable kid thrown in.

I enjoyed watching Alex and Mason grow closer, but I'd of loved a bit more on Mason and Dale. Without a bit more detail on their relationship the whole cheating story is a bit out of the blue.

Sadly there is no pay back in this one either and I always like a little revenge served up with my cheating lol.

Overall an easy fast read if you need a quick romance fix.

[Phaney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a little more obviously porn, maybe. I dunno. It was a nice enough story but I didn’t really connect. I just did not see any of the emotional attachments form or really feel them in action? And I would have wanted the cheaters to receive some sort of punishment (other than losing Mason as best friend or husband, I mean). The way it is, they get away with blaming Mason for their own fuck-ups, just because he moved on afterwards.

Again condoms were apparently a non-issue, except during the cheating. Which is… a bit odd. And I don’t think Alex offering to pull out before he comes really works that well for STD protection during anal sex. This isn’t about avoiding pregnancy, for god’s sake. (Not that it would be all that reliable for that either, but I digress.) Still, I need to remind myself that apparently porn plays fast and loose with such things. Eh.

So yeah. It was okay but nothing more than that.

[Tailtiu · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5* upgrade because it's free

[Mirjam · Rating 2 out of 5]

"He threw away something precious. I'm not giving it back."

When Mason walks in on Dale, his cheating asshole husband, and Damien, his narcissistic, selfish best friend having sex, seemingly not for the first time, he ends the marriage and moves back with his mother.
Hurt and depressed Mason just goes to work and locks himself in his bedroom until Alex, one of Dale’s best friends, comes to look how he is doing.
Alex & Mason, with the approval of Mason’s mother, start spending time together and falling for each other.

This is a really short story with sweet bear, Alex, and his adorable son, Aiden.
I was really looking for more payback towards Dale and Damien and would have like to know if Dale had cheated with other men as well.
But overall a quick fun read.

[Meep · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kindle-Sort-ReRead

Oh my. So much emotion. Tears by the bucket. Everyone is sorry and crying, or shouting, throwing punches, then crying.

If Dale is so horrible why was Alex friends with him? Why did everyone support him?

Was Mason bothering with the divorce?
Didn't like Alex charming his mother and using his toddler to manipulate.

Actually I didn't like anyone.
But at least the tissue company'd be doing well.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of Rob Colton's shorts are a solid 3 star for me. I like them a lot, and I do get emotionally connected to the characters (which is huge for me), but the overuse of people's names, the simplistic dialogue, and at times cheesy writing usually keep the rating form going any higher.

Those same things apply here. But as I said, I liked it. Mason was a good character, the lack of a blurb left things up in the air. I had no idea what this was going to be about or where it was going. Not gonna say I wasn't surprised by the twist and I definitely was tearing up along with Mason he caught his husband fucking his bes friend. But the way it worked out was great and I enjoyed the read.

A few critiques specific to this story (as opposed to the general ones I listed above):

1) I guess things worked out the way they would in real life, but I wanted a little more negative karma/pay-back for the bad guys in this besides the single encounter with each of them, I didn't feel total closure with Damien or Dale. I think that's because I at least wanted Mason to tell them off and he really didn't say much. But I guess he doesn't need to, anyone with a brain know they were in the wrong.

2) The sex scenes can be a little long-winded at times and are actually some of the times when I emotionally connect the least with the characters. This was also the case in Salvation, sometimes they are just added in where they are not needed or feel forced.

3) Random inconsistency Mason immediately looked into filing for divorce, but since they got married in MA, they had to be a resident of MA to get divorced... I'm assuming that's cuz MI doesn't consider them married.... OK, but then they are still married if he ever went to MA? And then at the end, Dale filed for divorce and Alex said "about time"... huh?

[Alina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I really liked this book I still thought Mason broke up with Dale way too fast and I dunno - easy? I know Dale cheated on Mason with Damien, Mason's friend and it was a hideous thing to do, no doubt about it. All the more awful that Mason walked in on them having sex. But still they were together with Dale for 6 years, 3 of them being married and Mason didn't even once talked to Dale in person about their break up. He just didn it over the phone. In no way I'm defending Dale, but his later behavior, his frequent calls and how upset he was seing Mason and Alex together looked like he was genuinely sorry and didn't want to lose Mason for good. No matter how Damien insinuated later I still think there was a chance to save their marriage, and I kind of felt sorry about what Mason and Dale lost.

Still it was a good book and I loved Alex, he was awesome - so supportive, patient and loving - great guy! His lottle son Aiden was adorable too. Mason's mom was such a sweet and fun lady, I loved her! It's really nice to see supportive parents for a change.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mason and his husband Dale have been together for years. One night Damien, Mason's best friend since high school, drama diva extraordinaire, calls sobbing. It seems Damien's latest boyfriend caught him cheating and kicked him out. Despite Dale's reluctance, Mason offers him the spare bedroom... which leads to disastrous results. A month later, Mason walks in on Dale and Damien having sex. Furious, Mason leaves Dale and walks out.
After a few weeks Alex, one of Dale's buddies, a gorgeous bear, knocks on Mason's door. "I'm here to check on you," he tells Mason, before he drags him out of the house. And this begins his long, slow, courtship of Mason.

I liked this, though I found some the dialogue a bit corny. Wish the characters had been developed a bit more.

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read on 12-10-13

I think Damian and Dale got off too easily. I would have liked to know how long it was going on. Damian eluded to the fact that it has been going on for years--talking about sloppy seconds. I liked how Mason talked with the lawyer right away, but why not follow through? He was pretty involved with Alex, even moving in with him, and not filing for divorce? Kind of weird. Then there's Alex, how did he feel about not talking with his friends again?

LOVED Mason's mom :)

I read the literotica version.

[Cee Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not given out 5 stars in a bit, but this story did it for me. I did not like it, I LOVED it and thankfully the guys were there for each other and made my day.
No matter how bad your life seems, there is a silver lining around every cloud.
Wished it was longer, really want more Mase and Alex.

[Dennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

reread

[Kim Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost make me cry (the literal, tearing up almost crying, not the "omg I almost cried" squee version) = 5 stars. And = my eternal ire, but 5 stars nonetheless.

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[S.M. Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review To Come.

[~RMG · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars