When Nolan Baxter opens up his house to tenants over the summer for cash, he falls for the sexy and alluring Zeb Thursday. Zeb is quiet, subdued, and spends a severe amount of time in his bedroom alone. Nolan begins to wonder about him. Why does he wear gloves, long-sleeved shirts, and a baseball cap during the hot and humid summer days? Why is he hiding his physical appearance? And why does he rarely come out during daylight? Nolan makes it a point to find out Zeb’s history, and along the way learns of the man’s secrets and sins. But as he pries into Zeb’s business, Nolan invades his tenant’s privacy. As a sexual longing builds between them, they devise strength in each other. Nolan inevitably falls for Zeb and vice versa. But will their individual scars, deep and dark, prevent the pair from loving each other?

Beneath His Stolen Skin

Nolan’s game was not finished, of course. The dresser at the bottom of the bed had yet to be scoured through. Something was surely hidden within one of its drawers that would exploit the male tenant on the second floor. Nolan would maybe find drugs, pornography, or textbooks regarding Satanic practices. Perhaps the young man enjoyed women’s clothing, glossy prints of young boys, or snuff films. Maybe Zeb had kept a notebook or journal within one of the dresser drawers diagramming the houses he robbed when he wasn’t at home. Would 1990s magazines be found in the bottom drawer? Would these magazines be filled with ooze-eating, XXX gay stars? Had Zeb hidden a fake ID in the second drawer down? Was he a spy?


Chapter 6