Eli Bell is the only son of a police chief inspector and a forensic scientist. He's grown up wonky in a world that only deals with the straight and narrow -- and his new boyfriend isn't helping. Rob Hawkes is six feet of muscle, tattoos, and arrest warrants. A career criminal and a former guest of Her Majesty's Prison Service, he'd rather hit Eli's parents than sit down to dinner with them. One wrong move, and Rob could destroy Eli -- and his family -- without a second thought. But this isn't what it looks like. Rob's not in control here -- and Eli's the one to blame.

What It Looks Like

“Fine,” he said, and hated himself for the way his voice shook. “When you’ve got your head out of your arse, give me a ring. I won’t be back until you do.”


He slammed his way out of the flat, storming past Danny’s wide-eyed expression in the living room doorway, and was halfway down the stairs before realising that, somewhere in the row, he’d started to cry. 10


Eli fumed for the first half, and lounged listless and depressed against the counter for the other half. He worked in a little shop in the city centre three days a week for shit pay, selling cigarettes and TheDaily Mail to old, vaguely-racist guys with Jack Russell terriers. It wasn’t the type of job that kept your mind off fighting with your boyfriend.


Chapter 30