J.D. Walker

Coming home is not something Kayle Grimes ever envisioned for himself. He left this town of bigots behind without regrets and made a good life elsewhere. Now he’s back again, hiding in his parents’ old house and licking his wounds.<br><br>Asher Knox, the reason Kayle disappeared in the first place, is the last thing he needs. But the boy who broke his heart is now the mayor, and won’t take no for an answer.<br><br>Asher Knox has to find a way to get Kayle to forgive him and see he’s no longer a coward hiding in the closet. He’s out and proud, and ready to publicly claim Kayle as his own. It doesn’t help that the Kayle who has returned home is stubborn and prickly, and Asher knows he’s going to make a fool of himself, but it’s worth it, all the same.

Nowhere But Home

I’d go home after this and try to finish the piece I’d been working on despite my wandering thoughts. Asher had kept popping up in my head, and I’d found myself doing sketches of him at odd moments, one of which I’d converted to pastels. It was of the day I’d seen him playing with Dali. Why that memory lingered, I had no idea.


I didn’t want to forgive him, and I didn’t want to admit that not everyone would be as comfortable with their sexual identity as I was. I had the “take no prisoners” attitude, and tended to look down on people hiding in the closet, pretending to be something they were not. But that wasn’t Asher anymore, it seemed. And he was the fucking out-and-proud mayor of this town. I hadn’t seen that coming in a million years.


Chapter 6