After being kicked out of the Chicago condo where he and his boyfriend have lived together for over three years, Scott Parsons is forced to move back to the suburbs with his widowed mother because he's too broke to pay for a place of his own. Angry and humiliated over being dumped and kicked out, Scott tries to make the best of a bad situation by vowing to save enough money from his low-paying job so he can leave his mother's house and get a place of his own. His mother welcomes Scott back with open arms, but reveals she was secretly married her boyfriend during a trip to Las Vegas a month prior. Scott is surprised by his mother's news and even more surprised when he meets his handsome new stepbrother, Alex. Alex, a Stanford grad, has been living and working in LA, but returns to Chicago to pursue an MBA at the University of Chicago while working for a high-powered accounting firm. Scott and Alex initially butt heads, but soon discover there's more to like than dislike about each other. The first time Alex makes a pass at Scott, he ignores it. But when Alex makes a second attempt, Scott decides to take his stepbrother up on his offer and the two start a relationship. Even though Scott knows getting intimately involved with Alex is a bad idea, he also knows that sometimes a bad idea is just too good to ignore.

Fluidity

“Alex and I are going bowling Friday night,” I said. Ever since that first night we’d spent together, “bowling” had become our code word for “fucking.” “You up for a little bowling tonight?” “I’m always up for bowling.”Alex and I had never actually beenbowling, but it seemed like the perfect excuse to spend time together without drawing suspicion from anyone.


“Well, Alex can come, too,” my mother said. “I’m sure Leah would love to see him.”


Fuck. My mother was impossible sometimes. I wondered if she knew there was something going on between me and Alex and this was her backhanded way of keeping us apart. Or maybe I was just being paranoid. Maybe she really wanted everyone to get together at Leah’s with no hidden agenda.


Chapter 26