Ryan is a young artist hoping to make a name for himself. When he meets a man who offers to help him advance his career, he accepts. His career takes off when Merrick arranges two shows for Ryan at a local gallery. Ryan is elated, especially when their relationship becomes more personal. What he doesn’t expect is to end up being abused, physically and emotionally, as Merrick tightens his control over the younger artist.<br><br>After a vicious beating, Ryan manages to escape, naked except for a bedspread wrapped around himself. Policeman Shaun Levitt finds him cowering in an alley. Taking the battered young man under his wing, Shaun begins the slow process of helping Ryan come to grips with what happened.<br><br>Will Ryan learn to trust again? Or will he forever look at any man who might be interested in him as another potential abuser ... including Shaun?

In the Name of Love

“And we wouldn’t say no to a helping hand,” Shaun added. “They’re not heavy, but after two trips already with them.”


“Got it,” Jim replied, picking up the base for one of the drawing tables.


Between the three of them, with Ryan supervising after taking the lights down, they got everything into the basement and put together. By then, it was dinnertime—as Miss Gina pointed out when she came down to see how things were progressing.


“Did you decide which part of the basement to use?” she asked Ryan.


“Here,” Ryan told her, indicating the back area. “Once you tell me where you want all these, umm, interesting bits of furniture.”


She laughed. “If I had an ounce of sense, I’d tell you to take most of them out to the dumpster.”


“Quick, before she changes her mind.” Shaun grinned when she flipped him off, then said, “Not that I can help. I have to go home and get ready for work.”


Chapter 73