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

Now what? What would denote the New Year? Out with the old, in with the new? Rebirth? Resolutions?


As he was trying to figure out a theme, his phone rang.


“Sorry I’m calling so late,” Shaun said when Ryan answered. “I laid down for a second when I got home and just woke up.”


“After everything you did yesterday, plus working a full shift afterward, I’m not surprised.”


“Did you get your studio set up?” Shaun asked.


“Yep. Now I’m trying to figure out what drawings I need to do for the show at gallery.”


“Hmm. He said it was opening on New Year’s. That makes me think of fireworks and champagne.”


“I know, but that’s so clichéd.”


“Not in your hands,” Shaun replied. “You work in color as well as black-and-white, from what I saw at the gallery. See what you can come up with melding them, like you did with the monsters.”


“Maybe.” Ryan nodded, not that Shaun could see him. Then he smiled when an idea hit him. “Yeah. Maybe.”


Chapter 74