Andy Howard dropped out of college to get away from his abusive father. When his longtime boyfriend reveals similar tendencies, Andy refuses to endure another moment of it, running away with nothing more than the cash in his pockets. He makes it to Virginia, where he's taken in by Scooter Stahl, a restaurant owner looking for an extra hand who's willing to be paid cash under the table.<br><br>Scooter's been struggling for years: to keep the beachside restaurant he inherited from his parents above water (both financially and literally); to live down the fact that he's gay in a small southern town; to get over the man who's owned his heart since he was fourteen. But he's never had to struggle as hard as he is now, to keep his hands off Andy.

Nights in Sandbridge

“God, sweetheart,” Scooter rasped, “I can’t even imagine how awful that was for you.”


Andy laughed, a little bitterly, and turned his head to kiss the bicep he was using as a pillow. “The thing is, it wasn’t. I mean, it was, but it…It was a frog boil. You know you can put a frog in water, and then start heating that water up, and the frog won’t even notice it getting hotter and hotter untilit’s too late? It was like that. Didn’t even yell that much when we fought, just made me feel…ungrateful. Small. I thought, as much as he did for me, it was only fair to indulge his possessivestreak. I’d only really started to notice the heat right before it…ended. I didn’t even realize justhow much of a bastard he’d really been until after I’d left.”


Chapter 75