From the farms of Tennessee, Beau Watkins had it all in high school: the cute girl, the popular jock lifestyle, a loving family. As a rising freshman at an out-of-state college, he's determined to find out who he really is behind the fake it 'til you make it attitude. He joins Rainbow Connection, the gay student alliance, hoping to find himself. Instead, he meets Vin Reyes. Raised by his grandparents and the heir to a prosperous company, Vin has been out of the closet since he figured out what that meant. He has it all: fashionable clothing, fancy cars, huge houses, and a real party lifestyle, even a bodyguard. Most of all, he has a secret. Uncomfortable with Vin's generosity, Beau fights his growing attraction for the president of Rainbow Connection, instead chasing a series of shallow affairs. Vin's never been denied anything he wants, though, and now he wants Beau. But it isn’t until an old rival puts Beau in the hospital that Vin realizes Beau means more to him than a simple affair. Can the two of them bridge the gap between their worlds and roll with the all the punches life throws at them?

On a Roll

“Now you’re getting the idea,” Vin said. “Come on. I’ll buy you a hot dog. Or three.”


“And this is supposed to encourage me to go to the game?”


Fully half the people attending a home game were not there, Vin decided, to actually watch the game. Fewer than a third of the seats were occupied by human butts. Instead there were seat cushions and beer cozies and hats and coats strewn all over a metric ass-ton of “saved” seats. People went to the game to see and be seen. To gab with their friends along the fence, to lean over and shout to the players, to try to get a date with the cheerleaders. To eat unlimited Hot Donuts Now, drinking cheap hot cocoa, and standing in endless lines for concessions, the bathroom, or souvenirs. Students, teachers, alum, townies, out-of-towners, parents, one seething mass of human flesh, very few of whom seemed the least bit interested in sitting the fuck down and watching the game.


Chapter 24