When forty-year-old Chicago podiatrist Matthew Pepper is approached in a bar by college student Ryan Meade, he figures hooking up with the handsome twenty-one-year-old might be just what he needs to help him get over his recent breakup.<br><br>But the hookup doesn’t go as planned and Matthew writes the evening off as a failed one-night-stand. Ryan, however, views things differently. To him, a failed hookup is nothing more than an opportunity to try again.<br><br>Ryan pursues Matthew, not just because he wants to be with the man, but because he wants something ... and he’s determined to get it. Will Matthew find out Ryan isn’t as transparent as he claims to be? Does Lyin’ Ryan live up to his nickname?

Lyin' Ryan

Clay seemed to read my mind, because he looked at me and said, “I know it’s hard being single again after you’ve been in a relationship for a while. If something happened to me and Patrick, I’d have to get another boyfriend STAT because I couldn’t deal with trying to date again. And hookup apps and shit? I’m too old for that nonsense.”


“I don’t think you have to worry about being single again. You and Patrick will be together until you’re old and gray.”


I fully expected Clay to confirm my prediction, but he didn’t. Instead, he shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not.”


I wanted to ask what he meant by that ominous statement, but he excused himself from the table to hit the men’s room and I lost my chance. Something also told me to leave that conversation for another day. I had a hard time believing Clay and Patrick would ever break up, but I wasn’t na?ve enough to believe they didn’t have problems in their relationship like any other couple.


Chapter 12