Sex can be a dangerous business. So can love. On the worst day of his life, Wren Gallagher wants oblivion when he steps into Tricks for a drink. When a mysterious stranger steps up to pay his tab, he offers Wren the key to fulfilling his dreams of prosperity and true love. But appearances are not always what they seem. His savior owns the escort agency ? Louer, and he wants the young and handsome Wren as part of his stable of men-for-hire. Down on his luck, Wren figures, why not? He needs the money. When he joins, though, he doesn't count on meeting Rufus, another escort with whom he falls hopelessly in love. But their love story will have to overcome the obstacles of not only trading love for money, but ? Louer's dark -- and deadly -- secrets.

A Dangerous Game

Wren had been there for close to three hours. It had been easy to find Rufus’s building, since he had practically given him coordinates when they first talked. Now Rufus’s front stoop on Catalpa Avenue was littered with cigarette butts and a smashed can of Red Bull. Many of what Wren supposed were Rufus’s neighbors had eyed him suspiciously as they stepped around him to enter the redbrick six-flat apartment building. One, an older gentleman with a bald pate and a ring of silver hair above his ears, even stopped to ask if he could help him, what business he had here. Wren waved him off, telling him he was waiting for his friend Rufus. After the old man had gone inside, Wren wondered if even the term friend was too grandiose for what he and Rufus shared.


They hardly knew each other, and yet Wren persisted in this fantastic love for him, worrying himself nearly to death—no pun intended—about Rufus’s whereabouts and well-being.


Chapter 62