When former tagger Eric hears a cute fellow student named Joel protesting to a woman that he's gay, Eric comes to his rescue and gives him a big kiss and hug in City College’s hallway.<br><br>Even though sparks fly between them, Eric doesn't expect any reward for saving the guy from being hit on in public, so he's surprised when undercover cop Joel asks him to become his pseudo-boyfriend.<br><br>How bad can it be for a former high school dropout, who's been to juvvie more times than class, to pretend he's a cop's lover?

A Kiss in Time

“I got some walls for you,” Joel announced one night after dinner.


He said it like it was nothing, but my heart started beating like I was a teenager and going into my first bar.


“An old pumping station in the middle of Greenbriar Park.”


I knew the park, named for the soccer team owner’s grandfather’s grandfather or whoever had settled the area back in the day. It was a nice little patch of grass and trees with a jogging path and a small play area for kids along the side of the river.


The old pumping station building, a one-story brick cube at one end of the park, used to house equipment for bringing river water to the city. It’d been closed for as long as I could remember, but it still looked solid and the ground around it kept up. It was perfect for murals.


“Thanks,” I added casually as if I didn’t want to run to my desk, clear off all the damn schoolwork, and start designing my masterpiece.


Chapter 6