Pick Up the Pieces

Change comes to all of us. For Theo Bascopolis, the first time is when he's fifteen. He finds his life falling apart when his father discovers Theo is gay and orders him to become straight or leave. Having no choice, in spite of what his father might think, Theo leaves. But where can a fifteen-year-old go? Especially when it starts to rain. He thinks things are looking up when he meets a striking man named Franky, who seems very attracted to him. However, once again Theo's life changes when he learns all Franky wants is for him to hustle. And so Theo becomes the rent boy Sweetcheeks. However, Franky underestimates Sweetcheeks, and the results of the ensuing fight sees Sweetcheeks fleeing to Washington DC, where he crosses paths with a group of rent boys who take him in. Finally Sweetcheeks has a family, a home, and an additional source of income in the form of apartments they're able to rent out. His life changes again a few years later when a mysterious tenant by the name of Mark Vincent becomes the reason behind the assault on one of Sweetcheeks's boys. Vincent visits the boy in the hospital, bringing with him his equally enigmatic trainee, William Matheson. The instant attraction blindsides Sweetcheeks. In spite of knowing love isn't for rent boys, he hopes Matheson can see beyond the body he's offered to so many. But Matheson has secrets of his own. Can Sweetcheeks overcome his insecurities enough to believe in the quiet man who's come into his life? Can Matheson keep his actual occupation a secret without it jeopardizing their budding relationship?

Tinnean

Not enough ratings

122 Chs

Chapter 31

* * * *

The following year, Tom and Mike decided to start their own stable. I gave them their share of the business, and they moved out to Los Angeles. The Kid went with them. Tangerine had long since decided he liked drugs more than the comfort of our family, such as it was, and last I’dheard, he was hustling on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan.

* * * *

Two months after Congress convened in 2000, Delilah met a man who asked her to move in with him. In spite of his promises that she could leave the business, she was still tricking.

* * * *

By late summer of 2001, our stable thinned out to three—Paul and me, the last of the original boys, and Spike, who Paul had found on the street, another kid whose family had thrown him out like so much trash.

“He followed me home,” Paul murmured as he made the boy a sandwich. Spike looked up quickly, brushed the platinum hair out of his eyes, and tried to look tough.

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