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Chapter One
Midnight Falls seemed the perfect little town to start over. Hopefully. The last “little town” Laith had lived in had been a nightmare. He should have just moved to a large, bustling city where he could be anonymous. That was what any sane person would do after what Laith had gone through, but clearly, he was a glutton for punishment.
At least in this town, no one knew about his past, and he planned on keeping it that way. Absolutely no one was going to know that Laith preferred men. Not a single soul would find out that Laith was run out of the last town because he’d been caught kissing another guy.
Thankfully that was all he’d been caught doing. If the good ole sheriff had known about the impromptu trysts he’d had with a certain sheriff’s son, Laith’s body probably would have gone missing. Daniel was Sheriff Cade Brighton’s pride and joy, and the sheriff was totally unaware that his son was gay.
It had been embarrassing enough that the sheriff had stood at Laith’s door to make sure he packed his things and left town. Lord only knew what Cade would have done if he’d caught his only child in bed with Laith.
Laith sighed as he locked his apartment door and headed downstairs. He’d lucked out finding a place with such reasonable rent, luckier still to be allowed to move in the same day he’d inquired about the place.
It was an apartment over a candy store, but beggars couldn’t be assholes about what was available, especially when the apartment came furnished.
As soon as Laith made it to street level, he spotted Tillman, the guy who’d rented the apartment to him.
“Hey, Laith.” Tillman smiled. “Getting settled in?”
Damn, that smile was going to force Laith to move again. It was like watching the sun rise. He returned Tillman’s grin. “Yes, and again, thanks for renting to me.”
Tillman stood next to a shiny new pickup, unloading something from the back. “No problem. How’s work going?”
Laith had to force himself not to sigh out loud. The guy was a walking wet dream. He was even more handsome than Daniel had been. The guy probably had lots of friends who would all pulverize Laith if he hit on Tillman.
“Enjoying some downtime,” Laith confessed. He’d had a freelance graphic design business before he’d gotten into social media management.
Tillman frowned. “I thought you edited for YouTubers.”
“Yeah, but I have a friend who took over until I get settled in.” Until I can get over what happened. Sheriff Cade Brighton might not have lain a finger on Laith, but Laith had been beaten when he’d kissed his neighbor—a guy who hadn’t been Daniel, thank fuck—and he was still sore in various places.
His neighbor, David, hadn’t taken kindly to being kissed by a guy, and had called his buddies over to teach Laith a lesson. As he lay on the ground trying to protect himself, he’d seen Daniel hiding in the shadows, too afraid to help Laith.
A week later Sheriff Brighton had shown up at Laith’s door, forcing him to leave town, stating that he would kill Laith if he ever saw him again.
The sheriff was a big, intimidating guy. But that wasn’t the reason Laith feared anyone finding out he was gay. It was the beatdown he’d had two weeks ago that made him seize up every time he thought of just being himself in this new town.
It wasn’t the bruises that had traumatized him, but the fear of dying was still a huge headfuck to him. He’d woken up for the past week in a pool of sweat, still seeing those men standing over him, kicking the shit out of him, taking turns punching him and calling him all kinds of obscene names.
As sexy as Tillman was, Laith wasn’t willing to go through that kind of trauma again. And Tillman was three times the size of those men who’d beaten Laith. The guy looked more like a mountain than a man.
“Since you have a little downtime, why don’t I show you around my shop?”
Laith bit his lower lip, unsure if that was a good idea. He shouldn’t tempt fate by spending too much time around Tillman, but he didn’t want to come off as ungrateful since the guy had taken a chance on him moving in without any references.
“Um, sure.” Laith followed Tillman into the candy store, inhaling deeply.
The shop smelled heavenly, a mixture of sugar, vanilla, and chocolate. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until that moment. It had been a long day, and his stomach grumbled in response to the intoxicating aroma.
Laith blushed, realizing how that must have sounded.
Tillman chuckled. “Sounds like you could use a little something sweet.”
“I skipped lunch,” he said, feeling his cheeks heat up. He’d also skipped breakfast.
“I have just the thing to satisfy your sweet tooth,” Tillman said with a wink.
Laith had no idea what a sweet tooth had to do with a decent meal, but he followed the guy to a glass case filled with an array of chocolates, fudges, and other confections. Laith’s eyes widened as he took in the selection. He’d never seen so many different types of candy in one place before.
Tillman must have noticed his amazement because he started explaining a few of the pieces. “This one is our bestseller. It’s a dark chocolate truffle with a hint of sea salt.” He pointed to a small, round chocolate on the top shelf. “And this one is a peanut butter cup made with all-natural ingredients.”
