About The Geek and His Artist:

Simon Williams spends his lunch periods drawing his geek and trying not to think about the terrors waiting for him at home. He needs to get away from his abusive father before he suffers the same grisly fate as his mother. Because he’s learned the hard way running away doesn’t work, he’s counting the days until his eighteenth birthday.

Jimmy Bennet should be spending his lunch studying so his senior GPA is good enough to get him into college, but he can’t seem to focus thanks to his distracting artist. When he’s given the opportunity to tutor Simon in Trig and discovers Simon’s home-life nightmare, he wants nothing more than to get Simon out of danger. This need becomes more urgent when Simon comes to school the Monday after their first date with bruises, but it takes a broken leg before Jimmy can convince his boyfriend the Bennets really want him.

But the danger Simon thought was past shows up at the most unexpected time, and he must stand up to the fears he’s held so long to protect not only himself, but the man he wants to spend his life with.

You can find The Geek and His Artist at Amazon

TWO DAYS later Simon finally felt like he could breathe. The Bastard had left for the bar an hour before, and Simon took off as soon as he knew The Bastard hadn’t forgotten his wallet. Now he flipped his skateboard into his hand and pulled open the door to McDonald’s.

He waved to Kip and the rest of the guys as he crossed the restaurant and flopped into a chair at their table. “Hey guys. Sorry, got hung up.”

Kip threw him a look that Simon did his best to ignore. He hadn’t told any of them what home was like, and they hadn’t asked. He guessed they weren’t going to pry into something that was none of their business. Based on the way Kip looked at him now and again, though, he was pretty sure Kip knew at least some of what was going on.

“Yeah, yeah, we know you just don’t want to hang out.” Tony grinned.

Simon rolled his eyes, knowing Tony didn’t mean it. He appreciated the fact that, despite not knowing exactly why he couldn’t always hang out, they never really gave him shit for it, aside from the teasing. “Yeah, well, who’d wanna hang out with you?” he asked, pulling a snort from the other guys at the table.

“We’re just crazy. It’s the only explanation,” Deck said, snickering.

Tony leaned over and punched Deck in the shoulder.

“Only way to explain that hair. Oh wait, you don’t have any.” Tony rubbed his hand over Deck’s bald head.

Deck aimed a punch that Tony dodged.

Simon laughed. “Yeah, yours is so much better.”

Tony’s grin widened and he pointed to the bright red spikes in a line on his head. “Duh, mohawks rule.”

“Dude, mohawks died in the eighties.” Kip dodged Tony’s crumpled napkin.

“You’re just jealous. Those blue and purple spikes all over the place are seriously lame.”

Kip grinned. “I’ll have you know everyone loves these spikes. They’re sexy! Right, Simon?”

Kip was sexy, there were no two ways about it. As tall as Simon at just over six feet, he had a lean body that he put a lot of effort into. His summer job was for his dad’s contracting company, which was all physical labor, and his body showed it. He had a pixieish face that should have looked goofy on a grown man but seemed to work for Kip, deep blue eyes that changed with his moods, and a smile with dimples that certainly caused Simon a bit of discomfort once or twice.

Simon, before he’d discovered his geek, had had to fight very hard to keep from eyeing his friend. But he had discovered his geek, and though Kip hadn’t gotten less sexy, he’d managed to put aside any attraction and just be friends. It hadn’t been easy, especially since he knew Kip was bisexual, but he’d managed it. He’d also done his best to keep his own sexuality to himself, not sure if the knowledge would change things with Kip. He certainly wasn’t in the best situation to date anyone, and messing with his friends was the last thing he wanted to do.

He snorted. “Sexy, yeah, right. Who told you that?”

“Hey! There are plenty of people who think I’m sexy!” Kip scowled.

“Name one,” Deck challenged.

Tony snickered. “He can’t. Oh!” He picked up a cheeseburger that had been sitting on his tray and threw it at Simon. “They put mustard on it.” He wrinkled his nose. “Told me to keep it anyway. Like I’d want that.”

Simon knew what Tony was doing. They may not have known exactly what went on at home, but they did know money was not something Simon had much of. Tony was very creative in finding ways to buy Simon dinner without actually doing it. So even though he knew what Tony was doing, Simon appreciated not having to actually face it. “Never seem to get your burgers right, do they?” he asked as he took a bite.

About Hope Ryan and where to find her:

HOPE RYAN is an out and proud bisexual, wife of a loving guy, and mother to three, including an amazingly brave gender-fluid son. She loves to write about the tough stuff, but also wants to see her characters happy in the end. She feels strongly about showing there is hope for everyone, no matter where you come from, how you identify your gender, or who you love.

Hope likes to play board and card games and can often be found playing God with her Sims or running around, fighting monsters in a virtual version of Middle Earth. Her TV and movie preferences lean towards anime, sci-fi, and fantasy, though she’ll never turn down a good happily ever after love story, either. As long as there are explosions or action, she’s happy. She loves to read books of all kinds, though prefers stories about love in its many forms.

Come join us on Facebook at Grace’s Groupies where you can find out more about Hope and Grace, hang out with other fans and authors, and have fun!

Website: www.hoperyan.com
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Email: hoperyanauthor@gmail.com