Publisher's Synopsis
Matthew, a good-looking, blonde-haired young man from a small northern town in Missouri, had dreamed of the day he could escape the town and the people where he grew up.
Matthew never knew his father, who died in a car wreck shortly before he turned one year old. His mother was an angry, vengeful woman, from a prominent local family, who never wanted to be a single mother, yet never remarried.
Matthew's father came from a small town in southern Missouri. Matthew only knew a few of those relatives, an aunt and her youngest son, who was five years older than Matthew.
This cousin would visit about four times a year, with his mother, and he treated Matthew like a little brother. Matthew felt his cousin was like the brother he never had. They were close, yet no one knew, Matthew's cousin had started molesting and raping him from a young age until he was thirteen.
Matthew had always known he was different, long before his cousin started doing anything sexual with him. It was not until he was in his early teens did Matthew know why he was different. He was gay. What his cousin was doing was not about loving him, it was about intimidation and control, through fear, shame, guilt, and terror of being discovered.
Matthew escaped when he was eighteen and moved to California, where he started college, got a job, and made friends. The best thing of all, was meeting the man of his dreams, and them looking forward to their life together.
