Chlorine & Ink

One viral video. Two different lives. Four words that could burn it all down.Jesse Valentine has the life everyone dreams of—or at least, the one thirty million people fell in love with online. As the assistant manager of a charming Detroit bookstore, he’s just said "yes" to a Pinterest-perfect proposal from Ezekiel Hendricks, a successful, steady, and protective financial analyst who has spent three years polishing Jesse into a masterpiece of stability.But beneath the pressed shirts and scheduled haircuts, Jesse is drowning. He spends his dawns writing a secret manuscript about a love that felt like "drowning in starlight," a love he thought he buried ten years ago.Then, a text message from an unknown number shatters his carefully curated reality: "Hey there, pretty boy."Anson Donovan was Jesse’s first everything—the star athlete who devoured him in empty locker rooms and the boy who broke Jesse's jaw on prom night in a fit of terrified rage. Now, Anson is back, no longer the coward he once was, demanding to know why Jesse is settling for a life that doesn't make his heart race.Caught between the safety of a cathedral and the wild fire of the truth, Jesse must decide who he really is before his story is told for him. With a national television appearance on The Darcy Quinn Show looming, the world is waiting for a fairy tale—but Jesse is finally ready to rise from the ashes.In a world of highlight reels, can Jesse Valentine find the courage to choose the messy, beautiful, and dangerous truth? Read more