"ᴡᴀꜱꜱᴀᴍ ʙᴀʙʏ"

Struggling with your sexual identity is no easy path-and it's never a joke. Especially not in the world of football. Especially not as a Black male with an overbearing father who makes it clear he "ain't raise no sissy." For Isiah Carter, that struggle only gets worse during his junior year of high school when a new teammate, Luke Collins, joins the field in the summer. At first, Luke is nothing but a thorn in his side-the dog to his cat. They clash constantly, never seeing eye to eye, always one argument away from throwing hands. They clash on and off the field, tension building with every argument, every look held too long. Luke is everything Isiah shouldn't want-and everything he can't ignore. But one night changes everything, and suddenly, Isiah is unable to deny what he's been running from.

𝚗𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚕𝚘𝚠, 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚞𝚜.

𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐇𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐌𝐫.𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. "𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐌𝐫.𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮..."

" I'm from the city, where you ain't gotta love to love." Running from his dark history of drugs and gang violence, Dakota and his young daughter seeks refuge with a family friend what will become of the two; love, happiness, or betrayal ..