A hustler. A kept boy. Maybe they're made for each other. Maybe that's the problem.
Sal has been hustling to survive since he landed on the streets at seventeen. He thought he'd finally gotten out when he shacked up with a nightclub owner who gave him his first legit job. Then the mob came calling for unpaid debts and cleaned house, sending Sal on the run with a stolen watch and a couple bucks in his pocket.
He's back to zero, only now he's outside New York City, where he doesn't even know what rackets to work. At twenty-eight, he's tired of living like a street punk.
Sal skirts the train conductor as far as Beacon, a tiny dump of a town. With rain pouring down, he takes refuge in the luncheonette of a fading motor lodge. A sign says they're looking for help, which gets Sal's mental gears working. If there's one thing he knows, it's how to put on the charm. Maybe he can work his way into a situation. Maybe he can get his hand into the cash register.
Then he meets the manager, Will.
The kid belongs in the movies, not running a roadside motel in the middle of nowhere. He's sharp, too, and doesn't take shit from anyone, including Sal. It's been a long time since someone put Sal this off-balance.
But Sal's just got to draw him in, romance him a little. Will's sleeping in a one-bedroom apartment with the motel owner, George, who's old enough to be his father. Sal knows the type.
The problem is, the more time Sal spends with Will, the harder it is to think of him as just a mark. They're two sides of the same coin, aren't they? Sal's starting to feel like there could be more than a quick trick and a cash grab in his future. In their future.
They just need to get George out of the way.
But who's drawing in who? Or are they just two hustlers headed straight to hell together?
Twice is the sixth standalone novel in the Guilty Pleasures Editions.
