Aaron Foley

This hilarious, touching debut novel by Aaron Foley follows three Black gay millennial men looking for love in Detroit. Suddenly jobless and single after a devastating layoff followed by a breakup with his cheating ex, advertising copywriter Dominick Gibson flees Hell's Kitchen and finds himself trying get his life back on track in his hometown of Detroit, where he's got one objective in mind: To exit the shallow gay dating pool ASAP and be married by 35--and he's only got two years left. Dom's best friend Troy Clements, an idealistic teacher who never left the Motor City, finds himself at odds with all the men in his life: A troubled boyfriend he's desperate to hold onto, a perpetually dissatisfied father, and his other best friend, Remy. Remy Patton is a rags-to-riches real estate agent in town with his own problems--namely choosing between making it work with a long-distance paramour or settling with a local Mr. Right Now that's not quite Mr. Right--but his friendship with Troy may be compromised over his latest high-stakes deal. Follow these three men as they confront their evolving friendship, but also individual hiccups--workplace microaggressions, bad Tinder dates, situationships, frenemies, learning the Tamia hustle--while attempting to navigate the new and changing Detroit.

Boys Come First

Lindsay

The last thing Dominick wanted was to be someone’s daddy, a sixtysomething single man with a wrinkled chitterling dick and a hog maw butthole who thinks he’s forty years younger and creeps on anybody and everybody.

They say things at weddings about completion—“ You complete me.” It suggests there’s something incomplete about both parties, doesn’t it?

They say New Yorkers are South Carolinians in Timbs, and Chicago is made up of Mississippians in winter coats. Detroiters, then, are ’Bammas wrapped in fur.

“You know what?” Dominick said, taking another gulp of merlot. “Why do we compare men to dogs? I wish I had a dog. Dogs are fuckin’ loyal. They’re happy to see you when you get home, they cuddle ’n shit, and they love you to death. You know what men actually are? Giraffes. Like who the fuck needs a giraffe? They look good, and maybe they have a big dick— at least I’m assuming a big- ass bitch like a giraffe has a big- ass dick. But at the end of the day, they’re pointless.”

I’ve never been faithful to one particular barber. If anything, most of the barbers I go to aren’t any different from half the men I’ve dated: unreliable, full of excuses, all talk, and only available at their convenience.

The dot- dot- dot was annoying— men who end sentences with ellipses need to get to the fucking point,

The emotional state of an eighteen- year- old baby gay can best be compared to a squirrel on a power line: moving far too fast along a tightrope with no preparedness for any kind of shock.

I don’t want to grow with a man. I want a grown man,

And this was all new to him because he didn’t know how to plan for the kind of disappointment he’d worked so hard for the past eight years to avoid.

You’re not supposed to feel burdened by the city that made you who you are.

Boys Come First quotes

Join the club