Part of The Long Shadow Series by Duncan Gaye

Benny Cerone has always felt like the odd one out. Sensitive, artistic, and adopted into a powerful Chicago family with secrets darker than they let on, he's spent his life playing it safe—until now. At nineteen, he's finally free, starting fresh at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, surrounded by music, freedom, and the promise of becoming who he really is.

Then he meets Ox.

A towering, quiet presence with a haunted past and a job that keeps him firmly tethered to Benny's family, Ox is everything Benny shouldn't want—and everything he can't stay away from. As their connection deepens, Benny is pulled between two lives: the one he's creating on his own terms, and the one he thought he left behind.

Set in the vibrant heart of 1980s Chicago, Enter the Ox is a tender, slow-burn romance about chosen identity, first love, and the quiet ways two people can change each other forever.