After pulling himself out of poverty and shame, Elijah Tucker finds he's yanked back to the South Side of Chicago by a man he never saw coming. SOMETIMES, YOU CAN Having it all is hard work, and Elijah Tucker has no problem 24/7-ing to keep himself on top. But life has a sense of humor and a big-ass mirror that reminds Eli where he came from, and shows him what he’s really made of when he meets Gideon Valsecchi. Gideon Valsecchi has one life goal – get out of the shithole where he lives on the South Side of Chicago. To say life has been unkind is a joke he can’t even laugh at; to say he’s going to have to claw his way out is a reality that nearly crushes him every day. But...he has a secret weapon, and he’s learning how to hone his skills. Yet, hope is a feeling he won’t indulge in until he gets to know Elijah Tucker, who shows Gideon there is an out, and it can include love.

It's one thing to want it all, it's another to be man enough to live it. HARD KNOCKS Gideon Valsecchi had done the impossible when he busted out of the grueling poverty and pre-ordained existence his life had been on the South Side of Chicago. His free ride at college is the stepping stone to a career with a professional soccer team. And when his dream comes true it's not what he expects—sacrifice shouldn't taste this bitter, especially when the love of his life is what he's missing and can't seem to hold on to. Elijah Tucker wants to give Gideon Valsecchi the world on a silver platter. And he has the means to do it. But Eli is learning the truth of the maxim that the way you hold onto the thing you want most is to let it go. And while his heart breaks into a thousand pieces, he doesn't come apart even when the worst happens. Because, even as cliché as it sounds...true love does find a way.