Spending every summer with his grandmother in the south of England isn't Ryan's idea of a good time, and when he finds someone his own age to hang out with, he doesn't much care who that is. Alex might not say much, but company is company when there's nobody else to choose from, and Ryan will simply have to make do. It isn't, after all, like he really needs a friend. But Alex is more than just a kid with a thing for smashing up greenhouses, and Ryan finds himself dragged further and further into a dark, uncertain world of alcohol, bruises, a mother's madness, and a father's anger. Worst of all, Alex is dragging Ryan into a world of lust, attraction, and midnight kisses that Ryan is struggling to keep confined to southern summers. This thing with Alex can't go further than summer -- but Alex, and the shadows that surround him, are not so easily forgotten. Ryan can't forget Alex, but the longer he hangs on, the more he discovers ... not just about Alex, but about himself, his future, and the things that really matter. But eventually, summer must come to an end.

Our Last Summer

Tom eyes him; his open expression is gone. “What, Harry get the belt? I dunno. Probably. Why?”


“Forget it,” Ryan says, and deliberately looks aside. “D’Souza. We better move.”


He doesn’t bring it up again—but then, he shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place. Every family has their skeletons and their secrets, and Harry wasn’t the most open of people to start with. He’d rather punch someone than talk about it; Ryan knows that from experience.


And this is Manchester. Most of these people aren’t going anywhere; their lives aren’t like Ryan’s. So what if Harry’s Dad hits the bottle—or other things—too often? He’s one in a million out here.


He cuts off the thought, and abandons it, when he realises that he’s finally caught on to the way Alex explains it all away.


But the realisation doesn’t ever really leave


Chapter 21