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

The church clock rolls out the quarter-past chime, and the swallows clatter angrily in the sky above them.


Little in life is measurable; when people and things change, it is often difficult to notice. It is hard to say when something shifted, and became something else entirely, or if it even did. Ryan is old enough to be aware of that.


And yet, this time, it is quite obvious when things change.


Twenty-ninth of July. Even for July, it is a ridiculously hot day. They had elected, the night before, to go exploring, and when Alex turns up at the back door at eleven o’clock, he is no different.


But that day, it all changes—and Ryan will never forget that.


Chapter 26