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

Alex says nothing, but when Ryan looks back, he’s watching him steadily. Silently. Waiting


“Whoops,” Alex says flatly. His face is expressionless. Alex is like a closed encyclopaedia. There’s acres of words to read and things to discover, wrapped up in that shell, but he can’t be pried open for love nor money. And Ryan should find it frustrating, but right now he doesn’t, at all.


“I thought about it all year,” Ryan continues, “and I’m sure. I am attracted to you, you know.”


Ryan rolls: he turns and rolls himself over Alex’s prone body. He is warm, burning up from the sun, the denim of his jeans too hot, and the grey of his eyes like a cold pool in the shade. He does nothing to stop Ryan at all, looking back at him with a measured gaze, his arms falling over Ryan’s lower back as if this is normal.


Chapter 43