Sixteen year old Jacob Smithson has quite a temper. He’s picked on by other kids because he likes boys, and recent fighting has kicked him out of public school. As a last resort, his parents have placed him in the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Boarding School for Boys.<br><br>It’s at his first mass at St. Thomas where he sees Avery Dendritch, a senior who serves as altar boy during the service. When they meet, the attraction between them is hard to deny. The two become fast friends, and as the school year progresses, their friendship deepens into something more. For the first time, Jacob has found a place where he belongs ... and someone with whom he’s falling in love.<br><br>But the other students gossip about their growing relationship, and while Avery can ignore them, Jacob cannot. As the rumors and slurs start up again, can he curb his temper, or will his penchant for fighting get him expelled from St. Thomas, as well?

Without Sin

But Avery must see the concern written on Jacob’s face because he laughs. His hand squeezes Jacob’s arm just enough to make Jacob’s heart skip a beat. “It’s not far,” he says, lowering his voice. “Don’t worry—there’ll be girls there.”


“I’m not worried about that.” Jacob wonders if Avery is going for the girls. Did he peg Avery wrong? He hopes not. God, he hopes not.


Avery grins. With a wink, he whispers, “I didn’t think you would be.”


Jacob stares into those catlike eyes and doesn’t remember how to breathe. In, out, in, out,he thinks, but that makes him think of sex and the one porno he ever watched, a gay film he still fantasizes about from time to time. So he tries to think of something else, anything at all, before Avery can see himself undressed in Jacob’s eyes. “What should I wear?” It’s all that comes to mind.


Chapter 10