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

Tonight he’s going to take their relationship to the next level.


It’s been what, five weeks now? Something like that. And they’ve kissed until their lips were swollen and sore. There hasn’t been another night like the one they shared at Parker’s party, but Avery wants more. And he knows Jacob does. He feels it when they touch. He hears it in Jacob’s breathy moans. But when can they get together? They both have loser roommates who practically live in the dorms, and the study rooms at the library are only so private. They have blinds over the windows but no locks on the doors. So it’s been kissing and heavy petting and once or twice he managed to lick through the flap in Jacob’s boxers, but that’s it. When they’re together, there’s so much tension in the air between them, he’s surprised they don’t spontaneously combust or set the whole damn school on fire. The tension clings to him like static. He spends most of his shower every night releasing it.


Chapter 21