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

For a minute Jacob stiffens against him and Avery wishes he could take the words back. He wishes they weren’t true, but they are. He loves this boy, he knows it. He wants to tell Jacob he doesn’t have to say it also. He doesn’t expect him to.


But Jacob surprises him. “Really?” He pulls away a little, just enough to look Avery in the eye. There’s a slight frown on his face, like he thinks this might be a joke and he’s not getting the punch line yet.


“Yeah.” Avery hopes this doesn’t scare Jacob off. He’s only sixteen,his mind whispers, but he ignores it. “I do, Jacob. You don’t—”


Jacob laughs. Not Tyrone’s condescending laugh. Not Greg’s cocky I knowlaugh. It’s refreshing like water, that sound. Avery allows himself to smile at it. “I thought it was just me,” Jacob says.


Avery frowns. Now he’s the one who doesn’t get it. “What do you mean?”


Chapter 33