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

“Exactly.” The monsignor sighs, a weary sound. Avery realizes the man just wants this all to blow over. Two students in the hospital—that can’t reflect favorably on the school. When the monsignor speaks again, his voice is strained, tired. “So Mr. Smithson does what any hot-blooded boy his age would do in that situation. He fights back.”


“Which is where you come in.” The monsignor leans forward. “Tell me what happened when you showed up.”


Avery stares at a spot on the wall behind the monsignor’s head. He wonders what Mike said about him. He wonders what the monsignor already knows, what he should tell him now. “Um,” he says, thinking. He can’t believe that bit about the dark. He thinks Mike might have made it up. If so, the boy deserves more credit than Jacob’s ever given him. “I was running late? For my class. I had my book open because I had a test.”


Chapter 59