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

Johnny extracts himself from Jacob and holds his toy car out to Mike as he approaches. “Oooh, cool,” Mike says, taking the car. He turns it over in his hands. “Is this your car?”


“Yep.” Johnny climbs up into Mike’s lap uninvited. He points at the papers strewn in front of him. “What’s this?”


“Johnny,” Mrs. Smithson warns. She stands near the door, frowning at Avery’s clothes folded on Jacob’s bed.


“It’s okay,” Mike tells her. “I have a brother, too. His name’s Kevin.” To Johnny, he asks, “What’s your name?”


Johnny ignores him. “What’s this?” He picks up Mike’s pencil and starts to draw in the margins of Mike’s math book.


Avery smiles at Jacob. If only they would all disappear,he wants to say, making a joke out of it. After all the drama today he only wants to lie down beside Jacob, hold him close, fall asleep with his boy in his arms, and he can’t. He hates that.


Chapter 69