On a whim, Alex signs up to volunteer with an outreach program at a local youth shelter. When Father Nate calls him and asks him to work with Jamie as a big brother, Alex envisions a little kid he'll pal around with. What he doesn't expect is Jamie Owens, an 18 year old boy with a bad attitude who's only two years younger than Alex himself.<br><br>Jamie's hot. Very hot, and nervy, and precocious, and damn sexy, to boot. Even if he is eighteen, Alex feels guilty lusting after the kid. Alex sees himself as a mentor to Jamie, someone to look up to, someone to prove being a gay man doesn't mean casual sex in crowded clubs. He tries to keep his distance, both physically and emotionally, but Alex is sending some very mixed signals, and Jamie is getting pretty frustrated. As their friendship grows, Jamie becomes a part of Alex's life in a way neither expects.

Conflict of Interest

Back at the apartment, Alex cleaned up the DVDs


scattered across the living room floor. They smell like him,he thought, catching a whiff of Jamie’s fresh scent as he closed


the glass door of the entertainment center. I didn’t want to let


him in and he’s already there, already inside me and everything he


touches becomes a part of him. Everything here has a little of him


in it and I’ll never stop thinking of him now.But was that


necessarily such a bad thing? Alex didn’t really think so


Upstairs he shook the blankets out in an effort to straighten


the bed. As the sheets settled over the length of the mattress,


Alex caught a glimpse of blue beneath the covers. It was Jamie’s


bandanna, fallen from his head when he burrowed into the sheets.


The fabric was impossibly soft between Alex’s fingers, worn from


years of use. A sick part of him wanted to rub the bandanna in


places he wanted Jamie to touch, but he couldn’t do that, he


Chapter 22