Janice

Sometimes things happen that test our resilience and our strength. My life was changed forever one fateful night last year when I lost my leg in an accident. It’s affected my independence and my confidence. But there is one thing—one person—that hasn’t changed, hasn’t wavered when life gets hard. Finn Ledger. He’s been my best friend since the moment we met in middle school. We’re grown now, with separate lives, but he still always manages to be there for me when I need him, even when circumstances try to wrench us apart. He always holds me when I need it and cares for me like no one else can.

I sold my soul to the devil only to turn around and slit his throat… Thomas Kincaid took everything from me. My mother. My hopes. My innocence. Now, it’s my turn. He thought he was safe. They all did. They were wrong. Men always think they can take without ever having to deal with the consequences. Well, now I’m back, and I'm the last consequence they’ll ever see.

Lately, I’ve been full of questions. One hot summer night, I find all the answers when I kiss another guy for the first time. But he disappears, leaving me wondering who my mystery man was. I can’t stop thinking about him. Even on the ball field, I’m daydreaming about his hungry hands, and the filthy things he whispered in his posh British accent. Somehow, I still win one of the biggest games of my career, and afterward, the man surprises me with an invitation: “Meet me in a private suite.”

Most people called it a cult. But for 20 years, Josh and Caleb called it home. In Paradise, there is no television. No fast food. Just long hours of farmwork and prayer on a dusty Wyoming ranch and nights in a crowded bunkhouse. The boys of the Compound are kept far from the sinners' world. But Joshua doesn't need temptation to sin. His whole life he's wanted his best friend, Caleb. By day they work side by side. Only when Josh closes his eyes at night can they be together the way he craves. It can never be.