The Deep End

Scott Cahill is thirty-five, head swimming coach at Columbia University, and one of the youngest people to ever hold the position. He's good at his job. Great, actually. He's built a program that produces national champions and Olympic medalists. He knows how to turn raw talent into results.

Then Tyler Brennan walks into his office.

Tyler is eighteen, from a nowhere town in Iowa, and has times that shouldn't be possible for a kid training in a twenty-five yard pool with a PE teacher for a coach. On paper, he's the kind of recruit that changes a program. In person, he's shy, soft-spoken, and has brown eyes that won't meet Scott's for more than a second.

Scott thinks he's found a future Olympian. What he doesn't know is that Tyler has a secret that's destroying his competitive career before it even starts.

In practice, Tyler is unstoppable. His times are extraordinary. His technique is flawless. But in competition, something goes wrong. He slows down. Loses focus. Finishes seconds behind where he should. And after three meets of watching talent waste itself, Scott finally gets Tyler to tell him why.

Back in Iowa, Tyler had a friend. Jake. The night before every meet, Jake would come over. They'd have sex. Tyler would sleep. And the next day, Tyler would swim the race of his life.

Without that release, without that specific ritual, Tyler can't perform. His body won't let him. And now he's at Columbia, a thousand miles from home, lying awake the night before nationals with nothing to quiet the noise in his head.

Scott should find him a sports psychologist. Should refer him to counseling. Should do anything except what he does.

A dark, intense, taboo erotica about a man who crossed every line to make his swimmer great, and discovered that some things you do for someone else end up changing you more than them.