It’s a long hot summer for Charlie Boyd. He’s sixteen and his hormones are racing. When a tragic family event tumbles Charlie into a world of pain, a pain so intense he thinks no-one can help, he tries to escape. Desperate and alone, he meets Maggie, the mysterious woman who lives down the street. She’s a professional and she specialises in pain. Giving it, exploring it, and sharing it, all for money.

So Charlie insinuates his way into her life and despite herself Maggie can’t stop from going along with his wishes. However dangerous their relationship may be, she knows he needs her. She needs him too. As much as she tries to deny it, she needs his sort of love, because in the part of her life she keeps from Charlie, she has been judged and found wanting, and is paying the price. Maggie is drawn to this troubled boy who takes all the pain she can give and uses it to heal himself. As Charlie heals, he turns that love back onto her, his Mistress.