Yeah, maybe I’d pushedtoofar, but the truth was, it wasn’t entirely a joke. Her eyes had been eating me up, and I really fucking dug it.
“It’s just an emoji, Trouble. Keep up, chill,” I added, trying to lighten the mood.
“Whatever. I’m changing it as soon as I figure out how.” She disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
From the front of the cabin came the muffled sounds of arriving counselors. The first-day lake visit was tonight, just like every summer.
When she emerged, she was wearing a white swimsuit cover-up, a towel in one hand, and a flashlight in the other. “You ready?”
“Hell yeah, just need to change. Grab my towel from my bag,pretty please?” I held up my hands in a praying motion and stuck out my bottom lip.
“Yeah,” she said softly, giving me the fucking cutest smile ever, and turning her back to me. She grabbed the towel and threw it at me.
I caught it one-handed and gave her one last glance as she turned towards the window.
She pulled her cover-up off and threw it onto the floor, rubbing sunscreen onto her bare stomach.
I averted my gaze at first, but then, unable to resist, I let my eyes drift back her way. Her right leg was now up on the bedpost, and she was leaning over so far that she left little to the imagination.
Uh, she knew I could see her, right?
Her dark green bikini barely covered her fucking ass.
My eyes traced the curve of her waist, the rise of her hips, the long line of her legs. Her hair tumbled down her back in a lazy wave, and fuck me, heat was burning through my entire body.
She wasperfect.
She looked back over her shoulder at me and gave me a soft smile.
Was she fucking with me?
It was like my pulse couldn’t decide whether to race or stop entirely. Every nerve in my body lit up, every cell wired to her. Looking away would’ve been the decent thing to do. But decency didn’t stand a chance with the way I felt right now. For whatever reason, Camp Blackshear made the best of us a little bit mad.
The obsession I had for her always returned as soon as I stepped through the camp gates. An obsession I had kept bottled up for seven summers.
She was a slow-burning fever I’d never recover from. Thekind that seeped into your bones and rotted you from the inside out.
I didn’t just want her. I wanted to be the one she looked back for. The one she chose without realizing she’d already decided.
The one she chose outside of Camp Blackshear.
And maybe that was sick. Perhaps it was wrong.
But I had never felt like this about anyone. The feelings surprised me. I had been so good at suppressing them over the years. But now? I was losing it, and I didn’t trust myself.
I rushed into the bathroom, pressing my back to the bathroom door, and forcing a deep breath into my lungs. We’d been friends forever, but now I couldn’t stop imagining her naked. I wanted her in that tiny bunk bed, under me, tangled in sheets.
My desire for her was so strong that it was a little overwhelming.
You’re a gentleman, Max. She’s your best friend. Please don’t do it. Don’t fuck this up.
But the thoughts of her in that swimsuit overpowered me, and Max, her best friend, was a goner.
5
MACKENZIE
The lake shimmered in the gold of late afternoon, the sun hanging low, turning every ripple into liquid light. I exhaled slowly, the knot I’d carried for a year loosening in my chest. For the first time in months, I felt still, exactly where I was supposed to be.
