AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But this is supposed to be the fun time of year, and I’m not about to let it start off with heavy shit. So I change the subject.
“C’mon, let's get you to your cabin,” I say before ushering them deeper into the grounds. “I’m sure you’re both excited? Seemed like it when you couldn’t even say hi earlier.”
They both nod, the same giddy energy they had when they first got here back on a dime. But then Parker lets out a little disgruntled noise before whining, “But why’d you have to pair us with Elijah for a bunkmate?”
“Parker Matthew,” I hiss in warning, glancing around to make sure no one—especially Elijah—is around to overhear my dickhead little brother.
“Kaleb Jackson,” he retorts back, all attitude and sass.
Oh, the joys of fighting with a preteen. And lucky me, I get to spend the camp season doing it…with not just the twins, but eighteen others too. Then add in the one guy on the planet I’d rather never see again being my co-counselor, and this is bound to be one interesting summer.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
4
KALEB
It’s quarter after midnight when I step into the bath house, expecting it to be deserted for this time of night, only to find one of the three showers is already in use.
Most of the camp is usually dead asleep at this time, doing their best to recharge for a jam-packed day sure to come tomorrow. But apparently, someone had the same idea as me, and when I glance at the vanity to find a small leather toiletry bag—the letters AJR embossed on the side—my mood instantly takes a plummet off Mount Hood.
I don’t need to know what the J stands for when the A and R are clearly Avery Reynolds.
“Fucking great,” I mutter under my breath before dropping my own things on the sink to unpack my shampoo and body wash.
Working at the camp for the past three summers has always been grueling. Long, sometimes very hot, days outdoors, constantly handling a bunch of kids who need this, that, or the other thing. Activities packed in our schedule from dawn to dusk to make sure they’re all so exhausted when it’s lights out, there’s no shenanigans after—something a few returning campers are notorious for causing.
So when it comes to the end of the day, I need these thirty minutes of alone time to take the hottest shower imaginable and wash away not only the dirty and grime from the day but also all the stress and frustration I’ve had to keep bottled up while I’m around the kids.
Stress Avery now adds to.
He’s fucking everywhere.
Spending all this time with him is starting to really wear on me, and it’s only been a few days. And most of it is thanks to the fucking intense, buzzing feeling I get whenever we’re within a few feet of each other.
I felt it when we were in his cabin day one, then when he grabbed me and pulled me to the side the following morning. A few more times since then too, while we’ve been taking the boys on the lake and I’ve been forced to witness Avery in nothing but a pair of swim trunks for hours at a time.
It’s taken me a few days to place the feeling, and after today, I know exactly what it is…no matter how much I wish I didn’t.
It’s attraction. Desire.
Fucking lust.
All things I’d never want to feel for him, but it seems the head in my shorts is severely at odds with the one on my shoulders.
Which is just fucking wonderful.
I do my best to shove thoughts of him aside, even if he is within a couple feet of me at the moment, and slip into the empty stall beside him. Blowing out a long breath, I flip the nozzle on the shower to let it heat and undress, all the while perfectly aware of that damn feeling growing inside me.
Avery hasn’t made a peep while I’ve been in here, so he’s either ignoring me, or he must not have heard me over the running water in his own stall. Either way, I can only be thankful for, and then hope he’s in and out before I’m done…or vice versa.
No run-ins. No interactions.
Last thing I need after my epiphany earlier is to run into him half naked in a towel. Or completely naked. Or just run into him in general.
All avoidance would be preferable, really.
I start on my hair, lathering shampoo in my palm before sticking my head beneath the spray to rinse. Ignoring the electric feeling from being this close to him is nearly impossible right now, and I even go as far as turning the dial on the shower down to cold. But the frigid water does nothing to temper the roaring desire at knowing he’s only a couple feet away from me.
