Ten
Kaleb
I didn’t sleep a wink after storming out of Avery’s cabin last night, and it’s showing as I drop onto the bench between my brothers for breakfast. Meanwhile, the two of them are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the day packed full of activities.
And apparently, ready to irritate me to no end at the drop of a hat.
“You look like crap,” Colton pipes up the second I reach for my fork.
I glare down at him, in no mood to deal with his shit this morning. “Just because you’re not at home doesn’t mean you’re allowed to use that word, Cole. You know that.”
My brother cocks his head. “Would you rather I say you look like a steaming pile of poo?”
Jesus take the fucking wheel.
“I’d rather you not be a pain in my ass at seven in the morning,” I mutter before stabbing my eggs and shoving them into my mouth.
“So you can say ass, but he can’t say crap?” Dayton asks, brows furrowed.
Cole nods before aiming a smug little smile at me. “Seems pretty hypocritical if you ask me.”
My fork clatters to the table, my cool nowhere to be found this morning.
“I’m an adult, and the both of you are far from one.”
“So what you’re saying is we can be hypocrites when we’re adults,” Day concludes, a smarmy little smile on his lips.
Colton smirks back. “I think that’s exactly what he’s saying.”
Do not kill your brothers. Do not kill your brothers.
I begin counting backward from ten, begging for the control I normally have over my emotions to make a reappearance, if only so I don’t commit fratricide. Unfortunately, I don’t even make it to five when Avery enters the cafeteria looking as worse for wear as I do. His hair is done and he’s freshly showered, giving off that typical put-together appearance he always has, but his face tells another story. Even from here, I can see the heaviness in his features and dark circles formed under his blue eyes as they find me.
He holds my gaze only for a brief moment before turning toward the breakfast line, but the rush of heat coursing through my body happens regardless.
And I fucking hate it.
“You aren’t the only one who looks like a pile of poo,” Dayton says, and when I shift my gaze to my brothers, I find them both looking at Avery.
While I know Dayton’s comment was only meant to be funny, there’s something in Colton’s expression that lets me know he’s seeing more than he might let on. He’s been eleven going on twenty-one ever since he started middle school, and he notices everything.
A fact proven when the next question leaves his mouth.
“Did you two get in a fight because of what happened last night?”
I stop chewing mid-bite, the food instantly turning to ash in my mouth before I force it down my throat. The line I’m treading here is a very fine one, and while I will never make a habit out of lying to my brothers, there’s no part of me that wants to tell them the gory details of Avery pinning me to a tree and mauling me with his mouth.
So I settle for the most watered-down version of the truth.
“We talked about it, but it wasn’t a fight.”
I can feel Colton studying me from my left, while Dayton remains blissfully ignorant to my right. It’s an uncomfortable feeling—like I’m beneath a microscope—and the heat scalding the back of my head where I know Avery has his gaze locked on me isn’t helping matters.
But rather than giving in—turning to find those baby blue eyes—I hold strong and shove another forkful of food in my mouth.
Colton, on the other hand, doesn’t give a damn and twists his upper body to not-so-discreetly look behind us.
“Colton, turn around and eat,” I force out between gritted teeth.
My brother lets out a huff of annoyance before doing as I say. His hazel gaze lifts to mine, and he gives me another one of his devilish smirks. “Something’s definitely up, ’cause he’s staring at you.”
“Maybe he wants to kill him,” Day chimes in.
“Would the two of you just give it a rest already?” I snap, my temper flaring far quicker than it normally would. Probably due to lack of sleep and the plethora of emotions still congealing inside my chest and stomach from that kiss.
It’s evident in the way Colton’s brows shoot up in surprise, and how Dayton all but drops his fork to his plate, that neither of them expected me to snap at them over some playful ribbing.
“Sorry, K.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Dayton murmurs, picking up his fork again.
Setting my fork on the wooden table, I pinch the bridge of my nose and let out a groan. The twins have always been nosy, as most kids their age can be, and under normal circumstances, I’d dish shit right back at them. But despite these being far from normal circumstances, and I’m more than deserving of setting boundaries with them, the last thing I want is to ruin their mood going into the day.
“Look, I’m sorry too, okay? Like I said, I’m tired, and it’s made me cranky, but it’s not fair for me to take it out on you.” I pause, hedging back toward the topic of Avery. “But there is something Avery and I talked about yesterday, and it involves the two of you.”
Glancing between the two of them, I see equal parts curiosity and anxiousness written on their faces.
Dayton is the first to speak, asking the same question I’m sure he’d ask if he were being called to the principal’s office. “Are we in trouble?”
I keep my smile under lock and key and shake my head. “No, you’re not. But I need the two of you to start being more inclusive with Elijah.”
Dayton lets out a low groan before starting back in on his breakfast, but it’s Colton who looks downright pissed I even suggested it. He looks ready to argue, but I aim a glare his way, stopping him in his tracks.
“Don’t start that crap with me. You, Dayton, and Elijah were close your first summer here. There’s no reason you can’t be like that again.”
“Again, you get to swear but we don’t?” Dayton pipes up between his mouthfuls of food, entirely uninterested in the conversation.
“We were kinda friends when we were eight ,” Colton cuts in, his tone still slightly dejected. “But that was, like, three years ago. We’re friends with Liam and Tyler now.”
I arch a brow. “You do know you can be friends with all of them, right? There’s no rule against it.”
The way both their noses scrunch up, almost in disgust, tells me the idea is not at all appealing.
“Yeah, but Elijah’s too quiet,” Dayton says with a shrug. “He doesn’t really try to make other friends, and it makes him seem kinda…weird.”
He stops and looks at Colton, and my brothers share one of their infamous twin looks—the kind where anyone in the same room as them can tell they’re having their own little silent conversation—before Cole speaks up.
“Tell you what. You find a way to make up with Avery and be friends, then we’ll consider it.”
Dayton nods, a little smirk on his lips before he glances behind us toward Avery. “Oh, and he’s still watching us. Hell yeah, that’s got my vote.”
I gape at them, both awed and offended by their audacity. “This isn’t a democracy, and we aren’t bartering with blackmail about this. You’ll start acting the way Mom and Dad raised you—which is to be nice and to include people—or I’ll call them to come get you.”
Colton rolls his eyes, entirely unfazed by the threat. In addition to being more vigilant, he’s always been the ballsier one too. “Maybe you need to take your own advice.”
“Good thing it’s not up for discussion.”
The two of them slump forward against the table, pouting at the same time a large form stops in front of us.
“Kal. Got a minute?”
I glance up to find Colin in front of me, looking down as if fully aware he just stumbled upon a little familial squabble. A fact further proved by the way my brothers both straighten up and immediately start shoveling food into their mouths.
“Yeah, sure.”
He gives me a nod before motioning toward the hallway leading to his office with his head, a sure signal to follow when he starts in that direction.
“Someone’s in trouble,” Dayton murmurs under his breath.
“Yeah, he is,” Cole confirms, then shovels more food in his mouth before adding, “No one wants to be called to the principal’s office first thing in the morning.”
I jab Colton in the ribs before standing. “Stop talking with your mouth full.”
Colton sticks his tongue, covered in half-chewed eggs, out at me at the same time Dayton chimes in with a “Don’t get fired!”
My brothers, ever supportive.
Rolling my eyes, I ignore the two heathens and head down the hall Colin disappeared down. There’s only a few reasons he could be calling me to his office, but almost all of them are of little to no consequence. Probably just a change in the activity schedules for this week or a random check-in on how the group is doing, neither of which is anywhere in the realm of what my brothers are suggesting.
The door to Colin’s office is open when I reach it, and I find him already seated behind his desk, shuffling through the schedules.
Rapping my knuckles against the wood, I step into the office and say, “Hey, you wanted to see me?”
Colin glances up, smiling when he motions for me to take a seat across from him. I’m not even in the chair fully when he pulls the rug out from under me with a single sentence.
“I just wanted to talk to you about Avery.”
All the blood rushes from my face, my stomach dropping as I realize my brothers might’ve been on the right track after all, and this isn’t just a normal chat with my boss. I’ve worked here long enough to know there are cameras scattered around the grounds—something I didn’t think much of last night when Avery and I—
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“What about him?” I ask, managing to keep my tone far more collected than I feel.
“Well, how’s he doing with the kids?”
A sense of relief floods me. Of course he wants to talk about work. Not the fact that two of his counselors were making out and dry humping against a tree twelve hours ago.
Shrugging, I offer the most nonchalant response I can. “Fine, I guess.”
Colin arches a brow before saying, “Fine, you guess. Really, Kal? I figured you’d have plenty more to say than just three words.”
My thoughts are flooded with the events of the past few weeks—from the moment I stepped into this very office to find Avery inside it, all the way to fifteen minutes ago when our gazes collided in the cafeteria.
And while there have been moments where Avery’s proven himself to be more than some homophobic asshole, I’m having a hard time letting go of that version of him. Which has me debating if telling Colin how I’m really feeling is the right move or not.
The only thing I am sure of is that I don’t think I’ll survive the entire summer with him here. Especially after what happened last night.
So without thinking too hard about the consequences…I spill my fucking guts.
“If I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t want him here.” I pause to gauge Colin’s reaction, only for his expression to remain impassive and unreadable. “I don’t want to work with him, and while he’s doing the best he can, it’s more than obvious this isn’t the place for him. He’s cocky, conceited, and arrogant, and I think that’s a dangerous thing to have around such impressionable kids. And that’s not even mentioning the whole…” I trail off, letting the thought linger between us like a toxic cloud.
Colin hikes a brow up when I leave the sentence hanging, prompting, “The whole…”
I sigh, squeezing my eyes shut and pinching the bridge of my nose. “I’m sure you know about what happened back at school. With him outing one of our teammates and getting expelled.”
My words are acidic at best as they leave my lips, while fully knowing I more than likely just signed his death warrant. And once again, I don’t know how I feel about it.
Colin still gives nothing away in his features as he simply states, “I’m aware of what happened at Foltyn last spring, yes.”
The floor drops out from under me for the third time since sitting down across from this man, and I’m almost positive my eyes are bugging out of my skull like in one of those old cartoons.
“Then why did you hire him?” I exclaim, unable to hide the mixture of surprise and dismay in my tone. “Do you really think someone who’d do that should be here working with all these kids?”
Colin leans back in his chair, resting his elbows on the armrests and steepling his fingers together. It’s a position I’ve seen Coach—as well as plenty of other authority figures—in many times over the last few years. And paired with his stoic expression and hard eyes, I know he’s about to lay down the law.
“Look, Kal. I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Avery the day he got here: I believe in second chances. And one mistake, failure, or decision shouldn’t have the power to define you as a bad person.”
“ One mistake?” I echo before barking out a laugh. “Just last night, he all but told me about this little plan to use you and Elijah to get back into Foltyn this fall.”
He leans back in his chair, resting his elbows on the arm rests before steepling his fingers. “You’ve seen the two of them interact together more than anyone else since camp started. You really think that’s the case?” Colin aims a knowing look my way. “This is the first year I’ve seen Elijah act remotely himself. The kid wants to do this kind of stuff as much as he’d want to never eat sugar again, but I can already see a change in him.”
“So you don’t care that he’s getting close to Elijah just to garner favor with your brother?”
For the first time in this entire conversation, I see a flicker of irritation in Colin’s expression. “Avery’s connecting with him, and that’s all I could ask for. While it might be a bit unorthodox, I think they both have things to teach each other this summer, regardless of how their relationship initially started. Wouldn’t you agree?”
I offer a nod in concession of his point, but it doesn’t stop me from carefully forming a rebuttal. “I see where you’re coming from, but—”
“That’s all I need to hear.”
“Colin—” I start to protest, but he’s already cutting me off at the knees before I get out anything except his name.
“If the only issue you truly have is because of what happened this past spring, then I’m going to encourage you to use it as an opportunity to mend fences.” Colin’s eyes soften around the edges, and he takes on a softer tone. One he hasn’t used with me since I was a kid attending this camp myself. “You and I both know you can handle this, Kal. You’ve risen above far greater things in your short life. Spending the summer working beside Avery won’t even register as a blip in the grand scheme of your life.”
Shit.
My teeth sink into my tongue, and I’m half tempted to tell him about the little stunt Elijah pulled with going MIA on us, which would surely put an entirely different view of Avery in Colin’s head. But unfortunately, I’m just as responsible for Elijah as Avery is—all bringing it up to Colin would accomplish is making both of us look incompetent.
So rather than chancing it, I accept defeat with a curt nod and rise from my seat. “If that’s all, I better get back to the kids before they start a food fight in the dining hall.”
Colin’s lip twitches, and I can’t tell if he’s amused with my statement or my feeble attempt to hide my irritation with his decision. “Enjoy your overnighter up on the mountain.”
Shit, I’d completely forgotten about that. And after last night, followed by this conversation, it’s not fucking likely.
I manage to keep the comment to myself, though, and simply nod.
I’m through the open threshold of the office seconds later, ready to get the kids started on today’s adventure, only to turn straight into Avery. My hand grabs the wall to steady myself, and when my gaze lifts to his face, I find a hardened glare and jaw lined with tension.
Shit.
It’s obvious from his expression alone he overheard enough of my conversation with Colin to piss him off. And now I’m surely going to pay the price for it.
“For someone who’s all about being on time, you’re the only one making us late today,” he snaps, disdain dripping from his tone as he crosses his arms. “The kids are already outside, ready to hit the trail, if you’re done trying to get me fired.”
Double shit.
It’s at that moment when I catch something in his gaze that doesn’t quite match the fury he’s aiming my way. Something that looks eerily like…hurt.
And though it makes no sense, the realization is a blade right through my gut.
I don’t even have a chance to respond before he’s storming back toward the dining hall without another word.