Never Will I Ever

Twenty-Two

Kaleb

Something’s changed in Avery.

It wouldn’t be noticeable to most people—hell, I barely realized it myself—but he has a sense of lightness about him now. Almost like he was Atlas being weighed down by the world inside his head, full of shame and loathing.

I don’t know what I was expecting after we returned from our excursion to Lovers Leap, but it certainly wasn’t him leaning deeper into this thing growing between us. He has, though. He’s been back in my bed every night this week, allowing me to tease and explore his body until he was begging me to put him out of his misery.

To sink inside him and take us both straight to heaven.

And damn, has his confidence grown in the sex department. There’s still moments of hesitation in his eyes, brief seconds where I can almost see those doubts dig their claws in, but it’s never enough for him to truly falter. He pushes back against it and takes what he wants, only making him more attractive in my eyes—not that there was any issue in that area to begin with.

It’s not just with me that his confidence has grown, either. The kids are really starting to take to him lately, and it’s made him more relaxed when he’s interacting with them. Max and Jared—who are usually at the front of the pack when we go on hikes—have been hanging back to hike with Avery and Elijah instead the past few days, and whenever we reach our destination, the group of them are laughing and joking around with each other. And yesterday, I was floored when Dayton decided to sit with him and Elijah at breakfast rather than me and Colton, only to talk our ears off about how cool he is when we had lunch together.

What’s funny is, I have a sneaking suspicion Avery feels the same, or at the very least, the kids are starting to help him enjoy the day-to-day activities around camp too. Or maybe it’s the goddamn prank war happening between Max’s and Jordan’s cabins that’s done the trick, because I don’t think I’ve seen him laugh as hard as he did earlier today when we finally had to step in.

“Okay, I get where you’re coming from,” he says later in the evening when we’re alone in my cabin. “But aren’t pranks part of this whole summer camp experience?”

I shoot a glare at him where he’s lounging on my mattress in just a pair of sweats, while I attempt—and fail—to reconnect my laptop to the Wi-Fi. We were in the middle of an episode of Criminal Minds when the spinning circle of death appeared on the screen, and the damn thing has been buffering ever since.

“Putting a snake in someone’s bed isn’t a prank. It’s mean .”

“No one was hurt, the snake included, and it’s not like we damaged any property.”

I’ll admit, he makes a fair point, but it’s still—

“ We ?” I find myself asking, a bit shell-shocked. “You mean you helped them ?”

He opens his mouth, realizing his slip up, before an impish grin appears. “I think this is a good time for me to plead the fifth.”

I blink at him slowly, absolutely dumb-founded, before dryly uttering, “Please tell me you’re joking.”

From the way his grin grows, it’s obvious he’s not. “It’s all in good fun, Kaleb. Lighten up.”

I doubt the poor garden snake felt the same, but I choose to ignore that fact.

“At least tell me you weren’t the instigator.”

Waving me off with a laugh, he mutters, “Oh, God no. I just unlocked the cabin for them.”

“I don’t know if that makes it better or worse,” I mumble under my breath with a shake of the head.

He hears it, though, because he immediately comes back with, “We’ve already established you’ve never done a rebellious thing in your life, so it’s a toss up at this point.”

Oh, hell no.

There’s no way I’m gonna take his insults lying down. He wants to see rebellious? Fine. I can play that game, and it’ll end with him panting and moaning for me to fuck him clear into next week.

With that thought alone, I abandon my mission with my laptop in favor of pinning him to the bed with my body.

“You really think I’m some Goody Two-shoes, huh?” I ask, trying to let my proximity do the work for me.

All I get is a shrug and a shit-eating smirk in response. Then he wraps an arm around my back and flips us; his go-to move when he’s looking to change the subject to something a lot more…naked.

This fucker.

“I’ve gotten detention before, back in high school,” I gripe, trying to keep my focus on the argument at hand. It’s proving fairly difficult, though, when his lips skate over the pulse point below my jaw. I swear all my brain cells melt into a puddle of cerebral fluid when his lips are against my skin. Add in the low, seductive tone he speaks with, and I’m surprised I have any brain function at all.

“You’re literally talking to someone who got expelled from college, there, LaMothe. You’re gonna have to try harder than that.”

There’s no animosity as he says it, only humor dancing in his sky-blues when he pulls back. The sight of them aimed my way has my throat constricting, the way it’s seemed to a lot lately whenever I catch him looking at me.

“Okay, well…sometimes I’ll smoke a joint after the kids are in bed and break into the dining hall to get some snacks. Gotta curb the munchies somehow.”

His brow arches, looking slightly impressed as he rests his forearms on either side of my head. “Didn’t take you for a stoner.”

“Stoner is the last word I’d use. It’s really if I can’t sleep,” I protest, playfully shoving his shoulder.

“Hey, I’m not judging. I’m more appalled that you didn’t think to share with me.”

“Because I didn’t bring any.”

“Of course not, Mr. Goody Two-Shoes,” he says with a laugh before pressing his lips to my jaw. “I’m just surprised you’ve brought drugs here before.”

I wasn’t the one who brought it. I’d actually confiscated the joints from one of the older campers after I’d caught him lighting up behind the bathhouse after lunch. And while I could choose to keep that little bit of information to myself, knowing it will only help prove his case rather than my own, I correct him anyway. Because I’m not gonna lie just to prove a point.

Damn my morals and shit.

“They were contraband, actually.”

Avery’s head drops to my shoulder, and his entire body vibrates against mine while he laughs. Not just a chuckle, but the real, genuine laughter that I’ve become highly addicted to in recent days.

“Why is that so funny?” I gripe with a smile.

His head lifts, amusement lingering on his features. “And Colin just let you keep it to enjoy yourself as a reward for snitching, did he?”

“Colin never found out, actually. I didn’t turn the kid in.”

From the way his brows arch imperceptibly, he’s surprised by my admission. Which makes all the sense in the world considering what happened a couple months ago. Me…snitching on him.

I try not to focus too much on the term he used, but it still stings.

I don’t regret doing the right thing by Aspen and Keene, but I’d be remiss to think that the entire situation isn’t a lot more nuanced than I originally thought.

Part of me wishes I never would’ve turned him in, knowing him the way I do now. Knowing the loneliness and isolation he was experiencing. The fear of finally being vulnerable with someone, of saying the thing that’s been hardest to admit, and worrying that those secrets aren’t safe after all.

I can’t excuse what he did. But damn if I don’t hate knowing all of that now. Knowing that, if he’d shared those things with me when he needed someone to hear him the most, he wouldn’t have felt all those things.

But the reality is, if everything didn’t happen exactly as it did, he wouldn’t have been expelled. He wouldn’t have come to work here for the summer. We wouldn’t be where we are right now, in my bed.

I never would’ve seen this side of him.

“Look at you, aiding and abetting underage stoners.”

“Well, does that make me rebellious enough for you?” I ask jokingly, putting forth my best effort to shove down the guilty feeling welling inside of me. “If it helps, there were multiple joints, so it’s not like it was a one-and-done thing.”

“Definitely not,” he replies, not missing a beat. “Plus, we both agreed that it’s not really breaking in if you have a key.”

A smile tugs at my lips, and when he meets my gaze, a matching one spreads across his face. There’s something intimate about sharing the inside joke with him, even if no one else is around to be on the outside of it.

“Correct,” I concede, still grinning. “But technically, I don’t have a key. I just know where they keep the spare.”

His eyes take on a devious glimmer, and it doesn’t take a genius to know the request that’s about to leave his lips.

“I think you should show me.”

A sharp laugh leaves me, the words not a chance on the tip of my tongue, only for them to die there when Avery grinds his hips down into mine. The ridge of his erection against my own thickening cock quickly has me gasping instead, making it impossible to form a coherent thought, let alone argue with him.

Avery runs his lips over the column of my throat in a whisper of a kiss before trailing them along my jaw.

“If you want me to believe you’re as much of a rebel as you make yourself out to be, you’ve gotta be willing to back it up,” he murmurs in my ear. “Take a walk on the wild side with me.”

I let out a low moan when he rolls his hips down into me.

“If you think I’m gonna do a damn thing right now other than pin you to the mattress below me, you’ve got another thing coming.”

His low, seductive chuckle floats over my skin before he presses his lips to my thundering pulse. “I think you’re in the wrong position to make those kinds of statements.”

“Maybe, but I can change that in an instant.”

To prove my point, I slide my hands to his hips. I plan to use the element of surprise to my advantage and flip us until his back lands against the mattress with a soft thud. But clearly I haven’t learned to not underestimate Avery, because he’s reversing our positions yet again and pinning my hands to my sides before I have the chance to so much as gloat.

Shit.

A triumphant smirk appears, matching the victorious glint in his eyes, when he peels his body away from mine to rise off the bed.

“What kind of game are you trying to play?” I rasp, glaring at him from the mattress.

“One called Put Up or Shut Up, LaMothe.” He shrugs into his hoodie and motions toward the door. “Now, c’mon. Time to go.”

Slightly annoyed and painfully turned on, I climb off the bed and adjust myself behind my zipper. I feel Avery watching me, and when I glance up, I find him aiming another self-satisfied smirk at me.

Oh, fuck that.

“You’re gonna pay for this,” I murmur, my voice low and deadly. “And mark my words, baby, it’ll be heaven and hell all wrapped in one.”

His smirk spreads into a full-blown grin, eyes twinkling from the filthy promise.

“Looking forward to it.”