Page 11 of Never Will I Ever

Dad’s truck has barely disappeared from sight when I turn around to find Avery standing with Liam, Colton, and Dayton. His eyes are locked on the bunking assignments, probably searching for all their names, when Colton all but yanks the paper from his grasp.

“Cole!”I shout, immediately moving toward them, and by the time I’ve reached the group of them, he’s already put the paper back in Avery’s waiting hands.

“Sorry,” Cole says, and at least he has the decency to look a bitsheepish.

I arch a brow. “Not to me.”

His nose wrinkles a little before he looks up at Avery instead. “Sorry. I was rude.”

“It’s all good,” he tells Colton. He pauses for a second, glancing from Cole back to me with his brows furrowed slightly. “I take it you know them?”

“Only their entire lives,” I mutter, pointing at their names on the bunking assignments. “Dayton and ColtonLaMothe.My brothers.”

His brows shoot up as he, once again, looks between the twins and me. Only this time, to try and place the resemblance.

There’s no mistaking the two of them; they’re identical. Down to the scraggly bodies, mops of light brown hair, and hazel eyes. But I don’t share many of their features. Which makes sense, seeing as their dad isn’t mine. At least, not biologically, though that doesn’t mean shit to me. He’s still the only dad I’ve ever known.

“I don’t see it,” Avery confirms after a minute.

“Usually how it goes,” Dayton confirms with a lilt of laughter. “We don’t like to claim him most of the time anyway.”

I roll my eyes, already regretting my request to be assigned to their group this year. “Hilarious, Day.”

My attention shifts to Avery again to find him already staring at me, and the instant our gazes collide, the buzzing feeling from earlier is back. Resurfaces with a roar, ripping through me and impossible to ignore.

Clearing my throat, I nod toward the twins. “All our kids are here, so I’ll take my brothers to their cabin if you’ll take Liam.”

He nods before breaking eye contact to glance at Liam. “Let’s get a move on, kid. Your friends are waiting.”

Liam’s giddy, excited energy radiates off him as he says bye to the twins before heading off with Avery for the cabins. The tinglyelectric feeling fades the farther the two of them walk away, disappearing entirely when they also disappear from sight.

When I finally allow my gaze to shift back to the twins, they’re both already watching me with curiosity.

“Who was that guy?” Colton asks, arms crossed over his chest like he’s some kind of badass, not my twerp of a brother I could snap like a twig with one hand.

“Yeah, he’s never been a counselor here before,” Day chimes in. “Do you know him?”

Cole’s brows furrow as he shifts his attention to Dayton, cocking his head. “Didn’t you feel that tension between them? Of course they know each other.” He looks at me again. “So who is he?”

Ah, yes. How I’ve missed this—classic Day and Cole. Always bouncing off each other, reading each other’s minds, and never letting another person get a word in edgewise.

“Are we playing Twenty Questions and I didn’t realize it?”

Dayton shrugs before grabbing his bag from me. “If we are, we’ve still got like seventeen to go. Technically eighteen, since Cole asked the same question twice.”

“Smartass,” I murmur before handing Colton his bag too. “Yes, I know him. That’s Avery. I played baseball with him at Foltyn.”

Dayton’s eyes widen and he smacks Colton in the chest. “Oh my God.ThatAvery?”

I let out a long sigh before nodding.

The nice thing about being out to my family is not only the freedom to be myself with all of them, but it also gives the chance for Mom, Dad, and me to teach the twins about the queer community. And it allows me to share things about my life—things like what happened this spring at Foltyn with Avery and Keene—so the twins can learn from them.

Teaching them to be loving and accepting toward those who are different from them. Not a couple little assholes who can’thandle some diversity or people being their most authentic selves.

Colton’s the first to ask the question we all want the answer to. “Why is he here?”

I roll my lips inward before answering honestly. “I don’t know. Haven’t managed to figure it out yet.”

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