Page 34 of Never Will I Ever

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 theprincipal’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 fewweeks—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 Iamsure 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.

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