Page 83 of Never Will I Ever

He’s the first to break away, grabbing the shirt he was wearingtoday before starting to clear away the evidence of our release from my stomach. I wrap my hand around his wrist, feeling more vulnerable by him doing this than I did with him inside me.

“I can—”

“I’ve got it,” he whispers, meeting my gaze.

The simple reply instantly reminds of something he said earlier; a similar sentiment that now has my stomach fluttering.

I’ve got you.

My teeth sink into my lower lip and I release his wrist, allowing him to return to his task. He cleans the cum from my skin before gently wiping the lube from my crease, and the intimacy of this act has me in fucking knots.

Once he’s done, he tosses it to the side and we both silently slip back into our underwear, then back between the sleeping bags for the night.

I’m not sure what the protocol is here. Despite all the evenings we’ve hooked up, we’ve never actually spent onesleepingtogether. The only time we’ve even slept in vicinity of each other was our one other tent experience, but after letting him fuck me for the first time, I really hope we won’t be reliving that particular night.

Thankfully, Kaleb makes the decision for both of us when he drapes an arm over my waist and pulls me toward him, not stopping until my back is molded to his chest. I try not to notice how perfectly our bodies fit together like this, but it’s impossible. It feels like I was made to be right here, wrapped in his embrace.

I was right about one thing I told him earlier: I’ve never felt safety like this.

Kaleb’s nose nuzzles against the spot between my shoulder blades and then presses a kiss there before whispering against my skin, “Are you okay?”

“Never better,” I murmur back, noting just how true it is.

For now, at least.

After what we just did—the line we just crossed—there’s no chance I won’t be dragged through the pits of hell by my subconscious. So I wait for the shame spiral to swirl inside my head, ripping apart the moment and casting it in an abhorrent light.

But as Kaleb’s breathing evens out behind me, his soft breaths puffing against the back of my neck, I’m shocked to find…it doesn’t.

It never comes.

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 withhim 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 ofCriminal Mindswhen 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’smean.”

“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—

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