Page 9 of Never Will I Ever

I yank my arm free from his hold and snarl, “You pulling me away from what I was doing? Yeah, it sure as hell isn’t.”

“I meant this” —he motions between our chests— “isn’t going to work. This bickering and snarkiness. If it keeps up, one of us is bound to snap. From the way things have gone the past twenty-four hours, it might even get nuclear. And that can’t happen in front of all these kids.”

He happens to be right. Unfortunately.

And him being right only pisses me off more. Still, I keep my temper reined in as best I can. The last thing we need right now is me losing my shit on him.

“For once, I’ll agree with you. So let’s make it easy on both of us.” My eyes narrow on those sky blues. “Tell Colin you’re no longer interested in working here. I’m sure there were plenty of applicants for the position who would gladly take your place, even this last minute. If not, we have counselors-in-training whocan help me. Then all our problems are solved.”

A frown creases his forehead. “What? No. I’m not going anywhere.”

I shouldn’t be surprised by his unwillingness to listen. I’ve known him long enough to understand he’s stubborn as a mule and not one to back down from any sort of confrontation.

Taking the time to look at him—I mean really fucking look at the guy—I do my best to figure out, once again, what the hell his game is here. Because none of it makes any sense to me.

This isn’t a place he’d be caught dead of his own volition. He knows it, I know it, and most importantly, it’s written all over him. In the way his hair and clothes are a disheveled mess, like he just threw himself together after rolling out of bed. In the whites of his eyes, bloodshot to hell, no doubt from lack of sleep.

Which brings me to ask him the same damn question as yesterday.

“Why?”

“Because I need to be here.” His tone is insistent, but not as much as the look in those bloodshot eyes. “I just do, okay? So would you just accept it so we can move on and try to get along?”

My mind catches on one, single word.

Need.

Jonesing it outdoors wouldn’t be Avery’s scene unless it was on some rooftop bar for brunch with his richie-rich friends back in Vancouver. Not roughing it in the wilderness, even if we do have running water.

He’s here out of some sort of necessity, and it’s backed him into a corner.

Which is why, rather than fighting with him more—possibly bringing out the raging bull living deep inside him—I let it slide. I’ll just wait for him to crack instead. Which he will, eventually.

“Look, I don’t know how you got this job or why you think you need it in the first place. I don’t really care either,” I tell him, mytone low and serious. “But this camp ismysafe space.Myhaven away from real life. Iwantto be here, and I’ll be damned to hell before I let you ruin it for me or for any of these kids who feel the same way.”

His voice is earnest as he utters, “I won’t. I swear.”

A promise from him means next to nothing, but I don’t really have another option than to take it right now.

“Fine.” I slip a sheet of paper out from the clipboard and hand it to him while trying to keep the irritation from showing in my tone. “These are the bunking assignments for the kids. Three per cabin. They’re all unlocked already, no thanks to you, so you’ll just need to take the kids to get settled in as they arrive. The CITs can help you. I’ll take care of checking them in and all the goodbyes.”

I don’t bother waiting for a response, instead turning on my heel to head back to the safety of the parking lot.

It’s five to eight by the time my father’s truck rolls into the camp’s parking lot.

He’s barely thrown the vehicle into park when my twin brothers bolt out the back doors, making a beeline straight past me to their friend, Liam, who’s waiting for Avery to come back and take him to his cabin.

Colton practically tackles Liam, Dayton not far behind. The three of them instantly start chattering animatedly at each other, surely filling in the blanks they’ve missed in each other’s lives since they saw each other skiing at Mount Bachelor this past winter.

“Nice to see you too, guys!” I shout to the twins, holding my arms out to the side. “What am I? Chopped liver?”

Dayton’s nose wrinkles in disgust at the same time Colton yells back, “We saw you yesterday!”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t at least say hi,” I mutter to myself as I check the two of them off the list and head over to Dad’s truck to grab their bags.

“Your mom barely got a goodbye out of them this morning,” Dad says by way of greeting as he pulls their duffels from the bed of the truck. “They’re just excited. I wouldn’t take it personally.”

He hands me Cole’s bag, and I roll my eyes before hauling it over my shoulder. “Eight weeks without their parents. Of course they’re excited.”

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