Summer Heat (Cruel Summer #1)(4)

“It’s on stilts.” I gulped. “And it looks like it hasn’t been lived in, in—”

“We call it the parent trap cabin because it looks identical to that creepy cabin in the movie where the girls are sent off away from all society and safety.”

I clenched my teeth. “Well that’s… not good.”

“Like I said, whatever you did. Fix it.” He patted me on the back and nodded to the ratty looking screen door that was halfway off its hinges. “We better hurry, wouldn’t want to make it worse.”

How could I make it better or worse if I didn’t even know what I did in the first place?





“THAT WAS RUDE,” Jen said.

I didn’t look up. I knew what was plastered all over her face. Disappointment. I felt it in my soul.

Four years.

I’d spent four years pouring my soul into drama, using it as my therapy, my muse. I ignored all the shit from high school. I honestly thought I was fine.

Completely fine.

And then suddenly she was there.

Wearing the same perfume, some sort of spicy candy scent that had my body involuntarily leaning in for more. And when I inhaled, the memories released right into the air.

With the hate.

With the rage that I thought I’d left on the punching bag. In the gym.

Then she just had to make it worse and smile.

Pretend not to know me.

Hell, maybe she just didn’t recognize me.

I imagined this scenario a hundred times, a thousand times. She’d throw herself at me like every single woman had for the last three years, and then I’d confess who I was while giving her the best orgasm of her life, take her clothes, and leave her to wonder why they always say to be nice to everyone because, hey you never know, maybe the school nerd who mows lawns for a living turns out to be a ten instead of a four.

I ran my hands through my hair and put my baseball hat back on. “She can handle it, trust me, Jen,” was all I said as I grabbed the stack of folders in front of me.

Jen sighed and handed me a green Red Bull and then shook her strawberry blonde hair. “I’m just saying you’re the director this year, you’re the example, the guy we all look to, your staff needs you to be focused, kind, logical, not an emotional train wreck who sees a pretty girl and loses his mind.”

I smirked and then bit down on my lip. “She’s not pretty.”

“Are you drunk?”

“No.”

“On a bender?”

I slapped her hand away. “I wish.”

She scrunched up her nose, her freckles were a dominant and adorable part of her face. I’d always thought of her as more of a sister than anything. We’d worked together at the same camp for the past three years and now that it was almost over with, I almost felt sad that I wouldn’t see her anymore.

Or the rest of my crew.

It was just an unfortunate accident that Darius couldn’t return this year. And since I didn’t do the hiring…

Well here we are!

Damn cruel universe.

“Look, I’m fine. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” I shrugged her off. “The sooner we start the staff meeting the sooner we can get set up for the opening campfire.”

“Yeah.” She glanced around the room. “Those millennials look positively thrilled.”

I counted at least a hundred phones.

“Grab the bucket.” I crossed my arms.

She side-eyed me. “So soon?”

“They look ready to start humping their own cell phones, so yeah, we’re gonna take away technology this soon. They’ll get them back every Saturday for two hours.”

“Harsh. I like it.” Jen winked and grabbed one of the black buckets labeled Hell.

“Listen up!” I yelled over the room. “We have a very strict no-technology policy.” The door swung open revealing Brax and Ray. “And that includes staff. In case of an emergency, find a staff member and we’ll get a call out on a landline. You’re not here to tweet, or post an Insta story, and if I see any Facebook status updates with you doing a peace sign over your bunk partners missing eyebrow there will be hell to pay. We don’t have a lot of rules, but the ones we do have are iron clad. Break one,” I eyed Ray, “and you’re gone.”

Her nostrils flared.

I tried to ignore the way her body had changed.

When we had both gone our separate ways, she had been tall, a bit lanky, and hadn’t quite filled out.

Now she looked like a woman.

Curves in all the right places.

The perfect sun-kissed skin.

And full lips that I remembered wanting to taste the first day I met her.

I quickly looked away. “You’ll get your phones back every Saturday for two hours. Let’s have ’em.”

Groans and cursing followed as Jen passed around the bucket. I was used to complaining, if they didn’t complain or wish death on my head, I’d be worried.

Jen stopped in front of Ray.

I waited for the spoiled princess to defy me, to look me in the eye and jut her chin out. Instead, she gritted her teeth and dropped her phone in the bucket with a light clunk then stared down at her shoes.

In what world did a camp counselor show up in spiky heels that could impale multiple humans at once?