2. Everly

CHAPTER 2

EVERLY

H ow in the hell did I accumulate so much shit during a single school year? Every fall, I start out with only what I thought I needed. Then by the end of the school year, it became boxes and boxes of shit.

Also… I hated that I had to pack up my room every year if I wanted my things to be there again in the fall. The school moved our rooms randomly sometimes, and when the janitorial staff cleaned, things got thrown away. There was no way for them to know what was good to keep and what was trash.

Once I had my last box in my car, I shut the hatch and left for the summer.

Most people believe that teachers get a vacation in the summer, and for some, that would be true. For me… my summer job started the following Monday.

For the last two summers, I'd worked at a summer camp. It seemed to be a natural extension of what I loved to do. Teach.

As if she knew I was thinking about camp starting on Monday, my best friend, Jade, called. Thank goodness for Bluetooth.

"Did you know I was thinking about you?" I asked instead of greeting her.

"I assume you always are." She giggled. I had to laugh too. The last thing Jade would do was think that the world revolved around her. That woman was as selfless as they came, and sometimes, I felt selfish in comparison. "Are you done packing?"

"I am. I'll have to go through all of this because I'm sure I don't need everything in these boxes, but that sounds like a future Everly problem." Because that was how I handled anything I didn't want to deal with most of the time.

My bandwidth typically only allowed me to deal with whatever emergency was in front of me. They were never my emergencies.

"That's what I think too. I packed up all of my supplies, knowing that some of them are going to be dried out when school starts back up." As the art teacher, Jade usually ordered supplies for the next year at the end of this one so she could hit the ground running. The worst thing you could do was have a bunch of high schoolers you were in charge of with nothing to do.

"So we're done."

"Until Monday," she reminded me.

Right. Camp. I loved working at the camp, and so did she. It was rewarding in a new way. However, not working for three months also sounded like fun.

As I pulled into my apartment complex, Jade hopped out of her car carrying a pizza box from the place closest to my apartment complex. This thoughtfulness was part of the reason she was my best friend.

I ended the call without saying anything then cut the engine so that I could get out.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I thought we could plan the weekend and what we're going to do at camp next week." Then she held the pizza up to me. "And I thought you might be hungry."

I was starving, actually.

I only carried one box of school supplies into my apartment and would get the other later.

My apartment wasn't huge because I didn't need anything too large. When we walked in the door, it was into the living room with an attached dining area. To the right was the storage unit where I'd drop this box and forget about it for a couple of months and to the left was the kitchen. Barely bigger than a galley kitchen, it met my needs. On the other side was a small hallway that led to my bedroom and the bathroom.

With my touches, or rather Jade's since she was the artist, the place was modern and funky but cozy.

Jade went to the couch in the living room while I grabbed us plates and drinks.

The first bite was what I imagined heaven to taste like. It was so good that I moaned.

"That must be some seriously good pizza," Jade told me before taking a bite for herself. "Oh, shit. It is seriously good pizza." Which, it always was but today, it just hit the spot.

"Thanks for bringing it." I took another bite before pushing her harder. "But seriously, why did you wait for me here today?"

She shrugged. "I figured we have a few days before starting another job, so we should take advantage of it. Want to go to Chicago?"

I snorted. "You know you don't have to work at the camp. You could take your summers off. Travel. Do whatever people with money do."

Jade's family had money. They weren't going to be owning an island anytime soon—that I knew of—but she had a trust fund from her grandparents and her parents had money. It was enough that I knew she taught high school art because she felt it was her calling. She could've probably lived a life of luxury if she'd wanted to.

She rolled her eyes. "I could, but then how would you survive high school a second time?"

Now I had to laugh. Jade had been my best friend since we'd been in kindergarten. She knew how much I hated high school, but mostly because everyone would fall all over my brother all the time, and I could never tell if someone was talking to me—or being nice—because they liked me or because they wanted a way in with my brother.

Except Jade.

"OK." She slapped her hands together. "What does camp look like this year?"

I shrugged. "You know I don't make lesson plans for camp. I'm not in charge. I'm not even a counselor. I just run a few programs, and they'll tell me which ones when I get there on Monday. I know it'll be the baseball camp again because I run that every year—"

"And it was your idea."

"Right. But other than that… I don't know. How many classes are you teaching?"

"Just one this year. Last year's attendance for all the art classes wasn't the best, so we thought just one this year would drum up more interest. But I'm also overseeing a couple of independent study students from last year who are already beyond what I'll be teaching this year. So I'll be around."

Which suited me just fine.

"I can't wait for the hot baseball players to arrive at camp," she said while wiggling her eyebrows up and down suggestively.

This was a day camp, but one section—usually the first—included a baseball rotation. So, for weeks, my group would be focused on baseball. Then there were other activities that kids signed up for during those weeks.

For example, there was an arts rotation in which Jade taught painting. There are other things that they did, and this was all in the morning. They then got to do an afternoon rotation, and there was time for the fun stuff of swimming and hiking. Usually, I did baseball in the morning, and then after lunch, I took my group either swimming or hiking and then we had other activities to do.

I groaned at the thought of which players would be coming.

"I can wait," I told her flatly.

"You could find the love of your life in a professional baseball player, Everly."

"Not a chance," I told her immediately. "Sex… absolutely. But a relationship? Never again. Like with baseball, three strikes, and I'm out."

Jade sighed and took another slice of pizza. "You had a string of bad luck. And I can't believe you hardly know anything about baseball."

"Bad luck?" I asked with outrage. "Number one: Slept with my sister. Number two: Slept with another teacher at the school. And number three: Tried to put my belongings up for sale on the marketplace. Never again. And I don't teach baseball, I supervise. You don't have to know how to play for that. Hence the players coming."

That sister, I still didn't talk to. My brother and I were sort of close, but my other sister only ever wanted money, so I stayed away as much as possible. And my parents, who were somehow still married even though they shouldn't have been, thought that it was my responsibility to help everyone in the family whenever they needed it simply because I made more money than they did.

I was a teacher. How much did they think I made?

"The kids love the players showing up. You have to be excited for that."

"I'm not. And you know why. Maybe I will be once I know that Bryson Madden isn't going to be one of them."

Jade cringed. "Yeah. It'd be best if he didn't come again. You did get him to stop calling, though. That's something."

I shook my head. "Only because I blocked his ass."

Bryson Madden was a member of the Kalamazoo Knights, and he'd been one of the volunteers last summer. We always got a few players to come because the camp was affiliated with the Briggs family, who owned the team. It had been a passion project of the owner's wife. Apparently, she'd grown up pretty poor and wanted to give back to the community, so she'd started this camp. Then she died, and none of the other family typically helped, with the exception of Camden, the only daughter in the latest generation. She'd said she'd been a counselor since she'd been sixteen and she volunteered every summer. That Knights owner was too old to do much other than donate money. His daughter ran the team now.

"Hooking up with Madden last summer was a colossal mistake," I told her. "The sex wasn't good enough to result in him feeling attached. I'm not doing that again."

"Yeah, he did become a stage-five clinger, didn't he?" Jade downed half of her pop before speaking again.

This was our thing. We hung out and talked, and that was enough. Sure, sometimes, we went on adventures, but this right here was the bread and butter of our friendship.

"Who would've thought the manly professional baseball player would get clingy?" she asked.

"Hey." I sat up straighter. "They put their pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us. They're just more expensive pants."

We fell into a fit of giggles. Once we'd calmed down, we put in a rom-com about how easy it was to chase a guy away and of course the main characters fell in love. For a woman who didn't believe in romance, I sure did love the Hallmark Christmas movies and romantic comedies.

Jade and I were like sisters. We could be in the same room—not talking—while still having an entire conversation. We were both on our phones sending each other memes the entire time too.

At nearly midnight, I let out a loud yawn with a big stretch. It was time for bed.

"Are you staying or going?" I asked because she'd stayed here more times than I could count, just as I had at her apartment. Admittedly, her apartment was bigger and nicer. She even had a guest bedroom.

"Staying. We're shopping tomorrow." She stretched her legs across the couch and smiled up at me.

I groaned. Shopping wasn't my favorite thing to do.

"What?" she countered. "You need summer clothes. Are you going to wear all of those skirts at camp?"

"No. But I have clothes from last year. It's not like I've grown." As a matter of fact, I'd stopped growing at around fourteen, maybe younger. Which meant I wasn't very tall, and I was athletically built, though I was too thin, according to my mother, and everything else was… proportional, though I thought my ass was slightly too big. Jade was always quick to point out that it wasn't big , but toned .

She, on the other hand, was barely taller than me and much thinner. She was naturally small because that woman could put back the chili cheese fries with the best of us. She always said that one day, she'd have to focus on food and exercise because her metabolism wasn't going to last forever.

"That's right. You haven't grown, but you deserve to buy new things." Now she stood and came over to me to rest her hands on my shoulders. "I understand that all of your money goes to savings because you never want it to be like how you grew up. I get that. I was there, remember. But you've got a fat savings and need to treat yourself once in a while." When she headed back to the couch, she snapped her fingers. "Oh, and we're getting massages. That's my treat, so you can't turn it down."

I grumbled my way to my bedroom, though I couldn't deny that a massage would feel really good right about now.

In the morning, Jade insisted we get breakfast first. Fine by me. I was starving. Then we headed out to her favorite store. I liked to say the clothes were out of my price range, but she hadn't been wrong last night. I could afford to splurge every now and then .

When it came time to try on some clothes, I pulled my hair into a messy bun. The stylist called it "caramel blonde," and I loved it. Jade's was a much lighter blonde, which suited her so well. But for now, I needed that hair out of my way. It fell to the middle of my back in waves—most of the time—but when summer hit, the messy bun because my second best friend. After Jade.

"What do you think?" she asked when I stepped out in a retro bikini. This was not for camp. I'd wear a one piece for that.

"I kind of love it." I stepped in front of the full-length mirror outside the dressing room. There was one inside, but Jade insisted on seeing everything because she knew I'd talk myself out of buying anything if left alone.

"Your boobs look amazing in that." She was wearing one with less coverage. I had one like that and loved it, too, but this retro style was amazing.

And my boobs looked fantastic.

Then I saw something in the mirror that made my entire body tense like it was now on high alert.

Unfortunately, he saw me, too.

I hurried into the dressing room and changed. Jade did, too, even thought she had no idea why. All she would've seen was my reaction and them me hurrying to change. She wouldn't ask questions until we were done. The last thing I wanted was to be caught in something like a bikini with him around. It wasn't until we were headed to the cash register with our choices that she understood.

"This is a coincidence, right?" she whispered, and I nodded. It had to be.

"Everly, funny running into you here," Bryson Madden said, causing Jade and me to stop and turn. Bryson was a big guy though not the biggest in baseball. He was taller than us, of course, but that wasn't hard and he had blonde hair with brown eyes. That boy next door kind of vibe.

"Yeah. Funny. We both buy clothing. What a coincidence," I said. Jade and I slipped into the checkout line, and he got in right behind us. I wasn't even sure he had anything to buy with him. Probably he just wanted to pester me.

He needed to go away.

"I was just thinking about you." No. He wasn't. "Change your mind yet?"

"Nope." That was the explanation he was going to get. No was a full sentence. One that he seemed to not want to understand.

"Listen, I—"

"What the fuck are you doing here?" another male voice asked. I had to look around to see that he was talking to Bryson.

"Had to pick something up," Bryson told him. "Ran into a friend."

I snorted. We weren't friends. But when Bryson reached out and ran his hand down my arm, I flinched and stepped away, causing this other man's brows to furrow. Bryson's friend was as hot as they came. He was tall, with dark hair and brooding eyes. His features were pinches and his eyebrows were narrowed. It made me think he wasn't all that happy to be here.

"Uh…" Bryson's friend scratched at his jaw, like he was about to say something uncomfortable, but then he locked gazes with me and pointed toward the register. "They're ready for you."

Thank the universe because standing next to a man I'd hooked up almost a year ago but now wouldn't leave me alone wasn't how I'd planned to use my Saturday.

I scurried off and did my transaction.

When Jade and I got out to the parking lot, we heard someone call out, "Hey." We turned, and it was Bryson's friend jogging toward us.

I groaned as I dropped my bag in the trunk. I wasn't afraid he had a nefarious plan but annoyed that anyone having to do with Bryson was going to take up my time. Though if someone was… I think this guy would've been who I would've chosen myself.

"Was he bothering you?" the man asked. Out in the sun, it was everything I could do to not drool over this guy. His build and the way he carried himself, told me he absolutely was a baseball player. Strong muscles, long not bulky, broad shoulders, thicker thighs…

Why was this my type? It was my own fault I ended up getting fucked over, given that this cocky thing they all had going on was exactly my thing.

"He's always a bother," I said.

He furrowed his brows. "Are you friends?"

Jade laughed loudly. "Not even close. He's obsessed with her or something."

I held up a hand to stop her from saying anything else. "I wouldn't go that far, but if you could get your friend to leave me alone, that'd be great. I'd take the help."

The guy nodded twice and said, "Done." Then he walked away.

"That was weird," Jade said as we both stood watching him walk away. It was a glorious sight. Too bad I wouldn't hook up with baseball players anymore. Too intense.

"It was, but if he can get Bryson off my back, I'll take weird."

She nudged me with her shoulder. "You must be really good in bed."

This definitely made me laugh. "I am. I really am."

In reality, I wasn't that conceited. Bryson just thought we'd clicked when we hadn't. Not even enough to be a regular hookup.

But his friend… that was someone I could see being a regular sex partner. No strings, just fun.

If only he weren't a baseball player.