Stroke Of Fear

strangle them to death each morning.

   A soft roar of applause echoes through the building. “These are our camp counselors for the summer. They’re going to introduce themselves to you!”

   Shit. Could she have not warned us? All the other camp counselors start their introductions. When it gets to Cassie, she steps out and waves her hand. “I’m Cassie. This summer is going to rock, you guys!” A few guys let out wolf whistles, and she eats it up, giving the audience a finger wave.

   Really, Cassie? Everyone turns to face me and I give a small wave. “I’m Aubrey.”

   “Take your shirt off!” some guy yells.

   “Watch your mouth!” Mrs. Jones yells, pointing a finger at a blond boy sitting in the front row. He blows us a kiss.

   Great. The rest of the staff introduces themselves and then we get to sit down. Jake tries to help me, but I pull my arm from his grip.

   “Okay, I passed out all of your schedules during orientation when you checked in. We’re going to start the first activities right after lunch. Meet your instructors in the assigned location on your schedules. If you have any questions, find one of the counselors, or myself, and ask. We’re here to help. Let’s have an awesome summer!”

* * *

   Cassie places her plate down next to mine. “Um, this spaghetti looks gross.”

  I snort and take a bite. “It’s not too bad.”

  She scrunches up her nose and eats it anyway. “Ex-boyfriend…I mean ‘it’s complicated’ is walking toward us.”

   I don’t look up. “Hmm,” I mumble.

   Jake takes the seat next to me. “You didn’t answer my calls last night. I even came by.”

   “I was asleep, Jake. Cassie told you I was.”

   He glances over at me, his brown eyes wide. Don’t look him in the eyes. It’s like looking at Puss In Boots when he’s little eyes are all round and pathetic. “I was just making sure you’re okay. I mean…you kind of had a hard day yesterday. I’m really sorry for throwing you off. I didn’t know.”

   Of course he didn’t. He barely knows anything about me. And we’ve been off and on for four fucking years. In his defense, I didn’t tell him. But, my mind bobs back to Tanner. He knew without me saying a damn word.

“It’s okay,” I lie.

   Cassie hums the Jeopardy theme song under her breath until I feel something touch the side of my head. “What the…?” I glance back. The blond boy from the assembly this morning is standing behind me, his hand running along my hair.

“Excuse you,” I snap.

   He laughs. He must be the oldest camper here. Seventeen? “Hi, lovely. I saw you checking me out from the stage today. I’m turning eighteen in a month. You and me should get together. Like gorillas.”

   What. The. Hell. Gorillas?

“Hey, back off, kid,” Jake says, shooing him away with his hand.

   “My name is Austin. You can call me anything. Or just call me.” He winks.

   “I don’t date underage children.”

   “Told you, eighteen in a month.”

   Cassie is laughing hysterically underneath her breath. Jake stands, towering over him. “Get lost, kid. I won’t say it again.”

   Austin is wiggling his eyebrows up and down when he suddenly stops.

   “Leave her alone.” I follow his gaze to Tanner. I take a sharp breath in without thinking about it. Holy Fuck. How does he make that camp uniform look so damn sexy? The blue polo is tight around his chest and arms. The khakis hang lowly on his hips, leaving you wondering what her looks like underneath them. His jaw is tight but then his eyes dart toward mine. Shit, he saw me looking. A smile crawls dangerously slow up one side of his strong jaw.

   Bastard.

   “We’ve got this taken care of,” Jake snaps. “Back off.”

   Tanner laughs. “No, you don’t. This is my little brother, Austin. And believe me, he wasn’t goin’ away anytime soon.”

   Austin smiles. “Dude’s right. I wasn’t budging.”

   Jake clenches his jaw. I can feel the heat radiating off of him.

   “Go sit down, now,” Tanner says.

   Austin rolls his eyes and motions for me to call him.

    Cassie starts laughing out loud as soon as he leaves. “He’s kin to you? I don’t see a resemblance at all.”

   “Half-brother. We have the same Mom but different Dads. He lives here in California.”

   Jake chucks a piece of bread down on his plate. “How precious. You’re coming to camp with your little brother.”

   The small smile is back, and it’s amusement. His gray eyes dart toward mine. He holds my gaze. I don’t dare look away. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of him knowing I’m uncomfortable or that I’ve been checking him out. He winks and then he turns and walks away. I bite the inside of my cheek, hard. I want to throw my spaghetti at him.

   Cassie nudges me underneath the table but I keep my head down.

   “I can’t fucking stand that asshole,” Jake mumbles.

   You and me both.

* * *

   The soccer field is set up just outside of the gym. Cassie and I set up cones and get the bag of balls scattered onto the field.

   “Damn it, I didn’t realize this was going to be so much work,” Cassie huffs out, blowing her bangs from her forehead.

   “You didn’t think being a camp counselor for the summer would be work?”

   She shrugs. “It looked like a good idea at the time.” She tugs the bag to the side and then kicks it.

   “What did that bag ever do to you?”

   Turning around, I see Austin standing with his foot placed on top of a soccer ball. His blond hair is messy, and he has this grin that would make any sixteen-year-old girl swoon.

   Cassie rolls her eyes. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and start to put some more cones down?”

   Screwing his lips upwards, he kicks the ball and starts to bounce it off of his knee. “Isn’t that your job?”

   Rolling my eyes, I turn and go over our clipboard. Damn it. He’s with us for this activity. “Hey, Blondie, you’re the one that fell into the water, right?”

   I turn on my heel. “How do you know about that?”

   He snorts. “Everyone knows about that. It’s not a big deal.”

   He has no idea. I point toward the field. “Go get ready, before I get you kicked out of our activities for the summer.”

   “Oh, so touchy. Don’t be mad, I’ll give you some sugar if you ask. That’s if my brother doesn’t give it to you first.”

   I gasp. He runs off to the field laughing. “That little bastard.”

   Cassie laughs. I give her my best shut the hell up glare. “Oh, come on. You know the kid is cute.”

   “He knows it, too,” I mumble.

    Cassie groans. “Shit, here come the kids. Let’s get this over with.”

* * *