His Summer Toy

Episode Four

Kai didn’t approach me again that week. I learned quickly where his cabin was and made sure not to go anywhere near it.

But that didn’t stop him from being everywhere else.

On the dock, near the mess hall, walking shirtless across camp like he didn’t have a care in the world. He was always laughing with someone, tossing a football, lounging with a book like he belonged in a summer tv drama.

And still, somehow, his eyes always found mine.

I pretended not to notice. Pretended I didn’t scan the crowd for him during camp meetings. Pretended I didn’t imagine his voice when I closed my eyes at night, low and sinful as filthy scene after scene played out in my mind. Pretended my fingers didn’t stray beneath the hem of my shorts in the dark of the counselor cabin, his smirk burned into the backs of my eyelids.

God. I hated myself for it.

It’s the Saturday before our first round of campers get here on Monday. I’m wiping down the chairs on the upper deck overlooking the pool when I hear the shrill laugh below.

I pause, rag in hand, and glance down through the slats in the wooden railing.

Kai’s leaning back against a lounge chair, his shirt draped over his shoulder like some kind of Japanese God in a backwards snapback. His abs are on full display, because of course they are, and he’s talking to a redhead with long legs and a camp tee knotted at her waist.

She’s laughing too loudly at something he said, playfully touching his arm.

My jaw clenches before I can stop it.

It shouldn’t bother me. He can flirt with whoever he wants. I’m not interested. I’m not. I don’t even know him!

Except he says something else and she leans in closer, her hand brushing his shoulder like she’s testing the waters, and my stomach twists hard. A slow curl of something bitter climbs up my throat.

Jealousy.

And as if he can feel me looking at him, Kai suddenly turns his head. His gaze lifts, cuts straight across the pool deck, and finds me, now leaning on the railing, looking down at them. As if he knew exactly where I was the whole time.

He winks, with an infuriating smirk on his face.

My breath catches. This smug bastard.

The redhead says something else, probably something flirty, and Kai doesn’t look away from me as he answers. He just smirks, lips quirking like he knows exactly what he’s doing. All of this is intentional.

I jerk my eyes away, suddenly very invested in the state of the deck chairs. My hands move faster than they need to. I scrub like my life depends on it.

I don’t look down again.

By the time I finish scrubbing the deck chairs, my arms ache and my shirt’s damp with sweat. I don’t look down at the pool again. I don’t need to. I know he is still there.

Later, at dinner, he’s nowhere in sight. It shouldn’t matter. But I still find myself scanning the benches. What is wrong with me?

Someone leans into my shoulder.

“You coming tonight?” It’s Rebecca, her braid slung over one shoulder and a mischievous grin pulling at her lips.

“To what?”

She smirks. “Don’t play dumb. We’re hitting that gross little dive bar in town, Tony’s. You know, the one that smells like beer and regret. It’s a counselor tradition. Last Saturday before campers roll in.”

My stomach knots. “I don’t know…”

“Please. If I have to listen to Mitch flirt with the bartender all night by myself, I’ll die.” Her voice drops conspiratorially. “Plus, you might want to look hot. I heard Kai’s going.”

I scoff. “I don’t care. Why would that matter?”

“Right.” She nods, looking down into her plate, a smug look on her face. “I guess I just misread that then.”

I glare at her, but I will go anyway.

Tony’s is everything she promised with sticky floors, bad lighting, and a jukebox that skips every third song. I didn’t even know they made jukeboxes anymore. But the drinks are strong, and the windows are fogged with warm summer air and poor decisions.

I’m halfway through a rum and Coke when I see him.

Kai’s near the back, pool cue in hand, hat turned backwards and the prettiest smile I have ever seen on his face. His black shirt is unbuttoned halfway down, collar open, sleeves rolled. He looks like the kind of mistake you make twice… once for curiosity, and once to make sure it was as good as you remembered.

The redhead is here, too. He isn’t talking to her, but she is watching him intently.

His eyes are on me.

He doesn't smile this time. Doesn’t wink. Just watches, a curious look on his face as if he is waiting to see what I will do.

I tear my gaze away and follow Rebecca to the booth, ignoring the way my stomach flips when I feel him move across the room behind me. It’s not even that he’s close, it's that I know he’s there.

I take a long sip. Too long, trying my best to act like I don’t know he’s right behind me.

“Come play with me.” He says, his voice low and teasing. I can’t stand the way the heat rushes to my cheeks. “I promise to go easy on you the first round.”

He is not seriously doing this right here. “I don’t play pool.”

“Then I’ll teach you.”

I shake my head, take another sip. “Not interested.”

“That’s a shame,” he murmurs, moving around to the front of the booth, his eyes never leaving mine. He is facing me now, leaning against the table, his back to Rebcca. “I’m really good with my hands.”

Rebecca coughs, loudly and I have no idea how I am explaining my way out of this. Is he trying to get me kicked out of camp?

Kai just smirks wider and offers me a hand.

I shouldn’t take it. Every warning bell in my body is blaring. But my fingers curl around his anyway, needing to get him away from here before he digs a deep hole to throw me in.

The redhead watches as I follow him past the jukebox and sticky floors, to the far pool table lit by a crooked neon sign.

He hands me a cue and steps in close, ridiculously close, reaching around me with both arms to adjust my grip like we are in some cheesy eighties movie.

“You’re holding it too tight,” he says, voice right against my ear. “You want to loosen your grip at first.”

“Okay.” I shake my head, moving away from him. I turn around, folding my arms. “Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what? Trying to teach you to play?”

“Bothering me. I told you no. You obviously have other girls interested.” I motion toward the red head that is still a good distance away, but still watching.

“Her? Nah, she doesn’t excite me.” He takes a step toward me, laying the stick on the table.

“But I do?”

“Yes.” He nods, his eyes traveling down my body. Kai steps closer. So close I feel the warmth of him, the quiet hum of tension between us like it’s alive. His voice drops an octave, low and smooth as he murmurs, “You do.”

I cross my arms tighter. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know the way your eyes find me, even when you pretend they don’t. You can’t stop thinking about that night either.” His fingers graze my arm, slow and deliberate. “It’s written all over your face.”

“You’re wrong,” I whisper, even though my pulse is betraying me, hammering loud enough he could probably hear it.

Kai smirks. “Am I? Give me one night.”

I blink. “What?”

“Come back to my cabin.”

The words hang in the air, bold and heavy.

“Are you serious?”

He takes another step, backing me against the edge of the pool table. “Dead serious. No games. Just you and me.”

I hate how breathless I feel. How badly I want to say yes.

“And if I say no?”

Kai shrugs, his smile lazy, cocky. “Then I go back alone and spend the night thinking about you.”

His hand brushes my hip, not grabbing, not pulling, just resting there like it belongs. “But if you say yes…” He leans in, his lips just barely brushing my jaw. “I’ll spend all night showing you just how good I can make you feel with my mouth, my fingers… my c**k. Wouldn’t you rather feel the real thing?”

My breath catches. My knees almost give out.

He chuckles softly. Then he backs up, just enough to meet my eyes again. “So, what’s it gonna be?”

My mouth opens, but no sound comes out.

His grin returns, wicked and electric. “If you change your mind, you know where my cabin is. Door’s unlocked.”

And just like that, he turns and walks away, the curve of his smirk burned into my skin.

God help me.