Page 7 of Beyond the Summer

"Not Sutton," I huffed, rolling my eyes.

Sutton finally glanced our way."Oh, hey, Matt."

Matt nodded."Sutton.I'm going to steal my brother for a minute.Thanks for your hard work."

Sutton grinned, his smile strikingly beautiful."No problem.Ben, can you check on the campers while I finish up here?"

"Sure."

I turned away, leading Matt back through camp, watching as my stepbrother interacted easily with campers and counselors alike.The campers were goofing off in the grassy field in front of the cabins when I found them—nothing too bad for middle school-aged boys, really.I did a count to make sure they were all accounted for, then let them play for a little while, reading more of my book before I herded them all to the bathroom to wash their hands for dinner.

When the dinner bell rang and I lined the kids up to walk to the lodge, only ten of our twelve campers were there.And Sutton had never returned.Had he gotten lost?I left the kids in line for dinner and jogged back down to the cabin, then the archery range, my anger building, until I skidded around the corner and found Sutton standing, hands on his hips.Toby, who had refused to try archery, was there, holding a bow.His friend Cole stood watching them.

"Like this," Sutton said, his muscular arm guiding the camper's hand to steady the bow."And… release."Something about that scene tugged at my heartstrings, making me wonder if maybe Matt was right.

"Wow!I hit it!"the kid exclaimed, jumping up and down with excitement.

"Great shot!"Sutton praised him, ruffling the boy's hair affectionately.He glanced towards me, then at his watch."And crap, from Ben's expression, I can tell we're late for dinner.Run to the dining hall."

"Can we try again tomorrow?"Toby asked, his eyes shining with excitement.

"Yeah," his friend said."We want to blow the other guys away the next time we have archery."

"Of course," Sutton replied, giving him a thumbs up."I'll be here to help you out."

"Thanks!"Toby dropped his bow and he and Cole sprinted off with another quick thanks to Sutton.

I stepped forward."Why are you still here?"

Sutton unwrapped the straps on his arm guard, tossing it in the bin, then put the bow Toby had been using away."I saw you talking to Toby and talked to him a little more when I ran into him down by the cabin.Turns out he and Cole were embarrassed to try archery for the first time in front of the other guys.So I brought him back here and gave them a quick private lesson."

"Oh."

He held up his hands."And before you come at me, I remembered all of your safety lecture.Look, I'm even wearing a wrist guard."

"You…" I was at a loss for words.

"I know, it probably breaks some other rule I hadn't thought about, but it seemed worth it to make the kids smile."Sutton shrugged as he locked up the cabinet with the arrows in it and pocketed the key.He studied me for a moment."Well, if you're not going to grace me with one of your stern lectures, how about we head to dinner?"

He nodded his head towards the dining hall and started walking, and I followed him down the path.Even following him irritated me.But it wasn't like I was chasing him.We were simply headed in the same direction.

"I didn't chase Parker here," Sutton said after a few minutes of silence."You should know that.I may be an asshole, but I'm not the kind of asshole who'd take a summer job just to fuck with a guy."

"Why are you here, then?"

"I signed up before…" He swallowed and shoved his hands in his pockets, kicking the ground.

"Before what?Can you even say it?"

"You know what happened.Parker wanted a real relationship, wanted me to be out, and I couldn't…" He cleared his throat."So anyway, my fun plan to surprise Parker at camp took a bit of a dark turn."

"Why didn't you back out of the job once you guys broke up?"

He glanced at me."I spent weeks convincing my father that this camp would be an amazing experience.What was I supposed to do?Tell him I couldn't go anymore because it would crush my heart to see my ex-boyfriend hitting it off with someone else?"

"That would be a possibility."

He blew out a breath and shot a sad smile at me."Clearly, you've never met my father."

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