Page 28 of Summer Skin

THERE’S ONLY ONEbed.

Holy shit.

There’s. Only. One. Bed.

Aven’s in what appears to be some sort of personal hell trap set by the universe.

He’d managed to do the road trip to his family’s river cabin solo, traveling with the group’s luggage and gear. Meanwhile, Chase was squished into the backseat of Ben’s car with Justin and Tyler, who suggested Chase ride with Aven for company, but the guitar cases alone made that impossible when you drive a Porsche.

And, yes, Aven still has the same car from high school. He’s not spending a dime on a new car until this one ends up deader than disco in a junkyard.

The cabin is a three-bedroom riverfront nestled amongst the trees with its own private hot tub and fire pit, plus enough space from neighbors that you feel like you’re off the grid. Only, you know, with all the modern luxuries rich people would never do without.

For Aven, it’s packed with memories. He’s been coming out here since he was a kid, and even once with Chase in high school. Of course, back then, they were so infatuated with each other they barely made it out of bed to enjoy the outdoors. Which was supposedly their entire point of driving all the way out here. In the past couple of years, he’s been visiting with his roommates to celebrate the notorious Seattle gray gloom soon to be lifted from the skies as they transition into summer.

Last year, he bunked with Ben in this very room. Only, there’s one notable difference this year … the bedroom no longer holds twin beds. Just one queen-sized problem sitting in front of Aven like a blaring red siren.

AVEN:Mom where did the twin beds go????

MOM:I assume you’re at the cabin and this isn’t some silly joke you”re trying to tell?

AVEN:YES!!!!

MOM: No need to go capslock on me, darling. Yes to the cabin or the joke?

AVEN:The cabin

MOM:We got rid of the twin beds because no one brought kids anymore. You all grew up. It’s only couples who come out nowadays.

AVEN:You make it sound like you’re hosting swingers weekends out here on the river

MOM: Only once.

AVEN:MOM!!!!

MOM:Kidding, dear. Have fun with your friends. Stay out of your father’s liquor cabinet. He has bottles in there that are practically worth more than the cabin itself.

AVEN: I bet he’d hardly notice if they were emptied and refilled with drugstore brands

MOM:You”re very charming, Aven, but I’m at work now, so was there anything else?

He types out a thanks for letting them use the cabin and stares blankly into space like an answer to this crappy situation might come from a dust mote any moment now. But nothing. Just a dull sense of dread.

Aven had assumed he’d be rooming with Ben again. Only, he hadn’t done the mental math to come to the completely obvious conclusion that now that Ellie was joining, Ben wouldn’t be rooming with him. Nope, Aven was gifted a weekend away bunking with Chase. In the same goddamn bed.

There’s a good reason a cabin in the woods is the start to so many horror stories.

“Hey.” Chase pushes the door open, stepping inside. “Tyler told me this is where I’m sleeping?”

“There were supposed to be two beds,” Aven informs him morosely.

“Oh.” A few beats go by, and then, “I can sleep on the floor?”

Aven blinks helplessly at the trees through the window.

“Or the couch?”

“They’ll know.” Aven turns to face him. “If one of us sleeps on the couch, they’ll know.”

Chase’s forehead wrinkles. “Know what?”

“That there was something between us.”

“I mean … so? I’m not embarrassed we dated, are you?”

For a long moment, Aven just stands there. Because Chase must know how much he meant to Aven. He has to. That he was never someone to be ashamed of at all. But Chase only looks at him with a tentative expression, like whatever comes out of his mouth next might actually hurt.

“No, that’s not it,” Aven mumbles. “I’ve … I’ve never seriously dated anyone since you. I don’t do relationships. It’s sort of something I’ve made known. If our roommates find out we were together, it’s going to become a thing.”

Chase still doesn’t seem to get what the problem is.

“For both of us, Matthews, it’s easier to keep the past to ourselves. I know these people. Allowing them our history would create a ‘darn those meddling kids!’ episode of Scooby Doo. And I don’t think either of us wants that.”

Chase licks his lips and shrugs. “Okay.” His gaze moves across the room. “This wasn’t where we slept that one time we drove up here.”

In front of the master bedroom fireplace. Chase on his knees on the ivory shag rug. Waking up together to warm sunlight and birdsong.

Chase drops his backpack on the floor, snapping Aven from his memories. “I’m fine with the floor.”

Aven stifles a groan. He’s not going to let Chase Matthews sleep at his feet like a goddamn dog. “Take the bed,” he says gruffly, stomping out of the room before any more flashbacks of Chase naked and writhing take hold.

Justin’s in the kitchen unpacking their dinner. “Dude,” he greets Aven, “this place is great.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“The master bedroom’s gorgeous, there’s a shower as big as my apartment. I’m going to fuck Tyler in it later.”

“Appreciate the overshare, man,” he says dryly. “I was supposed to room with Ben this year.”

“That was before he got a girlfriend.”

“They’re not official,” he insists.

“What’s wrong with rooming with Chase? He’s single.” Justin waggles his eyebrows. “Maybe he’d be down to mingle.”

“Hard pass.”

“Really? Seems like your type.”

Aven lifts a shoulder. “A lot of people are my type in bed.”

“Right, so what do you have against him? I kinda like the guy.”

Like he’s been summoned, Chase ambles into the kitchen. He’s got a well-worn notebook tucked beneath his arm that has definitely seen better days. He gives them a little half-smile as he passes through to join the others outside on the deck. Aven’s stomach flutters as he watches him go. This weekend is going to be nothing but torture.

Justin’s picking through the cupboards, grabbing plates and salad bowls, while he continues listing out the cabin’s amenities as if Aven has never stayed here before. Aven’s only half-listening, one hand stuffed into a bag of chips, wondering if Chase is out there writing new lyrics into his notebook. Justin keeps preaching on about the benefits of a hot tub in cool nighttime air until he stops and goes, “But anyway, why don’t you dig Chase, man?”

Oh.

That.

“He’s just a little too rock star, that’s all.” Aven frowns, his brows drawing together. “And he takes too long in the shower.”

“But you shower in the morning and he does nights,” Justin says, squirting a massive dollop of dressing into a party-sized bowl of salad.

“It’s the entitlement of it all!” Aven shoves another chip into his mouth. “He thinks he’s rock god of the world.”

“Really?” Justin scrunches his face, considering. “I don’t get that vibe from him at all. I bet you’d change your mind if you got to know him. I doubt he’s the same guy he was in high school.”

Well, that’s the problem, now, isn’t it?

***

Outside, after everyone’s filled their plates, Aven takes an empty seat across from Ben.

“I made a new playlist,” he tells Aven around a mouthful of lasagna. “Believe me, it’s going to pump you up!”

“God,” Aven groans. “That sounds terrible.”

For the past few weeks, Ben’s been trying to get Aven on a workout routine with him. But, for real, Aven doesn’t need the body of a god like Ben. He jogs in the mornings and, once in a blue moon, bothers to lift small weights, and he still gets laid all the time, so forget it.

“Aven,” Ben says in a serious tone, “it’s for the good of your health.”

Aven purses his lips like he’s considering it for a moment and then shakes his head. “No thanks!”

Ellie laughs, like she’s genuinely amused Aven chooses the way of the lazy man, and then leans over to whisper something into Ben’s ear.

The tip of Aven’s fork is immediately pointed in her direction. “What did you just say about me?” he demands.

“I said,” she tells him in a singsong voice, leaning in, one side of her mouth lifting up, “Don’t worry about it, Ben. We’ll fuck to the playlist later on so it doesn’t go to waste.”

He narrows his eyes at her, and her grin goes even wider. It nearly makes him smile back. But he resists. Still watching her, he stabs his fork into the salad, shoveling a bite into his mouth. He chews. For a second, it tastes remarkably good, and then …

“Fuck!” he totally doesn’t shriek. Only he does. Shriek, that is. “This has strawberries in it!”

Ben looks at him like he’s grown a new head. “Yeah, so?”

“Where’s Chase?” Aven’s head whips around, but Chase isn’t at the other table with Tyler and Justin, and he’s not sitting off by himself somewhere, he’s just gone. He’s just gone.

“He said he needed to use the bathroom,” Tyler tells him, looking confused. “Why?”

“Strawberries. He’s allergic. Like, bad.”

Aven pushes up from the table, his heart pounding frantically in his chest. He races for the cabin, throwing open the door and nearly bulldozing Chase over in his haste to get to the other man.

“You didn’t eat any of the salad, did you?” His breath is a little uneven.

Chase cocks his head. “Not yet, why?”

Hands clenched in Chase’s shirt, he tells himself to ease up, focus on breathing. Try to calm down. Chase is fine.

“It has strawberries in it,” he answers after a moment, hands falling to his sides, and Chase’s head snaps up.

“You remember,” he says, in a tone that sounds a little dazed.

“Of course I do,” Aven replies insistently. “I remember …”

It hangs there for a moment, so long that Aven wishes he could take it back, and then Chase steps even closer, his eyes searching Aven’s. “Remember what?”

The warmth of Chase, so near. The smell of his cedar deodorant. The way flecks of honey appeared in his deep brown eyes, this close. Aven can’t hold his words in.

“I remember it all,” he confesses, nearly a whisper.

Chase bites his bottom lip, and he’s looking at Aven the way he used to. Like when they were in love. And, god, the beat of Aven’s heart goes absolutely haywire. There’s a thick tension in the air, like something’s about to happen, something that feels important, but they’re interrupted, their heads turning in unison at someone’s approach.

Ben’s in the doorway, his face lined with concern. “All good?” he asks.

But no, it’s not even a little bit good, Aven thinks. He’s in serious danger of breaking his own don’t be a bonehead and kiss Chase Matthews rule.

Chase runs a hand across the back of his neck. “I’m fine.”

But Aven may not be.

No matter how much he wants to say he’s over it, there’s no denying he still cares. There isn’t a wall he could build high enough to block out the affect Chase has on his heart. There’s this ember of desire constantly burning inside him that can never be snuffed out.

No matter how hard he’s tried.

***

“Ben tells me you and Chase went to high school together.” Ellie’s face is the picture of innocence, except for the way her mouth slightly twitches as she locks eyes on Aven over the fire pit. This girl, it’s like fucking with him is a sport.

That’s fine. He likes to play.

“Sure did.” Aven shoots her an encouraging smile. Game on. “Would you redo high school if you could?”

Whatever happened in Ellie’s past must hit a bit too harshly because her face immediately falls, going blank. Like an arrow to the chest knocked her out cold.

Ouch.

“What’s your best high school memory?” he tries instead. No matter how low he and Ellie go with each other, he doesn’t want to see her hurt.

She won’t look at him. She shrugs, smooshing the marshmallow she’s roasting over the open fire between chocolate and graham crackers. “High school was boring.”

“My favorite was a night of cow tipping,” Tyler chimes in.

“You didn’t really tip over a cow, did you, babe?”

“No,” Tyler admits, deflating. “Like Ellie said, high school was boring.”

Aven traded a glance with Chase.

That hadn’t been his experience at all. Senior year, especially, had been one of the best of his life. Breaking free from squirming beneath his parents’ thumbs. Afternoons spent up in his bedroom with Chase creating songs that still play on dizzying loops in his head. Two in the morning, on Andi’s dock, watching stars race across the sky, hand-in-hand, no words, just the sounds of waves lapping to shore. Sharing more and more secrets in the dark. Chase wearing a detective’s trench coat to school to make Brooklyn laugh. Chase blurry-eyed in the morning before he snuck back home. A sweet freckle Aven named Fred above Chase’s left pec. The dick-hardening way he moaned into a kiss.

Chase, like oil, spilled across all his best high school memories.

And maybe this is how Ellie felt when he asked her to remember. It might have been years ago, but those memories could still reach through time in a way you could almost smell, taste. Touch.

“I bet yours wasn’t boring, Aven.” Justin smiles at him across the fire. “The whole school must have been in love with you.”

It lands awkwardly in Aven’s gut, and he shifts in his chair before answering truthfully. “Nah, they just wanted to sleep with me. Only one person fell in love.”

Aven’s gaze is stuck to his roasting marshmallow, golden over the fire, but he can feel the familiar electricity of Chase watching him like a physical touch.

He raises his head, their eyes catching. Chase blinks at him, studying him for a moment before his expression relaxes into a smile, and it’s real and oh-so-charming, like they’re sharing something private, only for themselves.

He quickly looks away before the others catch on.

Before anyone can figure them out.

Because his and Chase’s history is a secret between the two of them.

One more secret shared in the dark.