Bad Decisions

Chapter One

-Devin-

Devin sighed. This sucked. He couldn't believe his dad had cut him off and was sending him to work at some lame forest service camp in the middle of the woods. He was twenty-six years old, for God's sake. So what if he had accidentally started a fire outside of the luxury cabin he and his friends had been partying in? It's not like he meant to do it, and besides, the firefighters put it out quickly enough. Only four acres of forest and half of one of the cabins at the resort had burned.

His dad had taken care of it and paid for the cabin and the hefty fine that he had been charged with. He knew his dad would be angry for a while and give him extra grunt work at the family engineering firm, but this time his dad had fully flipped out and he was on his way to four long months at this camp.

"Does it really need to be for four months?" he asked again, looking over at his dad.

Logan's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "A month for each acre, Devin. You're lucky that no one got hurt, or that that fire didn't turn into something ongoing. You know how bad the fires get here in the summer."

Sighing again, he looked out the window. He didn't need another lecture on wildfires in Washington state. He didn't spend much time outdoors, preferring to hit the clubs in Capitol Hill, the party district of Seattle. But all that was over. Being stuck in the woods meant no clubs, which meant no hook-ups. He seriously doubted there'd be any gay guys at this stupid camp anyway.

Summer for him was supposed to have been filled with late nights in the clubs, all of them ending with him bringing a guy home to fuck, before kicking said guy out of his apartment. His dad wasn't a fan of that either. Not because he didn't accept Devin's sexuality, but because he believed he should be finding a boyfriend and settling down. Just like how he believed Devin should be taking his job at the firm seriously and learning as much as possible so that he could take over one day.

He wondered what was worse - being stuck in the middle of nowhere for the rest of summer, or being cut off from all of his money. Well, mostly his dad's money. The engineering firm his dad had started decades ago had been successful and lucrative, and Devin had never wanted for anything. He had grown up in a huge waterfront home on Mercer Island, had lived in the nicest apartment complex near the University of Washington, where he got his engineering degree, and he now owned a luxury condo in downtown Bellevue.

He did earn a paycheck working as a junior engineer at his dad's firm, but his dad still paid for all of his expenses. His dad had threatened to cut him off many times before, but this was the first time he actually followed through.

Finally, they turned off the pavement onto a gravel road. It was surrounded by trees, just like most of the drive out here had been. The trees were even denser here. The dark spires of the evergreens towered above them and kept the sun from reaching the road.

After several miles on the bumpy, potholed forest road, it opened up to a clearing with several buildings. Beyond the buildings, he could see a path leading into the woods, with several cabins nestled in the trees. This was definitely nothing like the resort he had been at when the fire had started. These cabins were small and clearly older, and the buildings looked like they had seen better days.

As they pulled up and parked, a bearded man in a standard forest service uniform stepped out of the main building. "Hello!" he called. 

The man approached and shook Logan's hand first, and then Devin's. "You must be Devin. Welcome."

Devin nodded in reply.

"I'm Mitch. I manage the team here. There's only six of us right now, so we're glad to have your help for the next few months."

"Thank you for working with me to set this up," Logan replied. "I'm hoping my son can give back and gain an appreciation for his surroundings."

He zoned out as his dad and Mitch talked. He vaguely paid attention when Mitch mentioned his accommodations. Fortunately, it sounded like he wouldn't have to share a cabin. They all got their own cabin, and each cabin had a bathroom with a shower. It wasn't luxury, but it could have been worse.

When his dad was ready to leave, he grabbed his bag out of the truck.

"Behave," his dad warned.

He rolled his eyes, and then turned and walked toward the main building with Mitch, not bothering to say goodbye to his dad. This was going to be a long summer.

-Avery-

Avery stepped out of Mitch's office, feeling both excited and nervous. Mitch had chosen him to be the first one to work with their new volunteer. Although he'd trained other volunteers and new employees before, he still felt proud whenever Mitch trusted him for this kind of task. He'd only been working with the forest service for two years, which was a lot less time than some of his coworkers. He joined Amanda, Peter, Marc and Sam in the communal living area to wait for the arrival of the volunteer.

Amanda was in her mid-thirties and had been a park ranger for several years prior to coming here. Peter had been working for the forest service for at least forty years and was the most experienced of the group. Marc was in his late thirties, had worked all kinds of jobs, and had a dry sense of humor. Sam had been out of college a few years and seemed to make it her personal mission to get more minorities involved in hiking and camping.

Avery got along with all of them like they were his own family. He and Sam had been there the shortest amount of time, but the others had been working together for at least a few years.

"The new guy shows up soon, right?" Sam asked.

"He's a temporary volunteer," Peter said. "I don't know how much Mitch told you, but he'll be here for four months, sort of as a community service type deal."

"What'd he do?" Amanda asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Started a fire at a resort out in Wenatchee. Burned up a few acres of forest. Not intentional from what I understand, just careless."

"Well, sounds like we'll have our work cut out for us," Amanda said.

"It's a great opportunity," Avery piped up. "I know it's discouraging when people start fires or vandalize national parks or campgrounds, but I'm glad that they get to work with us so we can show them how special these places are and how we need to take care of them. It's really cool when we get someone to appreciate nature like we do."

"You're such an optimist," Marc chuckled.

"Avery's right," Sam said. "Having people work with the people or places they've harmed is the best way to create change."

At that moment, the front door opened and Mitch stepped inside, followed by a stranger. Avery felt his heart rate speed up when he laid eyes on the guy. Their volunteer was one of the most attractive men he'd ever seen. The guy's hazel eyes stood out against his dark brown hair, and his skin was nicely tanned. Judging from the shirt clinging to his torso, he spent a good amount of time working out. Avery forced himself to stop thinking about that. First of all, the guy probably wasn't gay, and even if he was, a man like that wouldn't be interested in him.

The guy looked from one person to the next, but his gaze settled on Avery. Avery fidgeted, feeling uncomfortable at how the guy was looking at him, as if he were mentally undressing him. Maybe the guy was gay. Or, maybe it was just the opposite: that he didn't like gay men. Avery had certainly encountered that before. Either way, he was suddenly a lot more nervous, and he got the feeling that this wasn't going to be as easy as he'd thought.