Bad Decisions

Chapter Five

-Devin-

His plan to be nicer to Avery didn't last more than eight hours. The next morning, he woke up tired and sore from all the work they'd done yesterday. If that wasn't enough, he was horny too. He knew it'd upset Avery if he was late, so he decided not to jerk off. He'd get Avery to take care of that. He smirked to himself, wondering if Avery would see that as a compromise.

As usual, Avery greeted him with a cheerful smile. "Good morning, Devin! How are you feeling after yesterday?"

"Like shit."

Avery laughed. "Yeah, tree removal is tough. Luckily the weekend starts tomorrow and we'll have a break."

Devin got into the truck and tuned Avery out, his mind mostly on getting off. When they reached their site, he walked around to the driver's side and trapped Avery against the truck. 

Avery's smile faltered. "What's up, Devin?"

"I'd like a repeat of yesterday."

"We can't do that again," Avery said, trying to be firm. "We have a lot to get done today."

He rolled his eyes. "No one is going to know. Blow me first, and then I'll get to work."

Once again, he could see the hesitation on Avery's face. He moved closer, brushing his hips against Avery's. Avery's eyelids fluttered and he subtly pushed his hips forward. Devin smirked, knowing he had him. Avery was so easy to manipulate.

He stepped back, and Avery got down on his knees. "Let me set the pace," Avery said.

Devin remembered feeling guilty last night, so he figured he should at least grant Avery this much. But when he looked down, his gaze was met by Avery's big blue eyes. As Avery went down, he made the effort to keep eye contact. Devin almost rolled his eyes. He knew Avery was trying to appeal to him, but he hated that shit. He didn't want Avery trying to look cute while he was getting him off. He closed his eyes and made sure to keep them closed until Avery was done.

-Avery-

He'd thought he was doing a decent job, but Devin had closed his eyes almost immediately. At least this time Devin wasn't pushing his head, but this almost felt worse. He felt ignored and he didn't know where to look since Devin wouldn't open his eyes and look back at him. He remembered what his boyfriends had liked, so he did his best to replicate that to see if Devin liked any of it, but he got no feedback at all. There was no communication, just Devin grabbing his hair. Devin was gentler than last time, but that still wasn't saying a lot. 

When it was over, he got to his feet, standing awkwardly in front of Devin. "Was it okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, it was fine." Devin zipped up his pants and then reached out to push him against the truck.

He shook his head. "Don't worry about me." The truth was, he felt used and hurt that Devin had ignored him, so he was no longer turned on.

"Suit yourself," Devin said, shrugging and walking away.

They didn't talk much the rest of the day. He gave Devin instructions when needed, but otherwise he kept his distance. He knew it was stupid, but he wanted Devin to like him. Despite the guy's flaws, he liked Devin. Especially his smile, which was more like a smirk most of the time. Devin somehow managed to smile with one corner of his mouth turned down, as if in a frown, but on him it looked like he was amused and trying to hide laughter. Avery felt like there could be a good guy somewhere in there, and that maybe they all needed to get to know Devin better and understand that he had a different sense of humor. He was willing to give him a chance, and he hoped the others would too.

-

Fortunately, Devin showed up for dinner instead of hiding out in his cabin. He didn't participate much in the conversation, but Avery suspected that Devin was always listening more than he let on. When they began discussing their weekend plans, Devin piped up. "What do people do here on the weekend anyway? Do we get to leave?"

"We can leave if we want," Peter responded. "Some of us go home to see our families or friends. I'm not sure what your arrangement is though. You'll have to ask Mitch."

"Knowing my dad, he probably requested that I be imprisoned here," Devin said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, there's plenty to do if that's the case," Sam said. "Some of us go on hikes. Avery likes to work on his salmon project."

"That all sounds thrilling," Devin said sarcastically.

"You don't have to be such a jerk about it," Sam replied, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "We're trying to help you out. If you asked one of us, we'd take you somewhere else for the weekend. I've already got plans this weekend, but if you want to get out of here next weekend, there's a nearby town with some good restaurants that I could take you to."

Devin snorted. "Honey, you're not my type."

Sam raised an eyebrow, and Avery could tell she was about to go off. "Not your type?"

"Shit," Devin said, his eyes darting around as he realized the implication of what he'd just said. Avery hadn't seen Devin look anything but cool and collected so far, but right now he seemed flustered.

"I don't mean because you're black," Devin explained. "I'm gay." He shrugged and glanced in Avery's direction. "Avery knows," he said, the smirk making its way back onto his face.

Everyone glanced over at Avery, and he felt his face turning red. The last thing he wanted was his coworkers thinking there was something going on, even though they would be right.

"You leave Avery alone," Sam told Devin, glaring at him as she got up from the table. Everyone else began getting up from the table as well, and Avery felt disappointed that once again, Devin wasn't making any sort of effort to make friends here.

As he walked back towards his cabin, Amanda caught up with him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, let us know if Devin is bothering you, okay? I feel bad that you're the one dealing with him this first month. I think Mitch is going to have him work with someone else on Monday, but if you need another break from him, don't hesitate to ask any of us."

"Thanks. I'm okay though. I'm hoping that eventually I can get him to care a little more about all this stuff."

"I know. You really do see the best in everyone, even though not everyone deserves it. I don't think any of us anticipated Devin being this difficult. He's definitely up there on the list of...well, not great people I've had to deal with in this job or as a ranger."

"That's saying a lot if you're comparing him to some of the visitors you've come across in national parks."

Amanda laughed. "It is."

"What are you doing this weekend?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Peter and I are heading home for the weekend. He's going to drop me off at my parent's house and then he'll go visit his brother. I think Marc is going on a fishing trip and Sam is going to see her boyfriend. Are you staying here?"

"Yep. I'm going to work on my project and go on a couple hikes. Besides, someone probably needs to stay here to babysit Devin."

Amanda laughed again. "True. Sorry we're leaving you to the task."

"It's okay," Avery shrugged, a smile on his face. "Have fun with your parents."

"I will," Amanda replied as she climbed the steps to her cabin. "Goodnight, Avery."

"Goodnight!"

He glanced towards Devin's cabin. There was a light on, and he wondered what Devin was doing. He felt bad for the guy and knew it probably wasn't much fun to be somewhere he didn't want to be, especially when almost everyone would be gone for the next two days. Maybe Devin would come around and ask to hang out, but he planned to give Devin his space otherwise.