Wait for You (wait for You, #1)

The first installment in the Wait for You series follows 19-year-old Avery Morgansten, a college freshman who has moved more than a thousand miles from Texas to Shepherdstown University in West Virginia to escape a traumatic past. Five years earlier, at a Halloween party when she was 14, a boy named Blaine Fitzgerald raped her. She reported the assault, but Blaine's wealthy family offered a settlement in exchange for dropping the charges and signing a nondisclosure agreement. Avery's parents pressured her to accept. A version of the story then spread through her school, and she was branded a liar by her classmates and community. The relentless bullying drove her to attempt suicide at 15 by cutting her left wrist. She survived, but her parents were more concerned with the family's reputation than with helping her. She now wears a wide silver bracelet to hide the scar.

On her first day of class, Avery is late to astronomy and crashes into Cameron Hamilton, a charismatic junior known across campus for his looks and charm. The physical contact triggers a brief panic rooted in her past. When Cam opens the classroom door, Avery cannot face a room full of staring students and runs.

She soon befriends Jacob Massey, an outgoing fellow freshman, and Brittany, a girl from Cam's hometown. That same week, Avery discovers a threatening email from an unknown sender calling her a liar. She also ignores emails from her cousin David, wanting no connection to her old life.

When Avery finally attends astronomy, Cam has saved her a syllabus and brought her a homemade cookie. They have been assigned as semester-long partners because she missed Monday's pairing, and she discovers he lives directly across the hall. Cam begins asking Avery out; she declines every time, but the asking becomes a playful ritual. Every Sunday morning he shows up at her door with eggs and something he has baked, a weekly tradition central to their growing friendship.

They complete stargazing assignments together, and Avery admits she has never been in a relationship. Meanwhile, threatening voicemails and texts continue from unknown numbers, and Avery is shaken that the harassment has followed her across the country.

Avery forces herself to attend a Halloween party. She enjoys herself until a drunk stranger grabs her from behind and refuses to let go, triggering a flashback to her assault. Cam intervenes aggressively before his friend Jase pulls him back. Avery flees, drives home, and breaks down crying. Hours later, Cam finds her, cleans the mascara off her face, and stays. He asks her out again, and for the first time, she says yes.

Their first date goes well, and Cam gives Avery her first kiss. Over the following weeks, he convinces her to spend Thanksgiving with his family. His parents are warm and welcoming, a contrast to Avery's cold, absent parents. At dinner, Cam reacts with fierce protectiveness when his younger sister Teresa mentions a new boyfriend, and their father defuses the tension by alluding to a harmful relationship in Teresa's past.

That night, as Cam and Avery kiss, his hand slides under her sleeve and he discovers the scar on her wrist. Horrified by his pained shock, Avery orders him to leave. The ride home the next day is tense and silent.

Back at school, Avery shuts Cam out completely. She stops attending astronomy, takes an incomplete on her transcript, and refuses his calls, texts, and visits. She fears he will view her with the same disappointment her mother showed after her suicide attempt. Brittany and Jacob try to intervene but cannot break through. Over Christmas break, Brittany finds Avery collapsed with the flu and enlists Cam from across the hall. He carries her to bed and stays with her while Brittany gets medicine. When Avery tries to thank him afterward, he avoids her, and for weeks on campus he looks away whenever they cross paths.

The first crack in Avery's silence comes through a phone call from David, who reveals that Blaine has been arrested for sexually assaulting another girl, Molly Simmons, from their high school. David tells Avery that Molly tried to contact her family seeking someone who understood her experience, and that Avery's parents refused to speak with her. David apologizes for never supporting Avery, and his words move her deeply.

One night, Cam's roommate Ollie invites Avery to their apartment. She drinks heavily for the first time since she was 14 and lets slip a reckless comment hinting at her assault. Cam finds her outside in freezing weather and brings her home. In a misguided attempt to give him what she thinks he wants, Avery removes her shirt. He refuses, telling her he wants her but never while she is drunk. He stays the night, holding her, and kisses her scar, telling her it does not change how he sees her. She tells him she cut her wrist at 15 and regrets it every day. The next morning, he arrives with eggs, restoring their Sunday ritual. They establish ground rules: no shutting each other out, exclusivity, and trust. They officially become a couple.

Their relationship deepens, but Avery's secret remains. When a threatening text flashes across her phone while Cam sits beside her, he does not believe her claim that it is a wrong number. He shares his own secret: During his sophomore year, he discovered Teresa's boyfriend had been physically abusing her and beat the boy so severely he ended up in a coma. His father's legal connections kept him out of prison, but Cam served years of community service and anger management, took a year off school, and stopped playing soccer. Avery responds with understanding, but the imbalance between their disclosures weighs on her.

On Valentine's Day, their intimacy reaches new heights. Weeks later, when they attempt to have sex for the first time, Avery is thrown back into her assault. She panics, and Cam begs her to tell him the truth. She refuses, and he walks out, telling her that relationships cannot survive without honesty.

Avery spirals before receiving a phone call from Molly Simmons, who accuses her of cowardice for staying silent and enabling Blaine to assault her. The accusation, combined with Cam's departure, forces Avery to recognize that she has been surviving but not living. She goes to Cam's apartment and tells him everything: the rape, the settlement, the bullying, the suicide attempt. Cam tells her none of it was her fault and confesses he has been in love with her. They reconcile, and Avery begins seeing a campus counselor.

Cam accompanies Avery to Texas, where she confronts her parents, telling them their decision to accept the settlement was wrong. Her mother remains cold; her father shows a glimmer of remorse. That night, Avery and Cam make love for the first time, an act of trust free from panic. The next day, she visits Molly, tells her the truth, and endures Molly's anger before leaving, realizing she did not need this confrontation to move on.

By the following school year, Avery is a sophomore attending parties and no longer hiding behind long sleeves. Cam has replaced her silver bracelet with rope loops carrying an infinity charm. When Molly texts with a polite request to talk, Avery agrees. Surrounded by Cam, Brittany, Jacob, and their circle of friends, Avery reflects on how small changes added up to something monumental. She thanks Cam for waiting for her.