Trust Me Always is set at Avix University in Oceanside, California, at the start of Cameron Cox’s junior year. The core friend group — Mason, Ari, Chase, Brady, and Cameron — has now settled into their third year together at Avix. Mason is in his second season as the starting quarterback, with Payton and Little D living on campus. Ari is engaged to Noah Riley, who is in his first NFL season. Brady Lancaster is Avix’s starting defensive end in his senior year and is projected for the draft.
At the book’s opening, Alister Howl is returning for his second year at Avix as a second-string wide receiver. Last year, he spent the season hostile towards Mason because his ex-girlfriend had falsely claimed Mason fathered her child. He discovered the lie at the end of the previous year. Before that truth came out, he also began a two-month relationship with Cameron, using the connection to gather information on Mason. Cameron cut him off when she found out, and he has been trying to win her back ever since.
Boys of Avix Series
Book 1: Fumbled Hearts
Book 2: Defenseless Hearts
Book 3: Say You Swear
Book 4: Promise Me Not
Book 5: Trust Me Always
Book 6: Keep Me Never
Main Characters:
Cameron Cox: Third-year at Avix, working at the campus child development centre, Ari’s best friend.
Alister Howl: Second-year wide receiver at Avix, pursuing Cameron to win her back.
Brady Lancaster: Fourth-year defensive end for the Avix Sharks, campus-wide reputation as a playboy.
Supporting Characters:
Ari Johnson: Cameron’s best friend, secretly engaged to Noah Riley.
Mason Johnson: Second-year starting quarterback at Avix.
Chase Harper: Fourth-year, teammate and close friend to Brady and Mason.
Paige: Friend of the group, introduced to the others through Noah, dealing with a biological father who has appeared and is demanding to meet her.
Trey Donovan: Cameron’s ex-boyfriend from the summer before freshman year, now a rookie in the NFL.
Recap Summary
The semester opens with Alister showing up at the football house and telling Cameron — loudly enough for the whole staircase to hear — that he intends to change her mind.
Alister adds himself to the waitlist for Cameron’s Instructional Design class and is admitted as her assigned course partner for the semester. He shows up at her dorm, tracks her across campus, and positions himself wherever she is headed.
When Alister follows her across campus, Cameron spots Brady with Mason, runs to Brady, and kisses him to deter Alister’s advances. Brady catches her, and tells Alister she is taken. Later, Cameron asks Brady to keep up the ruse as her fake boyfriend.
The fake dating gives Cameron consistent cover. Brady walks her to class, studies with her, and attends events at her side.
Brady is known across campus as a serial playboy, a reputation he has never corrected. They spend increasing time together outside the fake-dating context. The physical ease that has always existed between them shifts.
Coach assigns Brady to work with Alister on his mechanics. During a difficult game where Avix are down by two touchdowns, Brady pushes Alister to make a throw he has been avoiding. Alister makes it for a touchdown, and the hostility between them dissolves.
At a car wash fundraiser in November, Cameron handles a situation with a group of girls competing for Brady’s attention. When a guy in the crowd calls out at her, Brady says she belongs to him. Afterwards, at his family’s farm, they have their first genuinely intimate encounter, and both of them know the arrangement has crossed into something else.
At Thanksgiving, the group gathers at the Oceanside beach house. Brady invites Alister, who has no family to go to for the holiday. Late in the evening, Alister tells Brady not to leave himself open for regrets, then leaves. Trey Donovan — Cameron’s ex from the summer before freshman year, now an NFL rookie — is also there. When Trey asks Cameron to dance, Brady cuts in, tells her she is not available, and kisses her in front of everyone.
In the bedroom, Brady tells Cameron he is a virgin and explains why. Cameron tells him she is in love with him. Brady says he has been in love with her longer than he realised.
Six months later, at the end of junior year, Cameron and Brady are moving out of their dorms as an established couple. Brady finishes the season as the number-one defensive end in college football.
Next in Series
The next book in the Boys of Avis series continues with Chase Weston’s story in Keep Me Never.
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