Chapter 41

CHAPTER41

“This will do,” Mikey murmured as she threw her oversized towel down on the freshly mowed grass with a satisfied sigh before shifting her attention to her backpack. Within minutes, she had an ice-cold Coke and a lovely selection of snacks lined up next to her towel, a bottle of sunscreen ready to protect her from the sun, her iPad for entertainment, and a small radio so that she could listen to the game in peace while the boys were fishing.

After adjusting her bikini, Mikey sat down on the towel, grabbed the bottle of sunscreen and couldn’t help but frown when she spotted Jonathan standing in front of her. That was followed by him dropping his fishing equipment on the ground and muttering, “Why must I be such a gentleman?”

With a long-suffering sigh, he reached down and plucked the bottle of sunscreen out of her hand, squeezed an ungodly amount in his palm, and then gestured for her to turn over only to go still when something behind her had him swallowing hard. Following his gaze, Mikey looked over her shoulder to find Uncle Trevor standing behind her with his massive arms folded over his chest.

“I didn’t want her to get burned?” Jonathan said, sounding hopeful only to mutter, “Oh, crap,” when his father narrowed his eyes as he reached back and grabbed hold of his shirt before pulling it off and left her sitting there unable to help but frown.

That is, until Uncle Trevor tossed his shirt on the ground before dropping down on the towel next to her. When she opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing, Uncle Trevor cleared his throat, wiggled until she got the hint, and sighed with satisfaction when she quickly got out of the way so that he could take over her towel.

“Don’t forget the shoulders,” Uncle Trevor said absently as he helped himself to her snacks before pulling on her headphones and settling in to get more comfortable while she stood there, glaring.

“But…” Jonathan mumbled weakly.

“That lotion isn’t going to rub itself into my skin,” came the absently murmured words as Uncle Trevor helped himself to the ice-cold Coke that she’d been looking forward to as Jonathan stood there, looking from her to his father before grumbling to himself as he set to work.

Knowing the battle was lost, Mikey pulled on her shorts and sandals and resigned herself to another walk to Pats. She moved to grab her bag only to rethink that decision when Uncle Trevor glared at her as he grabbed her bag full of snacks and slowly pulled it out of her reach. With a grumble of her own, Mikey turned around and headed for the path that would take her to Pats.

A moment later, Sebastian joined her and-

“You knew better,” he said, making her wince when she thought about what happened last night.

She shouldn’t have ordered that second cheeseburger. It had been a rookie mistake, but in her defense, they’d really pissed her off, Mikey thought, only to swallow hard when she saw the glare that Sebastian was leveling on her. She wouldn’t make that mistake again, not after what they did to Braxton. God, she couldn’t even think about that right now, Mikey thought as she tried to go for a hopeful smile, only to decide against it when that muscle in his jaw started throbbing.

“You betrayed me, you little brat,” Sebastian bit out as he glanced down at her, taking in her bikini top before abruptly looking away as he cleared his throat.

Nodding, Mikey said, “I believe you mentioned something to that effect last night when I was forced to flee through the woods for my life.”

“You should have run faster,” Sebastian pointed out.

Frowning, Mikey said, “I have tiny legs. Why must I keep reminding you?”

“Tell me something, Mikey,” Sebastian drawled, “what exactly were you thinking when you ordered that second milkshake?”

“That the first one was delicious,” Mikey said, earning a chuckle as they came to a fallen log blocking the path.

“I bet it was,” Sebastian murmured absently as he took her hand in his and helped her over the log. When she felt his thumb caress the back of her hand, Mikey swallowed hard as she found herself wondering how a simple touch could leave her feeling like this.

Before her feet touched the ground, Sebastian was releasing her hand and she was left struggling with the urge to reach back over and-

“Oh, my god, a kitten,” Mikey said, unable to help but smile when she spotted the small black cat making its way towards them.

“Mikey-”

“What do you think he’s doing out here?” Mikey asked as she leaned over and held her hand out to pet it.

“Mikey, run!” Sebastian snapped, only to follow that up with a curse, confusing the hell out of her as she-

Realized too late that it wasn’t a kitten.

* * *

“Tell me again how this happened,”Jonathan asked from the other side of the clearing as their mother poured another bottle of ice-cold tomato juice over his head.

“The little brat didn’t run fast enough,” Sebastian bit out as he continued glaring at the small teenage girl currently covered from head to toe in tomato juice.

“I have tiny legs!” Mikey snapped, only to swallow hard as she watched his father pick up the hose. “Maybe we could talk about this?”

“We’re past the point of talking, Mikey,” his father said with a pitying look as he aimed the nozzle in her direction and-

“Oh, my god, why is it so cold!” Mikey demanded, gasping as she wrapped her arms around herself only to decide that wasn’t good enough and decided to follow that up by dropping to the ground in the fetal position. That was followed by sadly mumbling, “You may continue,” as she struggled to shove the hem of the large tee-shirt that she changed into after her last shower over her knees in a futile attempt to stay warm.

“I talked to Pat. He said that he should be able to get his hands on a couple bottles of skunk shampoo in the morning,” his mother said, popping open another bottle of tomato juice and extended her arm as far as it would go before dumping it over his head.

Biting back a curse, Sebastian ground his teeth together as he continued kneeling there, shivering as tomato juice ran down his head and neck before soaking into his shirt, searching desperately for a spot that wasn’t already saturated with tomato juice and-

“Okay, I’ll talk,” Mikey mumbled, only to yell, “I said I’ll talk!” when his father sprayed her face to wash away tomato juice. That was followed by the little pain in the ass pointing a damning finger in his direction as she said, “That boy,” and this is where she paused to give that damning finger a shake as he forced himself to bite back a sigh, “is a Red Sox’s fan!”

Sebastian felt his stomach drop as his gaze swung to his father just in time to see her words hit home and when they did…

Sebastian opened his mouth to save his ass, only to end up gasping and hitting the muddy ground with a pained grunt when his father turned the hose on him. As he lay there, freezing his ass off, Sebastian swore that he would make the little pain in the ass currently making her escape pay for this one day.

* * *

“You’re evil,”Sebastian bit out as he glared at the brat that screwed him over.

“I did what I had to,” Mikey said with a sniffle as she continued glaring up at him.

“So did I,” Sebastian said, letting his lips pull up into a smile that had her frowning in confusion, that is, until his father tossed the old sleeping bags that they used to line the back of the pickup trucks to protect the lining from their camping gear at their feet.

That’s when she swallowed hard and sadly mumbled, “My tent…” as she gazed back at her tent only to find Jonathan and Cole standing there, enjoying her snacks with satisfied sighs.

“Don’t worry. We’ll take good care of it,” Jonathan promised her with a wink as he made his way back inside.

“This really is a comfy tent,” they heard Braxton murmur from the comfort of her tent, leaving them standing there with the sleeping bags that smelled like dust and sour milk at their feet.

“You’re gonna have to sleep outside tonight. We’ll throw the sleeping bags away in the morning,” his father said as he gestured towards the fire.

Knowing that he’d won this round, Sebastian grabbed a sleeping bag with a satisfied sigh and tossed it in front of the fire and-

“Don’t even think about it,” Uncle Reese said when Mikey went to drop her sleeping bag down on the ground next to Sebastian’s sleeping bag.

“Ten feet,” Sebastian’s father said, drawing his attention to find his father dropping a sleeping bag on the ground in front of his tent. Movement to his right drew his attention to find Uncle Reese doing the same before glancing around the clearing, noting that Uncle Jason, Uncle Jared, Uncle Darrin and the rest of the men in his family were all dropping their sleeping bags on the ground outside their tents as their gazes flickered between him and Mikey before finally settling on glaring at him.

Swallowing hard, Sebastian slowly sat down, careful not to make any sudden moves and-

Glared at the little brat that was going to get him killed when she ignored the only warning that they were probably going to get and laid her sleeping bag down next to him with a grumble.

“Not happening,” Uncle Reese said, earning a disgruntled mutter as Mikey stood back up as she grabbed her sleeping bag and-

“Wait. What are you doing?” Uncle Reese demanded, drawing Sebastian’s attention to find the large man panicking as Mikey made her way over to him.

“Sleeping next to my Daddy. What does it look like?” Mikey asked, shrugging it off as she moved to drop her sleeping bag on the ground next to Uncle Reese only to frown when he released a strangled curse as he pinched his nose and made a run for it.

Mikey stood there for another moment before she released a sigh as she shifted her attention to his father and-

“Damn it!”

-sent him fleeing.

That led her to turn her attention on Uncle Jared, who’d already made a run for it along with the rest of the men in his family before finally shifting her attention to Uncle Jason to find him sitting there, swallowing hard as he watched Mikey make her way over to him and-

“Ten feet!” Uncle Jason yelled over his shoulder as he made a run for it, leaving Sebastian alone with the little brat that drove him crazy.