Leo tells Mason what’s going on. Mason then turns his attention toward me, his expression hurt.
“All of you, stop,” I snap, annoyed. “You’re making it worse.”
“Madeline—” Mason tries to cut me off.
“You think I don’t know about two-faced bitches? My brother is Mason Cunningham, an all-American quarterback. I never know who wants to be my friend, for me or for him. I’d rather ignore them. I’ll never see them after camp.”
My speech does nothing to ease Leo’s anger.
“You may be a Cunningham, but you’re with Nate now.” I’ve never seen fun-loving Leo so serious. “And no one fucks with the Morales-Davenport family.”
Nate nods, agreeing, his gaze locked on the girls. “They forget our families run theirs. One call to their fathers could ruin them.”
“Holy hell,” Addie chimes in. “I’m not usually into all this macho bullshit, but damn, the three of you are hot as hell right now, all concerned, protecting our girl.”
“Okay. Enough, everyone. Do not make this worse for me.” Still, the warmth in my chest is undeniable. These are my people, and I love them for it. “Okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah,” Mase responds. “Just agree, guys. You haven’t seen Maddie mad yet, and it’s not pretty.”
Nate’s whole body vibrates next to me, his thoughts running wild.
“You’re not going to drop this, are you?”
“Nope.” He kisses my forehead. “I know it doesn’t bother you, but it bothers me.”
“Is everything all right over here?” Ms. Meyers interrupts us.
Instantly, I’m a nervous wreck. The last thing I want is for Addie to get in trouble.
Luckily, we have Leo, Mr. Charming, to smooth things over.
His dimples pop as he flashes her a disarming smile and says, “We never cause any trouble, Ms. Meyers. You know us.”
She raises an unimpressed brow toward Addie; thankfully, Leo jumps in again.
“Adelaide was simply upholding Camp Horizon’s strict no-bullying policy. She may have used some choice words,”—he pauses for effect—“but it was out of passion for protecting the innocence of our dear, sweet Madeline. For the well-being of our fragile mental health, and the?—”
“All right, Mr. Morales. You can cut the act.” It’s not hard to miss the smile Ms. Meyers suppresses. “I’m giving you a warning, Ms. Sinclair. No more making a scene at my camp.”
Her eyes lock with mine. “If any of you have a problem, you come to me. Understood?”
We all agree.
Crisis averted.
I take a sip of my hot chocolate, then wrap the blanket around me while leaning toward the guys. Now that the sun is down, I’m freezing. Leo mumbles something to Nate, and I catch the tail end of it. “Ask me what? And yes, I’m eavesdropping.”
“Way to ruin it, jackass.” Nate turns his back on Leo, all attention on me.
The wary look in his blue eyes has me nervous. “What’s going on?”
He twirls the ends of my hair around his pointer finger, avoiding eye contact. “So…you know how my parents couldn’t make it to family weekend last week?”
I nod. My parents couldn’t either, but that was expected.
Rosa, Javier, and their siblings were meant to be here. Unfortunately, Rosa got terrible food poisoning.
“Well, the camp has arranged for them to visit in a few days.” Nate finally looks at me. “I was wondering if you’d come to lunch with us.”
