“It’s finally manageable in here.”
“Don’t mention it,” he deadpanned. He took the tea carefully, as if to avoid my fingers this time, and gulped it down in two quick swallows. Even the way the man’s throat worked was irritating. Were my eyes wandering again? Was I being obvious? I had to get it together. But his shirt, covered in sweat,annoyingly clung to him, and of course, he had the gall to smell good, even in tight quarters like this. It wasn’t as if I was seeking this out, but it was just so… pornographic.
Shit, there was no denying this after all.
Jack let out a little puff of air, the relief loosening up his form. “Thanks.” He set the glass in the sink and looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead, he grabbed the cardboard box and went through the door. “Don’t break this one,” he called over his shoulder.
I slammed the door shut behind him.
FIVE
Nat
Chase handedme the final balloon for the arch we were building as we transformed the mess hall into a Vegas-themed casino for tonight’s poker night. The décor could only be described ascamp glam, and we were doing the best we could with the short window of time we had to do it.
Sawyer and Autumn handled the lighting while Chase and I moved to the next task on Autumn’s list and began setting up the tables, placing chips, cards, and markers in their proper places. There were eight tables in all: one for each pod, and one for the counselors to kick off our Camp Wars competition.
The occasional trash talk could be heard between counselors as we set up. This was shaping up to be a cutthroat event. Tonight, we’d all battle for dominance so we could put ourselves on the scoreboard. I’d say people were taking this too seriously, but I was no better. I’d gone as far as watchingWorld Poker Championshipvideos in preparation.
I jumped at Jack’s voice from behind me.
“Where’s the photo booth going to be?”
I pointed toward the corner where Emerson and Sawyer were hanging up lights. Jack set the long boards down next to theprop table where I’d indicated to build the photo booth frame we’d reuse for future events.
As the tournament time drew closer, Autumn hopped up on the stage and announced the rules, and we helped campers get situated. Some campers, like my current pod, had already bonded to each other at the hip. Others hadn’t quite clicked yet, but I hoped this poker night would bring them together.
Jack hovered as everyone got to their tables. “I feel like I should warn you. I’m damn good at poker.”
I rolled my eyes. “So am I.”
A devious look crossed over his face. “Why don’t we make it interesting then?”
My mind went to a highly inappropriate place where he’d suggest strip poker, and my face heated. “How so?”
“If you win, which I’ll add is highly unlikely, I’ll clean those zipline harnesses you were always complaining about last summer. For a month.”
That stopped me in my tracks. Somehow, he remembered my least favorite task at this camp. The idea of giving that responsibility to Jack was beyond tempting.
“Don’t look so cocky. Those harnesses are hand-wash only, Jack,” I lied. I would have quit if I had to squeeze out the butt sweat from those things. I waited for some indication that he’d made a mistake, but he didn’t seem fazed. “And I’d be doing what? Giving you notes on how to have a better attitude?”
The look he gave me was ominous. “You’ll be cleaning the drains in the communal showers.”
Okay, not ominous. More like a curse.
“I can agree to those terms.” Either way, I’d be winning, so I figured I’d toss him a bone. I couldn’t wait to see his face when he scrubbed those harnesses by hand.
The counselors all took seats at the table. Chase sat on my left, and Emerson was on my right. Jack sat directly across fromme as if he were personally challenging me. I still didn’t know why he seemed to have a vendetta against me in particular, but no matter the reason, he was going to regret making an enemy of me. If he was dead set on a rival, I’d give him the pettiest, fiercest, most stubborn rival he’d ever seen.
Once all the tables were full, campers began shuffling their decks and explaining the rules to each other. I overheard one table making their own camp rules, where if they raised the bet, they had to quote a line from a movie before doing so. I shook my head, laughing. I turned to Jack and found him glowering from behind sunglasses, as if he actually thought he could deceive us. It was so intense I caught a chill.
“You can try to hide your tells all you like, but just so you know, those are reflective lenses,” I remarked, proud of myself.
Jack scoffed as if I were wrong, looked at them, and casually slid the offending sunglasses up on top of his head with a pout. It would have been cute, had he not been annoying the shit out of me.
I laughed to spite him.
“You’re so immature,” he groused.
