“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.