ready for it? • t. zegras

thirty two

"Are you trying to kill me?"

Trevor stands in the doorway to the kitchen, jaw dropped slightly. That's the main flaw of the "Kid's House". If you're in the kitchen, people can sneak up behind you. It's happened to me time and time again. This time, I'm finishing cutting up some watermelon for snacks.

Tradition since we were all allowed to stay in the guest house just us cousins (and Camden Sauer, family friend) was to play board games in our pajamas. Z was not very impressed at the pajama aspect but he seems very impressed with my pajamas for the night. Swapping with Rey might be better for me than it is for her.

"No, why?" I say, faking obliviousness.

He rubs his jaw. Goes to say something. Stops. Then sighs. "Fuck, I forgot my phone. I'll be back."

I go back to snack duty. The twins are arguing with Spencer in the living room. My brain tries to pick up on what they're arguing about. Nothing comes through. Once those three start arguing it devolves until nobody knows the point of it anymore. Except them. Somehow, they always know. Camden's pretty good at following along.

Fucking Cam.

A small yell comes from me as my feet lift off the ground. Arms wrapped around my waist lift me and spin me around away from the counter. When they put me down, I fight off a groan. Speak of the devil.

Now, I love Cam. He's been in my life literally since birth. Our dads grew up together, and our grandmas before them. Cam's an acquired taste though. I hate him in the same breath as I love him. He's one of those guys where you seriously reprimand him and then roll your eyes with a smile a few hours later. If you don't despise his guts. Which is hard not to do.

When I invited Trevor, I was under the impression Cam was staying in New York this year. He just finished up his senior year of college there. Columbia. It's not that I don't want Trevor and him meeting. It's that I would rather it be on my terms. Not him showing up out of nowhere.

I brush his hands off where they rest on my hips. "I thought you weren't coming this year."

"And let one of those old geezers take my golfing win streak away?" He smiles as if nothing's wrong. "Yeah, right."

"Hm."

"Hm?"

Over his shoulder, Reyna stands in the doorway. She's got that look on her face. A look I perfected looking at Cam for the first seventeen years of my life.

"Hey, Cam," she says.

He turns around and I take my chance to glare at him. I know he's about to do something so astonishingly stupid. It's a sixth sense for me. I can sense when a man is going to be an idiot. Please, I beg, please let the girl live. She's the sweetest girl out there and she is unfortunate enough to have Cam in her life and I need her to turn out okay. I don't know who I'm begging to stop the idiot train but I need them to.

"Hey there, kid." There it is! The way he said kid. It's demeaning. Condescending. The smile on her face falters. He adds, "I missed you."

The smile returns full force and she turns on her heel with a bounce to her step. Fucking bastard. I know he doesn't know what he did wrong. I know it. That makes it worse. The anger he fires up in me nowadays is unlike no other. I don't get angry often. Cam always manages though.

"Did you have to do that?" I question.

He chuckles as he faces me again. "Do what?"

"Talk down to her and then say something kind in the next second to soften the blow," I state. "You might not have done it on purpose but you still did it."

"She's a kid. Hence the kid. And I missed her. Hence the missed."

"Tone."

"I'll watch my tone, okay? I won't talk down to her."

"Good. Because you don't get to let her walk around thinking it's okay for the men in her life to talk down to her and then erase it by being kind."

"That's not going to happen," he argues.

"It happens all the time." Especially with you.

Cam shrugs. Shrugs me off. Whatever. His eyes scrape me up and down. "Since when did you like hockey?"

"Not necessarily hockey she likes," Spence says.

"Don't be messy, Sunspot," I say back. Let's get out of this kitchen. I grab the bowl of watermelon and walk out. That's it. I'm leaving it at that.

Z's already at the table an apologetic smile on his face and a twin sitting to either side. There goes my spot. Sunny takes the chair across from Rey. Once I set the bowl down, I go to take the chair at the end of the table but Cam already did. Well, across from Trevor it is. My forced choice earns me a pat on the back from Sunny.

Already feeling the stares without looking up, I do what apparently is my responsibility. "Trevor, Camden."

"Cam, that's what she likes about hockey." Sunny makes me suddenly understand Cain and Abel.

"Don't be messy," Reyna says, taking the words right out of my mouth.

* * * * *

Trevor watches me from the bed, already laying down. I am pacing. That was the worst goddamn PJ night in terms of energy ever. Guess whose fault? Cam's. Maybe I'm the only one who felt that it was bad. Maybe I still give him too much of me. Or I'm overthinking it.

"Teags."

I stop.

"Stop worrying. Sleep it off," he says. "Come to bed."

God, Z. My body moves on its own to climb into bed with him. Not that it's unwillingly. No, it's far from that. There's nothing I want more than to be in bed with Trevor. The issue is that I'm still annoyed by the guy across the hall. Fucking Cam.

"He wasn't supposed to be here," I mumble.

There's no response. He reaches to the bedside table on his side and turns off the light. My eyes adjust in time to barely see his outline reach out and slide an arm around my waist. Again, my body moves on its own. Next thing I know his chest is against my back.

A kiss pressed to my shoulder. "Sleep it off," he repeats.