Page 13 of Beyond the Summer

I shrugged."Not much.I'm headed back to the homestead.It's my mom's birthday."

"Ah," he said."Where's that?"

I pointed at the dirt road at the south edge of the parking lot that led to my family's personal property, which bordered the camp."About a half mile that way.And don't ask me why my stepdad calls it the homestead.If you meet him, you'll immediately understand.They built a big, beautiful house a few years ago up on the hill overlooking the lake, and gave me their old cabin.So that's where I'll be.Matt has his own place, too, a bit deeper into the woods…" I snapped my mouth shut."Sorry, you didn't need to know any of that."

"It's okay," he said, shrugging."Your family seems nice."

"Do you have plans?"

"No.I don't know."He looked a little sad for a moment, and I almost felt sorry for him.Almost."I'll get a hotel room, I guess."

"The Yamada Lodge is nice.Aiden's family owns it.You know Aiden from Stanford, right?"

He chuckled, kicking the gravel and scuffing the toes of his perfect sneakers."Yeah, I think he likes me about as much as you do.Your friends are crazy tight.And a little scary."

The thought that I was part of a tight-knit, protective group of friends made my little introvert heart feel all warm and fuzzy.I tried to stop myself from smiling like an idiot, but it was impossible.

"If you get bored, you're welcome to come to the birthday party.It's tomorrow at 3."Crap, why had I invited Sutton Holm to my mom's birthday party?That was a bizarre choice of olive branches."I mean, it's not like a cool party, just family stuff.Cake."

"Cake," he said, studying me, that hint of a smile back, making his lips twitch in the cutest way.

The third ring of Sutton's cell phone pierced the tense air between us like a siren in the night.My patience snapped, and before I could think better of it, I reached into his hoodie pocket and yanked the phone out, swiping the answer button.

"Holy fucking shit, you don't have to keep calling and calling.Haven't you heard of voicemail?"I snapped into the phone.

"Who is this?"a deep voice demanded through the speaker.

"You can call me the phone police.I'm here to tell you to stop fucking calling."

"Shit.Ben!Give me that!"Sutton suddenly burst into action and lunged for the phone, his face paler than usual, his eyes wide with sheer panic.He snatched it from me and scrambled to his car, shooting me a glare that could've melted steel as he yanked twice on the door handle before realizing it was locked, then fumbled with his key fob.

"Hello?"he said into the phone.His voice was strained as he finally opened the door and sank into the driver's seat, his eyes downcast and worried."Sorry, that was another guy from camp.He was goofing off, he didn't mean it."He swallowed hard."Sorry.No, it won't happen again."

"Is everything okay?"I asked, my voice softer now, concern overriding my earlier annoyance."I didn't mean to…"

He shot me another hard look and slammed the door of the SUV in my face, starting the engine and peeling out of the parking lot before I could say anything more.

"Well, that was interesting," a deep, cheerful voice rumbled from behind me.I turned to see my stepbrother standing there, laughing his ass off."You invited him to Mom's birthday?Was that like a date?"

"Shut up.Aren't you supposed to be all chill and wise and shit?"

He wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes and ruffled my hair."Come on, let's go to the homestead.We'll watch the new Star Trek before you start over-analyzing every moment of that conversation.The phone police, huh?"

"I thought you were trying to stop me from over-analyzing."

Matt giggled."That was such a gem, though."He looped an arm over my shoulder and dragged me off.Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Sutton had stopped his SUV at the edge of the parking lot.He was still on the phone, and I wasn't sure who he was talking to, but it did not look like it was going well.

I felt like an ass.

"He'll be okay," Matt said."Hell, maybe you can help instead of acting like a grumpy little jackass every time he comes near."

"I'm not grumpy!Or a jackass!"I elbowed my stepbrother.

Matt shot me one of his wise camp director looks."Ben, have you been kind to him?"

"I mean… but he's…" I trailed off, frowning."He was mean to my friend."

Matt clapped me on the back."You can't fight mean people with harsh words and insults, you know that.It turns you into one of them."

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