Page 52 of Lady and the Camp
“Okay.” I looked at him.
He looked at me.
I looked some more. He had on another heather gray shirt paired with cargo pants. He seemed like the kind of guy who would put useful things into those pockets.
He remained standing in the doorway, shifting his gaze everywhere but me. Last we’d spoken, I’d slinked away to my cabin after presenting him to his mortal enemy, caught unaware.
“Lucas, I’m so sorry.” I’d said it at least thirty times on the way back to our camp the other night, but he deserved to hear it again. “It’s my fault we were caught. If I hadn’t been so intent on making a mark on their territory, we could have gotten out in time.”
One side of his mouth seemed to involuntarily quirk up. Involuntary, because he tugged it down again. “You know, I’ll tell you something about Brycen. He gets paranoid.”
“Oh?”
“Now he’s on edge. We went on the offense and I know it bugs him.” He let the mouth quirk fully now. “I wish we’d left earlier, but at least we know we got to him.”
“Oh, well, so long as we got to him, I guess that’s good news.” And Lucas’ irritation at me seemed to have lessened.
“Now we need an action plan for the games. To show them what we’re made of.”
“The games…”
“The Summer Trail Games. You know, the gamesyougot us into.”
I bit my lip. “Yeah. Sorry. That Brycen guy irritated me so much. He was being such a jerk.”To you.And I didn’t like it one bit.
He scrubbed a hand against his jawline. A shiver went through me. I could almost feel the light pressure of his beard against my fingers.
Lucas appeared oblivious to my gawking. “I’ve got an idea for the games.”
Guilt hit. Knowing he had to plan for a competition I volunteered us for, when he had actual priorities like running a camp, made me want to sink into quicksand.
He sat in a folding chair along the front wall near the door. “Don’t you want to hear the idea?”
I was mainly glad he’d spoken words instead of grunts. “Sure.”
“My meet-up group has a few folks who love outdoor competition. We could add them to the camp roster.”
“But we can’t hire any—” It clicked into place. “Right. The Trail Blazers wouldn’t know they aren’t our actual staff.”
“Bingo.” He rubbed his hands together. “I need to make some calls. Then, look over the camp schedule to fit in training sessions.”
“Training?”
“Prepping for the games. Building up teamwork. You know, camp stuff.”
I nodded. “And I suppose I’m part of this since I committed us in the first place?”
He leaned forward. His eyes landed on me with intensity. “You better believe it.”
Part of me felt the threat—I’d caused this—but the rest of me grew eager with excitement. I’d never been part of a camp war before. Could be fun? I might need to make another clothing order.
“What can I do to help?” I asked.
He sat back. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe just…” He shrugged. “I’ll text my friends about joining us.” He slid out a cell phone. It wasn’t some relic like Marcy joked.
“You could have done that from home.”
He continued typing. “What?”
