Page 14 of A Little Campfire Blues (Pride Camp 2025 #10)

Chapter Twelve

Mackenzie

“Alright, you two, settle down and go change, and then we’ll play with the bubble cannon.”

“Yay, bubbles, bubbles!” Axis cheered as he raced from the backseat of the jeep to the steps, bounding up them and into the house to get ready.

Ezzy’s departure was just as exuberant, while Roman sat behind the wheel of Axis’ Jeep, shaking his head.

“I don’t know where they get their energy from,” Roman declared. “I wasn’t even fishing, and I’m exhausted.”

“Because keeping up with those two requires triple-strength coffee and a splash of ginseng,” I replied.

“So that’s your secret! You’ll have to hook me up next time.”

“Nah, I wasn’t smart enough to pick up ginseng before the trip,” I said, chuckling. “But I never go anywhere without my coffee.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have any on you right now, would you?”

“Couple pods if you wanna brew one.”

“I’d love that. Those twelve fish are going to take me a while to clean and gut.”

“Will go a lot faster if you let me help you.”

“How are you gonna help me and keep your promise to play with the boys and that bubble cannon?”

“Because we are going to tire them out so much with the bubbles that they’ll be ready for a movie and maybe even a nap before supper,” I declared.

“We?”

“There are two of us sitting here, aren’t there?”

“Yeah, but…”

“No buts. You’ve been watching over them all day,” I said. “You deserve a chance to play too.”

“I do that, and I’ll be the one passed out on the couch with the movie watching me, and you’ll be the one left with a dozen fish to deal with.”

“So?”

His eyes widened, and the tip of his tongue poked out as he regarded me. “You seriously wouldn’t mind?”

“Nope, not in the slightest. I think Axis and Ezzy would much rather you play with them than sit at the picnic table scraping fish in between watching them run around having fun. Besides, I have an added surprise to go with the bubble cannon, so why don’t you go change into your swimwear and let me get everything set up? ”

“Y-yes sir,” he said before getting out far slower than the other two, but I’d seen the spark of excitement in his eyes before he’d turned to go and was proud to have been the one to put it there.

Now to hook up the sprinkler to the hose I’d brought; glad there were spigots on the side of every cabin.

A few twists and a bit of dragging that hose to a spot where they couldn’t drench the picnic table, and we were good to go.

I sat and filled the tank on the cannon with bubble mix and was just getting the plug screwed on when they came tumbling back out of the cabin.

“A sprinkler!” Ezzy declared, rushing right for it in the shimmery orange speedo they’d put on.

Each time the sun hit it, new colors appeared, like a sunset playing out on that pert little rear of theirs.

Barefoot in the grass, Ezzy and Axis raced towards it, giggling when Roman let out a bark and began chasing them.

His swim shorts had a tail on the back and a bulldog face on the front, tongue hanging out over his package, which just made me chuckle.

Axis had opted for purple tie-dyed board shorts that showed off the gargoyle tattoo on his left leg and the two purple dragons coiling up his right.

I was beginning to think that might be his favorite color, since several of the ones on his arms, chest, and back were purple too.

I wondered if he was going for full sleeves, as much of the skin on both arms was already inked up, each design being some mythological creature looking badass and fierce as hell.

Hard and soft—that was the impression I’d first gotten when I’d stared at the pair bathed in firelight, but today had given me a different insight into both.

Axis, for all the I -don’t-give-a-damn energy he put out, had a tender-hearted nature that came out in full force when he was little.

Seeing him kneel beside the pond to help a duckling who’d gotten ensnared in some old fishing line had given me a glimpse of that, as had the gentle way he’d carried it back over to where the other ducks were quacking.

He’d lovingly stroked its feathers the entire way and knelt silently, setting it free so it could scurry back to its family without getting so close he scared them off.

Something told me that wasn’t the first time he’d rescued a hurt critter, though he’d mentioned earlier that he’d never had a pet, not even a goldfish, and wouldn’t know the first thing about caring for one.

That line about not knowing how to care for something had sounded like a cop-out to me, but I’d refrained from calling him out on it, if only because it wasn’t my place. Not yet anyway.

Roman chased them through the sprinkler while I set off the cannon, giving them something new to chase. Soon the air beside the cabin was filled with a cloud of floating rainbows the trio rushed to pop.

“Look, they’re on your head!” Ezzy declared, pointing to the bubbles shimmering on Roman’s chestnut hair.

Loose and wet, they were plastered against his forehead and the back of his neck.

“I caught one! I caught one!” Axis declared, beaming until it popped in his hands.

He scowled for half a second, then set out to catch another.

Ezzy scampered for the sprinkler, dancing in the spray. Over it, around it, wiggling their butt and hopping like a bunny several times before Roman pounced on them and tickled them in the grass before helping them up again.

It was easy to picture what they’d been like as children, growing up together.

The happiness, the joy in the way they interacted, left my heart feeling light and free.

It was easy to join in their laughter as I fired more bubbles, creating a wall of them that Ezzy cartwheeled through.

Axis tried and fell over each time, giggling, then laughing harder when Roman and Ezzy descended on him, tickling him too.

“I give, I give!” He squealed, trying to roll away and slipping in the wet grass. “Daddy, Daddy, save me!”

That was the second time today one of them had slipped and called me Daddy.

What else could I do but hurry over and spray them with bubbles until they let poor Axis get up?

His tanned face was flushed when he took my hand and let me help him to his feet.

Then that grinning boy hugged me, covering me in water and bubble residue.

Best feeling in the world, let me tell you.

I hugged back just as tight and soon found myself the center of a hug sandwich that left me breathless and messy as hell. Not that I cared, I’d thrown a change of clothes in my bag, knowing the process of descaling the fish for supper was going to leave me messy regardless.

“This is awesome, thank you,” Ezzy said, stepping back a little.

I ruffled their hair and listened to them giggle as they tried to smooth it back into place.

“You’re most welcome, Sparkle Butt,” I said and watched their grin grow.

“That’s the best nickname ever!” Roman declared, “Better run, Sparkle Butt, or the tickle monsters are gonna get you again.”

“Rawr!” Axis bellowed before chasing after Ezzy, but not before I spotted a flash of disappointment in his eyes before he spun away from me.

Was it because of the nickname I’d given Ezzy?

I’d give him one too, once I came up with the perfect one.

One unfortunate thing I’d discovered over many years in poly relationships was how quickly the downfall had come after one got it in their heads that another was loved or cherished more than them.

It would never work with the trio if those feelings were already coming into play, which meant I’d need to tread lightly and keep a close eye on his reactions before I got in too deep with them.

It was a real shame, though. The day had already left me wanting to claim them and give them each something to wear that marked them as mine, even if we had to work out the rest of the details from a distance.

While they ran in and out of the sprinkler, I sent more bubbles flying their way until the cannon was empty and Ezzy had sprawled on the grass, letting the water from the sprinkler wash over them.

Roman joined them a few minutes later, curling up behind them, making Ezzy the little spoon, while Axis sat right beside the sprinkler, sticking his hands in the spray to disrupt it.

“Who’s ready for movie time?” I asked, grinning when all three heads turned my way.

“I am!” Ezzy said.

“Definitely,” Roman declared.

Axis licked his lips and shrugged, splashing the water more. “I’m tired. Gonna go nap.”

“You’ve had a busy, busy day,” I said. “A nap sounds like a wonderful idea.”

Nodding, he splashed once more before standing and heading in, but not before I caught a hint of wistfulness on both Ezzy’s and Roman’s faces.

“Can we watch Monster Island?” Ezzy asked.

“We sure can,” Roman replied, sitting up and brushing a hand over his damp face while I headed over to turn off the sprinkler. “But we’d better shower and change first, or we’ll get the couch all wet.”

“Okie,” Ezzy replied, standing and offering Roman a hand, which he accepted and held on to as they headed inside.

“I’ll bring the fish in when it’s ready,” I told them. “Looks like there are some clouds off in the distance that might decide to drop a bit of rain on us.”

“Thankie!” Ezzy said, waving as they headed up the steps.

I hoped whatever the weather had in store for us was over by tomorrow, as we had a maze to explore, as well as a scavenger hunt I knew they were looking forward to.

Once I’d draped the hose over the railing to let the water run out, I got down to the messy business of cleaning and gutting fish after I’d laid out a few brown paper sacks to make cleanup easier.

Plastic might be what the masses opted for when grocery shopping, but it was a lot harder for paper to break, at least in my experience.

I sang along with my playlist while I worked, knowing the grill, which I’d fired up before I’d gotten started, would be ready for the first four once I’d prepped and seasoned them.

It was when I went to put them on the grill that I got the sensation of being watched.

Glancing over at the cabin, I noticed parted curtains and Axis’s face peering out at me.

The moment our eyes met, he withdrew and closed the curtains, leaving me to wonder why he’d been watching instead of napping or joining the others in the living room.

Our conversation early that morning played back in my mind, along with the sad, somber lyrics I’d overheard as I’d approached him.

That he was shy about his music was a bit of a shocker to me.

So many of the guitarists I’d known over the years had been confident to the point of being cocky at times, so it was a breath of fresh air that he wasn’t.

Still, there was something troubling about his behavior, both this morning and what he’d said about the night before.

That he hadn’t wanted to play once he’d recognized me.

Was that because he didn’t think he’d measure up or because others had put it into his head that he didn’t and thus impacted his opinion of himself and his abilities?

I still wished that I could find something, anything, online about him or the band he’d belonged to, so I could listen for myself, without him being hesitant, the way he’d been the night before.

Learning about each of them as individuals would be key to figuring out how and if we could make this work.

As the first batch neared completion, I went inside to grab a platter or a plate, something that I could bring the fish in on, and found Roman passed out on the couch with Ezzy in his arms. In fact, it looked like the only thing that was keeping Ezzy from tumbling off was the way Roman held them, even in such a deep state of slumber.

Pressing my finger to my lips, I approached, not wanting to wake the exhausted pup.

“Do you guys have a large plate or serving platter?” I whispered. “The first batch of fish is almost ready.”

“Ohhh, yum, I’m hungry. There is a platter in the middle cabinet, on the top shelf,” they whispered, their little space having slipped away at some point since they’d come in.

“It won’t be too much longer; then we can all eat together.”

“Yey,” they hissed, low so as to not disturb Roman, who’d twitched a bit at the sound of my voice.

I left them smiling on the couch, still watching Monster Island, as I headed to retrieve it.

As promised, I had everything ready less than forty-five minutes later and came in to discover that Axis had joined them in the living room and was sitting in one of the easy chairs in sleep pants and a T-shirt with his knees drawn up.

While I didn’t recognize the name of the band on his shirt, I committed Malevolent Gargoyles to memory so I could look them up on the off chance that it was one of his ex-band's shirts he had on. With the way gargoyles were woven into several of his tattoos, it wasn’t too far-fetched a notion.

“Supper’s ready,” I said, once I noticed Roman was awake and blinking sleepy-eyed at the television. “Let’s get to it while it’s hot.”

“Food!” Ezzy declared, wiggling free and hurrying for a seat, followed by Axis, while Roman sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Man, I told you I was gonna pass out the moment I was on the couch.”

“And I told you not to worry about it,” I reminded him. “Now let's go eat.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Ohh, that smells delicious,” Roman said as we reached the table in time to see that Axis and Ezzy were in the process of setting places for everyone.

Roman retrieved a pitcher of lemonade with cut-up strawberries floating around in it, and soon we were seated with our feast, which included pasta salad and watermelon slices to complement the fish.

“I’m so glad we thought to bring sides,” Ezzy said. “None of us would have been up to making anything after the day we had.”

“Will you read us a story later?” Axis asked, the hesitance back in his voice, the way it had been during our morning conversation by the lake.

“I’d be happy to.”

“And you’re still gonna join us tomorrow, right?” Roman asked, his expression hopeful.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Awesome!” Ezzy declared. “I can’t wait for the scavenger hunt. I really hope it doesn’t rain; we missed out on fireflies tonight.”

“There will be plenty of time for chasing fireflies, I’m sure,” I said as we filled our plates.

A sense of domestic tranquility washed over me as we ate and I sent up a silent plea that this would be the first of many shared meals and moments to come.