The conversation with Kyle is proving to be too much, so I decide to put some distance between us. The tent has to be put up, and I have to get away from him. First, he tells me about the bust falling apart, then he calls me out about his dad, he tells me about his dad abusing him, and he takes a swing at me. The guy is too much for me to deal with right now, especially when I have to share a tent with him now.

I storm off towards everyone else. Jasper greets me as soon as I get out of the wooded area that was securing us. I fake a smile. Knowing what I know for certain now means the guys an asshole and kind of the enemy when he's selling for Ben Hartley.

"What'd he want?" Jasper asks me.

"You've been sleeping with his girl?" I ask.

Jasper smirks at me, and I see red. Here's the thing, I caught Jasper and Ellie together a little while ago, and I warned him then that I thought it was bullshit. He knew I wouldn't be happy about it, and he did it anyway. It's a hell of a way to piss all over the bro code, and if I didn't take a swing at him for it, that'd be more out of character than if I did. He told me point blank, he didn't fuck Emma. The punch is inevitable.

Unlike the punch Kyle just threw at me, mine lands. Jasper stumbles backwards a couple of steps when my fist explodes in pain. Several things happen at once. Ben Hartley appears out of the corner of my eye. I'm probably not supposed to notice the subtle headshake Jasper gives Ben, but I do. He's apparently telling him to stay out of this, which is nice. I'm fairly confident in my ability to take the two of them on at once, but I don't particularly want to try.

Jasper rushes towards me, and he starts throwing punches. I hold back a bit at first because Jasper has been my buddy up to this point. There's a small part of me still hoping I can work this out with him once this fight is over. Thing is, I told him when I caught him with Ellie that if he fucks with Kyle, he fucks with me. Then he fucked with Kyle. What am I supposed to do with that other than what I'm doing right now?

Most of Jasper's punches miss me, but he gets in a decent hit on my face a few punches in. I'm to blame for holding back. After his fist lands on my face, I let loose on him. I hit his face again with all the force I can. He takes three steps backwards, seeming dazed by the pain. I punch him in the gut, and he doubles over. Then, I pull my knee up into his face. He crumples over at my feet. I kick him twice for good measure, and I don't look up to see if Ben is about to come interfere. The punch I'll have to take if he is, is far better than the shit I'll have to deal with if he realizes I know he's thinking about getting involved here. There's no reason I should know that if I don't know about the drugs.

I look up a short while later, and I see a crowd has gathered around us. Ellie is bawling hysterically. Fucking bitch. Ben is watching Jasper, but I only allow my eyes to linger on him for a second before moving on, so I don't seem suspicious. He's not making a move towards me so at least there's that. There's a large group around me, so it takes a while for my eyes to find Kyle's shocked eyes. I've had all I can take of him, so I walk off in order to do what I intended to do in the first place.

I walk to Jasper's truck, and I pull my tent and bag out of the back of it. That's when I realize there's someone behind me. I'm alone in a parking lot at this point. We parked far enough away from the campground that the only thing surrounding me at the moment are other people's vehicles. Nobody else is unloading at the moment, so it's only me and whoever followed me out here. I say a quick prayer it's not Ben. My hand is already throbbing, and I don't particularly want to deal with more fighting at the moment.

When my eyes land on Kyle, I can't say I'm not disappointed to see him standing there. He's the second to last person I hoped would follow me out here. I glare at him.

"Come to accuse me of pity again?" I barely resist the urge to scream at him, but my anger makes it through to my tone anyway.

He shakes his head, and he stares at his converse clad feet. Jesus the guy is hot when he isn't being a dick. I walk past him, angry at my own thoughts, and the asshole follows me back to the campground. When I get back to the area where people are sitting, Jasper has picked himself up, and Ellie is pressing a bag of ice against his lip. Fucking assholes. I don't look back at Kyle to see how he's reacting to the visual, but I doubt he's enjoying the sight of his ex-moving on so quickly.

I ignore the urge to stare as I walk by the two of them. I keep my eyes trained straight ahead. The place where we're setting up our tent is further away from the crowd than anyone else is going to be. Everyone was fighting for spots right next to the crowd, but I opted to be the one who go 'stuck with' the furthest away campsite. Honestly, I prefer the seclusion. I like people and socialize to a point, but when I'm ready to be alone, I want to be left alone.

When I finally reach my destination, and the crowd of people are no longer around, I breathe a sigh of relief that turns into a sigh of frustration when my eyes land on Kyle. He followed me to the campsite. I already have to sleep in the same tent as him. I certainly don't need him in my personal space right this second.

"What?" I snap at him when he doesn't say anything, and he just continues to stare at his shoes.

"Can I help?" he asks.

"Doubt it," I snort, and he blushes.

It's cute, and it pisses me off.

"You ever actually put up a tent?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

He's a preppy rich kid. No way in hell he knows how to put up a tent. He bites his lip, and he stares at his shoes hard.

"Well, no," he swallows, "but if you wanted to tell me how, I could probably help out."

He sounds embarrassed. It's not new coming from him. I call him out on this shit all the time, and his reaction is always the same. He doesn't like not knowing how to do these things.

"I don't feel like holding your hand at the moment," I snap at him, and I set to work doing my thing.

Unfortunately, my temper doesn't make him leave, and he hovers while I try to put the tent up with what's likely a broken hand. I'm able to connect all of the parts of the tent and to thread them through where they need to be, but working with one hand, trying to raise the tent isn't exactly easy. I try for a while before I start to get frustrated knowing Kyle is watching me. When I glance up at him, he's watching me with quiet interest. He's been paying attention to what I'm doing so he'll know how to do this the next time. I can appreciate the guy's willingness to learn even if I'm being an asshole, and my anger thaws a bit.

"Help me steady the other side?" I ask him.