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As Liam keeps his glare on me, I turn to Drew, who is taping Mark’s fingers together. “Shit, what happened to you?” I ask.
Mark sends a glare at Maddox, who is still on the bottom of the slope, trying his hardest not to fall head over tit. “Him. He makes accidents look convincing,” Mark growls.
“Nearly took off his fingers,” Drew growls. “That would have been Charlotte had Ben not moved her quickly enough.”
“I went to help her, but Ben got there first, which is why I ended up in her spot,” Mark reveals.
We all turn to Maddox, who stops his struggle for a second. “I only meant to take out one person.”
“You took out twelve,” Ciara replies. “Those kids will never find the fun in doing this again.”
“Hey mister,” a little girl snaps. Maddox glances down, gulping. When she punches him in the nuts, he falls to the ground with a thud, groaning with his hands on his balls. “Don’t get between me and the slope again.”
“He won’t,” Amelia promises, glaring down at Maddox as the little girl storms off. “I told you not to.”
“Oh my god, I think my balls are in my stomach,” he wheezes. “I don’t think I’m gonna have any more kids.”
“Oh my god, get up,” Amelia grumbles. Taking pity on her, Drew heads over, lifts Maddox by the scruff of his coat, and drags him over to solid ground.
“Did you not hear me mention my balls?” Maddox cries when Drew drops him down close to where we are sitting. “And who let that psychotic child off its leash?”
“Dude, you have issues,” Liam comments. Feeling all our gazes on him, he narrows his eyes. “What?”
Hope laughs. “If he has issues, so do you,” she tells him.
Maddox peels himself and his dignity up off the floor. “Are we eating now?”
Madison arrives at the table. “Yes,” she announces, then pulls out a receipt withscribbles on the back. “Maddox, Liam, Mark, Landon and Hayden owe me fifty quid each.”
“Fifty? What the hell did you order, a five-course meal?” Liam asks.
“I can go back and tell them to cancel everything you ordered,” she tells him. “Hope and Ciara owe me fifteen each. Amelia’s, Paisley’s and Charlotte’s were ten. Drew, yours and Ben’s cost sixteen. Immy, yours cost twenty-five.”
“What did you order?” Ben asks, no judgement in his tone.
“A pizza in case I don’t like the sandwich, fries, potato wedges, and some cheesy garlic balls,” I disclose, before remembering,“Oh, and a drink.”
“I’m stealing those garlic balls,” he muses.
“I might be persuaded to share,” I tease.
His eyelids lower as a smirk reaches his lips. “What do you want in return?”
“For you to come with me on the sledging slope,” I admit.
“Oh, that reminds me, they do have one for longer legs,” Charlotte announces. “Please come on it with me.”
“Not literally,” Liam coughs out, earning a glare from Drew.
Drew turns away to smile adoringly at Charlotte. “Then we’ll go on it as many times as you want.”
“Yay,” she squeals, kissing him, which earns a few groans from the lads around the table.
I love him for her. They are not an obvious match, but together, they fit. I couldn’t picture her with anyone else now. He treats her differently. He doesn’t coddle her the way we do, but he still treats her with care. He doesn’t speak for her, but he will stand and support her. And although he would kill for her, he makes sure she can stand up for herself. He loves her just as much as she loves him, and it’s been beautiful to see another side to her. He did that. Not us. And unless he breaks her heart, he will always have my vote.
“That kid is staring at me,” Maddox whispers, his wary gaze aimed on the other side of the food court.
Amelia glances over and laughs. “You made an enemy.”
