Madigan wiped her hands on a towel. “I’ll be right back. I want to talk to Blaine.”

Her mother grabbed her wrist as she walked past. “Go easy on him. He’s having a hard time.”

“So am I.” She headed out the door, making a beeline for her brother.

“Hey, gorgeous,” Baz said as she approached.

She tried to smile, but she was on a mission and she was nervous.

“Mads? Do I need my referee shirt?” Gunner asked.

“I hope not,” she said more to herself than to him. When she and Tobias had talked about his sister on Friday night, she’d realized that Blaine had already told her what his problem was the night Tobias had left town, but she’d been too angry to hear it.

Blaine busied himself taking chairs out of Baz’s truck bed, not looking up at Madigan as she approached, which pissed her off. But as her father had said, there were no guarantees of tomorrow, and she wasn’t wasting another day.

“Come on.” She took Blaine by the wrist, tugging him away from the others.

Blaine yanked his arm free. “What the hell?”

“We need to talk, and I didn’t think you’d want to do it around Baz and Gunner, but if you’re good here, I am, too.”

He eyed their cousins and nodded toward the side yard. She followed him over, her nerves pinging. Blaine stopped by a tree and crossed his arms, looking at her expectantly.

She didn’t know where to start, but when she opened her mouth, words came easily. “I appreciate how you’ve always protected me, and I understand why you got so mad when you found out that I was sneaking around with Tobias. But I’m an adult, Blaine, and I shouldn’t have to sneak around in the first place. So many of you guys pick up women all the time, and those women are someone’s daughter or sister, and you don’t see me giving you hell.”

“You know I’m not like that,” he said evenly.

“I could argue that point, but I won’t because that’s your business.”

“Madigan, if you’re going to tell me to back off and not protect you, don’t bother. Protecting you is part of who I am, and I don’t want to change it.”

She softened at that. “I don’t want you to. But walking away when Tobias and I come into a room is bullshit. He’s an amazing man, and I’m pretty cool, too. We don’t deserve to be treated like that.”

His jaw tightened.