Kiss This (50 page)

“Well,” she smiled sweetly. “Looks like it’s
everyone against Kate today.”

“Oh shut the fuck up,” Max said. “You’ve
played your cards long enough. There’s nothing to hold against us
anymore.”

“Oh? I think I’ve been around this family
long enough to rack up some pity points.”

“Did you not hear a word that my grandfather
said?”

“Oh I heard him. But I am not one of
you.”

“Your son is,” Max growled.

“
Half
a McCallan.”

“It’s what you wanted, Kate. To be a part of
our family? Well you got it, now deal with it.”

“Don’t threaten me,” she sneered.

“I’m not threatening you. You’ve got
consequences to face now. We all do. So quit being a bitch and do
what’s right for Chase.”

“Oh now it’s do what’s right for Chase? You
know damn well you kept this a secret for your own selfish reasons;
the money and the prestige of your father’s company.”

“Don’t even pretend that money was not your
goal in all this, too.”

“Well looks like you broke the deal, Max.
Your father looked pissed enough to disown you entirely!”

“
You
broke the agreement by coming
back to town! I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re doing
here, but messing with my family and my career like this is going
to cost you, Kate.”

She scoffed and looked at Teague. “Does this
seem familiar to you? Isn’t this what they did to your mom, Teague?
To
you
? Take you from your family just because they
could?”

“No one is taking Chase from you, although
it would be nice to make you feel what that’s like,” Teague stated.
The anger and bitterness was easy to detect in his tone.

“Oh, don’t throw that at me. You were not
his father, Teague. I wanted Chase to know his father, and
confusing him with you around wasn’t going to help. To my surprise,
his real father is a selfish, arrogant
ass
.”

Max only smiled but Teague said, “You
already knew that, Kate. You brought this on your self.”

“At least I’ve been compensated nicely,” she
smirked. “And there’s more to come.”

“You are such a bitch,” Max muttered.

“Fine, but I had
your
son, Max, and
it really wasn’t that hard to make it happen. I’m not the idiot you
think I am and I will get from you every penny that I deserve.”

“No, you’re not an idiot, Kate,” he smiled,
shaking his head. “
We’re
the idiots. You, on the other hand…
You’re evil, plain and simple. And I don’t care if my father
miraculously forgives me for this; I’ll make sure the production
company stays in his name. If it means cutting you out of the
financial gain, I’ll do it. And thanks for giving us this
demonstration, by the way. It’s really giving me a lot of
motivation for Chase’s future.”

She glared at him with a nasty scowl on her
lips. “That’s what you think—”

“That’s what I know!” he shouted. “You have
just given me every bit of proof that Chase is just another victim!
This is the only time I’m going to say this, Kate. I will fuck you
over tenfold if you mess with my family again. That is a
promise
! I screwed over my brother’s life to put my career
and my father’s approval first. But these last two months of your
threats have put me over the edge. Not anymore. The truth is out
and I’m glad. I don’t give a fuck what happens to you right now,
and your reputation is pretty much as good as the dirt on my
shoes.”

“I’m sure your reputation is going to be
right there
with
me.”

“I don’t even care,” he sighed, rubbing the
bridge of his nose between his fingers. “I can’t even look at you
right now.” He abruptly left the room, even while Kate tried to say
something in response.

Teague slid his arm over Camryn’s shoulder
to lead her out as well, but not before hearing Kate’s next
words.

“Hope you keep an eye on her, Teague. She
looks like she could fuck who she wants and get away with it.”

Camryn lunged for her, but because Teague
was between them, he was able to stop her. Kate had jumped back in
surprise, but then she laughed. “Wow, that didn’t take much. Hit a
little too close to home?”

“You have no idea how lucky you are right
now,” Camryn said through clenched teeth.

Kate laughed again and looked at Teague’s
arms that were now wrapped around Camryn. “Two peas in a pod.
Teague’s always been one to stir up trouble without a thought. But
I suppose that’s sweet that he’s looking out for you.”

“Kate, just walk away,” Teague told her.

She looked at him with another heinous
smile. “Oh Teague, by the way… Remember when we first met at
Mandalay? Remember the girl that pretended she needed help at the
blackjack table? Remember the girl that had you in her bed by the
end of the night?” She laughed purposefully and with narrowed eyes
added, “I knew
exactly
who you were. Don’t think your
awkward charm won me over in the
least
bit.”

Camryn was ready to pounce on this bitch,
but Teague’s arms only tightened around her waist.

Kate looked at her and said, “Oh and a tip
for you, blondie? The McCallans don’t like outsiders making them
look bad, so try to be careful, princess.”

“Kate, just leave, okay?” Teague sighed.
“You’re not welcome here and you never will be.”

“You’re right, and I don’t
want
to be
here. Unfortunately, I agreed to bring
my
son so he could
spend the night at the McCallan mansion—with a babysitter, I’m
sure—so I’ll just smile and mingle with some of my new friends
before I go. Keep an eye on your blonde slut, Teague. You don’t
have the best luck picking ‘em.”

“Babe, she doesn’t have a child to tend to
tonight,” Camryn said calmly over her shoulder.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he replied, and he
released his arms from her waist.

Before Kate understood what she meant,
Camryn clocked her right in the face, spinning her ninety degrees
until she dropped to her knees with a horrid squeal. She fumbled to
get back up, holding her eye as she faced them again, keeping her
distance. “You fucking bitch!” she screamed.

“Now that’ll give you something to talk
about with your new friends,” Camryn smirked. “You can say whatever
you want to my face or behind my back, schoolgirl, but if you mess
with Teague in the slightest of ways, I will kick your ass and
enjoy every second of it. That black eye will be the least of your
worries.”

Kate released an angry growl as she stormed
past them, still holding her eye. “Good luck moving down in the
world, Teague,” was all she could say.

When she was finally gone, Teague tried not
to laugh but he couldn’t help it. He picked up Camryn’s hand and
examined her knuckles before he kissed them. “You all right?”

“Perfectly fine.”

He took a deep breath as he pulled her to
his chest. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” he kissed her
head.

“You sure I don’t have to stick around to
face assault charges?”

“No, I didn’t see a thing,” Teague smiled.
“And like she said, she’s been around the family long enough. She
knows we take care of things internally. We’ve all been decked by
somebody in this family.”

He kissed her cheek and slid an arm around
her shoulder. They kept walking until Teague spotted Jay and
motioned they were going to leave. Jay wrangled Kellie and Melanie
since they were still near him, and they all met up at Teague’s
truck.

“You wouldn’t happen to be the reason why
that nasty skank made a beeline for the exit while holding her
face, would you?” Kellie inquired of Camryn knowingly.

“Who, me?” Camryn answered with feigned
innocence.

“Right,” Melanie stated, shaking her head.
They all climbed into the truck as she added, “I don’t even know
what’s going on, but I’m surprised you hit a girl, Camryn.”

“Hey, I don’t pick and choose who deserves
to be decked.”

“True. You can never tell what form of ‘kiss
my ass’ this girl will give you,” Melanie giggled. “Camryn ‘Kiss
This’ Jacobs.”

Teague froze before he started the ignition
and looked back at Mel. “What’d you call her?”

“Uh, Camryn ‘Kiss This’ Jacobs. It’s her
name at the gym. She’s had it since she was fourteen.”

Teague’s jaw dropped as he stared wide-eyed
at his fiancée.

“What?” Camryn scowled at him, trying to
hide a smile.

“What?
What
?” he joked. “So
that’s
why you reacted when I said that!” he laughed. “Oh
God, I saw what I was getting into back then and I still did it
anyways.”

“Shut up!” she laughed, playfully shoving
his arm. “I am nothing but sweet to you!”

“You saw what you were getting into at
Grady’s party,” Jay reminded him. “I will never forget the stupid
look on his face,” he told Camryn. “The guy turned into an instant
dumbass.”

Camryn smiled sweetly at Teague and batted
her eyelashes. “Oh?”

Teague shrugged casually. “Yeah, I might’ve
been a bit influenced by you.”

“Just a bit?”

“Yeah, just a bit. But it was a crazy bit,
powerful enough to knock me on my ass. And enough to take on this
stupid kissing bet that turned me inside out.”

“A kissing bet?” Jay asked with
surprise.

“Aw, I like knocking you on your ass,”
Camryn smiled.

She leaned forward and gave Teague a kiss,
and three loud groans erupted from the back seat.

“Knock it off and just tell us the story
already!” Kellie said. “Both of them. The bet and the party.”

Teague pulled away, but without breaking eye
contact with Camryn, he answered his cousin’s inquiry. “It’s the
same night; the night I got my life back.”

Camryn smiled shyly but whispered, “Me
too.”

Teague turned the key and put the truck in
gear, and then reached over to hold her hand. As they left the
party behind and pulled onto the street, Jay broke the silence when
he said, “You guys should have been there when they first met. It
was the funniest damn thing ever…”

EPILOGUE

May 2013, three months later…

“Forget the swear jar,” Melanie rolled her
eyes at Jay. “I’d go with an ‘I’m an asshole’ jar for you. I’d be
able to take a vacation every month.”

“Well I’d
keep
being an asshole just
to get rid of you,” he retorted. “I’d get the satisfaction of
pissing you off,
and
I’d get the bathroom to myself.”

“Oh, speaking of piss… Who would clean up
your
piss from the floor? I swear we need to work on the
Cheerio method with you. Aim wiener at floating Cheerio, and
fire.”

“Did you just say
wiener
?” Jay
laughed out loud. “Oh my God! And for your information, a tiny
little piss drop is nothing compared to the shit you have spread
out all over the counter.”

“Tiny little piss drop? You either had a
major malfunction, or you are freaking blind!”

Jay’s smile turned confused. “Are you
talking about last weekend?”

“Oh, so you
do
remember?” she smugly
folded her arms across her chest.

“Well, not really,” Jay returned the smirk.
“But that was Tyson, by the way, who then came staggering out of
the bathroom and passed out on the couch.”

She gasped with disgust. “That’s gross, Jay!
Clean it up next time! Or make
him
clean it up!”

“I saw it and then forgot! And by morning it
was gone, so I just thought he cleaned it up.”

“Nope, that was
me
. And this is
veering very far from the original conversation!”

“What exactly
are
you two arguing
about anyways?” Teague asked, passing between their faceoff in the
middle of the kitchen. He stacked the steaks on a plate and rinsed
the marinade brush in the sink. Camryn was at the counter cutting
up fruit for a salad, but she’d been silent as she listened to
Melanie and Jay go back and forth with each other.

“Oh, she had to bring up something she
totally misunderstood the
first
time,” Jay said.

“What’d you say that she misunderstood?”

“At your wedding I said her butt was filling
out nicely along with her four months of stomach,” Jay
shrugged.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Teague mumbled as
he dried his hands.

“But I didn’t mean it in a bad way!” he
scowled. “I just meant it was…she just…I don’t know, she looked
cute,” he shrugged again.

Melanie’s mouth hung open. “
Cute
? You
can’t tell a girl that her butt is getting big and expect her to be
joyous about it.”

“That’s what I’m saying right now,” he
groaned. “You brought up how rude I am because of the pregnant
comments, and when just a few minutes ago I said you look good for
being five months pregnant, you told me I was full of shit because
I’m always being mean about it. And yeah, if I had said you looked
cute at the wedding, you probably would have rolled your eyes at
me.”

“You are totally talking in circles right
now,” Melanie complained. She sliced the last of the hoagie rolls
and piled them on a tray.

“He’s basically saying that he’s not going
to tease you with pregnancy jokes anymore,” Teague said, stealing a
strawberry from Camryn’s salad. “Because you do look cute with a
baby bump, and we’re all excited to meet little Bart, and Jay is
claiming that he’s going from ninety percent asshole to, maybe,
seventy percent asshole instead.”

Melanie looked between both boys for a
moment before finally settling on Jay. “Fine, apology accepted,”
she said with a smile.

“What? Wait, I never apologized for
anything,” Jay argued.

“Sure you did. I’m reading between the lines
since that’s what I’m apparently supposed to do with you. God, Jay,
you men accuse women of being difficult to understand? Whatever
part of you that’s not
asshole
must be
woman
.”