The Bet (16 page)

Not thinking anything of it, she’d walked in the room, and then had heard the topic of the conversation. It was her.

And Travis was denying having any sort of affection for her at all. If anything he’d basically told his mother that he hated Kacey.

She means nothing to me.
Why had that simple sentence made her heart clench? It wasn’t as if she liked Travis.

She gulped.

It was a minor attraction, an inconvenient little pain in her heart. Maybe it was just because he was giving her attention and he was gorgeous. Either way, it was ending. Now.

And she knew exactly how to get revenge.

Rubbing her hands together, she smirked.

“I know that look,” Jake said, sitting across from her. “And I’m man enough to admit that I’m a little afraid right now.”

“Please,” Kacey snorted. “When have I ever done anything remotely cruel to you?”

“You mean other than breaking my heart in the ninth grade when I saw you kissing Tom Williams behind the gym?”

The others at the table ignored them, all but Travis, who was now shifting restlessly by her side.

“I didn’t even like him. I was merely experimenting,” Kacey argued. “Besides, we all know who the best kisser I’ve ever had is.”

Travis cleared his throat.

“Oh yeah, and who is that?” Jake leaned forward.

“I’m not telling.” She bit her lip as she examined each game piece trying to decide what she wanted to be.

“I bet I know.” Jake folded his hands behind his head. “I mean other than myself.” He winked. “Was it John Davis?”

“John Davis?” Kacey wrinkled her nose. “No, not John.”

“Kevin Tate?”

Kacey shook her head. Maybe she should be the shoe. And then when she passed Travis on the game board she could step on his game piece.

“Sean Halverson?”

Kacey rolled her eyes. “Please, that boy was at the bottom of the list and I think you know why.”

“Wandering hands that one.” Jake shook his head. “I’ve got it!” He snapped his fingers. “Cooper Reynolds! It has to be him. Girls used to cry when he broke up with them as if someone was dying or something. I guarantee you it’s him. Did you know that he’s single now and—”

Travis slammed his fist on the table, silencing the conversation. “Sorry, thought I saw a bug.”

Kacey looked at him then and raised her eyebrow. “Really? I didn’t see anything.”

“It was there.” He pointed, teeth clenched.

“You sure you’re not imagining things?” she said tightly. “After all, we both know how much you like imaginary things. Take for example, your little bunny. Do you still sleep with it?”

Travis smiled tightly. “I don’t know, Kace, do you still suck your thumb?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Oo, mature Travis. Tell me, do you have to plan conversations in your head so you don’t stutter, or are you beyond that now?”

She knew she’d hit a nerve. He murmured a curse word. “Can we just play the damn game?”

Grandma laughed. “Oh kids, you’ve always been such teasers. Yes, let’s play. Now Kacey, remember not to cheat.”

“I don’t cheat.” Kacey crossed her heart. “I’m not the cheating kind.”

Jake’s eyes flickered to her before he looked down and cleared his throat.

Kacey was glad nobody noticed the exchange, but then looked to her right. Travis was staring at the two of them, his head looking back and forth. She forced a smile and shrugged.

“Kace, you want some tea or something? You know, to calm you down.”

“I’m calm.” She was by no stretch of the imagination calm, just sitting next to Travis and his perceptive eyes made her want to scream. On top of that, his cologne decided to float off of him very near her nose, making her mouth go dry and her tongue feel thick in her mouth.

“I’ll be right back, regardless of how much we despise each other. I still need you to be a good partner so I can beat Jake.”

“In your dreams.” Jake laughed, then looked at his money. “Okay, guys, it’s time. Let’s roll to see who goes first!”

Travis left the room but quickly returned with tea and handed it to Kacey. “Is it poisoned?”

“No. You should be proud. I didn’t even put any Bendaryl in there.”

“Pity,” Grandma said from the other side of the table.

“Let’s do this.” Wescott pumped his fist in the air.

All in all, the Titus family was way too excited for family game night.

She had forgotten how intense it usually was.

She soon remembered when Grandma began screaming that Wescott was embezzling money from the bank.

“Um…” Kacey raised her hand. “How does one embezzle in Monopoly?”

Wescott shrugged.

Grandma glared.

Bets laughed and patted her husband on the knee. Kacey watched the exchange, then noticed that yes, money had been left on his leg.

“Cheaters!” She pushed her chair back. “Both of you, cheaters!”

Suddenly she felt very, very wired, as if someone had given her a double-shot espresso. Caffeine pushed her over the top. She did not have a good reaction when given too much.

“I have no idea what you are speaking of, dear.” Bets shook her head innocently.

“Lies!” Jake pointed at both of them and turned to Mr. Casbon, who was also nominated as game referee. “I request an investigation, sir.”

“On what grounds?”

“Cheating, money changing hands under the table. If you look at the evidence, you’ll see as clearly as I do. Mother is hiding something and Father is sweating.”

Mr. Casbon rose from his seat and began walking in circles around the table.

Everyone was silent.

“Wescott, what say you?”

“Not guilty.”

“Hmm.” Mr. Casbon stopped behind Bets and looked over her shoulder. “And you, what have you to say for yourself, miss?”

“N-not guilty.” She swallowed.

“Then you won’t mind if I look under your chair?”

“Um, well, I’m not sure that’s…”

“Ah-hah!” Mr.Casbon waved a few pieces of paper money in the air then stood to his full height. “My ruling.” He cleared his throat. “Disqualified!”

Bets and Wescott burst out laughing then kissed. “We tried, honey,” Wescott crooned in Bets’s ear. “We had a good run.”

“Well, that ends our night.” Bets rose. “Kacey, I expect you and Travis to pull through.”

“What about me?” Jake looked hurt, but everyone knew he was just joking.

“You, my dear, win every time. So I never root for you, only the underdogs.”

“Fine.” He pouted then began counting his money in a very irritating voice.

It was just the five of them left.

Kacey felt like her eyes were going to fall out of her head; they seemed to be too open, as if she couldn’t relax and too much air was hitting them, making them dry.

“Do you have any more tea?” she whispered to Travis.

He smiled and nodded. “Sure, I’ll be right back.”

Within minutes he had another steaming mug of tea. “This should help.”

She drank it down fast, fully expecting it to do the trick.

An hour later, Jake had also been disqualified — apparently embezzlement ran in the family, that and cheating. He left the room in a huff, leaving a paper trail of stuffed money falling from his pockets. Classy.

It was nearing midnight and Grandma seemed to be winning despite Kacey’s attempt to put a hotel on every property she owned.

“This could go on forever,” Mr. Casbon sulked. “I say we have a tie-breaker.”

“Deal.” Kacey wasn’t tired, but she figured the old people wanted to… socialize.

“The first person to roll a double six, wins the game.”

“Easy enough.” Travis grabbed the dice and rolled. “A two and a four.”

Grandma rolled. “One and a five.”

Mr. Casbon cursed when his roll ended up on double ones.

“Your turn.” Grandma handed over the dice to Kacey. “Why don’t you have Travis blow on them for good luck?”

Travis stiffened next to her.

The jerk. He could at least pretend not to be so offended by her presence.

Rolling her eyes she turned to him and opened up her hand. “Blow.”

Travis’s eyes darkened, his lips parted, and for a second he looked as if he was going to kiss her. Slowly, his head descended, and he blew softly across her hands, sending shivers all the way down to her toes.

The dice flew across the board.

“You win, you win!” Grandma clapped her hands. “Well done, kids!”

But Kacey didn’t look at the board. She didn’t look at Grandma. Her eyes were still trained on Travis’s lips. Damn him.

To his credit he didn’t smirk, nor did he pull his gaze away. They simply sat staring at one another, each breathing raggedly.

“We’ll just be going then,” Grandma announced.

Kacey snapped out of her haze. “Going? But Grandma you live here.”

“I do,” Grandma confirmed, helping Mr. Casbon to his feet. “But my lover is the boy next door, so I’ll just be walking over there with him.”

“What are your intentions with my grandmother?” Travis asked, entering into the conversation.

Mr. Casbon smirked. “I’m gonna make an honest woman out of her.”

Travis laughed. “That’s all I ask.” He threw his hands up in the air in surrender.

They disappeared out the door, leaving Kacey and Travis and the board game.

The silence was deafening.

Chapter
Twenty-two

Would they never get along?

As if answering that question, Kacey blew the hair away from her face and glared at him. “You gonna help me clean up the mess or what?”

“Hmm, let me think.” He leaned back in his chair. “Help you clean up the game or watch you bend over and do it yourself. Tough decision.”

“You. Are. An. A—”

“Hey now.” Travis slowly rose from the chair and sauntered over to the card table. “Do you think we can go an entire conversation without calling each other names?”

“Yes,” she said tightly.

She was horrible at masking her emotions, and she was obviously upset. “What’s up, Kace? You’re not yourself.”

She snorted. “How would you know?”

“I’ve spent more time with you than Jake this weekend. I think I can tell when you’re pissed, especially considering you’ve been straightening that stack of money for the past five minutes.”

Her hand froze over the money. She collapsed in the chair.

He wasn’t sure if he should scoop her up in his arms and kiss away her anger or just have it out right then and there.

“I want to punch you,” she said lightly, as if she was commenting on the color of the carpet.

“Okay…” he drawled “Now?”

“Now’s good.”

She made a lunge for him and slugged him in the shoulder. His balance was off, making him fall to the ground with a loud grunt.

Kacey stayed on top of him, clearly unaware of how much he wanted to rip her clothes from her body and have his way with her on the card table.

“You were an ugly bully when I was little.” She punched him in the arm again. “And then you have the audacity to grow up handsome?”

Oh God, she was finally losing her mind. He had successfully pushed her off the edge.

“How dare you be anything but unattractive!” She pinched his arm.

He howled with pain. “What do you want me to do?”

“Apologize,” she ground out.

“For what?”

“For—” She looked down at her hands and whispered, “For saying I don’t matter.”

Travis groaned and put his hands over his face. “You heard that?”

Kacey nodded, still straddling him. She looked down and flashed him a smile. “It’s not a big deal. I just wanted you to suffer a bit.”

“Kace, look.” He grabbed her arms. “You matter, you know you do. If you didn’t matter…”

He couldn’t do it.

What was stopping him?

“If you didn’t matter,” he repeated. “Then why would I waste all this time picking on you?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I guess that’s the closest I’m going to come to an apology, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely.” He grinned.

“At least I got a few swings in,” she muttered, peeling herself away from him, even though his body begged her to stay.

“Yes, you did.” He got to his feet. “And who knows? Maybe I’ll wake up with a few bruises you can push tomorrow morning.”

“One can only hope.” She held out her hand. “Truce?”

Hell no.
No truce,
his body screamed at him; instead, like an idiot he shook her hand. Friends. He could do friends. He was an adult after all.

Kacey smiled and bent over to grab the paper money off the floor.

His eyes focused in on her butt.

So maybe he was a fifteen-year-old stuck in an adult’s body. It was alarming how fast he was turned on by just looking at her.

“Um, Kace? Why don’t you go to bed? I’ll clean up. I probably deserve it after saying you don’t matter.”

“True.” She winked, then dropped the money back onto the floor allowing it to scatter so he’d have to gather it again.

“Mature.” He nodded his head.

“Always.” She bounced off.

Geez, she had a lot of energy for…

Oh crap. He forgot.

He’d been so mad that she was flirting with Jake and not paying attention to him he’d made her tea caffeinated. And then she had driven him so insane the next pot he’d made was the same.

He had a very sneaking suspicion that the truce was about to be over.

“Well, that was short-lived,” he muttered as he gathered the game pieces and began throwing them in the box.

By the time the game was cleaned up, it was nearing 1:00 a.m. Tired, he sluggishly walked to the new wing of the house and entered the master bedroom.

Everything seemed unfamiliar. Kacey was in his room, which was technically the guest room, and he was in this monstrous master suite with nothing but the crickets chirping outside to keep him company.

How, in two days, had he made such a mess of things?

His mind was a swirl of confusion. First Kacey, then Grandma acting as if she hadn’t had any mini-strokes in the past few months, and now Jake acting nice. He could handle Jake being an ass, but when he was nice it seemed so forced and fake. He didn’t want Kacey falling for it.

But how couldn’t she?

Jake was too damn good at being charismatic.