“You lie!” He closed his eyes to keep himself from doing something he’d regret, like attempting to strangle her and kiss her senseless instead.
“Nope.” She grinned and winked. “Thought it was luck of the draw, huh?”
It was Travis’s turn to laugh. “No, I just thought Jake hated me that much. He always did have those cheerleaders deep in his pockets.” Among other things. Cheerleaders, strippers? Truly he’s moved up in the world. Bastard.
“What are you gonna tell Mom? She’s going to want know what’s up with you two when Jake gets here.”
“What do you mean?” An irritating male voice interrupted their private discussion and then Jake’s head poked through the bottom of the floor as he lifted himself up into the tree house. “Sweet! I forgot this was out here.” Probably just like he forgot Kacey was here. Idiot.
“Hey Jake, work okay?” Kacey held out her hand and Jake took it. Immediately Travis wanted to cut off his brother’s hand. When had he turned into such a raging lunatic?
And then Jake winked at him, and the rage came back full force. Oh yes, that’s how, because his brother was a selfish ass who deserved to get the crap beaten out of him. And suddenly Travis was taken back to the time when Jake and he had fought over Kacey and made that stupid bet. They were just little kids, but Travis’s competitive nature burned through his veins as he watched Jake reach out and touch Kacey’s hand. Travis needed to remember that her hand wasn’t his to touch. It never was. He swallowed another gulp of the margarita and looked away.
****
Kacey watched the tense exchange between the brothers. It was like being in one of those twisted melodramatic TV shows or something. One minute she and Travis were laughing, and the next he looked ready to burn a hole through his brother’s face.
Tequila did weird things to people.
Jake lifted the bottle to his lips and smiled. “So, Kace, how goes it with the parents?” His smile was devastating, perfect, and ridiculous. Why didn’t he just go to Hollywood and get it over with?
“Great!” she lied. “Although, they did talk about our upcoming wedding and it’s possible I told them we were thinking Vegas, then things got a little fuzzy. All in all, we just have to convince your parents not to have the wedding next weekend, and we’ll be good to go.”
Kacey nodded her head enthusiastically trying to get Jake not to panic — which he didn’t. He probably didn’t even hear a word I said. He was actually texting when I made that speech. Just to test her theory, Kacey added, “Oh, and they think I’m pregnant.”
“That’s great news, Kace,” he said, his eyes never leaving his phone.
“And,” she added. “When Travis played house with us when we were twelve, he pretended we were having sex.”
That got his attention. Jake’s head shot up. “Dude, that’s gross, why would you do that? What’s wrong with you?”
“I did nothing of the sort… Eunuch’s honor.” Travis snorted, and then the man crossed his heart and winked at Kacey. If Jake was devastating, then Travis was mind-numbing. From here on out, both men shouldn’t be allowed to smile, ever. It wasn’t fair to the female population, or the oxygen levels in that cursed tree house.
“So, babe…” Jake played with a piece of her hair, fumbling it between his fingers. “There’s this thing tomorrow, you probably don’t wanna go, but…”
Travis shook his head in Kacey’s direction, warning her of something.
“What is it?” Kacey asked.
“It’s kind of our four year high school reunion tomorrow night. Remember how the senior class decided to do get-togethers every year instead of every five years? Last year’s was a blast.”
If it’s possible for a person’s heart to stop from fear and dread, she was a goner. All of a sudden she felt like she couldn’t breathe, like the air was being sucked out of that tiny tree house at rapidly increasing speeds. She always ignored those stupid Facebook class updates, wanting absolutely nothing to do with those crazy people.
“So you’ll go?” Jake dropped her hair and gave her that look. The one that many a woman lost their virginity to, no doubt.
“I, uh…”
“Please, Kace.” He moved closer and lifted her hands into his. “It will be just like old times. I promise.”
Old times? Old times? Obviously he was clueless about how awful it was to go to the same high school with him. As his best friend, at times it was awesome, but most of the time it was like wearing a t-shirt that said, “Not his girlfriend, so please all girls hate me, despise me, I welcome it.”
Most of the girls were so jealous of their status that they started nasty rumors about her, she nearly had to transfer schools. It got worse when they finally did date. Death threat worse.
Travis, Satan himself, had been tame compared to those rumors and threats.
“Please?” Jake asked again. “It’s only a brunch on the water. Please?”
What the heck. People grow up, right? They aren’t that immature to still hold grudges or cause rumors at the ripe old age of twenty-two, right? That would be ridiculous!
“Fine.” Kacey rolled her eyes when Jake pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her cheek.
“Good, and don’t worry, babe. Mum’s the word. They won’t know a thing about our little deal.”