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 hav**g s*x.”
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.”
The way he said it made her feel dirty and in great need of a shower.
“Kids!” Bets called from the ladder. “Time for dinner! Wash up!”
They groaned in unison, and suddenly she had a strange sense of Déjà vu as if she was back in high school having dinner at Jake’s house. Travis had always hung out with them but had been silent most of the time, thinking of new ways to torture her. But tonight, things had shifted. Jake was the ridiculous one she prayed would fall out of the tree house, and Travis, well… She looked up into his eyes again. They were warm, kind, with a hint of something else, but Kacey wasn’t stupid enough to think it was desire. She hadn’t had that much tequila. She shook it off and took Travis’s hand as he helped her down.
Jake had already run into the house, leaving them behind. Someday he would make one woman a very, very happy trophy wife; that is, if she didn’t mind being ignored and compared to what he thought of his own beauty on a daily basis.
“Kace, you don’t have to go.” Travis wrapped his arm around her shoulder and walked beside her slowly. “Plus, it’s not that important. I mean, I still haven’t made it to any of my reunion s for anything.”
She laughed. “What? You afraid to face those cheerleaders again?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Yes, twenty-three years old and cheerleaders still frighten me. All that pep, all that joy, it’s not normal.”
Kacey looked back at the house, memories of them playing in the yard before dinner bombarding her every sense. “It’s fine, Travis. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? If anything, it’s going to be a handful of people, and none of them will even remember me.”
Travis squinted at her for a long while before turning his focus back toward the house. “If you say so.”
“I do.” Kacey hooked her arm within his “Now let’s go face the parents again.”
“Yes, and be sure to eat something before you kiss Mom on the cheek. Don’t want her thinking you’re pregnant and drinking.”
“Ugh!”
Travis laughed and reached for the sliding glass door.
“Hurry up!” Bets clapped her hands. “I keep telling Grandma to hurry, but she’s across the street still! Imagine that.”
“Across the street?” Kacey whispered so only Travis could hear her.
“Yeah, Grandma’s got a… fling.” He made air quotes with his fingers and rolled his eyes.
Kacey could not imagine why Grandma and fling should be used in the same sentence. Who flings at eighty-five? “Who is she… having this fling with?”
Travis shuddered and mouthed, “You don’t want to know,” before disappearing into the bathroom.
Chapter Eleven
Jake couldn’t help but feel suspicious as his glance went from Travis to Kacey and back again. Naturally, he wasn’t the suspicious or jealous type, at least not typically. But he felt a little on edge. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Kacey was wearing such tight spandex, he was finding it hard to walk and talk at the same time.
It was his stupid brother, Travis. Travis of all people! He was looking at Kacey like he’s attracted to her — which was ridiculous because, well, he’s always despised her, and she him. Jake couldn’t even count on his fingers the ways they’d proven that.
It’s just that, he knew Travis. At least he’d like to think he was intelligent enough to know his own flesh and blood. But by the looks of things, well, it seemed like Travis was staring at Kacey, like… like a man. Hell. He was losing his damn mind. Everyone knew he hated her with a passion. He’d been nothing but cruel to her since they met in elementary school. If anything, Jake had always needed to protect her from his brother more than he had from the other kids at school.
Who had carried her to the house when Travis had pushed her and she’d scraped her knee? Um, Jake had.
Who had asked her to prom when every other guy would have been blacklisted if they had as much as set foot near her, as per order of the women at the school? Again, the younger of the two brothers.
And who, in the middle of the gymnasium, when crowned Homecoming King, had gotten down on one knee his senior year and had asked Kacey to be his girlfriend? Jake hated to boast, but yes, that had been him, while Travis had just sat there like a fool. Granted, he was in college and only visiting for the weekend. But still. It was always Jake. It had always been Jake.
So the thought that Travis was currently looking at her like… well, like guys look at girls, was actually quite alarming.
After all, the rumor at school had been that Travis was g*y or something, not that Jake had ever asked him. He hadn’t wanted to embark on such an uncomfortable conversation and all that.
Jake pushed the thought from his mind. Honestly, I am just too tired. He had been working endlessly to make sure everything was in order at work, and to make matters worse, Samantha, his on-again, off-again girlfriend had declared she was going to go to the papers to report the little engagement as a ruse.
Naturally, he’d threatened to sue her.
Which she’d found extremely hot.
Needless to say he’d flown her down for the weekend as well.
It’s not as if Kacey was really going to be that realistic in this role, not that Jake would let her. After everything that had happened between them, it was safe to say that they needed to stay friends, lest he ruined both their lives for the second time.
“Jake?” Dad reached for the potatoes once everyone was seated. “How’s the office? Everything going well?”
No, he wanted to yell. Everything was not going well since Dad had retired, but it was imperative that Jake appeared in control. He shrugged and answered, “Not a problem.”
Grandma chose to make a grand entrance, complete with lipstick smeared on her face, and he couldn’t help but smell some sort of man-scent coming off of her in waves.
Always nice to know Grandma’s getting play while faking your own engagement.
“What’s this about the business?” Grandma could destroy a man with one harsh look.
“Nothing,” Jake said, diverting attention away from himself. “But you can ask about Kacey and my plans to wed.”
In that moment, Jake’s heart stopped as Grandma clutched her chest, wheezed, and then literally toppled out of her chair.
“Grandma!” everyone yelled on key as if to somehow revive her.
Jake fell to his knees and grasped her hand. She opened her eyes on cue. “I was playing the shocked grandmother. Did I do well?”
“Damn it, Grandma! Don’t ever do that again!” Jake swore fluently. Mom glared from her side of the table, but he was sure she was thinking the same thing, if not worse.