CHAPTER Ten
Travis watched in amusement as Kacey continued to schmooze over the family as if she’d never left.
His own father, traitor that he was, just smiled and patted her hand continuously, like she was some sort of puppy.
Mother was even worse. At one point, he was convinced she was going to throw an actual party in honor of Kacey’s return. In a fit of pure joy, his mother had gone to the scrapbooks and pulled out every single picture of their childhood together and laid them all across the table.
Of course Jake was in every picture.
And naturally, Travis was in the background sulking.
Damn his brother. Always taking the limelight. Kacey had been his and never Travis’s. With a growl that was unfortunately out loud, Travis walked into the kitchen and grabbed an ice cold beer from the fridge. His parents, anticipating their arrival, had stocked the house with snacks — and enough alcohol to get wasted for a year.
Which actually sounded like quite the idea after all. He was stuck at this God-forsaken house until the whole escapade was over. And with the way things looked, Jake wasn’t going to be hanging out much, not with all that was going on at work.
Travis, being the responsible one that he was, had given the ranch hand a bonus to hire some extra high schoolers over the course of the summer, giving him more time with his parents and his grandmother — who, at this very minute, looked the peak of health.
“Grandma? Should you be out of bed?” Travis squinted at his tiny grandmother. Color had returned to her face, and she looked ready to go golfing. According to the doctor she was supposed to be taking it easy. After all, a mini-stroke was still a stroke.
“Where is she? Where is my sweet girl?” Grandma Nadine clapped her hands in front of her and sighed. Bright red lipstick stained her lips and an ungodly amount of eye shadow was beautifully brushed across her eyelids. Grandma had always been a knock-out, and at eighty-five she was still breaking hearts.
The latest conquest just so happened to be their next door neighbor, Mr. Casbon. The poor man walked his dog by their property at least three times a day. Travis used to worry the man would get overheated and have a stroke in the driveway, but he was relentless and never stopped his pilgrimage to wave at Grandma.
“Travis! I’m going to kill you! Give me that!” Kacey stormed into the kitchen and grabbed the beer out of his hand, throwing back the entire can before slamming it down onto the counter and accidently letting out a loud burp. She slapped her hands over her mouth, and her face turned red.
In that moment, Travis fell a little more in love with her, if that was even possible.
Grandma Nadine let out a hearty laugh. “Oh my, honey girl, still chugging beer in the kitchen away from the watchful eyes of this one’s parents, huh?” Grandma reached for Kacey and pulled her into a tight hug. “Mum’s the word. I think a margarita is just what this one needs here, Travis. Now why don’t you two run along and have some drinks out on the porch. I’ll take care of things in here. You just leave those two to me.” Grandma straightened her tight-fitting jacket and strutted into the living room.
Kacey gaped after her. “I swear she could have been the first female president.”
Travis didn’t think it was the most appropriate time to let Kacey in on the family secret that Grandma had, in fact, enjoyed an affair with one of the presidents.
Instead, he grunted and grabbed the tequila from the pantry. “Get some cups with ice and I’ll grab the mix. This should be enough to get you good and drunk before Mom starts planning your wedding.” Travis winked and ignored the pain in his chest when he thought of Kacey in a wedding dress, standing opposite his brother.
The bastard didn’t deserve her. He dated strippers, for crying out loud! Real strippers! He paid for sex. He lived the life of a true bachelor. He didn’t even know how to do laundry! He would be the death of Kacey. Travis knew his brother was just sneaky enough to manipulate his way into Kacey’s life. Most likely, he’d deliver the line of doing it for Grandma, and say they could divorce when she kicked the bucket.
And then Travis would have to feel guilty every time Grandma woke up with a smile on her face. Oh, he’d love for Grandma to live another day, but it meant another day that Kacey and Jake would spend in holy matrimony. Her lips pressed against his. Jake’s hands running along Kacey’s hips…
“Travis? Travis? Hello, anyone home? We gonna drink margaritas in the tree house or are you going to stand there with your mouth open all day?”
“Tree house,” he grumbled and walked out of the kitchen to the backyard. The tree house sat on the edge of the property, far enough away that his parents wouldn’t be able to see them through the tiny windows.
He pulled the ladder down and balanced the tequila and mix in his left arm as he hauled himself up. Travis set the drink stuff inside the door of the tree house, and still grasping the top rung, turned around to grab the glasses from Kacey below.
Her eyes were glued to his ass.
He would have been flattered had she gasped or sighed or done anything except scream.
“Crap! Crap! Crap!”
“Kace, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“G-g-giant spider! On your ass!”
“GET IT OFF!” he shouted in a not-so-masculine voice.
Kacey moved away from him, slowly dropping down the ladder to the bottom rung. “I can’t! You know I’m afraid of spiders! What if it lunges at me!”
“Better it lunge at you than take a chunk out of my ass! Now, scare it!”
“If I scare it, it’s going to eat you, and I can’t have that on my conscience.” Kacey’s eyes widened again. “Oh gosh, it’s moving! It’s so gross! Can’t you just like, flex your butt or something?”
“Why, yes.” Travis clenched his teeth. “Why don’t I just clench my butt muscles in hopes that it will shock the spider enough to crawl back into the hell hole it came out of.”
“You don’t have to be mean!” Kacey argued. “Okay, um. I’m going to grab a stick. Do you think that will work?”
Did he think a stick in his ass would work? Well, so much for impressing her. “Just, kill it!” His muscles tightened as he kept himself positioned on the ladder.
“Found one!” Kacey announced. “Okay, now don’t move. I’m just going to smack it against your jeans.”
Travis laughed. He couldn’t help it. It was one of those moments that he wished he would have caught on camera, so that others could enjoy the ridiculousness. And then… searing pain.
He cursed, loud, dropping in a few inappropriate words that would cause his mom to smack him. What the hell kind of stick had she grabbed?
“I did it! I did it!” Kacey squealed.
Travis turned and glared.
“I killed the spider!”
“You almost killed the man too! What did you use? A baseball bat?”
Kacey blushed. “It was all I could find.” She lifted a wooden bat in her hands as if sacrificing it on the altar before him.
After a few more curses, Travis wordlessly reached for the tequila, opened the bottle, and took two gulps. “I’m going to have a giant mark on my ass for months.”
“But I killed my first spider in a year, so that should at least make it worth it, right?” Kacey’s grin was beautiful. White teeth peeked out from her pink lips.
“Fine. Good job, Kacey. We’ll do a toast to your victory. You’re such a hunter.”
“Thank you, good sir.” Kacey did a little curtsy and followed him up into the tree house.
It was absolute torture watching her lips close around the tequila bottle. Thankfully, they brought actual glasses to make the drinks on ice. If she was going to drink out of the bottle each time, he would lose his sanity, not that he wasn’t already dangerously close, what with being beaten senseless all within an hour of bringing her into the house.
“So…” He needed to change the subject or he was going to make a complete ass of himself “Jake? Married here? Think he’s going to flip?”
Kacey groaned and placed the bottle on the wooden floor of the tree house. “What are we going to do? Your parents don’t know. They think it’s our childhood fantasies come true!”
Travis shook his head. “Um, no, they think it’s your childhood fantasies coming true. Mine, however, had nothing to do with playing dog while watching you guys kiss and have se—”
“What the heck kind of house playing are you referring to, Trav? We did not pretend to have any sort of…” She waved into the air. “…relations, and frankly, I’m a little concerned for your childhood if those were the thoughts going through your head while playing dog.”
“In my defense, I really didn’t have anything else to do but watch.” Oh God, that made it sound so much worse, as if he was daydreaming or something.
Kacey leaned in. “Are you already drunk?”
“Nope, just beaten. Thanks, by the way, for that lovely bruise. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be on the opposite end of your scorn.”
“That’s not true.” Kacey lifted the bottle to her lips again and took a staggering drink before pouring tequila into the iced cups.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Travis poured the mixer and waited.
“I tortured you just as much as you tortured me in high school. Admit it.” She smirked.
Did she know? Impossible. There was no idea she knew he had a crush on her. He attempted to play it calmly. “I don’t think I know what you’re talking about. I blocked out at least half of high school. According to you, I was a eunuch. You can understand my reasoning.”
“Please.” She rolled her eyes. “Every time the cheerleaders did a pep rally and needed volunteers, I paid them to pick you.”
“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.”
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.