CHAPTER Twenty-one
By the time everyone had gathered into the living room, Kacey was fuming.
She took a seat at the large card table and sighed. Travis was an idiot, so she refused to look at him. And Jake was staring at his reflection in his spoon. Seriously?
Things had changed between Travis and her, or so she thought.
But her world had shifted tremendously all within the span of five minutes. She had been cleaning up the living room area, literally picking up after Jake’s snacking session, when she’d heard Travis and his mom talking in hushed tones.
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.