Char’s eyes narrowed. She took three deep breaths then motioned for the waitress.
“Yes?” the waitress asked.
“We’re going to need tequila, stat.”
“Char, this is hardly the time for tequila,” Kacey protested.
“Really? You just got engaged to the most famous bachelor in Seattle in order to play nice and do him a favor. Again, Exhibit A: HE LEFT YOU!”
“Keep your voice down!” Kacey hushed her friend and offered apologetic smiles to the people staring at them from their booths. “It’s only the weekend.” Besides, Char had no idea Kacey was still in so much debt from school. She had pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes about her graduation claiming she was only a class short, not seven.
“Right.” Char snorted. “If I know Jake, and I think I do, this isn’t just for the weekend. He has something up his sleeve. The more handsome they are, the more manipulative. Believe me.”
The tequila was placed on the table, and Char took a shot before saying anything more. “Besides, just because you agreed to this farce of an engagement, he’s going to be thinking he can put his hands all over your hot body.”
Kacey rolled her eyes. “He dates models and, apparently, strippers. Look at me, Char. Do I look like either? I’m not a whore. I’m not going to let him take advantage of me.”
Char grunted. “Hmph! Haven’t let anyone take advantage of you since that night and you know it. You’re still hung up on him and it’s taken you all of college to get over it! And now you’ll be back to square one.”
Ignoring Char’s obvious slight to her inability to trap down a man, Kacey looked away and huffed. Her fingers touched the edge of the tequila bottle, and thoughts of Jake poured in on their own accord.
“What the hell am I doing?”
“Now, she says it.” Char shook her head and took another shot.
“I mean…” Kacey looked down at her hands. “I have to be alone with him for more than three days, and even then I have to lie to his entire family!”
“And let’s be honest,” Char interjected, her speech slightly louder than normal. “You’re like the worst liar on the planet.”
“Am not.” Travis, Jake’s spawn of a brother was. But Kacey refused to think about Travis. The last time she saw him, he yelled at her for running over their mailbox during Christmas break. She cried, he yelled some more, and then refused to speak to her the rest of the time she was visiting. That was three years ago.
“Are too!” Char poked her manicured finger across the table. “Remember that one time we tried to sneak out of the house and go to Jake’s birthday party in high school?”
“No,” Kacey lied, trying desperately to swallow the giant lump of guilt in her throat.
“Really? Out of all the times during this day that you would say no, you choose now? Seriously? What happened to no when you were talking to Jake? Or no when he was propositioning you for—”
“Totally different and you know it. Besides, I would like to point out that I didn’t tell my mom a terrible lie. If the dog had stopped barking, then…”
Char threw her head back and laughed. “Let’s not blame the dog. Even if the dog had stopped barking, you used that as an excuse to admit all to your mom. And later told me it was a sign from God that you were sinning.”
Kacey looked away. Just because her friend was totally right didn’t mean she had to actually acknowledge the fact. So what? Yeah, she was a little bit of a prude, but the one time, the one time she had decided in her life to go for it…
She was royally screwed.
In more ways than one.
Kacey let out a large sigh and motioned for Char to pour her a shot. “Regardless, I said yes, and you know how I am with commitment.”
Char swore. “You’re more loyal than my dog, and he’s blind, meaning he depends on me for everything, including when and where to go pee.”
“Your encouragement is astonishing.” Kacey smiled sweetly and followed her shot with a large gulp of water. She needed a clear head if she was to adequately plan how the weekend was going to progress. One thing was for sure. Jake couldn’t touch her — he couldn’t put one of his hands on her. If he did, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to say no.
“…and another thing…”
Oh gosh! Was Char still talking about her damn dog?
“If you let him touch you, or kiss you...” She slammed her fist on the table, her eyes slightly glazed over from the tequila. “If one of his perfectly manicured hands even grazes across your bare flesh, I’ll castrate him.”
Kacey pursed her lips together and nodded. “Thanks, Char. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Me eisher...” Char hiccupped and Kacey motioned for the check. Truly, it’s not every day a friend gets wasted on your behalf. But Kacey knew better too. Char was the truest type of friend. When Kacey cried, Char cried. When Kacey threatened to kill Jake, Char offered to pay for a hit man, and when Kacey finally moved on and only mentioned Jake as the man who shall not be named, Char went ahead and nicknamed him Bastard for her sake.
If anything, Char was just trying to help, though her methods were a little extreme.
Kacey laid out a couple of bills on the check and helped her friend out, all the while wondering how she was going to get through the next week without dying.
Chapter Three
“Are you out of your mind?” Travis yelled. “You blackmailed and then hired Kacey? As in the same Kacey you used to take baths with? That Kacey?”
Jake wasn’t in the mood to defend himself to his brother. Seriously, why was it such a big deal? So what that he’d called in a favor. “Sorry, man, I have a lot of work tonight. Can we do this later?”
Travis was silent for a while, which really wasn’t a good sign. It meant he was thinking, which meant he was probably going to get a headache and then blame Jake for it in the morning. He and Travis hadn’t talked much in the past few years. That is until their grandmother began meddling in their lives this past year. Poor Travis had been left out of it for the most part, but his number was almost up.
Out of the two brothers in the family, Travis had been the protector, the one who always played by the rules. When Jake and Kacey would set off fireworks at 2:00 a.m., Travis was always the one who took the fall. He never liked seeing Jake in trouble, or Kacey.
Which is why, when Jake messed up so horribly in college with his best friend, Travis had sworn he would never forgive him for being such an ass to the one girl who seemed to have it all. Though Jake hadn’t told Travis the real reasons they had a falling out, he assumed his brother probably thought the worst. If Jake hadn’t been so sure of Travis’s feelings towards Kacey, he would have thought his big brother had a bit of a crush on her.
But that was impossible. If anything, Travis tortured Kacey more than Jake did, which was really saying a lot, because he had pulled his fair share of pranks when he was little.
Travis, however, took the cake. A day didn’t go by where he wasn’t pulling Kacey’s hair, throwing rocks, or starting a Girls are Ugly and Stupid Club, and then electing Kacey as its mascot.
The silence on the other end of the phone broke. “I’m just not sure it’s the best idea, man. I mean, this is the girl who saw you nak*d before you hit puberty. Mom’s gonna know something’s up.”
“No.” Jake cursed and ran his fingers through his hair. “She won’t know because we won’t be the ones to tell her, will we, Travis?”
“You do realize that out of everyone in our family, I’m the worst liar?” Travis asked.
“No, no, you’re not. Kacey is…”
“Oh well, in that case…” Travis cursed on the other line.
“It doesn’t matter. It means too much to Kacey at this point. Plus, do you really want Grandma to die?”
“Um, she’s going to do more than die if she finds out you’re lying. Ten bucks says she has a stroke then pleads with God to let her come back to kill you herself. Trust me, if anyone’s got the in with God, it’s Grandma. Geez, He’d probably help her plan your demise…”
“Are you done? I wasn’t kidding about the work. If we’re supposed to be in Portland by Friday, I have to get all this paperwork cleared.”
Travis sighed on the other end again, probably cursing Jake to Hell for making him swear his loyalty and silence. “Fine, but when this blows up in your face, and it will, I’m feigning ignorance.”
Jake snorted. “Trust me, nobody’s going to believe you were part of such a brilliant plan.”
“Right, well, good luck. You’re going to need it.” The line went dead, leaving Jake alone with his thoughts.
Perhaps it would be best not to tell Kacey that her childhood nemesis would be present at the weekend retreat with his family. After all, if she knew Satan (her words, not his) was to make an appearance, she’d back out in a minute.
The computer hummed from the cluttered desk. He was all alone in his office with a mountain of paperwork. Paperwork he wasn’t very inclined to finish since seeing Kacey that day.
When had she grown up so much? And filled out the way she had? He let out a groan. Maybe he was just exhausted. He had plenty of other women banging down his door.
Every woman but the one who got away. What the hell? Did he really think that he let her get away? He shook his head.
It didn’t matter anymore. It was for the best. He knew after it happened that he wasn’t good for her, that she would always be looking to him to be something that he wasn’t. Kacey always had such high expectations. He was a guy, and since she had no brothers, he thought it more of a hero worship thing.
Until she gave him the look.
He was done for. The one and only time in his life he had given in to fully ruining his best friend was the same night he lost the only girl he could have ever seen himself with.
He cursed and pushed the papers off his desk.
He would have killed her spirit. She would have slowly died next to him, and he would have resented her. They would have resented each other for not being what each of them needed.
So why, in all of his brilliance, had he decided to call in a favor from her? He could have easily brought Kacey home to Grandma without this farce of an engagement. Sure, his parents wouldn’t have been nearly as happy, but it would have still been fine. Maybe he was subconsciously trying to right a wrong. Being with him could only further her likeability, but he could have paid anyone to spend the weekend with him. Hell, he probably wouldn’t have even had to pay.
Jake’s paperwork stared back at him. He left it on the floor and turned off the lights, locking his office and strolling toward the elevators.
“Why did I pick her?” Jake rubbed the back of his neck.
He pushed the button for the lobby and sighed, answering his own question. “Because she’s the only one my family would believe I had fallen madly and deeply in love with.”
****