“Thanks.”
“No prob.” Jake flashed her a grin. “Come here.” He pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. “You know it will all work out, right?”
“Yeah, I know. We’ll just have to sneak into the car and…”
“No,” Jake said, squeezing her shoulder. “With Travis. God, it sucks being passed over for my older nerdier brother, but apparently that’s what’s happening.”
Kacey wasn’t confident enough to think that she and Travis were going to make it through this rough spot, even if she did get to talk to him. She still couldn’t read his mind.
Did he miss her?
Was he just as upset as she was?
Should she have stayed?
“Get the hell off of my woman!” a male voice yelled.
“Wasn’t he kicked out?” a woman shrieked.
Kacey looked up to see Travis charging them both, his hands in fists and a woman pointing at him as if he was some sort of criminal. Her eyes were wide with fear.
To be fair, Travis did look a little menacing.
“What are you talking about?” Jake pushed up to his feet. “She’s not your woman. If she was your woman, why the hell would she be sitting here with me?”
Bad move, Jake. Bad move.
“You lying bastard!” Travis lunged for Jake.
Both men fell to the hard ground with a grunt. Travis was on top, and Jake, unfortunately for him, was on the bottom.
And soon cameras were flashing all over again.
Kacey yelled, “Get off of him! There’s nothing going on!”
“You left her!” Travis punched Jake across the jaw.
A loud thunderous yell emerged from Jake as he wrapped his hands around Travis’s throat. “So did you, you bastard! At least I apologized.”
Travis’s fist came crushing into Jake’s jaw. Jake hooked his foot inside Travis’s leg, like some sort of MMA move, and then Jake was on top. His fist pulled back to hit Travis, who had suddenly stopped fighting. And then security was pulling them apart.
Travis’s eyebrow was cut and Jake was spitting blood.
And the cameras caught it all.
Every bloody thing.
“Come with us,” a security guard ordered, grabbing both men.
“Wait! Wait, they, um…” Should she claim them, both of them? Reluctantly she realized she had to. “They — they’re with me.”
“That true?” A security guard asked Jake.
He nodded.
And the next thing she knew, Kacey was getting arrested along with them.
Of course.
Paparazzi followed them, asking questions. “Jake, is this your new girlfriend? Isn’t that your brother? What’s going to happen to Titus Enterprises? Is this a reflection of how the company is being run since your father’s retirement?”
Kacey felt sick to her stomach.
They were led into a cold, dark room that she could only assume was used to torture would-be terrorists.
The minute the door closed, she glared at both of them.
Both brothers.
Two men she had known her entire life.
One a friend, the other something so much more.
Her heart ached in her chest. She looked away and huddled in the corner. She couldn’t say what she wanted to say, not now.
“I came after you,” Travis mumbled in a low voice.
“Shut up,” Jake said and groaned.
“Imagine my surprise when I see you in Jake’s arms on the receiving end of his kisses. Seriously, Kace? Hours after we have sex? Really? I thought…” His voice trailed off. “…I thought we were more.”
Furious, Kacey jumped to her feet and charged toward Travis. Jake scooted as far away from his brother as possible. Kacey slapped him hard across the face.
“That is less than what you deserve.”
Jake chuckled in his corner. “Ouch.”
Kacey turned to him. He squirmed in his seat, breaking eye contact. “As for you!” She pointed at him. “We are on very shaky ground, my friend, very shaky ground.”
“She called me friend,” Jake boasted aloud.
Travis cursed and held his head in his hands. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice cracking. “I’m so damn sorry.”
Kacey closed her eyes to fight the tears. “You should be.”
“I’d like to say something.” Jake cleared his throat.
Travis turned a murderous glare in his direction. “I’d rather you not.”
“Regardless,” Jake said, pushing up from his seat and pacing the room. “I think it must be said that both of you are being stupid.”
This? From Jake? Kacey scowled. “And what? You’re suddenly the voice of reason?”
“Voice of reason.” Jake shoved his hands into his pocket. “I kind of like the ring of that.”
“I’ll bet,” Travis mumbled.
“Speaking of bets…” Jake walked over to Travis and lightly kicked his foot. “I think you won this one.”
“Bet?” Kacey repeated. “What bet?”
“I was eight.” Travis seethed.
“You were in love.”
“You made a blood oath!”
Jake laughed. “Again with the blood oaths. Let’s get one thing straight. An oath taken by spitting is not even close to being a blood oath.”
Travis swore and glanced at Kacey. “I had to see you. The way you left…”
Kacey was still stuck on this whole bet business, and just as she was getting enough courage to ask…
The door burst open.
“Make that two of my least favorite grandsons.” Grandma seethed.
Jake flinched and sat down next to Travis.
“Arrested at an international airport for fighting!” Grandma Nadine put her hands on her hips. “Shame on both of you! To think I had to find out on national television where my sweet boys were.”
“She said sweet, that’s a good sign,” Jake said under his breath.
Grandma swore.
“Grandma!” The men said in unison.
“Poor Kacey,” Grandma said, walking over to Kacey and opening her arms. Kacey went into them willingly, comforted that Grandma was there but also finding it mildly amusing that both boys were getting the cold shoulder. Just how immature would it be to stick out her tongue?
“You, my dear, are coming with me.” Grandma grabbed Kacey’s purse.
“What about us?” Travis asked.
“I told the lovely security guard to let you sit and stew for a while. He’ll release you in three hours.”
“But—”
“No,” Grandma said, pointing a finger in the air. “When this is all over with, I’ll let you speak to Kacey, Travis. Until then, I suppose now is as good of a time as any to settle the score with your brother.”
Chapter Thirty-two
“Damn, she’s scary,” Jake muttered.
“Tell me about it.” Travis kept his eyes trained on the door, willing Kacey to come back through.
“So.” Travis felt air whoosh by his ears as Jake took a seat next to him. “We gonna have this out, right here? Right now?”
Why wasn’t she coming back? Why did he have to act like such an idiot? Why couldn’t he have just told her he loved her when she needed to hear it most. It was hard to remember that Kacey could be insecure. Hadn’t she just said nobody had told her she was beautiful since her mother had?
To sleep with her and then say nothing?
He hit his hand against the chair he was sitting in.
“So, no kiss and make up?” Jake asked.
“Sorry.” Travis swallowed the lump in his throat. “It’s not you…”
“It’s not you, it’s me? Are you breaking up with me, bro?”
Travis laughed despite the strong urge to strangle his brother. “No, and I’m not giving you the speech, though if I knew it would humble you, I’d damn well try.”
“I’m humbled after tonight. Believe me.”
Travis looked into his brother’s eyes, the same ones that usually reflected so much arrogance it made Travis want to become violent. Instead of their usual cockiness, all he saw was regret, and maybe a little shame.
Jake smiled sadly and shrugged. “I ruined the perfect girl. She wants you. She told me she wants you. Nobody else.”
“Not even the great Jake Titus?”
“God, I hate it when you both use my full name. I can’t even imagine how bad it’s going to be when it’s two against one.”
“Welcome to my childhood.” Travis slapped him on the back.
“I’m sorry, you know,” Jake said, shaking his head. “For everything. If I could take it back—”
“I wouldn’t want you to take it back. In your own sick way, you drove her right into my arms.”
“And the humility just keeps coming.” Jake laughed. “Go after her.”
“Didn’t you hear Grandma? We’re stuck in here for three hours.”
“Ten bucks says Grandma’s lying.” Jake nodded to the door. “Look for yourself.”
Travis got up from his seat and walked out the door. The guard nodded his head but said nothing. “Well, I’ll be…”
“Conniving little thing, our grandma,” Jake said, suddenly at his side. “Go get her.”
Travis wasn’t even sure which hallway to go down, let alone know where Kacey would be. “I have no idea where Grandma would take her.”
“Really? No idea? None at all?” Jake gave him a stupid look and frowned.
Travis searched his brain for any sort of recollection of where Grandma would take Kacey. Obviously, she’d want her to be able to relax and be happy and comfortable and…
“Home.”
****
“Are you sure he’d be okay with this?” Kacey asked, once she dropped her bags in the living room of the 6000 square foot ranch house.
“Oh honey, why else would he give me a key?”
“He didn’t give you a key. You lifted ten rocks to find the hide-a-key.”
Grandma shrugged. “Same thing.”
“Right.” Kacey looked around the room and wanted to cry. Everything seemed so familiar, yet different. It felt like home, even if it was someone else’s house entirely. After Grandma had taken Kacey away from the airport, she had told her about Travis as a little boy.
How he had watched her, tried to protect her. She said he’d felt like it was his duty to make sure she was always safe. So when her parents had died, he’d tried to preserve everything, even going as far as to put her parents’ belongings in the shed when Kacey sold off the house. He’d only kept a few things he knew she would want one day.
Some of those things, like her dad’s favorite hunting trophies and stuffed animals were mounted on the wall of his living room.
She swallowed the giant lump in her throat when she walked to the east end of the room and saw a picture of Travis and her dad, shaking hands and laughing on one of their hunting trips.
Funny, how she had forgotten how close Travis and her father were until now. They’d been hunting buddies for as long as she could remember. Jake hated hunting. He said it was cruel to shoot animals, and actually had gone as far as to tell Kacey that her dad hated the furry things for doing that.