by K. G. Reuss
“Where is it?”
“My room.” His eyes twinkled as he stared at me. “You can come with me up there if you’re brave enough.”
He was testing me. Toying with me. Seeing if I had the lady balls to rise to his challenge.
“Lead the way.”
His eyes widened for a moment before he was on his feet, heading toward the stairs.
I got up and dropped my plate next to the sink before following him.
“Where are you two going?” Alex called out.
We both stopped and looked at Alex before glancing at one another.
“My room to work on our project,” Travis finally said.
Ava snickered along with Mason.
“You don’t actually have to screw each other for your fake marriage, you know,” Mason said, grinning.
“Like he’d have a chance in hell with me,” I shot back.
Travis let out a loud laugh. “Like I’d want one, Hale. You’re an ice queen. You’d melt before you even made it to hell.”
I flipped him off, which made him laugh louder and made Alex relax as he settled back into his seat.
“Whatever. We plan on leaving at one. Just be ready,” Alex called out.
“Sure thing, big bro,” I said, shoving past Travis who wasted no time pushing me aside and racing up the stairs.
“You’re kidding, right?” I asked, staring down at the very organized report Travis had put together.
“Do you even know me, Lexicon?” he countered, grinning at me from the chair he sat in.
I lounged awkwardly on the bed and examined everything.
He had finances, our jobs, salaries, banking info, investments, mortgages, car payments, and even our vacation plans mapped out.
“What the hell is this?” I asked, pointing to the unfamiliar names on the papers.
“Those?” He moved to sit beside me on the bed and peered down at where I was pointing. “Those are our children. Violet, Brennan, and Morgan. These are the investments and savings accounts I set up for them for their college tuitions. I’m thinking I’d also like to give them a bit of a trust fund but haven’t worked that into it yet since I’m not sure if I’ll end up back at my old man’s car dealership or on a football field somewhere. I haven’t added car insurance or life insurance yet. I know I have one that’s small. Not sure what you have. I calculated homeowner's insurance into the mortgage already by making a few phone calls in the area to compare prices.”
He took the pages from me and rifled through them quickly before coming to one he wanted.
I opened my mouth in surprise as I stared down at it.
“I’ve already started citing sources. And this.” He pulled a sheet of paper out of the folder I’d cast aside earlier. “Is our home. Nice, huh?”
“It’s a half-million-dollar home, Travis. How do you even figure we’d be able to own this as college students?”
“Well.” He licked his lips. “I’ll hopefully get drafted for the NFL, so we’ll have the money.”
I shook my head at him.
“You did a lot of work here, Travis… which I’m grateful for. But this assignment is for now, not the future. Now we’d probably be sharing my apartment with Ava and living off pizza and ramen, not bothering with knowing our kids’ names or whether we should buy top-of-the-line, luxury vehicles. For now, I have my Camry and you have your Jeep. I work at the college library, and I bus tables every other weekend at Fred’s,” I said, mentioning my part-time job. “And you work at the gym. A lot of this stuff is great to practice with, but it’s not now material.”
Travis let out a puff of air, his shoulders slumping forward. There was a pang in my heart for him. He’d put in a lot of effort, and I hated telling him it wouldn’t work.
“This really would be good if we were a real couple looking at our future. Any girl would probably love that you are thinking of kids, investments, and a nice house.”
Travis’s eyes focused on the wall in front of him. “You’re right. I got ahead of myself.”
“Maybe keep it for when you meet the right girl? It’s a good plan.”
Travis took the pages from me and nodded tightly. The room felt like it was closing in on me. I got to my feet and backed away.
“I’ll draw something up and see if we can agree on it, OK?”
He nodded wordlessly, still staring down at the papers in his hands.
“Uh, I’ll be going now. See you later.” I rushed from the room, wanting to get the hell away from him. I’d never seen him so serious or stricken before.
I hoped I’d never witness it again.
Fourteen
Travis
Well, my efforts had backfired. I thought she’d be happy about it. I supposed she sort of was. She was right, though. I’d gotten ahead of myself. We probably would live in her apartment, eating ramen and pizza while arguing with Ava over who drank the last beer.
Deciding there wasn’t much else to do but wait for her rewrite, I went back downstairs in my swim trunks and hopped in the pool. Mason was already doing laps. When his head popped up, he grinned at me and swam over.
“How’s the greatest love affair in the history of forever going?”
I snorted at his inaccurate description of me and Lexy. “Tastes like a delicious, poisoned apple.”
“She’ll come around. Why don’t you tell her you’ve caught the feels?”
“I haven’t,” I said sharply. “This is just a game for us.”
“I don’t know about all that,” Mason mused. “Maybe she’s better at the game you two are playing.”
“Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “I’ll win. I always do.”
“Do you want to win or stay away? If you stay away, you lose. I’ve thought on it. You want to come at her head on, bro. Get her in a position that’ll show her you care and you’re ready to be a new, non-womanizing man.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself there, bud.” I laughed, rubbing at my chest. I chanced a glance up to her bedroom window, hoping to see her peeking out for whatever reason.
“Am I? Lexy wants epic. If you’re going to win, you better bring it. Maybe you don’t have the feels, but something’s going on.”
“Listen to you talk.” I chuckled. “Besides, I don’t know what these feelings are. Maybe I’m just bored.”
Mason rolled his eyes. “Hey, man. Maybe you are, or maybe she’s different. Maybe you’re changing and want something real. But what do I know?”
I swallowed, looking up one last time to her window. She stood at the glass, looking down at us. My heart caught in my throat as our eyes locked. She snapped her curtains closed after a long moment, breaking whatever the hell spell we’d been under.
“I’ll win,” I murmured, more to myself than to anyone else. “This is nothing.”
The girls bought a shit ton of stuff during the shopping trip.
“You realize we have to fly home, right?” Alex grumbled as he lugged a couple bags of new shoes Ava had picked up. “You’ll have to pay extra to add more luggage.”
“I’m not worried about it. You guys only brought one piece of luggage each. You get two pieces plus a carry-on. You can make up for it,” she teased him.
He grinned at her, a look in his eyes I recognized because I’d seen it on him a week ago. I remembered him staring at Ava at the frat party all those nights ago, just like that. It was a look he seemed to reserve only for her.
I glanced at Lexy, wondering if she’d noticed it. She wasn’t walking behind us anymore. She’d stopped and stood staring in the window of a jewelry store. I glanced at our friends, who were too busy teasing Ava to notice the loss of Lexy.
Figuring it might be my chance to talk to her a bit, I went back to her.
“Pretty,” I commented with a nod, looking at the antique diamond ring that held her attention.
“It looks like my grandmother’s ring. When I was a little girl, I’d sit at her feet while she knitted. The light from the sun would da
nce off the diamond. I’d watch the kaleidoscopes of colors on the floor, dreaming of someday wearing a ring like hers. My grandfather gave it to her before he left for the war, promising he’d come back for her. He kept his promise.”
“That’s awesome he got to come back for her.”
She nodded, her hand on the window as she gazed at the ring, a look of longing on her face that caused my heart to clench. I ground my teeth, forcing the feeling away.
“When she passed away, they buried her with it. Grandpa says they’ll unite again someday.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so instead, I stood beside her, staring at the ring. It was a unique piece. I could easily imagine the light catching the large diamond and scattering the colors around. It was beautiful and free-spirited, just like Lexy.
“We should go before we get left behind,” I murmured, not knowing what else to say to her.
She cast the ring one last, wistful look before walking with me back to our group who’d stopped at a food vendor.
“Where were you guys?” Ava asked, looking between us.
Alex’s eyes focused on me. I knew he worried I’d somehow deflower his sister. He should know me better than that. Hell, he should know Lexy better than that. I was lucky if I could approach her without her claws flashing in an attempt to scratch out my eyeballs.
“There was a ring in that jewelry store window.” Lexy jerked her thumb in the direction we just came from. “It looked like Nana Richardson’s, Alex.”
“Oh, damn. That’s cool.” Relief leaked out into Alex’s voice. “Did you take a picture?”
“No.” Lexy frowned. “Damn. I should’ve taken a picture.” She glanced longingly over her shoulder before shaking her head.
“You want a taco?” Ava asked, nodding to the taco stand. “They’re amazing.”
“Uh.” Lexy rooted around in her purse for a moment before pulling her wallet out. She frowned down at the contents. “I’ll pass.”
“You need money, Lex?” Alex asked.
“No, it’s just with this project for sociology, we’re supposed to be budgeting our money. Part of the project is keeping a running log of expenses. Based on the math I did earlier, I already went over my daily allowance with the stuff I bought.”
“That dress was killer though,” Ava cut in. “Seriously. It’s hot. Wait until you guys see it.”
“I’d rather not see my sister in a hot dress,” Alex muttered.
I stepped around him and ordered a dozen tacos from the vendor. Everyone moved across the street to a small park and seated themselves at a picnic table. Taking my tacos and the two drinks I’d ordered, I sat beside Lexy.
“Here.” I handed her a drink and a few wrapped tacos. “For you, my dear wife.”
Mason grinned at me. Ava and Alex were too busy discussing the hot dress she’d bought for herself and weren’t paying attention.
“No thanks,” Lexy said, appearing startled by my offer.
“It’s for the good of the project. I haven’t spent anything today. You should eat. It’ll be a long night.”
“Really, it’s fine, Travis. I’ll eat when we get back to the house.”
“Please, just take the damn tacos, Lexicon. They going to go to waste if you don’t.”
She grumbled but took them, biting into one begrudgingly. I didn’t care if she didn’t want to accept them. She needed to eat.
“We should get back. I think I need to sleep off those tacos,” Alex said, stretching after a few minutes.
“And we need to get ready for tonight,” Ava added, bouncing in her seat.
Lexy wrinkled her nose, wadding up her last taco wrapper.
“If we take more than an hour to get ready, I’m not going,” Lexy grumbled.
I grabbed her wrappers and stuffed them into my now empty taco bag. She glanced at me, surprised. “Did you just eat, like, ten tacos?”
“Yep. They hit the spot.” I grinned at her.
She shook her head in disbelief before getting to her feet. We trudged back to the rented SUV and climbed in, Alex and Ava in the front. Mason and Lexy took the middle bucket seats, and I crawled into the back.
“How did you get to the house yesterday?” Lexy glanced over at me.
“The Nissan parked on the street at the house,” I answered.
“Oh.” She stared out the window, leaving me and Mason to talk about football while Alex kept stealing glances at Ava.
When we got back to the house, we piled out and unloaded all the bags. I snagged Lexy’s bags.
“I can get them,” she mumbled, reaching out for them.
I held them away from her. “I got them. I need to go upstairs anyway.”
She didn’t argue with me, which was a surprise. Instead, she followed me to her bedroom. I placed her items on her perfectly made bed.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
She twisted her hands nervously together.
I knew she wanted me to go, but I wanted her to tell me to leave.
“I’ll pay you back for the tacos—”
“Seriously, it was like two bucks. It’s not a big deal.” I waved her off. We sized one another up for a moment.
“So, how hot is your dress? Low cut, short skirt?”
“Eat shit, Travis.”
I grinned at her. There she was.
“What color is it?”
“None of your business, you weirdo.”
“Aw, Lexicon, don’t do me like that. Come on. I’ll see when you come downstairs in it.”
“It’s red.”
“Red?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at her. “That does sound hot.”
“Get lost. I need to get ready. Ava wants to leave by seven.”
“That’s two hours from now. That’s plenty of time for you to model your dress for me.”
“Travis, get out. I’m serious.”
“Travis, one. Lexy, zero.” I held up my fingers for her to see.
“You’ve got that backwards. You’re the zero, Owens.”
I grinned at her. “Guess I’ll just have to play catch up tonight. Bring your knee guards, Hale. You’re going to need them.”
“I’m not the one who’ll be on my knees at the end of the night.” She smirked at me, folding her arms over her chest.
I chuckled, moving to stand in front of her. I was so close I could feel the heat from her body.
“I don’t mind getting on my knees for you, Lexy. In fact, I think we’d both rather enjoy it.”
Her breath hitched as she stared up at me. Oh yeah. She may play a hardass, but she wanted whatever it was flashing through her mind.
I had to figure out how to get her to admit it. It would be the ultimate challenge in a game I probably shouldn’t be playing.
Fifteen
Lexy
“You look amazing,” Ava squealed. “I knew that dress would rock.”
I stared down at myself. The dress was low cut and short, like Travis had guessed. The girls were pushed up to full capacity, the silken material making me feel like I wasn’t wearing anything at all. The slit on the side went up to my hip, making me need to wear a thong, so I didn’t look like a lunatic wearing panties. I’d never worn anything like it before. The fabric hit high on my thighs, but Ava had talked me into it citing Sin City and what happened in Vegas, stayed in Vegas.
But the only thing I could think about was what Travis would think. I was having a mild panic attack, wondering if he’d give me shit about it.
Or my brother. Alex would probably complain and then try to wrap his hoodie around me.
Ava handed me the black, strappy heels, and I slid into them, staring at myself. I’d let her curl my hair into wild curls which cascaded around me. For my makeup, she’d gone with a dark, smokey-eyed look and plump, red lips. I looked awesome and not like myself in the slightest.
Her green, halter dress would certainly draw attention. We looked good and high-fived each other on our way downstairs.
Travis did a double take, his eyes wide.
Mason gave a low whistle. “Hot damn, we’re going to be fighting dudes off you chicks all night.”
“Hardly,” Ava scoffed, her cheeks painted red at the compliment.
“Lexy, what the hell are you wearing?” Alex demanded, his face paling.
Ah, there was my big brother. A seven minutes age difference might as well have been seven years for as young as he treated me.
“A dress.”
“You can’t go out in that—”
“Why is it OK for Ava, but not for me?” I volleyed back.
He swallowed, lost for words while Mason laughed at him.
“I think she looks incredible,” Mason said. “I’d bang her twice.”
“Ew. Mase.” I wrinkled my nose at him. “You’re gross.”
His response was to smirk back at me.
“We better go. I already called an Uber for us,” Alex mumbled, casting me one last pleading look to go change.
I stared defiantly back at him, and he let out a defeated sigh.
His phone buzzed a moment later, signaling our ride was there.
“You really should’ve changed,” Travis murmured to me as we trailed behind everyone going out to the Uber van that waited for us.
“Don’t you start,” I warned. “I’m a grown ass woman. I’ll wear what I want.”
“You say that now, but I’ve got to tell you, it’s killing me.”
“What? Why does it matter to you?”
He shrugged, looking slightly unnerved. His tight, black button-down shirt and dark jeans made his green eyes pop. His hair was a strategic mess. Yeah. Travis looked damn good.
We got into the Uber, neither of us speaking. By the time we’d reached the strip, the tension between us could be cut with a knife.
“I bet you’re still a prude even in that dress,” Travis mumbled in my ear from over my shoulder as we entered the first club.