The Bet (The Bet 1)

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.”