Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
His laughter had died immediately and his face had gone bright red. The other man, who’d also been laughing at the malicious comment, quickly excused himself when he realized Beth was standing right behind him and left the two of them staring at each other in mutual horror.
“Elizabeth.” Back then he’d still called her by her full name. “Look, I—”
“I-I’ve also often wondered why Cam hangs out with you. Because he’s warm-hearted and intelligent and generous, while you—” Her lips had twisted in scorn as she’d run her burning gaze up and down his massive body and his too-handsome face. “—you’re malicious and vile. Your pretty face nothing but a mask to disguise your shallowness and lack of character.”
She’d been so proud of herself for managing all of that with barely a stutter. Her fury and her hurt keeping her tongue steady.
He’d visibly flinched at her words and she’d been ecstatic to realize that she had the power to land a few blows of her own.
That moment had transformed their quiet, mutual dislike into a raging animosity that had spilled over into the newly-formed group comprised of Cat and Cam’s mutual friends. The group had become tight very quickly, and from the very beginning it had been understood that Beth and Gideon could never be at the same events unless it was unavoidable. It had been the status-quo and nobody had ever questioned it or attempted to change it.
Until tonight.
“You hurt me that night, Gideon,” she confessed now and watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.
“I know. It was a shitty thing to say. Unfounded and unfair, but you ignored my every attempt to speak with you and made it so clear that you thought I was far, far beneath you that I lashed out. Like a small-minded, wronged little boy. If it’s any consolation, you hurt me right back,” he admitted, with a great deal of reluctance.
Beth thought back to how she’d been with him in the beginning. His staggering self-confidence had turned her into a stuttering mess, and she’d found that it was easier to remain silent around him. She now understood that he’d misconstrued that as aloofness and snobbery. It still hadn’t been a good reason to be a prick to her, but she understood his behavior a little better now. It seemed that they’d both made mistakes back then.
“It only proves my earlier point,” Beth said. “It’s what we do. Part of the game and all that.”
They stared at each other for a long moment.
“But that was years ago. I thought—I dunno—I thought things were mellowing between us.”
“Did you?”
He was silent, his head bent as he considered her question.
“Maybe we should change the rules?” Gideon mused, tilting his head a little as he ran his gaze up and down her body.
She resisted the urge to fold her arms, not wanting him to read anything into the defensive gesture.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because our friends want us to.”
The words, simple and honest, blurred her gaze and she blinked rapidly to dispel the scorch of tears rising up behind her eyes and burning in her nose and throat.
“Please don’t cry, Lizzy-bit.” His whispered words were a quiet plea.
“I’m not.”
“I’ll tell you one of my secrets if you tell me one of yours,” he said, an edge of desperation in his voice as if he were trying to divert her from any potential tears.
“Why?” she asked, not sure what that would achieve.
“If we both know something about the other that makes us vulnerable, maybe we’d be less inclined to hurt each other as easily?” he offered with a helpless lift of his shoulders.
“Or, equally as likely, if we had blackmailable knowledge about each other, we’d tread more carefully in our future interactions in the company of our friends?” she suggested, and his lips lifted at the corners.
“You have such a nefarious mind,” he said, and she smiled, something which she wouldn’t have believed herself capable of so soon after the last fraught minutes.
“The better to be your arch nemesis with,” she intoned, and he chuckled, the sound a little rusty. He looked as surprised by his laughter as she’d been by her smile.
“So how about it?” he asked. “You game?”
She hesitated, not sure how much she wanted to tell him about herself, but then nodded. If he was willing to make himself vulnerable for the sake of their friends, then so was she.
“Okay.”
He nodded curtly and gestured toward her small dining table.
“I’ll get us those drinks, you have a seat,” he invited, as if he were the host and she the guest. She rolled her eyes, but she was too damned tired to argue. Happy to just get this over with.
“You want to start?” he asked, after sitting down across from her and sliding a glass of juice toward her.
She took a sip of juice—a delaying tactic—and stared down into the red liquid before rolling her neck and meeting his steady gaze full on.