Worth the Risk (The Game #4)(34)
Author: Emma Hart

“That was them?!” Iz stops.

I nod. “I was there when they did it and I was given detention every night until I told Principal Gough who it was.”

“Did you?”

“Yep. He kept me after school every day for two weeks and I told him as I walked out the door on the last day.”

“Man,” Selena whistles. “I bet he was pissed.”

“Not as pissed as Kyle and Cam were.” I push against the village hall door. “They thought they’d got away with it. Man, that was a sweet moment.” I grin and we walk into the hall.

We’re the last to arrive – like anyone is surprised – and we stop when we see the place. It’s only Iz’s twentieth, but this could rival her sweet sixteenth, and will need some topping for next year. Silver and pink ribbons hang from the ceiling. A DJ is set up in one corner, and in another is tables laden with all kinds of food. In the center of the food table is a four tier, pale pink cake with silver butterflies and dark pink flowers. Her parents have transformed the dreary old hall into something fan-fucking-tastic.

“Wow,” the three of us say in unison.

Selena and I stand by as everyone in Verity Point comes and wishes Iz a happy birthday. I play with the ends of my hair and smile as I watch one of my best friends surrounded by people that love her.

There’s so much love and joy in this room it’s almost bursting. It feels corny, like it should be in a movie, but it’s true. We all suffered a tragedy months ago, my family the most, but we all suffered. We all loved Cam and we all had our hearts broken when he died, but now… Now I’m reminded of what Verity Point is.

It’s a community. A place where there’s always someone with a kind word, a joke to put a smile on your face, a hand to hold. When times get tough we stick together. We get out the superglue, glue our hands, and link our fingers. We laugh together, we smile together, we cry together.

So many times I’ve berated living in a tiny village just off the Columbia Gorge. So many times I’ve cursed the lack of amenities here. So many times I’ve bitched and moaned about our tiny, woods surrounded community.

But watching my best friend of a lifetime swamped in love, I realize how much I love this place.

Two familiar hands settle on my waist, and my heart skips a beat involuntarily.

“What are you doing?” I hiss at Kyle as he tugs me away from everyone.

“I want to talk to you,” he says in my ear. He takes my hand and pulls me outside.

“You’ve already made yourself clear.”

His strong hands spin me into him. My fingers rest against his chest and I look up at him.

“No. I haven’t. Not by a long f**king shot, Roxy.”

I step back from him. “Kyle, this is your sister’s birthday. Do we really have to argue here?”

“The only person arguing is you.”

I cover my eyes with my hand. My heart has gotten over its stuttering and is thudding dangerously loud in my chest. If I don’t get away from him, the tears threatening in the back of my eyes might just spill over.

“I’m not arguing with you. Not tonight. Can we just pretend to get along for your sister’s sake?”

He sighs, his features illuminated by the waning sun. “After all these years, you think we need to pretend? After the last week, you think we need to?”

I don’t answer that.

“Exactly. This isn’t a game, okay?”

“I never said it was.”

“Good, because you’d be wrong. You know you’re good at being wrong don’t you? Even when you think you’re right.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “What the f**k does that mean?”

He takes a step toward me and takes a lock of my hair between his finger and thumb. “Rox… When you left the other day, you said I didn’t care. You said everything lately was a lie. You were wrong, okay? I do care – and not because of your parents or Cam. I care because I care.” He reaches up and moves a curl from my face. I flick my eyes from the floor to his gaze. “I care because it’s you.”

“Okay,” I say quietly. I step back from him and walk into the hall. There’s a lump in my throat as I swallow. He cares because it’s me. Cam’s sister. That’s all. I wish it wasn’t true, but is. I can’t kid myself anymore.

My eyes scour the hall. My parents aren’t here yet – Mom will be closing the café still. Thank God. I find Selena by the drinks table.

“No,” she says as I approach.

“One,” I beg. “Come on, Leney. I’m behaving tonight.”

Her eyes flit across my face for a mere moment before she gives in. “Fine. But I’m pouring.”

“Fine.” I cross my arms and watch as she puts a smidge of vodka in a glass. “You’re taking the piss, Leney.”

“Give her a little more,” Iz insists as she wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t be boooooooring, Leney.”

I grin smugly.

Selena puts a little more alcohol in my glass and tops it up with coke. There we go. I’ve suddenly changed my mind on my no drinking policy for the night. The more I can drink before my parents arrive, the better. There’s not enough vodka for it to burn my throat as it goes down, but a few Selena-Measures and I’ll be good.

The party goes on around me. The twins seem to have coerced their fancy-man from the weekend to hang around, and even old Mr. Yeo is chilling in a corner. Iz is flirting with Si in another corner, Selena is dancing with Ben, and everyone is wrapped up in their own thing. And I’m sitting in the corner, watching people come and go, watching people take drink after drink.

Watching Kyle lean against the wall, his feet crossed at the ankles, his arms folded across his chest, and his eyes focused on me.

Shivers snake through my body. His gaze is hot, and I’m pretty sure it’s the cause of my shivers. The party is still going but, after three sneaky drinks, all I can see is him. All I can feel is him. For the hundred people between us, there may as well just be us.

The effect he has on me is incredible. A tiny part of me has always belonged to him, but now it feels like all of me does. He’s branded into every part of me body, his stare searing into my skin and spreading heat through my body. For so long I laughed at the girls that said they had The One. For so long I’ve imagined it was bullshit, imagined Kyle as a girlish crush, almost. And I was wrong.

I was so wrong. Every single f**king time.