Page 3 of All Bets are Off
West shrugs. Freshly showered, his blond hair wet and slicked back from his face, even in the bright sunlight from the bedroom window, he doesn’t look anywhere near his forty-one years.
West zips his bag and goes to the dresser to pull out a pair of black boxer briefs before undoing the towel around his waist. Suddenly, he stops. “Uh, I’ll just change in here.” He steps into the bathroom, leaving me staring at the closed door.
What the fuck?
“Really?” I call to him. “Really, West? You can’t change in front of me now? Wasn’t that you I shared a fucking bed with a few months ago?”
West yanks the door open. “Wanna yell that a little louder? Maybe someone on the other side of town didn’t hear you.”
“Sure. No problem.” I raise my voice. “Wasn’t that you—”
Clamping his hand over my mouth, West pushes my back against the wall, and we stare angrily into each other’s eyes for several long seconds. The charge between us is undeniable, like lightning in my veins, and West sucks in a breath before removing his hand and turning his broad back to me.
“Aren’t you afraid your towel will fall off and I’ll see something I’ve only seen about a hundred times before?” I ask, the bitterness in my voice leaving a bad taste in my mouth.
West yanks off the towel and tosses it onto the floor before snatching his underwear off the sink and stepping into them, the muscles in his thighs bunching.
When he meets my eyes, his are a dark and angry green.
“Happy now?” he asks.
I choke on my next breath. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He looks away.
“Is there anything we need to talk about before you take off for Wyoming?” I ask, feeling oddly like a wife whose husband’s leaving her for another woman.
“Like what?” West asks, stuffing his shaving kit into his bag.
“Like why you wanted this case in Wyoming?”And why you’re suddenly so weird about undressing in front of me?Ever since our talk a few months ago at Christmas, I thought we’d settled things, but lately he’s been acting weird and it’s making me so crazy we’re fucking up on the job.
Something occurs to me that sends a ripple of unease down my back.
Could Jase have told West that I’m bisexual? Is that why West suddenly doesn’t want to change his clothes in front of me after fifteen fucking years of friendship? It’s hard to imagine Jase outing me like that, but I can’t think of anything else that would explain the sudden change when things had seemed to have gotten back to normal between us.
Yanking his T-shirt over his head, West mumbles, “Why are you making a big deal out of this? It’s just a fucking case.”
Frowning, I watch him comb his fingers through his hair.
“Did Jase happen to mention to you that I told him about the bet?” I ask.
“What bet?” Sitting on the bed, West yanks a sock onto his bare foot so hard I’m surprised his toes don’t come out the other end.
I roll my eyes. “The one where I put carrots in my nostrils and sangThe Star-Spangled Bannerwhile standing on the roof of my car. Our last bet. The one where you wanted to test our comfort zones. The one—”
West cuts me off. “He mentioned that, yeah.”
Cold settles in the pit of my stomach as I watch him tie the laces of his white Adidas then straighten up to his full height, eyes finally meeting mine. “I’m not mad that you told him, if that’s what you think.”
“I don’t give a damn if you are,” I snap. That’s a lie. I definitely do give a damn because West is leaving and fuck knows when I’ll see him again.Andif he does know I’m bisexual, he obviously has a problem with it.“Fuck you,” I whisper before walking out of the room.
Catching up with me in the hall, West grabs me by the arm, swinging me around to face him.
“What’s your problem?” he demands.
My eyes widen. “Myproblem? I’m not the one who’s running away.”
“I’m not fucking running away,” West says through clenched teeth. “I took a case. It’s my job.” Belatedly, he looks over my shoulder to see if anyone is within hearing distance. Lowering his voice, he says, “Maybe, after this last case, it will be good for us to be apart for a while.”