Betrayal: Abby's Guilt (The Betrayal Series) (3 page)

All eyes, including Abby’s, flew to Kyle when Brianna finished talking. Uncomfortable silence filled the room.

“Hey, Ryan, do you want to go shoot some pool?” Kyle asked his best friend through gritted teeth as he shot to his feet. Kyle took a few steps towards the pool table while scowling at his sister. Ryan stood up and followed Kyle, but not before shooting a nervous half grin at Brianna. Abby wanted to go after Kyle, but her phone began buzzing. She looked at the screen and saw it was her mother calling from Michigan. Her mother never called that late unless it was important. Filled with worry, Abby excused herself and rushed towards the fire escape to take the call.

After Abby left the room, Brianna placed her beer bottle on the coffee table and shot to her feet. “How about we all go shoot some pool?” She gestured with her fingers for her three admirers to follow her to the pool table.

Kyle and Ryan were already in the middle of a game when Brianna and the others joined them. Kyle and Ryan stood at one end of the table, and Brianna and her admirers stood at the other. Brianna placed her palms flat on the edge of the pool table and watched the multicolor balls roll across the table and drop in the pockets. “You know, I taught Kyle how to play pool,” Brianna informed Ryan and her admirers. “Remember how we used to play each other when you were younger, little bro?” She asked, raising her gaze away from the table and trying to make eye contact with her brother. Kyle ignored her. He took a deep breath and kept his eyes on the pool table. He was determined not to let her demented sister get under his skin. He figured that if he ignored her, she would get fed up and leave.

“I really hope your game has improved because you really sucked back then, Kyle.”

Kyle glared at Brianna as he walked towards the end of the table where she was standing. He was still not taking her bait. Brianna turned around, crossed her arms over her chest, and leaned her butt against the pool table to block Kyle’s path. She was trying to force Kyle to deal with her or at least rattle him, but Kyle simply walked around her, ignoring her completely.

“How about a one-on-one game between you and me, little bro? Just one game for old time’s sake,” Brianna suggested, hovering over Kyle as he prepared to take his shot.

“No,” Kyle replied coldly after taking his shot. He watched the ball drop in one of the pockets and walked away from Brianna.

Brianna uncrossed her arms and watched Kyle walk towards the other end of the table. “Why not? Are you afraid you’re going to lose to a girl? It’s okay. I understand. I mean, I can easily destroy you at this game, and you don’t want to be humiliated in front of your friends.”

Brianna’s condescending remarks and the snickers coming from Ryan’s roommates drove Kyle to his breaking point. “Fine. You want to play me? Let’s play,” Kyle snapped before gathering all the balls and placing them inside the triangle. “I’ll even let you break. You’re going to be sorry you didn’t leave when I asked you to.”

“Is that so? You think you can beat me, huh?” Brianna grinned, tipping her chin up defiantly. After all the hurtful things Kyle had said to her on the fire escape, seeing him so worked up was sweet payback for Brianna. She walked towards him and got in his face again. “Care to make it a little interesting K-bear?”

“That was his nickname when he was kid,” Brianna explained to the other guys gathered around the pool table before turning her attention back to Kyle.

“How about we place a little wager on this game?” Brianna proposed.

“What do you have in mind?” Kyle asked through gritted teeth.

“NYU is a really expensive school, isn’t it? You must be drowning in debt. How much do you owe in student loans so far, Kyle?”

“What the heck does that have to do with anything?”

“Just answer the question, asshole.”

“Close to eighty thousand. Why?”

“If you win this pool game, I will pay off all of those loans, every cent of it. I will write you a check for eighty thousand dollars. I have my checkbook right here in my bag. I’m not bullshitting.”

“Holy shit, Goddess Brianna. You have that kind of money?” Sweet Matt blurted out before stepping between Kyle and Brianna. “Seriously, marry me? Please? Don’t let the small matter of my penis get in the way of us. Look, if my penis bothers you, I’ll just get rid of it. I don’t care. I don’t even use it that much anyway.”

Matt’s roommates snickered at his hilarious desperation. Brianna shook her head at Matt, not sure if he was serious or joking about the chopping off his penis part. She patted him on the cheek before turning her attention back to Kyle and the wager.

“And if you beat Kyle, what do you get, Brianna?” Ryan, the birthday boy, asked.

“Well, if I win…I don’t know…Let me think.” Brianna turned her back to Matt and Kyle and began to walk around the pool table. “What do I want?” She kept asking herself under her breath until she had completed one full trip around the pool table and was once again in Kyle’s face.

“You know Kyle, that girlfriend of yours… What’s her name again?”

Kyle narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side. “Abby. Her name’s Abby. What about her?”

“Right. Abby. She sure is a pretty little thing. I’d love to get a little taste of those pouty lips. If I win the pool game, that’s what I want, Kyle. I want to kiss your girlfriend, and I want you to watch me do it.” Brianna’s face broke into a slow smile as she witnessed rage build behind Kyle’s eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for Kyle’s response to her outrageous but totally serious wager proposal.

Kyle white-knuckled the pool table as he scowled at his fucked up sister. He had never hit a woman in his life, but Brianna was putting him on the verge of changing that. Once again, dead silence descended over the room. Ryan and his roommates stared at Brianna with their mouths hanging open before their eyes darted to Kyle. They too were waiting with bated breath for Kyle’s response.

“No. No way. That’s not going to happen. Wager something else,” Kyle replied, shaking his head and walking away from Brianna.

“It’s just going to be a quick, innocent smack on the lips, Kyle. What’s wrong, little bro? If you were sure you were going to beat me, that little wager wouldn’t scare you. You’re afraid of a girl. That’s just sad little bro.”

Ryan and his roommates began to feel sorry for Kyle. Brianna was being brutal to him, and they did not understand why. While talking to Brianna earlier, they found out she was his sister, but she did not tell them anything else. Kyle had never spoken to them about her. They didn’t even know he had a sister until Brianna showed up. They looked at one other and decided it was time to leave Brianna and Kyle alone so they could work out their issues. They all began to mumble excuses while walking away from the pool table.

“You don’t have to leave, guys. It’s okay. Stay,” Kyle commanded his friends without taking his eyes off Brianna. He chuckled bitterly while running a hand through his hair and counting to ten in his head. He was sick and tired of Brianna humiliating and emasculating him in front of his friends. He was determined to win that pool game. And after Brianna handed him the eighty thousand dollar check,  he was going to rip it off and throw the pieces in Brianna’s face. “Fine, Brianna. I accept your wager. Let’s play.”

Kyle and Brianna began playing. Deafening silence fell over the room. The only sound that could be heard was the one made by the pool balls as they smashed against one other and dropped in the pockets. Abby was still outside on the fire escape and had no idea about the bet her boyfriend had agreed to.

“I won!” Brianna squealed after she got the final ball to fall inside one of the pockets. “Told you you couldn’t beat me, Kyle. Time to collect my prize,” she exhaled, smiling widely at Kyle. The mixture of shock and embarrassment on Kyle’s face felt yummy in Brianna’s stomach, but it wasn’t enough. She needed to twist that knife. She tossed the pool cue on the pool table and headed back to the couches looking for Abby. Ryan, Kyle, and the roommates were right behind her.

Brianna looked out the window and could see that Abby was still out on the fire escape talking on the phone. So she sat down on one of the couches to wait for her. Ryan and the roommates sat on the other couch while Kyle sat on a recliner across from Brianna. Kyle just scowled at his messed up sister. He regretted inviting her to that party. He regretted not forcing her to leave earlier. He also regretted saying yes to that sick and twisted bet. But what he regretted the most was putting his sweet, innocent Abby in such a difficult situation without her consent. He wanted to kick himself. He wished he had cut Brianna out of his life for good a long time ago.

“There she comes,” Brianna beamed as she watched Abby walk towards the group. She reached out to grab Abby’s hand and got her to sit next to her on the couch.

“What? What’s going on?” Abby asked with her brows furrowed. She sat next to her boyfriend’s sister while searching the faces of everyone in the room.

Brianna shifted her body so she could see Abby’s face better. “Well, your boyfriend over there and I played a little game of pool just now, and we placed a little friendly wager on it. We bet that if he won, I’d pay his student loans. And if I won, I’d get to give his gorgeous girlfriend a little smack on the lips. Well, I won the game, sweetheart.”

Abby stared at Brianna with her mouth hanging open. She then stared at her boyfriend who looked like he wanted the ground to open and swallow him.

“It was a stupid bet. You don’t have to do it, Abby. It was wrong of me to agree to something like that without consulting with you first,” Kyle remarked from the recliner while trying to apologize to his girlfriend with his eyes.

“He’s right, Abby. If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to. It was a silly wager anyway. I’ll think of something else to ask of your boyfriend,” Brianna sighed, tapping Abby’s knee a couple of times and looking disappointed. She did not mean a single word of what she said to Abby. She was just trying to guilt the sweet girl into paying the wager.

Abby looked around the room and saw something she had never seen before. Ryan’s roommates where leering at her the same way they had been leering at Brianna the whole night. Her secret wish had finally come true. The roommates wanted that kiss to happen badly. They were all sitting on the edge of the couch, holding their breath in anticipation. Abby thought about it and decided she was not going to disappoint her audience. Besides, not honoring that wager would have made Kyle look bad in front of his friends. How bad could it be anyways? It was only going to be a quick smack on the lips. There wasn’t any harm in that.

“It’s okay. I’ll do it,” Abby announced.

All eyes flew to Kyle who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat and looking everywhere but at the two women sitting in front of him.

Seeing how distressed Kyle looked over the whole thing, Abby tried to ease his mind. “It’s okay, Kyle. It’d be like spin the bottle. It’s no big deal.”

“Thank you, Baby Jesus. I owe you one, dude,” Matt whimpered under his breath and hoped Kyle had not heard him. Sergio, who was sitting next to him, did hear him and smacked him over the head. “Ouch,” Matt objected but wouldn’t take his eyes off Abby and Brianna.

“Okay, then,” Brianna breathed in a husky, sensual tone that made poor Matt whimper like an injured puppy. The noise earned him another head smack from Sergio. Brianna licked her lips while scooting closer to Abby and reaching to touch Abby’s bangs. “Jesus, Abby. You are one gorgeous, little thing. My brother is a very lucky guy.” Letting out a heavy sigh, Brianna caressed Abby’s cheek with the back of her fingers.

Abby tipped her chin down and giggled like a school girl while heat crept to her cheeks. She then gave Brianna a bashful grin before turning her face to Kyle who had a pained expression on his face. She had started to wonder whether she should back out of the kiss when she felt the tips of Brianna’s fingers slide under her chin and turn her face towards her. With their faces just a couple of inches away from each other’s, Abby gave Brianna a half smile while Brianna’s eyes darted from Abby’s sparkly brown eyes to her plump glossy lips and back.

Brianna figured that kiss was going to be a double win for her. She was going to piss off and humiliate her asshole brother Kyle, and she was also going to get to taste that adorable girl’s yummy lips. She mentally patted herself in the back for coming up with that genius bet.

With her fingers still under Abby’s chin, Brianna turned her face towards her brother seated across from them on the recliner. She stared at him, glowing. Her lips curled into the most wicked of smiles as she savored the angry resignation in her brother’s face. It was time to twist the knife and triple his pain. She turned her face back to Abby and cupped the side of her face. She dragged her teeth across her lower lip before cocking her head towards the couch and savagely crushing Abby’s lips with hers.

A chorus of murmurs and gasps, all coming from the other couch, filled the room. Sergio and Cody shifted uncomfortably in their seats. They wanted to openly express how much they were loving what they were witnessing but knew they had to keep it together out of respect for Kyle. Matt, on the other hand, was not as discreet. He slid off the couch, in a trance-like state, until he was on kneeling on the floor. With a blank look on his face and with his mouth hanging open, he began to crawl towards Abby and Brianna. Ryan reached out and smacked him over the head, getting him to snap out of it and sit back on the couch. Ryan was the only one, besides Kyle, who was not enjoying the show. Ryan did not appreciate seeing his best friend get humiliated like that.

Abby froze when she felt Brianna’s tongue slip inside her mouth. Her mind went blank, and her stomach twisted into a million knots. Confusion and fear overtook her senses. It was supposed to be just a quick smack on the lips. She knew she should’ve pushed Brianna away. What they were doing was wrong. She knew that. Her brain was sending signals to her arms and lips to get them to react, but they simply were not responding. But then something happened that blew Abby’s mind. After the initial shock wore out, she found herself getting lost in that kiss. She could not believe how much she was enjoying it. Her tongue, as if it had a mind of its own, began to wrestle Brianna’s, and before she knew it, she was moaning and breathing sharply inside Brianna’s mouth.