The Art Of Seduction ✓

|35| Bet

Thank you so much for waiting,

It's been a hard few weeks for me, so I really appreciate your support for this story. Updates will hopefully be more regular. Till then, enjoy this long chapter. xoxo, pain. 

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" Anger, resentment and jealousy doesn't change the heart of others-- it only changes yours. " 

Shannon L. Adler

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IT ALL MADE sense. My mind sped as I connected the dots and then my heart ached because I didn't like the full picture. I reached out, touching his fingers and playing with them, unable to meet his eye.

"How long had you known?"

"Since October."

I nodded, already guessing it. 

"Tassia?" I whispered.

He didn't answer.

He didn't have to, I recalled how weird it was that she was texting him. I remembered how confident she was, I wouldn't win. I turned to look at him. Things had clearly changed since then. 

I stopped fiddling with his fingers, guilt eating me alive. "You lied to me," Kaden whispered. "You were going to sleep with me because of a bet."

Then my guilt faded away to anger, "You knew the whole time, but you didn't say anything."

"I just wanted to know if you were just a really big bitch." Anger flared in his voice.

"And?"

Kaden laughed, "You're the fucking devil."

"That's fucking rich, Cassian dared you do the same."

"But I didn't do it." Our eyes met and I was the first to turn away. "I didn't do it, because while I didn't necessarily like you all that much, I respected you. I wouldn't make you fall in love with me and sleep with you only for you to learn it was a bet."

He pulled his hand back away from my lap. "But you, you would have done it, wouldn't you? You got me tipsy so I wouldn't object then kissed me and you would have slept with me, wouldn't you?" Kaden laughed. "I meant every word I wrote on that song, it wasn't a compliment, Amber."

Bile rose up in my throat, and I stood up. My feet felt like lead as I pushed the door open walking out and away from him. 

The worst part of it all was, he was right. I closed half an eye throughout this bet. I tried not to see the things that were otherwise there. I ignored the song, the feeling that something was off. I'd seen that look in his eye so often, but I pretended I didn't. 

I tried not to remember him on my birthday. The gift that felt like lead. He knew all along and he was still so nice. He came over, drenched in rain for me, even though he knew about the bet. 

He knew about the bet.

A lot of the things he did for me, even though he knew. It felt wrong, it was like a puzzle piece that didn't fit, that felt every bit wrong. 

I remembered our first kiss and the look I thought I saw, like he held the world on his shoulders. 

Then I remembered the way he slept off on the couch every time I stayed over. I remembered the way he smiled, his laugh-