CHAPTER 87: 87-TRUTY OR DARE

Iris:

He shifted slightly, just enough for me to see the corner of his profile.

I lowered my gaze and continued. I moved along each scratch, smoothing the ointment in careful strokes until every mark was treated well.

When I finished, I stepped back to give him space.

"Really, I would love to see how you can tease me," he challenged.

He pushed himself to his feet and turned to face me. I held the cloth against my palms, feeling the warmth fading from it.

"And by the way, thanks for the care. Nobody has ever taken care of my wounds like this," he mumbled, and I noticed that he wasn’t playing around this time.

He began to step toward me.

"And I know how to thank you in a perfect way," he whispered.

The fact that he wouldn’t admit why he had gone to the cave felt like a challenge.

I wanted to know his real reason.

What was he hiding? But before I could respond, he leaned in for a kiss.

That was when my kids burst in.

"Yay, we are ready for bed!" they exclaimed.

Luca straightened, and we both turned toward them. It wasn’t Scarlett who had brought them. It was Kash who had intervened.

"Mommy! Is Uncle Luca okay?" Amy stopped when her eyes landed on the scratches across his back.

Luca rushed to grab a shirt and then stepped out of the tent to avoid frightening my children, while Kash wandered inside with his hands in his pants pockets.

"Yes, my dear. Remember we went for a little hike earlier? Luca slipped and injured himself, but he is fine now," I reassured my daughter so she would not worry.

"You two go to bed now," I warned them with a look, telling them not to leave their bed again.

While they began to jump up and down on the mattress, I turned to look at Kash.

"Seriously, why did you bring them in?" I asked, placing my hands on my waist.

"I didn’t. They wanted to be with their mother, so I let them in. Why? Is it forbidden for them to see their mother when she is busy with her boyfriend?" he taunted, and I rolled my eyes

I knew what he was doing.

"My kids are allowed to be anywhere I am. But I don’t want them to see something that will traumatize them," I stated, making sure he understood that I wasn’t avoiding responsibility.

They had been outside because I didn’t want them seeing the scratches or seeing their mother in a situation like that with another man.

But of course, Kash wouldn’t care. He just shrugged.

"Well, my kids are allowed anywhere because I know I will never be caught doing something I am ashamed of," he taunted, then stepped over to grab their storybooks from their bags while I kept glaring at him.

"Come, Daddy, we love you!" Amy yelled happily when she saw he was getting ready to tell them a bedtime story.

It was getting too much. I had never seen this side of Kash.

He was so visibly jealous that it was becoming difficult for me to keep any control over the situation.

Giving him one last angry glare, I walked out of the tent.

After a while Kash came out as well.

Scarlett planned to stay in the cabin, but for now she was sitting with us around the fire.

"How about we play a little game for the success of our mission?" Lara spoke up before any of the ones who had actually done something.

She had been trouble from start to finish, but Scarlett still nodded like she agreed.

We were sitting with sticks in our hands, roasting marshmallows, though none of us could eat anything more.

"What game are we playing then?" Scarlett asked, sounding excited.

She wasn’t just a nanny. She was also my mother’s assistant and someone my mother trusted a lot.

She would go back and tell her everything in dramatic detail like she was retelling a movie plot.

"Truth or dare," Lara answered, grabbing an empty beer bottle and waving it around.

"You guys play. I am not in the mood," Kash muttered, barely lifting his head.

He kept poking the ground with his stick, drawing lines and then wiping them away.

"Oh come on, Kash. There are only five of us," Lara insisted, pointing out that if he quit, it would be only four.

"Lara, I am not into such childish things," he repeated, raising his head this time so he could give her a stern look.

"Fine. Then the rest of us will play," Lara groaned. "Anybody else want to chicken out?" she asked, and even though I didn’t want to play either, I couldn’t say no.

For her to suggest a game like that, there had to be something she wanted to bring up.

And I was curious enough to sit through it.

"So everyone else is playing then," Lara said in a soft, excited tone.

Kash lifted his head and looked straight at me. It was the kind of look that asked why I agreed to this.

"Fine. I will play as well." Once I didn’t back out, Kash gave in too.

"Yay. I knew you would join eventually," Lara chirped, waving for us to get into position so we could start.

She spun the bottle first. It pointed at Scarlett, and Lara clapped her hands like she had been waiting for that.

"Truth or dare?" she asked. Scarlett straightened her back and bit her bottom lip.

"Truth," Scarlett said without hesitation, surprising all of us.

"Have you and Luca ever made out?" Lara asked. For a moment, nobody even processed what she had said.

"What?" I was the first to react because it sounded like she was implying something had actually happened between them.

"I just wanted to start with something spicy. What is wrong with that?" Lara said quickly when Luca gave her a look too.

"I mean, Lara is right. She is setting the tone. What is wrong with that? But if the answer is going to ruin relationships, then well..." Kash spoke up in a way that shocked me.

It felt like he wanted trouble in my relationship or wanted to embarrass me for choosing Luca instead of sitting around being whatever he expected me to be.

"No. We have never," Scarlett said suddenly, sounding very confident.

And I could tell Kash looked disappointed.