Page 110 of The Bet
“I know women don’t have the hand to eye coordination for these things,” Xavier remarked, casually.
“I’ll do it.” She moved forward, and took a hold of the gun. It would be later that night, as she lay in bed, going over the evening’s events and unable to sleep, that she would realize it had been Xavier’s way of prompting her. He seemed to know exactly what buttons to press.
She closed her left eye, and took aim, then pulled the trigger. And missed by a long shot.
“Try again!” Jacob’s voice urged her. She still had two turns left, and aimed again, trying to laser in on the moving target. She shot, and missed widely again.
It wasn’t a big deal, but Xavier was watching, and she didn’t want to look like a total fool at this. Annoyed at herself, she took aim, and shot blindly, and completely missed again.
“Told you,” she heard Xavier say, “Women aren’t too good at this.”
Fuming, because she had been so useless, she glared back at him.
“Another go?” Xavier asked, making her heart thump harder, faster. It was either anger, or something else, something that threw her and made it even harder for her to concentrate.
“She’ll have another turn.” Xavier slipped another bill to the man behind the kiosk.
“C’mon Izzy. You can do this!” Jacob’s encouragement didn’t help. She flinched; just as she raised her arm and focused her gaze at the target, she felt Xavier’s arm on hers. Her body stilled, and she felt her insides beginning to heat up.
“Like this,” he said, adjusting her arms. His breath tickled her ears, and her concentration flew out of the window. “Move your head like this.” His chest lightly grazed her back—or was she imagining it? Her winter coat was so thick, surely she wouldn’t be able to feel anything?
And yet she did.
His presence, his cologne, his warm breath. These things permeated her senses.
It’s not possible, she told herself, to feel these things, not in the cold and darkness around her.
Yet she feltsomething.
“Try again,” he said, and stepped back.
“It’s only a toy gun, guys,” she managed to say, managed to infuse it with a who-the-hell-cares attitude that would cover over her lapse in concentration. She turned to Xavier. “Relax,dude.It’s not real.”
“It feels real enough to me.” His eyes were dark, darker than the blue they normally were. What did he mean? What was he talking about? The fairground? The target? Or them? Was he feeling what she was?
Jacob broke the spell. “C’mon Izzy!”
She turned her head and aimed, and this time got nearer than before. Then, because her focus was off, because she was too busy thinking of the man behind her instead of the target in front of her, she fired wildly and missed. She pulled the trigger again, and missed, and then, because she wanted this over with, she took the next shot without even focusing and totally missed it.
“Nice try.”
“Not again—” she started. She wouldn’t be able to concentrate. Not now, with the feel of his arms on hers. She was glad he couldn’t see her face, because she could feel heat creeping along her cheeks, even though they were out in the January cold. She didn't need him to know that he was having an effect on her.
But Xavier hadn’t meant for her to take the next go. He hadn’t even looked her way. “Want that one, buddy?” He pointed to the large monkey, confirming with Jacob who nodded eagerly.
He shot. Three clean shots, and two of them hit the target full on.
“Yay!!” Jacob jumped up and down like he’d had a sugar rush.
“What are you going to do with two identical monkeys, buddy?” Xavier asked, handing them over to him.
“They’re for the twi—” he stopped, his tiny lips suddenly going all wobbly.
She wouldn’t have thought anything of it had he not pasted his hand over his mouth, in that tell-tale way that children had. The tell-tale way that had both her and Xavier exchange knowing looks.
Savannah was pregnant with twins? She waited for Xavier to say something, but he didn’t.
“Here you go, buddy.” Xavier was cool as a cucumber, and she, taking the cue, took a hold of the other toy. “I’ll hold him for you, Jacob.” She took the oversized monkey, “otherwise you’re going to have problems walking around with it.”
