The Inheritance Games Chapter Rewrites

I Could Kiss You (Ch. 77 of TIG)

Summary: A rewrite of Ch. 77 in Book 1 after they land but before Jameson's blow-up.

By the time the copter touched down, I felt like I was getting ready to burst out of my skin. I hopped out before the blades had fully stopped, adrenaline-fueled and giddy.

Eight. One. One. Zero.

Jameson bounded toward me. "We did it, Heiress." He stopped right in front of me, lifting his hands, palm up. Drunk on the high of the helicopter, I did the same, and his fingers locked through mine. "Four middle names. Four numbers."

His tone was infectious and there it was again. The buzz, the excitement. A new clue, another puzzle piece to put into place. Four numbers, a finished set but what did they mean? That was a mystery which meant-Game on. I could literally hear his voice in my head.

Kissing him had been a mistake. Holding his hands now was a mistake—but I didn't care.

"Eight, one, one, zero," I said. "That's the order we discovered the numbers in—and the order of the clues in the will." Westbrook, Davenport, Winchester, and Blackwood, in that order. "A combination, maybe?"

"There are at least a dozen safes in the House," Jameson mused. "But there are other possibilities. An address... coordinates... and there's no guarantee that the clue isn't scrambled. To solve it, we may have to reorder the numbers."

An address. Coordinates. A combination. I closed my eyes, just for a second, just long enough for my brain to put another possibility into words. "A date?" All four clues were numbers; they were also single digits. For a combination lock or coordinates, I would have expected some two-digit entries. But a date...

"Yes! That's what I was about to say. You're-" He laughed, a wide smile on his face while he contemplated whatever it was that he was thinking. Suddenly, he leaned down, cupped my cheeks and kissed me. I froze but before I could even protest or do anything, he was already pulling away, looking horrified, perhaps realizing what he just did.

His eyes were wide, the pupils so big they took over the green of his irises and his jaw was slack with disbelief. His hand went to his mouth and he turned to the side, running his other hand through his hair before he turned back to me.

"Um, I'm-I'm sorry. I... I have no idea why I just did that. Sorry Heiress." I wasn't fully registering the apology or his actions but I felt my hand subconsciously going to my lips and my fingers grazing my lower one. "You can slap me if you want. I give you permission to do so." For a long moment, I was very zoned out before I finally blinked and shook my head, snapping out of the trance and dropping my hand to my side.

To my surprise, Jameson was still babbling, muttering something about consent and how he respected that but this was very spontaneous. Who knew that getting flustered like this made his inner Xander come out? On the outside, I kept my poker face but mentally I was smirking and dying of laughter. Confident Jameson Hawthorne, embarrassed and turning red in the ears must have been once in a lifetime opportunity.

"Avery, I-" I walked up to him firmly and took hold of his tie, pulling him down and shutting him up with a kiss of my own to put him out of his misery. He stilled for a moment but that didn't stop him for long as I felt one of his hands going to the back of my head, sliding against the intricate braid holding my hair together.

I let myself savor it for ten full seconds more before I let him go in a fit of hard panting. He looked only slightly affected but he let out a steadying breath before arching a brow. A question. What was that? What did that mean?

I forgave him; I knew that much but things couldn't be the same. He wouldn't get the best of me but we could still be partners until this, whatever this was, ended. I stuck out an open hand. "Game on."

His brows furrowed. He was considering something.

"Game on, Hawthorne," I repeated. The moment he looked up again, a crooked smile graced his lips and the spark in his eyes lit them up against the dark of the night. "Game on, Heiress." He reached forward and finally clasped my hand with his in agreement, giving a hearty squeeze as we shook on it. For a moment more, we just smiled at each other, knowing we were back on the same page. For now.

That's when he tilted his head in the general direction of the House. "Come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see!" He grabbed my hand and we were running to somewhere, I didn't know where but I was laughing, barely avoiding tripping over my dress, and Oren was probably trying to catch up but it didn't matter. As we ran, Jameson's grip sure on my hand, I looked up at the midnight sky and wondered what awaited us next.