(Ok...a bit of a twist on the wager.  Hope you enjoy it!  Thanks for all your support.  Love your votes!  thank-you. I will post by Oct 11th!)

SIX (part two)

"Whoo, that's the game for us! It's a game a piece now," Jaxon hollered. Robin and him chest bumped at middle court in celebration.

"Yeah, yeah, lucky hairpin shot. That one barely made it over the net," Sage replied. "The match isn't over yet you two. We both have a game a piece. There's no point in celebrating if you haven't won."

"Come on hurry up and switch sides so we can get in the last game of the match. I need to go bowtie shopping," I said.

Sage and I started to walk around to the other side of the net. The guys were just about to pass us, when Jaxon reached out and grabbed my hand turning me into him so his arms were folded around me.

Wrapped in his embrace, I had an urge to stand on my tippy toes and reach up to taste his lips on mine, if only for a moment. I looked into his fierce emerald eyes, and I felt like I had been spun off kilter with a dizzy feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. I closed my eyes. His hands ran down my sides of my shirt and up my back, igniting me from within, causing me to gasp out loud. When he picked up my hand, I opened my eyes and saw our school gym surrounding had dissipated. We were standing under the glow of the crystal chandelier above us.

What the heck? I turned to look around the room and realized we were now in a large elegant sitting room with a stone fireplace. It was rich in color and luxury with its burgundy velvet drapes and golden decorations accenting the room. Several stuffed chairs, a large oversized couch and a maroon chaise lounge filled the space.

I lingered in his arms for a moment, swaying to some distant playing music. With his hand in mine, I turned to toward the chaise lounge to sit. I could feel the skirts of my dress rustled around my legs as I walked. My bare feet cooled with each step against the stone floor.

The dark iridescent red taffeta of my dress showed off a black hue when its floor length skirts moved. Strapless, the bodice was fitted tight against me, showing off both my waistline and the curves of my breasts. Although I could feel the many layers of fabric of the dress covering my skin, I somehow had never felt so naked before at the same time.

"This was the dress I wanted to see you in if I had won the wager," he said taking in a full view of me. "I can't think of a single place in Swallow Falls that you might have a reason to wear it out, but you can't blame a guy for dreaming. You look beautiful in it."

His eyes rested on my mother's necklace around my neck. The two red beads on either side of the blue center stone were glowing like rubies that were lit from within. His gaze drifted from the necklace to the tiny blue tear mark below my collarbone. His eye flared a golden color as he took in the mark. Then he lifted his hand and ran a finger following along the top edge of my bodice covering my breasts. My skin tingled where he had drawn his imaginary line across my chest.

"Do you have any more?" he asked sounding almost heart broken.

"Maybe." I leaned in and placed my head on the front of his buttoned down shirt.

"There's more?" he asked sounding like he might be sick. "Will you show me?"

"Well it's not like I go around showing off my body to just anyone who asks, but as you seem so panicked to know. Come here." I took his hand and led him over to the chaise lounge. "They aren't as horrible as you're making them sound." I reclined over the chaise and letting the dress billow and fold over the lounge. "I'll let you look for yourself." I lifted my foot and wiggled my toes.

"Really?" he said almost breathless. He knelt down and ran his hand along my right ankle pushing up the dress slightly as he did. When his hand moved over the ring of flames circling my ankle, it was as if their fiery flames ignited, warming to his touch leaving the rest of my untouched skin feeling cold in comparison. He leaned over and softly kissed the inky marks, running his tongue in tiny circles as he lifted my leg to ensure he touched every bit of my fiery brand before lifting his head. "Are there any more inky marks that need my attention?"

"Hmm? More marks?" Disappointed he'd ceased his fiery kisses, I replied, "Nope, that's all of them." I almost wished there were more he could search out and attend to.

He smiled, then positioned himself next to me on the chaise, hovering over me he leaned on his elbow. We were face-to-face once more. "Good, because what I really want to do is appreciate your lips and I do plan on ensuring I give them my full attention," he said. Then he slowly bent down to kiss me.

Everything swirled, and the vision vanished. I felt myself lying motionless semi-consciousness state on the floor with something heavy resting on top of me.

"Lizzy! You klutz." I heard Sage yell. "I saw that. You hit her on purpose."

"Did not. I was running for the shuttle Jessica hit. I can't help it when I swung I somehow managed to get the back of Wren's head. I had my back to her," she said. "I never claimed to be good at this stupid game. Clearly, I'm not."

Then I heard Lizzy scream, and something fell to the gym floor. "What the heck you witch. You burnt my hand."

"I did not. That's not even..."

Then the background noises drifted and dissipated, leaving me with the only sound I could hear—a sigh.

Something wet, soft and warm brushed my lips. My mouth burned when I felt his kiss deepen and claim me from within. The flames on my ankle flared and scorched me like a million tiny pinpricks all at once. Then my skin cooled to normal, and my lips were left yearning for more.

"Hmmm. Oh, wow. Does my head hurt," I said sounding like I'd just woken up. When I blinked my eyes to see where I was, I was looking directly into Jax's golden eyes. The amber flecks were quickly cooling back to their usual hue of green.

"Hey, sleeping beauty, welcome back," he whispered.

"Jaxon! Get off of her," Sage yelled hitting him with her badminton racquet. "When a girl gets knocked unconscious you don't go around using that moment to try and seduce her you creep." She continued to whack him with the rungs of her racquet. "Come on, move it," she said sounding exasperated then she shoved him hard, dumping him to the ground.

"Hey, knock it off. I got slammed onto the floor too. You know when I dove to catch Wren in the air. I don't need the second beating, thanks." He lifted up his arm to get a better look at the bruise on his elbow with the matching angry red floor burn that went up the left side of his arm.

Ignoring him, she bent down and checked my head and arms for any obvious bleeding or bumps. "Oh my God, we're going to have to get you a helmet to walk around school in." She laughed and smoothed out my hair. "Headache?"

"Oh yeah, and then some." I felt like I was beaten over the head with a two by four.

The gym teacher, whose name I never caught at the beginning of class, had returned from the storage closet at the far end of the gym with a spare net. It looked like one of the nets had somehow become torn in the middle causing it to sag, no doubt damaged by some idiot in class trying to hang from it with all his body weight. With everyone standing around me, the teacher could easily see something had happened while he was gone.

"Hey Coach, minor collision with someone's racquet," Sage said.

He nodded taking her at her word. "Come on class. You need to pay attention to your surroundings when playing any game." He put down the net and helped me up. "Anyone else hurt?" he asked Sage.

"In the collision? Jaxon's arm might need some attention," she said ignoring the burns on Lizzy's hand that I had heard them arguing about. "I'll take them both to the medical room if that's all right coach."

"Thanks, Sage, I'll let the office know you need the key to the room." He walked over to the phone on the wall. Jaxon and Sage helped me to stand up and walk toward the exit.

We were only a few steps outside the gym door when we heard Robin behind us. "Hey Wren, sorry about your head. It looked like Lizzy clobbered you hard with that racquet."

"Sure feels like she did."

"So I'm going to be blunt since you're off to the medical room. What are you two doing tomorrow night?" he asked looking at Sage.

"I think Wren and I were planning on hanging out shopping for a bit after school, but I suppose we are free after that," she said. "Why?"

"Just making good on our bet. Since we're all tied up on the court, and I don't really want to force Wren to finish playing so we can beat you," he paused and flipped the racquet in his hand, "I figure we can just take you both out tomorrow night instead of to the party. Then on Saturday night we'll make sure you have all the coolers you want for the party and everyone wins."

"Ah... But I so wanted to see you in a bowtie. That was the best part of the bet." Sage said sounding disappointed. "All right I'm good with that if Wren is." She looked over at me. Jaxon had his arm around me making sure I didn't fall over.

"I guess I kind of owe my hero here anyway." I smiled and nudged him.

"Hey, I don't know about that," Sage said placing hands on her hips. "He kind of already took his reward by kissing you while you were half unconscious."

"That's not fair. I did tell her I was thoroughly going to appreciate those lips of hers," Jax replied in defense.

"Jaxon, a girl has to be awake to hear it, you know before you can claim she heard it."

I stood there stunned staring at him. How had he come up with those exact words from my vision? My personal thoughts that only I knew. I couldn't help thinking there was more to him and that he might know something about what happened back in the gym. And I was planning on finding out.

"Looking forward to it," I replied. "You can count me in."

"Come on, let's get you something for your headache and some salve for your arm," she said. "See you tomorrow, Robin."