Table of Contents
IF YOU DARE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
PLAYLIST
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
EPILOGUE
SLAUGHTER
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
OTHER TITLES BY SHANTEL TESSIER
If You Dare
Copyright © 2019 by Shantel Tessier
All rights reserved.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Editor: Jenny Sims
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Formatter: CP Smith
Cover Designer: Tracie Douglas with Dark Water Covers.
To Author K. Webster. When I decided to write Deke’s story, she was the first one I spoke to about it. I had two very different directions I could take it. One was safe. The other was not. She was the little devil on my shoulder who whispered in my ear to do it. And I never looked back. I thank her for that.
PLAYLIST
Deadset Society – “Like A Nightmare”
Starset – “My Demons”
No Resolve – “What You Deserve”
My Darkest Day – “Nature of The Beast”
Valerie Broussand – “Trouble”
Seven Day Sleep – “Down”
Memory of A Melody – “Things That Make You Scream”
Adelitas Way – “Invincible”
Sin Shake Sin – “Can’t Go to Hell”
Memory of A Melody – “Darkest Hour”
TheUnder – “Ready To Die”
Zero – “Left Alone”
MISSIOS – “I Don’t Even Care About You”
Halsey – “Nightmare”
Nina Nesbitt – “The Best you Had”
Redlight King – “Boneshaker”
The Score – “Legend”
Yungblud & Halsey – “I Will Follow You into the Dark”
PROLOGUE
DEKE
DEATH IS A debt we are all born owing.
It’s something that money can’t buy nor can it be traded.
You can’t bargain for more time. When it’s up, you accept it like a fucking man.
I’ve never been afraid to die. Or to love, for that matter.
Aren’t they the same?
You surrender to a fate you have no control over. You don’t get to choose when or how you die, just as you can’t choose when and who you fall in love with.
Some couples get a happily ever after while others are toxic for one another.
My love was like that.
She lied; I believed every word.
I hurt her; she forgave too easily.
It was a vicious circle of deceit and sex wrapped in a pretty black bow. Neither one of us could quit.
I wrapped my hand around her throat, and she begged me to breathe.
She stabbed me in the heart and demanded I bleed.
She might as well have been fucking poison, but I would have drunk her anyway.
That was the kind of obsession I had for her.
I knew how it would end—total devastation.
A war zone of broken bones and bleeding souls.
I should have hated her, but that’s the funny thing about love—it’s out of your control. And even when it leaves you with two black eyes, you beg for more.
People are afraid of the unknown, but I never feared death, and love was no different.
She was going to destroy me, and I was going to let her.
It was a game that could only end one way—a slow and torturous death.
CHAPTER ONE
DEKE
I DARE YOU
A little game my friends and I have played since we were kids. Every Sunday, we get together and write a dare, and the lucky son of a bitch whose turn it is gets to pluck one from the glass bowl and fulfill it. You have a month to complete it; once your time is up, you must face the consequence if you haven’t. Each dare has one, but none of us has ever refused the dare. Some are harmless. Others illegal. Just depends on whose dare you get and what their mood is at the time.
My best friend Eli dared our friend Cole to ride a skateboard down a hill. He did it, of course, but ended up with bruised elbows, scraped knees, and bloody hands. After we all ran down the hill to help him stand, we found him sitting on the ground with a smile on his face. It was as though he enjoyed the pain and the sight of the blood. And from then on, we found ourselves daring one another to do something that could either get us killed or thrown in jail. We didn’t care. Nothing scared any of us, for that matter. But as we got older, the dares got more dangerous and then turned illegal. Girls got involved and … well, let’s just say the game went from eight boys fucking around to five friends trying to figure out how we ended up haunted by our past.
We fucked up along the way. Some of us fell in love with the wrong girl. And some of us would die at the hands of others. It was a sick game we were going to end. And finish it is exactly what we had to do. Even if that meant killing one of our own. We were sharks and not all sharks can swim with others.
Sixteen years old
For the second night in a row, I find myself standing in Bennett’s parents’ basement. We threw a party here last night that ended in several fights. My best friend Cole got his dick sucked by Trenten’s girlfriend in the closet, and Kellan somehow started a fight between Cole and Trenten. It ended with Cole throwing some punches and me getting jumped from behind. Some fucker hit me in the back of the head with a glass cross. Once shit settled down, Cole took me to my sister’s to get it stitched up even though I assured him I’d be fine.
Now here we are. It’s Sunday, and we’re back to draw a dare. It�
�s my turn.
“Kiss Becky Holt.” I read the three words written on a folded-up piece of paper out loud. “Or you have to record yourself dancing naked.” I snort. I’m sure videos of me in my birthday suit are out there somewhere and didn’t even involve a dare.
Someone snickers, and I look up at my seven friends. Each and every one of us known as the Great White Sharks. The small, rich town known as Collins, Oregon, has been calling us sharks for years. Some say it started because we are all on the high school swim team and dominate in the water, but others say it’s because we’re ruthless. Just like some of our fathers. Some believe killers are born that way, but few will argue they are made. I’m not sure which one is correct anymore. I just do it for fucking fun. But a couple of my friends do it because they crave it—the blood, the rush, and the flat-out terror in someone’s eyes when they get too close. They thrive off it. And I don’t blame them because it can be quite a rush.
“Really?” Cole looks over at Eli, wearing a look of boredom on his face. He’s holding a beer in one hand and his cell in the other. “Since when do we do dares that involve chicks?” he asks, then looks at me. “Not like Deke can’t get his dick wet on his own.” Cole craves the blood. The fight. He always has. His darkness is a hole that will one day swallow him whole if he allows it.
Eli lights his blunt and takes a long drag, his cheeks caving in as he lounges on the couch before his eyes meet mine. “What? We all know he has a crush on her.” He winks at me, a grin now playing on his lips. “This just gives you a reason to make your move. And nowhere did the dare mention him shoving his dick into her. Just a harmless kiss.” Eli does it for fun. Both of his parents are dead, so he lives with his older sister and her piece of shit husband. He does whatever the fuck he wants, and no one tries to stop him.
“Who says I haven’t already?” I ask.
He throws his head back, laughing. “Come on, Deke. You’re no Casanova. I’m doing you a favor. Now go get that taken care of.”
I rip up the piece of paper and throw what’s left of it into the glass bowl.
Kellan sits in the recliner. I can feel his eyes boring into me, but I ignore him. He hasn’t said much since last night. I used to think he did this for the hell of it, but it seems he has an agenda. I just can’t figure out what it is yet.
Maddox and Landen quietly talk to each other as they lounge on a futon up against the wall, and Cole finishes off his beer before lighting up a cigarette.
Walking over to the couch, I take the joint from Eli and bring it to my lips. Pulling in a long drag, the taste of citrus fills my mouth. I lean my head back and blow it out, feeling the burn in my chest. “Shit, your sister has some good weed,” I say, handing it back to him.
He grunts. “Yeah, Jerrold only buys the good shit.” Eli can’t stand her piece of shit husband.
“Quit stalling,” Bennett finally chimes in while he sits cross-legged on his parents’ basement floor with an open laptop in front of him. The guy lives on that thing. He’s obsessed with hacking shit. He’s not much for getting his hands dirty, but the guy does pretty well behind the scenes. “She’s up at the school.”
“Know her schedule, do you?” Is my friend into the girl I like? They all know how I feel about her. And they also know to stay the fuck away.
He shrugs. “My mother is on the PTA. Says she sees her up there with the cheerleaders.”
I frown. “Becky doesn’t cheer.” She doesn’t play any sports. She’s too good for that. Wouldn’t want to sweat her makeup off or mess up her perfect hair.
“No. But Demi does,” Eli informs me.
I never pay her little sister any attention. “And how do you know that?”
“I like staring at her ass in the short skirts they wear.” He smirks.
Cole chuckles, looking over at Eli, but he doesn’t say anything. He seems to know something the rest of us don’t.
I ignore it and snap my fingers at Eli. “Let’s go.”
________________
I pull up to Collins High and park my SUV. I look across the almost empty lot and spot Becky’s car, a white Mercedes E400.
Eli points at the football stadium. “There she is. All by herself.”
I follow his line of sight and see a blonde sitting on the bleachers. She leans forward with her elbows resting on her knees while she looks out at the squad on the football field. “Wait here,” I order, getting out.
“Aww, man I wanted to hold your hand …”
I slam my door, cutting him off, but I give him the bird when I see his body shaking with laughter through the windshield.
As I walk across the parking lot, she rises to her feet and starts to descend the stairs. I slow my steps but don’t stop. She keeps her head down, typing away on her phone, totally oblivious to what is going on around her. Stupid girl. Don’t their fathers warn them of guys like me and my friends? The ones who see a situation where they can take advantage and seize it. We’re all the same. If a guy tells you otherwise, he’s lying. We all stare at your tits while we imagine fucking them. We all look at your ass. And we’re all thinking about you on your knees while sucking our cocks. It’s all about what we can do to get you undressed and underneath us.
Becky Holt is a mystery. She doesn’t have many friends, if any, yet she’s popular, if that makes sense. All the girls hate her, and the boys want to fuck her.
I pick up my pace when I see she’s headed straight for me. I should say her name or place my hands out—anything to prevent what I know is coming—but I don’t. Instead, I let her run right into me, knocking herself down.
“Are you okay?” I ask, looking down at her sitting on her ass that’s now covered in dirt.
The dust fills the air around her, and she coughs. “What …?” She looks up at me, blinking from the sun shining in her face. She lifts her hand to her forehead to shade her ocean blue eyes.
“I didn’t see you there,” I lie, giving her a kind smile.
“It’s okay.” She sighs heavily.
“Here. Let me help you up.” I offer her a hand for assistance.
She takes it, and I yank her to her feet. I use more force than necessary, causing her chest to hit mine. Her breathing picks up when her blue eyes meet mine.
I’ve had a crush on Becky for a while now. I’ve known her all my life, and we’ve grown up together. My parents always invite hers to their Christmas parties and birthday celebrations on their yachts. Collins, Oregon, isn’t a big town, but the wealthy only party with the wealthy. No matter how much I’ve wanted her, I have never touched her. Never pursued her.
The ass in our school is too easily given, so why chase a bitch down for it?
“Thanks,” she mumbles and pushes away from me.
“What are you doing out here?” I ask, placing my hands in my jeans pockets as my eyes drop to her tits. They look bigger than usual today. I’ve undressed enough girls to know they either stuff their shit or they spend too much money on bras to make what little they have look three times bigger. As if we’re not going to notice the difference once you’re naked.
We do.
“Waiting on my sister to be done with practice.” She dusts off her skinny jeans.
“Want some company?”
She tilts her head to the side, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth as she contemplates my question. Since a pair of black Aviators shades my eyes, she can’t see the way I’m looking her up and down. I linger on her thighs and wonder just how hard it will be to get her to spread them for me. “Yeah …”
“Becky!”
She spins around at the sound of her name. Demi Holt, her little sister, comes up to join us dressed in a pair of black spandex shorts that barely covers her pussy, a bright pink sports bra, and tennis shoes. That’s it. If I was their father, I wouldn’t let her leave the house looking like that, let alone parade around the school. Even if it is Sunday. She has her long, bleach blond hair up in a high ponytail with a black ribbon tied into a big bow ar
ound it. She’s a walking Barbie doll. A total high school cheerleader cliché.
Demi places her hands on her narrow hips, her already flat stomach sucking in, making her ribs even more pronounced as she takes a deep breath. She glares up at her sister, and I don’t miss the thin layer of sweat that covers her chest and face because the sun makes her glisten. “I’m done and ready to go.” Then, without another word, she stomps off toward the parking lot.
Becky looks at me. “Sorry, I’ve got to go.”
Not yet, baby.
Stepping forward, I smile down at her. “Shame,” I say, and her breathing picks up at my closeness.
Becky isn’t a virgin, not by any means. Boys talk in the locker rooms. On campus. At parties. And she’s already had quite a few of them. They all said she wasn’t that good of a fuck, but what her cunt lacks, she makes up with her mouth. I’m up for testing that rumor.
She doesn’t say anything, but her blue eyes stay on mine as if I hold her in a trance. “I wanted to spend some time with you.” I reach up and take a strand of her blond hair and twirl it around my finger. “Alone.”
Her breath hitches, and I know I have her right where I want her. It’s sad, really, how easily these girls believe our bullshit. Leaning down, I trail my lips along her jawline, just letting them graze her delicate skin. I slowly give her a chance to push me away, but she won’t. No one turns down Deke Biggs. The ones I fuck consider themselves lucky to catch my attention. They just never keep it long.
When I reach her lips, my free hand slides into her soft hair, and I tilt her head back, pulling away just enough to look down at her. “Guess a kiss will have to be enough for now.” Then I press my lips to hers.
She opens up for me like all the others do and then moans. I wrap my other hand around her waist and pull her into me, gently grinding my hardening cock into her lower stomach, letting her know that we can go as far as she wants. Right here and now. The fact that we’re on school property hasn’t stopped me before.
Her hands wrap around my neck while her tongue dances with mine. Her kiss tastes like strawberries, and I know it’s her lip gloss. The same one that all the girls wear. I swear they pass that shit around to one another. It’s step one in how to be a slut.
If You Dare (Dare Series Book 3) Page 1