If You Dare (Dare Series Book 3)

by Shantel Tessier

  “That was an orgasm,” I answer. “Thanks, by the way.” My legs are still wobbly. I had to take a minute for myself after I came. I ran to the bathroom and cleaned myself up the best I could, but my underwear is still soaked.

  He shoves his hands through his dark hair aggressively, making it look sexier than it already did. The muscles in his arms stretch his white shirt to the point I think the seams may burst. His arms fall to his sides, and he takes in a deep breath. “Why the fuck didn’t you stop me?” he growls.

  That is the million-dollar question. I could have. But why would I? I can’t stand either one of them. I wanted him to think he was getting a piece of his ex. And hell, he got me off. I’m not going to lie, that was a surprise. Who knew Deke wouldn’t have any problems in that area? I always saw him as just one of the other self-absorbed GWS who only cared about what he got out of it. “I tried to tell you who I was.”

  “Bullshit,” he snaps, and the girl behind us narrows her eyes on him. “You took my gum … then stuck it in your boyfriend’s mouth.” His dark blue eyes widen. “Fuck, your boyfriend …” he trails off.

  “Eww,” the girl says in disgust.

  I smile. “And?”

  “And … and … and fuck, Demi! I thought you were your sister!” His pretty blue eyes look pained as they stare down at me at a total loss.

  “Gross,” the girl adds.

  I bite my bottom lip to keep from laughing but fail. My body shakes with it. I’ve never seen Deke Biggs so furious and confused at the same time. It’s a good look on him. “You dumped her,” I remind him.

  “Yes, but …”

  “If I remember correctly, back in Collins, you told her unless she planned on falling to her knees and opening that mouth of hers so you could fuck it, you had no use for her.”

  He opens his mouth, but the girl behind us gasps. “You’re such a pig.”

  “Then get the fuck away from me,” he snaps at her, then turns back to me. She huffs but doesn’t leave the line. “You were listening to us?” he demands.

  I shrug. “Thin walls.” Lie. Of course, I was. My sister was finally getting what she deserved. She’s a manipulative bitch who spreads her legs for anyone with a dick. She’s a male version of them. The GWS. Well, Cole has seemed to change. And the huge rock on Austin’s finger proves that.

  “I can’t believe this,” he growls, running a hand down his face.

  Placing my hand on his chest, I feel his entire body stiffen. I’m pretty sure he quits breathing as he towers over me. I step into him, pushing my hips into his on purpose to see if he’s still hard. He’s not, and a part of me is disappointed at that. “You liked it,” I tell him, and he says nothing. “You were hard,” I add.

  “Demi …” He growls my name in warning, and his chest rises slowly as if he’s finally taking a deep breath.

  “And …” I lean in, standing up on my tiptoes, and I press my lips to his ear. The smell of his cologne makes my pussy tighten. Deke may be a fucking ruthless dick, but he sure is mouthwateringly delicious. “You would have fucked me if I had told you to.”

  He pulls back from me as if I’ve slapped him. He grips my upper arm, his fingers digging into my sensitive skin, and yanks me out of line to drag me behind the vendor trailer. People walk around with their faces painted like skeletons, and girls flaunt their bodies in little costumes to show the sluts they really are, but no one pays us any attention.

  I giggle. A speaker on the back of the trailer plays “My Demons” by Starset. “Round two …?”

  He shoves my back into the trailer so hard that it takes my breath away for a second and cuts off my words. Pressing his body into mine again, he places both hands flat against the truck on either side of my head. His blue eyes cloud over like a storm moving in on a sunny day and darkening the world. His lips thin, and his chest rumbles against mine with a growl.

  A slow warmth runs up my spine and neck, making me hot even though the night air is cool. Deke Biggs has a side I actually like. Who would have known? My eyes drop to the black belt around his dark jeans, and my fingers itch to undo it just to see how far he’d let me go now that he knows I’m not my sister. I have a feeling I wouldn’t have to push him much. My eyes find his again.

  “Want me to please you this time?” I lick my lips.

  “You will keep your mouth shut!” he orders, ignoring my question. “About what you heard me and Becky talking about. And what we just did!”

  I give him a slow and innocent smile and decide to push him. How much will it take before he snaps? “How are you gonna keep me from running my mouth, Deke?” Lifting my right hand, I run my finger down his shirt. He’s shaking with anger, and his muscles flex. Fuck, his body is as hard as a rock. I bite my bottom lip and lower my hand to cup his limp dick over his jeans. He doesn’t budge and just goes still as a statue like a minute ago when we were in line. “Gonna fuck it?”

  “Jesus!” he hisses. Stepping away from me, he turns away, giving me his back, and grips his dark hair.

  A girl dressed as a slutty Little Bo Peep walks by and eyes him up and down while she holds the hand of a guy dressed as the Grim Reaper. Deke doesn’t even look at her. All of his attention is on me, even if he isn’t looking my way. I’d bet anything he’s thinking about what we did when he thought I was Becky. Would he do it again now that he knows it was me? Absolutely not. And that thought disappoints me.

  I smile at the look of him. So undone. Nothing like the pathetic boy who fell to his knees for my sister. “Afraid I can’t keep a secret …”

  He spins back around, and his hand wraps around my neck, cutting off my words before I can finish. “You’ll keep your goddamn mouth shut ’cause I told you to,” he growls.

  His face is so close to mine that if I puckered my lips, I’d kiss him. I can still smell the cinnamon on his breath from his gum. My thighs tighten, remembering the way he kissed me back in the haunted house. He was rough and unapologetic, and I liked it. He thought I was Becky, and he was angry with her. He meant to hurt her, and that turned me on.

  Hurt me, Deke.

  “Demi!” He barks out my name when I don’t acknowledge his order.

  Slowly, my eyes look over his sharp jaw and parted full lips. He’s so full of rage he’s panting. I think the guy wants to snap me in half. I wonder what it would feel like to have him on top of me, holding me down and fucking me. I’ve heard him fuck my sister, but I thought she was faking it. She’s always been a good actress.

  I could be better.

  “Demi, I swear to fucking God …”

  My eyes finally meet his, and his words cut off. My heart begins to pound as I stare into the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen. But Deke Biggs is more than just a pretty boy. There’s a darkness that covers him in madness and lust.

  I feel it.

  I see it.

  I want it.

  My silence pisses him off more, and his hand tightens around my throat, restricting my airway.

  I don’t fight him. His anger just turns me on, making my already soaked thong even more so. I always thought he was too soft for Becky. The kids in Collins feared the sharks, but that was because of Cole. They were all capable of terrifying things, but Deke and Becky? He was a pussy when it came to her. It was pathetic. Maybe she didn’t challenge him. Not like I can. She held him back when I would set the monster free.

  Chase me.

  Hurt me.

  Fuck me.

  My tongue peeks out between my parted lips, and I run it along my lip. His eyes follow the movement like a moth to a flame. Just as my lungs scream for breath, and tears begin to prick my eyes, he releases me and steps back. I take a deep breath, swallowing roughly.

  “Fuck! You’re underage,” he mutters to himself.

  I laugh at that. “I’m not even a year younger than Becky.” Our mother couldn’t keep her legs closed for long after she had my sister. Less than eleven months after Becky was born, I arrived. A month early.

&nb
sp; “That’s not the point,” he snaps and spins back to me. He points his finger in my face as though I’m an unruly child.

  The thought pisses me off. He thinks he can treat me differently than her, but what makes her so goddamn special and me nothing? I’ve never been close to my sister, but I’ve hated her the last couple of years. Ever since she tried to take something from me, I vowed I was going to make her pay. No matter what I had to do, I was going to break her fucking cold, dead heart. And this is it. The man standing in front of me is what I’ve been looking for. He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m about to make him exactly what I need. The last piece in my own personal game to destroy my sister. So, instead of showing my anger, I give him a soft smile.

  I open my mouth and lean forward. He stands before me; body stiff and eyes wide as I take his pointed finger into my mouth all the way up to the knuckle. The same one that still tastes like me because it was just inside me twenty minutes ago. My eyes stay trained on his, and I watch as his pupils dilate when I wrap my lips around his finger, then run my tongue along the bottom and slowly suck until it pops out. Then I lick my lips. “Wanna kiss me now, Deke?”

  He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t even blink. Blue eyes burn into mine, and there’s a tic in his jaw. My eyes drop down to his jeans and bingo! He’s fucking hard. Because of me.

  “Deke?”

  He jumps at the sound of his name before looking away from me. Cole stands to the right, behind the trailer with us, holding Austin’s new bag of gummies in his hand. “Everything okay?” he asks. His blue eyes narrow in suspicion as he studies us.

  Deke doesn’t answer. Instead, he just storms off, leaving me against the truck without so much as looking back.

  Cole watches him leave, then his eyes come back to mine, void of any emotion. For as long as I’ve known him, unless he’s angry, he looks bored. I always thought he and Deke could pass as brothers, but where Cole is lean, Deke is bulkier. They’re the same height with blue eyes and brown hair, but Deke’s is a little darker. They’ve worn the same cut for as long as I can remember—short on the sides, long on top, and spiked to perfection. It was the GWS way. It’s as if all the guys on the swim team at Collins High said let’s look the same and make the girls beg us for attention. It worked. Fucking bastards.

  I push off the trailer and wink at him as I walk by. “It was good seeing you, Cole.” Then I laugh.

  BECKY

  I look up from my phone just in time to watch Deke storm by us. I spin around to see Demi also walking our way with Cole right behind her carrying Austin’s gummies.

  What is she doing with him?

  “What’s wrong with Deke?” Austin asks Cole with a frown as she looks over her shoulder and watches him stomp away from us, headed toward the parking lot.

  Yes. We’re leaving.

  My sister was wrong earlier when she said I hate anything scary, but I didn’t correct her. She’s just a bitch who likes to piss me off. I came tonight to get on Deke’s good side. He almost kissed me in the kitchen back at Austin’s house, and I know he planned to seduce me.

  Of course, I’m going to lie down and give it to him. Deke and I have this love-hate kind of relationship. Even back when we were fucking and I had a boyfriend, I knew I loved him. I just couldn’t be with him and him alone. It was … complicated. Now things are in damage control. I fucked up, and I’ve got to redeem myself.

  It’s possible, but it’ll just take a lot of work. Possibly a lot of time on my knees. But a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do.

  “We’re leaving,” Cole snaps. He takes Austin’s hand and begins to drag her toward the parking lot.

  I start to follow them.

  “See you later, sis,” Demi calls out.

  I turn and give my sister a tight smile. She stands with her arms crossed over her chest and a fucking smile on her face. What the fuck is she up to? Ignoring her, I toss my hair over my shoulder, then I turn and walk off after them.

  By the time I make it to Deke’s Range Rover, he’s already got it started and shifted in reverse. I jump into the back seat behind him. The tires grip the gravel, and he backs us out of the spot.

  Austin pouts beside me. “I really wanted to do the blackout attraction.”

  “We’ll come back,” Cole promises.

  I’ll make sure to stay home for that one. Putting myself in a situation where I can’t see is not my idea of fun. Especially with Deke.

  Austin shoves some gummies in her mouth and then pulls her cell out of Cole’s hoodie pocket that she’s still wearing. “Have I shown you Lilly’s Halloween consume?” she asks me.

  I refrain from sighing. This is her life now. Lilly and Cole. Cole and Lilly.

  I really like Austin, even if I was forced into a friendship with her. She was fun and always up for a hit or a drink. But now that we’ve moved to Texas, she’s changed. Ever since she almost died, Cole keeps her on a tight leash. As if someone still plans to hurt her. She waits on the guys and Lilly nonstop. She makes them breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She takes Lilly to and from school. I popped by yesterday when I knew the guys were in class to ask if she wanted to go to the mall, and she turned me down. She said she had to finish laundry and then clean the kitchen. All before running Lilly to ballet.

  She has become a fucking mom.

  It’s a total disappointment.

  I honestly don’t know how she ended up with Cole. Well, that’s not the truth. I’ve read her deepest, darkest secrets. She doesn’t know that, but what’s that saying? What you don’t know can’t hurt you? She’s so full of life, and Cole is just a black hole.

  He’s hot. I’ve always had a thing for him but never went there. His loyalty to Deke is unwavering, and I have a fear of being alone with him. The guy has death vibes, and I don’t want to die.

  I thought she could change him, but I think he ended up changing her more. But my question is why? Is it because of money? She came from a poor druggie mother. Her father was wealthy, but she didn’t have access to it until she came to live with him at the beginning of this year. I’m not sure what she plans on doing with her life. Be his fucking housewife? Raise Lilly and whatever kids they plan on having?

  She could be a stay-at-home mom and live whatever kind of life she wants because he has money too. His mom died when he was twelve, and she left him her millions when he turned eighteen. If I was Austin, I’d have jumped on that too. Hell, her engagement ring is around fifty thousand. I know because I googled that shit. It’s some kind of rare ruby. Talk about a reason to lie down and spread your legs. The sad part is her expectations are so low that she would have been fine with a rubber band. She has no idea how much it cost him, and she would never ask him because she couldn’t care less. And he’d never tell her because that’s just Cole.

  “It’s a bee.” She beams, showing me the picture.

  Lilly’s standing in a dressing room with a bumble bee costume on. Her blond curls up in pigtails and her hands on her hips.

  “Adorable.” I nod my head as if I fucking care.

  “Isn’t she?” She tilts the screen toward her and smiles down at it.

  I roll my eyes and look out the window. I was supposed to move in with them but decided against it after Deke told me Cole ratted me out. He disclosed to Deke and Austin that I was the one driving the car the night their three friends died. He also snitched that I was fucking Eli. Well, that was only half the truth. I hadn’t quite made it that far yet.

  That fucker.

  He only ever does shit in his best interest. After Deke told me he had enough information to bury me, I decided against living under the same roof as a killer. I chose to move in with my mother and stepdad. And of course, Deke moved in with them instead.

  It’s not awkward when it’s just Austin and me, but whenever Cole is home, I tense, waiting for him to get me alone and tell me he’s going to make me pay for the lie I told him. When I lied that I was pregnant.

  Junior year

  Cole
’s car is upside down. Smoke makes it hard to see anything. My entire body aches, and I feel dizzy.

  “Eli?” Cole coughs. “Mad … dox?”

  Pain slices through my stomach, and I cry out.

  “You okay?” he asks, coughing again.

  We’re both hanging upside down—our seat belts keeping us in place. The smoke has cleared, and I can see that the entire windshield is gone. I feel blood running from my nose. “I don’t know … what happened,” I cry. One minute, I was driving, then the next, the car was flipping.

  “We gotta get out of the car,” he says. “Eli? Landen?” he screams, making me flinch.

  I sob. What did I do? I’ve been drinking, but I don’t feel drunk. Had I had too much? I thought I could drive.

  I hear Cole feeling around, then he places his hand on the ceiling and releases his seat belt. He falls on his face. “FFFUUCCCKKK!” he growls. He gets out of his broken passenger side window and stumbles over to my side. He gets down on his knees and looks at me through where my window once was. “Cover your face.” He stands, kicking what’s left of the big pieces off the edge. “I’m gonna have to undo your seat belt. Put your hands on the ceiling.”

  I continue to sob as he gets me out. I fall to my knees and grab my stomach. My crop top is ripped, and I’m bleeding. My hands shake.

  “Eli? Maddox? Landen?” He calls out, but no one answers. “I gotta call 911.” He pats down his pockets. “Fuck!” he growls when he can’t find his phone.

  I continue to sob, and he drops to his knees beside me. “Are you okay? What hurts?”

  I look up at him. “I … I …” I don’t know what to say. I can’t get caught with them. Not like this. My father will kill me, and my mother will make me move to Texas to live with her. And I refuse to give up my life here.

  “What is it?” he asks.

  Cole is a fucking shark. A twisted soul. But I’ve never seen his blue eyes filled with so much concern. The guys have to be dead. They weren’t in the car with us, and they’re not answering when he calls out to them. And I can’t go down for that. I can’t go to jail.