Dare Game

by Lexi Archer

  I couldn't believe we were doing this. I couldn't believe we were actually resurrecting that stupid old game, and now I was doing it with my fiancé as well as with Kylie!

  I looked to my friend and cocked an eyebrow. "Kylie? What did you have in mind?"

  She smiled and then looked over my shoulder. Over to the table where Eric was still holding court and doing a good job of it from the way everyone was smiling and laughing.

  I felt another chill run through me as she looked over to him. A chill that was caused in equal parts by arousal and anticipation. I suddenly wondered whether or not she was going to go straight into the deep end with this game.

  "I dare you to go over to Eric and figure out a way to get him alone back behind the bowling alley."

  I squeezed my eyes shut. I took a deep breath and let it out. And then I opened them and smiled. I knew exactly what taking someone "back behind the bowling alley" meant. Everyone around here did. Everyone, that is, except for my husband to be. He was looking just a little confused, but I'm sure Kylie would explain everything to him in good time.

  If Kylie thought she was going to get me to give up by going to an extreme this early then she had another thing coming. No, I wasn't going to lose on the first dare! Besides, all she said was back behind the bowling alley. She hadn't been explicit. I could just get him back there, and that would be that.

  Yeah, I was going to keep it sweet and innocent. I was going to follow the letter of what she told me to do without exactly getting into the spirit. I could do that and still feel good about myself. I could do that and not jump off the deep end with the first dare of the night. I could keep it under control. I wouldn't lose it like I had five years ago.

  I could almost believe that.

  "You're on Kylie," I said.

  16

  Eric

  I nudged Jake in an attempt to get him to start enjoying the conversation, but he sat there with his arms crossed over his chest with something that was almost, but not quite, a scowl plastered across his face. I sighed. I looked around to the rest of the table. To the smiling faces who were laughing right along with me.

  "So what happened then?" Dave asked. Dave wasn’t a favorite of Jake's. Not because of anything Dave had done to Jake in the past so much as the fact that through most of middle school and all of high school Dave kept Jessica Randall off the market. Jessica Randall who'd been the object of Jake's affection for at least that long. It was a sentiment I could sympathize with.

  Yet at the same time it was something Jake needed to get over. He hadn't ever made a move. He'd just worshiped from afar. The similarities to my own situation were striking, except he was sitting there with a sour face and I was enjoying myself.

  It probably didn't help that Dave and Jessica ended up getting married, or that Jessica looked as gorgeous today as she had back then. It also probably didn't help that she was ignoring Jake now just as sure as she’d ignored him back in the day, but now that I was looking at this situation from my new perspective I could see that she was ignoring him because he was sitting there with a scowl on his face not talking to anyone and not because of some conspiracy for the "popular" people to leave us out.

  Basically, he was lying in the bed he'd made for himself.

  I'd already gained a whole new perspective on the bed I'd made for myself then and now, but seeing Jake's example here was providing a stark contrast to the attitude I'd decided to take when I decided to come out here.

  The past was in the past. It's not like I could change that now. All I could do was make the most of the present.

  Well, mostly. I glanced over to the table where Sarah's fiancé was sitting. It looked like Kylie and Sarah were both back from wherever they'd disappeared to and chatting with him. I turned away.

  The past might be the past, but some memories were still too painful.

  I turned back to Dave and grinned. "So then the lady tells us she thought a Ziploc bag would be just as good as a condom!"

  I slapped the table and laughed, and everyone around the table joined in. A couple of the girls wrinkled their noses, but they were laughing as well. It was one of those stories that was a little gross while also being really fucking funny. It didn't hurt that everybody had been drinking so the table was well lubricated, socially speaking.

  Everybody except for Jake, that is.

  I looked back over to Sarah's. It was an instinct with me tonight, no matter how much I probably shouldn't be looking over there and the pining over her. I tried to think about the circumstances under which we'd parted, the things she'd said, but it was harder for me to think of that now that I had her in front of me again. Now that I could look over and drink in her beauty.

  Only I blinked this time. Her beauty was walking straight towards me. And her eyes were fixed on me. Those eyes looked fucking seductive. That was the sexiest pair of "fuck me" eyes I'd ever seen in my life, and I'd seen plenty of "fuck me" eyes in recent years.

  There was something about seeing a look like that coming from Sarah that made it all the more delicious. I sat back, suddenly intrigued, and wondered if maybe she was going towards a table on the other side of the room or something.

  Only sure enough she came to a stop right in front of me. She looked down with an uncertain smile, then glanced over her shoulder to where Kylie and the fiancé were sitting. Her fiancé had an unreadable expression on his face, but Kylie looked like she was trying her best not to grin. Weird.

  "Can I help you?" I asked.

  I tried to keep the heat out of my voice. Hell, I tried to keep some of the coolness I was feeling out of my voice. To say that I was a confusing jumble of emotions when it came to anything that had to do with Sarah would be the understatement of the century. The understatement of the millennium. Only she was still smiling down at me, showing none of the uncertainty that I was feeling with her standing so close to me.

  It wasn't fair that she could stand there looking so goddamn beautiful and knock down all the barriers I'd erected over the years to keep thoughts of her out. It was unfair that just seeing her name on a list of people potentially coming to the reunion was enough to make me drive a couple of hours so I could attend on the off chance I might get to see her again.

  "I was wondering if we could maybe talk?" she asked.

  I gestured to the table. "I think we could fit a seat in here if everybody moved over a little."

  Everyone else at the table went silent the moment she came over. I'm sure most of them saw us dancing together, and after this much time they all surely knew about the special circumstances that made my encounters with Sarah an emotional mixed bag this evening. But I didn't give a fuck. Let them think what they wanted.

  Everyone started scooting over to make room for her, but apparently that wasn't what she was looking for. She held up a hand to stop them and that the scraping of metal chairs along an ancient tile floor stopped.

  "Actually I was hoping we could find someplace to talk alone?"

  I immediately suspected a trap. I glanced over to the table where Kylie was still sitting with Sarah's fiancé, and both of them were avoiding looking at this table so hard that something was definitely going on. I just didn't know what that something was.

  And I was intrigued. I was curious what was going on here. What could she possibly want to talk to me about after what happened?

  Still, I was more curious than I was pissed off.

  "I guess I've got time if you do," I said.

  She smiled and held out a hand. I blinked and looked at that offered hand. Sure we'd just had that dance, that mind blowing dance that’d forcibly yanked me back into a past that I cherished. A past that I'd rather forget. And as I reached out and took her hand electricity flowed between us.

  I thought she could feel it too from the way she jumped at that touch, but maybe that was just wishful thinking. Still, her mouth opened slightly and I thought I even heard a quiet gasp.

  Everyone else at the table was staring in comple
te silence. I could imagine what was running through their minds. And they could all go fuck themselves if they thought this was just another thing to gossip about, which it no doubt was for most of them.

  Small town life. What can I say? There was a reason I got the hell out of here and didn't look back.

  And so I found myself pulled away from the table. At first I thought maybe we were going to head to a quiet corner where we could chat, but no. We went straight out the door and then she was leading me out of the bowling alley and around the front. It took a moment for me to realize exactly what was going on here.

  "Wait a minute Sarah," I said. "Are we going where I think we're going?"

  Her voice was strangely neutral as the next words escaped her mouth. "What if we are? Would that be so bad?"

  "I don't know," I said. "Would that be so bad? You're the one who would be able to tell me. You’re the one who brought your fiance here.”

  She winced at the mention of her fiance and stopped. Turned and faced me. "Look, would it help anything if I told you I was sorry about what happened? I was young and stupid. I didn't know what I wanted and then…"

  "Well that must've been nice for you," I said, some heat coming to my voice even though I didn't want to get mad at her. No, if she was taking me to the back of the bowling alley then there was a vindictive part of me that wanted to shut up, go along with her, and enjoy whatever I could take from her.

  Only there was a larger part of me that couldn't do that. That refused to do that. That part of me still had feelings for her, and I wasn’t going to hurt her even if I wanted nothing more than to hurt her so good. To hurt her the way she’d hurt me.

  "I always knew what I wanted, and you took that and tore it away from me in the nastiest most humiliating way possible!"

  I was trying to keep my voice down, but there was no mistaking the heat there. She flinched away from my words as though I'd actually reached out and smacked her. Seeing her flinch away from me like that was almost enough to make me feel bad about doing that to her. Almost, but not quite.

  "Look, I was afraid, okay? I was doing things I'd never done before, and it scared me…"

  I rolled my eyes. "Being with me scared you? That's a great way to make me feel better about what we did."

  And then to my surprise she grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me close. My mouth was moving down and then our lips were pressing together and once more I was transported to a delicious past that I'd spent the past five years trying my best to forget. Only it all came rushing back to me as her lips pressed against mine. The taste of her, the smell of her, the feel of her body pressing against my own, so soft and yet so tight and firm at the same time, overwhelmed me.

  I knew this was even more of a mistake now than it’d been back then, but my brain was on autopilot, my cock took over with a roar of satisfaction, and I didn't give a fuck. All I cared about was kissing her. Was wrapping my arms around this beautiful goddess whose fiancé was just a few feet away from us on the other side of the wall in the bowling alley event room.

  She pulled away from the kiss, her eyes closed and her face looking so fucking beautiful, and then she looked up at me and smiled. "Does that tell you I'm sincere about my apology?"

  I shook my head, still confused. Still unsure as to exactly what the hell was going on here.

  "Maybe."

  To be perfectly honest I wasn't sure what the hell to think. I thought back to that night five years ago I'd run over in my head so many times. How I should’ve gone ahead and told everyone exactly what happened. How I should’ve fought harder to hold onto her after that mind blowing sex. How I shouldn't have even given her the consideration of that fucked up argument with my cock still buried inside her.

  Yeah, I'd been running over that night over and over again, and the only thing that was still the same today was the way my cock was reacting to her. The way it was reacting to feeling her against me. To feeling that kiss again, the taste of her, the feel of her body, after so many years.

  And if anything the idea that she was spoken for, that I was stealing her away from that dude, made it even hotter. It was as though I was somehow claiming her for my own, even if it was temporarily.

  I smiled. "Fine, maybe we can go back behind the bowling alley and have some fun."

  17

  Eric

  Sarah smiled and she took me by the hand once more. We walked back into an area that wasn't very familiar to me, though anybody who lived in this town could’ve described it. My experience with the place was more by reputation than anything else.

  There was a double-tiered deck off the back of the bowling alley that hadn't been used in years. The lower level was hidden from the bowling alley proper unless you were out on that unused top level, though anybody who went out there was taking their lives into their hands since the whole thing had been closed and abandoned for a reason.

  The lower deck provided a perfect place for people to get together and have a little bit of fun though. So people who didn't have any privacy at home, like horny teenagers, risked life and limb for a little alone time.

  At least that was how it was back when we were kids. For all I knew in the intervening five years the whole thing could’ve caught fire and collapsed.

  I was relieved when we rounded the corner and I saw the old double deck still there, and still in one piece. At least I assumed it was still in one piece. Again, I'd never actually been back here so it was hard to tell if it was any different from how it’d been when we were kids.

  "Wow," Sarah said. "Just like I remember it."

  Well then. I suppose that answered that question. Something told me Sarah had quite a bit of experience coming back here and having a little bit of fun with whatever guy she was dating at the time, even if it had turned out that I ended up being the first guy to cross the finish line, so to speak.

  "So," I said.

  "So…"

  I looked at Sarah faintly illuminated by the dim lighting from a security light hanging off the back of the bowling alley. Even in that dim lighting she was radiant. She was still the most gorgeous woman I'd ever known. And it killed me to think of her running off to college and getting with that guy.

  I thought about all the things he'd no doubt done with her. I'd gotten there first, but I'm sure there were a hell of a lot of other firsts he'd gotten to as well.

  More importantly, he was the one who'd put a ring on her finger. He was the one who was going to have her for the rest of their lives. It killed me to think of it even as it filled me with a white-hot jealousy that genuinely surprised me considering how much time I'd spent hating on Sarah Burke over the past five years.

  It seemed that seeing her in person was enough to make lust win out temporarily.

  I took in the rickety old deck. It was easy to see why the owner decided it'd be easier to shut the thing down and forget about it than to repair it. I was surprised it hadn't been torn down for liability reasons, but then again that wasn't how people thought around here.

  "You know I never actually came back here when we were in school?"

  Sarah looked up at me and her hand moved out and interlaced with my fingers. She gave it a squeeze. "That's a damn shame, especially considering…"

  I cocked an eyebrow at her, though I'm sure the expression was lost since I wasn't facing that dim security lighting. "Considering what?"

  She looked down and her next words came out barely above a whisper. "Considering how good you are…"

  This time I did laugh. "Oh Sarah," I said. "I don't know what happened five years ago that made fate smile down on me like that and had you climbing into that lounge chair with me, but I certainly wasn't anything approaching good back then. Trust me, I would know from experiences since."

  A fire flashed in her eyes. I realized maybe it wasn't the best idea to talk about girls I'd been with since that fateful night, but the words were already out. Not to mention I liked seeing her jealous of other girls who got with me. If that
was the reaction I was getting then maybe I’d continue with the slightly dickish routine.

  "Girls since then?" she asked, doing that thing where she was obviously trying not to act all that interested even though she was obviously very interested.

  I shrugged. "What? Did you think I was going to spend all of my college years pining after you or something? Thinking about the one who got away? Especially after…"

  She sighed. "No, I suppose not."

  Of course the thing I had no intention of telling her was I had been pining after her these past five years as much as I'd been despising her. I thought about her daily, sometimes good and most of the time bad, and compared every girl I'd been with since to her.

  I also thought of that night quite a bit when I was dipping into the old spank bank.

  No point in letting her in on any of that though. No, for the moment I had the upper hand, and I didn't want to go ruining that.

  "So how many other women were there?" she asked.

  I shrugged. It felt like I was bragging, but at the same time it was just the plain truth. And I had to admit I enjoyed the idea of twisting the knife just a little. She seemed to be genuinely annoyed that my number was anything larger than her and her alone, for all that she’d come here engaged, and considering the way she'd shattered my world five years ago I thought giving her a little bit of turnabout was only fair play.

  "Honestly?" I said. "I lost track. I couldn't give you a number even if I sat and thought about it."

  "Really," she said. Her voice was flat.

  Oh yes, she wasn't pleased. And it took every bit of my control not to smile. Not to grin at the way she was obviously annoyed by the cavalier way I talked about the women I'd been with.

  No, there wasn't a chance in hell I was going to reveal to her that I'd compared all of those women to. That would ruin the moment, and this was a moment five years in the making that was far too delicious to go ruining.