Dare Me: The Pierce Boys of Georgia, Book One

by Brittany Tarkington

  “Nah, I wanna celebrate my girl tonight. Let me take you out to eat?”

  I caught my bottom lip between my teeth. He was cute when he asked me on a date. Just another thing that had me swooning like a preteen girl over a boy band.

  “Okay,” I replied with a smile.

  “Let me change, and we’ll head out.”

  He was already untangling from me and walking away.

  “But what if I want you to wear that?”

  He chuckled, turning on his heels. “You’d be okay with me being eye fucked by other chicks all night?”

  I popped my shoulder up in a shrug. “As long as I’m the only one going home with you, I don’t care.”

  He stalked toward me. I gulped, seeing the seriousness clouding his features. “I give a fuck if a guy looks at you, so no, I wouldn’t go out like this, because if you did, and some unlucky bastard looked at you too long, I wouldn’t give a fuck if I was going home with you or not, he’d know not to look at what’s mine again.”

  I sucked in a breath.

  Jesus Christ.

  Every word I thought I knew left my brain.

  “Say something,” he demanded.

  Ha! “You’re intense sometimes. I don’t know if you’re joking or not.”

  It should be a sin to look that angelic when you’re smirking like the devil. “Wanna find out?”

  I shook my head. “Not tonight.”

  A laugh escaped him. “Another night.” He pointed to the couch in the living room. “I’ll be down in a minute. If you come upstairs, we won’t be leaving tonight.”

  I grabbed my cheeks, hoping they weren’t on fire. I took a seat on the edge of the couch, hoping to steady myself before he came back.

  I think he said shit like that on purpose sometimes, just to see how I would react.

  Or maybe he’s trying to distract both of us.

  My acceptance letter. The crickets on his end. My dad.

  It’s all hanging over us like a dark cloud.

  I didn’t have a lot of time to overthink and send myself into a panic attack because he was down and dressed as fast as he left.

  How could someone throw on jeans and a plain black shirt and still look good? It was lost on me.

  I looked down at the clothes I wore to school and frowned.

  His fingers pulled my chin up to face him. “Don’t make that face. No matter what you’re wearing, you’re the most beautiful girl in every room.”

  Balling my fists in his shirt, I closed the space between us. When my lips fused to his, he let out a chuckle.

  “You’re killing me, woman. Let me take you out to eat before I fuck you.”

  I matched his grin. “If you want out of the house so bad, you’d stop saying stuff like that.”

  I guess that was the wrong thing to say because I was in the air before the sentence left my mouth. Roman threw me over his shoulders, slapping my ass before walking from the house.

  “ROMAN! PUT ME DOWN!” I was half screaming, half laughing.

  The passenger door opened, and he put me down in the Range Rover, before I could protest, he slammed the door and darted to the driver’s side.

  “Asshole,” I chuckled.

  He shrugged. “Nah, never to you. Just everyone else.”

  Everything inside me told me that shouldn’t give me the warm and fuzzy feels, but when did I start listening to logic?

  Fuck it. I loved knowing I slid through those ice-cold walls of his. I was his exception. He was mine. Everyone else could kindly fuck off.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Just this new pizza place in town. Is that okay?” He glanced in my direction before looking back at the road.

  “Pizza’s always good.”

  He slid his hand in my lap, settling it on my knee. A simple touch from him sent heat to my core. With the right person, is it always like this? Or will the burning desire fade? I looked in his direction, and as if he sensed me staring, he smirked.

  Yeah. No. That need for him isn’t going anywhere.

  Two blocks from his house, he turned into a crowded parking lot. My heart sped up, anxiety threatening to bubble up, but the storm was calmed by a simple squeeze of my knee.

  “A family friend owns this place. He’ll get us a quiet booth,” he assured me.

  “Uhh, am I that bad?”

  He popped a shoulder up as he shoved this gear stick in park. “Maybe I just wanna be alone with you.”

  “Let’s go with that,” I replied.

  I hopped from the passenger side, and he met me at the back of the car, linking our fingers together before we walked to the door.

  A few kids our age was exiting the building. One threw a nod at Roman, but he didn’t return it. The difference between most our age, and us, baffled me. Normal teenagers were getting ready for prom, but Roman and I? We were trying to move past a family feud, a suicide, and his career criminal brother’s silence looming over us. Totally different than them.

  Roman held the door open for me and I passed through the packed foyer, stopping at the stand. A petite girl, with short black hair looked up at me, bored.

  “How many?”

  “Just-” But I was cut off.

  “Anthony has a table for Roman Pierce.”

  Now her eyes were fixed on my man. Wide and wild, her gaze was lit with desire. I felt that angry flaming licking up my chest and threatening to explode out of my mouth if she didn’t stop looking at him like that.

  Okay. I got the jealousy thing now.

  I looked at him and he just smirked.

  Touché, Roman. Touché.

  He slid his arms around my shoulders, leaning down to plant a kiss on the side of my cheek. The immaturity shouldn’t make me smile, but it did.

  Her eyes snapped down as she grabbed two menus and motioned for us to follow her. When we left the busy foyer, we passed through a bar, and then landed in a room filled with tables and booths. But they were all empty.

  The not so friendly hostess placed our menus at the back booth and disappeared. I slid in, looking around the empty room.

  “Did you do this?”

  He just shrugged. “Only thing I said was I wanted to bring my girl in.”

  When he says things like that, the internal battle starts. I used to hate cheesy couples before I became close with Roman. But after him? I melt.

  Roman slid in next to me, smiling, I lifted my menu. I needed to, at the very least, pick food out before he distracted me.

  But something else caught my eye.

  Or someone. Someone’s. Plural.

  My face paled and I wanted to sink into the booth. My childhood best friend hooked her leg against my ex-boyfriend. He pushed her into the wall and their faces disappeared into each other’s.

  Roman stilled and followed my line of sight. He let out a curse before pulling my face to his.

  Caring eyes, gentle hands, gorgeous face. That’s all I need. Not a couple of backstabbing friends from my old life.

  Then why did it hurt so bad?

  “Let’s get out of here, okay?”

  I shook my head. “They deserve to be happy, I am. It was just a shock, that’s all.”

  His thumb stroked my cheek. “Emily and Aiden stabbed you in the back. Over and over when you needed them most. This is them giving you the middle finger. They’re fucking dicks, and if I knew you’d be okay with it, I’d go out there and kick his fucking ass.”

  “No, don’t” I croaked out a protest.

  “I’m not. I wouldn’t do that to you right now.”

  “Thank you.” A sigh left me.

  “I just want you to know, everything you’re feeling is justified. Don’t think you’re pissing me off because you’re hurt your ex is with your best friend. I’d be more concerned if you weren’t upset.”

  God.

  His voice was like a breeze on a hot day.

  Rain in the deser
t.

  Relief flooded me. My feelings are justified. Because this beautiful boy in front of me said so. I dropped my head on his shoulder.

  “I wanna get out of here. This whole week is shit,” I said.

  He didn’t say another word. He just listened. I was being carried out through a back way. He didn’t stop cradling me until he stopped at the Ranger Rover. I slid in the passenger seat and buried my face in my hands.

  I heard his door open and then the car start, but I didn’t look up. I just let all the sobs rack through my body,

  I didn’t think I could hurt any worse this week, but every breathing second had proved to me it was possible.

  My dad.

  Emily.

  Aiden.

  My dad saw my mother every day. He knew what he was leaving me with. Did he even have the decency to leave a note? I want to know why I deserved this shit!

  At seventeen years old, why the hell did he think I could raise my mother? I could deal with a cheating rumor. What I couldn’t deal with is my dad, the guy who always had my back, leaving me to deal with the woman who drained the life out of both of us.

  And when I had to leave because I couldn’t work to pay for a household, go to high school, and take care of a mother who wouldn’t get out of bed, my best friend and boyfriend since elementary didn’t have the decency to check on me.

  Grandma, I don’t even want to start on dissecting her, but if she cared even a little about me, she would’ve pulled me from that home when I was a baby.

  No one cared. Not really.

  I slipped through the cracks.

  I was pitied.

  But no one gave a fuck.

  Not until Roman.

  When we got back to his house my sobs had stopped. I didn’t feel anything anymore. Just numb.

  Raquel had gone through the motions all week. School and my bed. Like a robot programmed to conform, but not to feel. And it’s scaring the shit out of me. If I thought her family had her best interest in mind, I’d ask them what the hell to do.

  But I’m on my own.

  Just me trying to pull her out of the dark void she’s slipped back into. The girl I knew before she opened up to me. The wall slid back up, and I’m trying desperately to kick it down.

  I saw her watching the other students when we left school today. The Friday before prom. It’s electric if you’re into that kind of thing. And part of me thinks Raquel wishes that was her, going into a frenzy of a dress and date.

  I tried to imagine it; me in a suit, her in a dress, smiling for pictures, dancing around people we both hate. Drinking spiked punch.

  That’s just not us.

  But neither is this shit.

  She’s on my bed, knees to her chest with her free arm flipping through channels on my flat screen. Like every other day this week, she tore off her clothes and put on a ratty ass tee and a pair of leggings as soon as she got to my room.

  And then she doesn’t leave the bed.

  A sigh left me, followed by my hand running down my face.

  Fuck, she looks so broken.

  “Let’s go out to eat tonight?”

  Her eyes slid over to mine. Dead and defeated. “I’m not hungry.”

  “You can’t keep doing this.” I folded my arms over my chest. I hated to be a dick, but I have to fix her.

  “I’ll be okay. Just give me a few more days?” Her eyes pleaded with me.

  “It’s not fair when you look at me like that,” I said, forcing a grin.

  She ducked her head down. “Sorry.”

  I crossed the room in a flash. Kneeling beside her, I took her hand in mine. “Stop apologizing to me. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

  She rested her head on her knees, meeting my gaze. “I’m the reason you’re stuck in your room every day.”

  I tucked a lock of hair back, I wanted to see her face, no matter how much it haunted me.

  “Lucky for you, I hate leaving my house anyway.”

  That earned me a small grin. I’d take it.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket. Her head lifted, curiosity swimming in those blue eyes. When I saw the screen, I cursed. I flashed it to Raquel. Her sight danced between me and the phone.

  “Don’t answer it!”

  My brows bumped together, but I slid my thumb across the screen and hit ‘speaker.’ I couldn’t not speak to him. Not after what I’d pulled at his apartment.

  “Rhett.”

  “Baby brother,” sarcasm dripped through my phone. I fought an eye roll.

  “What do you want?”

  A laugh boomed from him. “Shit, you must still be pissed at me.”

  “Yeah, dick, I spent two days telling your father that you’re a liar. Thank fuck he hates you because he bought it and left.”

  I knew that’d piss him off.

  He would never admit it out loud, but my parent’s disdain for him struck a nerve when it was thrown in his face.

  “I need you to pick something up for me. BMW on 4th.”

  It was my turn to laugh this time. “You must be fucking high.”

  Raquel untangled her body and sat up straight, dangling her legs off the side of my bed. What is it? I mouthed. She popped her bottom lip between her teeth, and her eyes lit with nerves.

  But she didn’t answer.

  “One last time. Promise. I’m replacing your worthless ass.”

  Another eye roll from me. “Where’s Mark?”

  “He’s out this week.”

  Don’t ask, don’t tell.

  “Call someone else? I’m out.”

  “Last time, Roman. Don’t fuck this up or I won’t let you out.”

  I hit end and threw my phone on the bed.

  “I have to do it.”

  Her head jerked back as if I’d physically slapped her.

  And then she was still.

  I didn’t think she’d heard me, but judging by the look on her face, she did.

  My hands rested on her thighs. I hadn’t seen her this bothered about something in a week. If anything, I was betting she would barely hear me, and I’d be out the door and no time.

  But this wasn’t how it was going to go at all.

  “Babe, I don’t trust him. Not after what he pulled. And if I do this for him, I’m out. I can’t be stuck under his thumb anymore.”

  She chewed her lip, thinking.

  She sucked in a breath.

  Her eyes were back on me, pinning me in place.

  “Then we get him back. But not like this.”

  That’s not a good idea,” Sighing, “He’s a smart asshole. If I do this, I’ll be done.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t ask me to be okay with this.”

  “I’m not. You’re staying here.”

  I circled my hands around her waist, pulling closer to her.

  “I’m not staying back.”

  I shook my head. “Anything else, I’d do it for you. But not this; I can’t put you at risk.”

  She vaulted off the bed. Slipping the old tee off, she pulled on the one she wore to school today.

  “You coming? Or am I doing this alone?”

  “Raquel, what if this is a setup?”

  She popped her shoulder up in a shrug. “It’s either so safe that I can come or it’s too dangerous for you to go. You and I?” She motioned between the two of us. “We’ll be gone in like a month. Your dad can handle him. He’s not our problem anymore”

  I shoved my fists in my jeans, letting out a curse. “I can’t talk you out of this?”

  She shook her head. “I go where you go.”

  After dressing in black and finding a black hoodie that didn’t swallow Raquel whole, we were out the door.

  I fucking hate this.

  I’m just praying to anyone who might be spying on my thoughts, please, for the love of fuck, let this car be gone. I need Rhett to have already picked it up, or I’m fucked.

 
My head will be focused on Raquel. Not whatever the hell I need to do to pull this off fast and get the hell away from Rhett.

  Rhett had another car stored in our garage. And because I have a death threat, I tore the cover off the Mercedes and slid in the driver’s seat. Raquel’s energy was buzzing through the air. If this wasn’t so fucked, I’d be happy that she was herself again.

  But it wasn’t lost on me that she was only energetic because I was pulling her into some more illegal shit again.

  It shouldn’t be like this.

  I ran a hand down my face and started the car.

  “This is the last time, Raquel. It has to be the last time.”

  “It will be.”

  I swung the car out on my quiet street, hooking a fast right. The sun dipped out of Georgia a couple hours ago. In my uppity neighborhood, that translated to no one being on the street. They were either two bottles of wine deep, balls deep in their secretary, or passed out on some prescription pills.

  That’s why we got away with so much shit at night around here. No one knows. And no one gives a damn.

  Because the universe fucking hates me, there sat a black BMW coupe in front of some shady ass auto place outside of town Rhett cuts deals with.

  Don’t ask. Don’t tell. He told me once when I asked about the place.

  I swung inside the lot, parking next to the car.

  “Wait here,” I barked out as I jumped out of the car. I pulled the air pump from my jacket pocket and slid it between the door and weather seal. Like I’d done hundreds of times. I pumped it up and slapped the window. Raquel jumped but rolled it down.

  “Hand me the rod between the seat in the console.”

  Searching between the seats, her face lit up. She passed it to me, I caught it and shoved it down until I heard the door unlock. When it opened, the alarm shouted at me.

  “Get in now!” I barked at Raquel.

  She fled the Mercedes and headed for the BMW. I popped the hood, jogged over to open it, and cut the red wire under. I slammed it shut and threw myself into the driver’s seat.

  I slapped it into reverse and sped out of that damn lot before anyone could see me.

  “What are you doing with the other car?”

  I checked the rearview mirror. “Someone will get it.”