Dare

by Rowena

  She is beautiful and shy, perceptive yet naive.

  And brave.

  How can you take on such a career without being brave? And have the balls to start your own charity?

  And let’s not forget she dared go up against me, despite our sour past…

  I take a deep breath, quieting my thoughts as I watch her get ready to accept the award.

  She thanks the usual suspects—her mom, her management, the fans, blah blah blah. She even sarcastically thanks the media for having a field day with ‘rumors’ and creating more buzz for her. Then she expresses gratefulness for the ability to channel her emotions, make lemons of lemonade.

  And then she surprises the hell out of me—and most people watching, I assume—by singing two slow-tempo bars of a mournful song I don’t recognize, but that one sentence from it will probably live in my head forever.

  Her pained angelic voice shatters my heart and leaves me reeling.

  Finished, she raises the award in the air, smiles wide and says thank you again while the organ in my chest slowly puts itself back together.

  I’m a goner for that girl, and I’m gonna get her back by any means necessary.

  I can’t wait to plot with Angel tomorrow.

  11

  Kiara

  Monday

  “It was so haunting,” Angel says. “So beautifully emotional and haunting; I’ve never heard you sing like that before, Kiara! Everyone’s been talking about it.”

  “It just came out of me,” I say. “I felt inspired.”

  “I bet.” She pauses a moment. “So how’ve you been?”

  I sigh deeply, hearing the rest of her question perfectly.

  …Since the media frenzy? Since Liam?

  “Okay,” I reply. “The weird thing is I can handle the media—the speculation, the snide comments. But…” I let out another breath. “I’m having a hard time with his absence,” I admit. “I know he’s a jerk—worse than that even—but…”

  “You’re absolutely sure he’s the one behind the whole thing?”

  I shift a little in discomfort.

  “Not really. But how can I ever be sure about anything when it comes to him?”

  “Do you love him?”

  “Wait, why would you ask that? I dated the guy for, like, a week…”

  “But you fell in love with him once. And you’ve known him for how long?”

  “But it’s not as if we’ve been in contact all this time. I knew him at some point some time ago. He’s a different person now.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “You loved him back then—felt so strongly for him, in fact, that you wanted to lose your virginity to him. You met the man he became—the same yet different—and went ahead gave him the goodies still…”

  “He happens to be pretty hot; I couldn’t help myself.”

  She chuckles. “I know that’s not all it is. I think you see glimpses of the guy you once knew and loved in this older version of him, and you gave yourself time to fall in love with new aspects of the grownup version with the arrangement you agreed to. You’re totally into him, Kiara, no matter what you think he’s done to you.”

  “What is this? Why do you sound like some champion for him all of a sudden?”

  “I’m just saying I heard a different story—that a third party watching you guys made assumptions and happened to be right. There’s a pretty good chance it might not have been Liam who leaked the news—you have a lot more eyes on you these days, don’t forget that.”

  “And so what? He’s still a jerk.”

  “But would it make a difference? If it wasn’t Liam who told your business, would that change how you feel about him?”

  I stop and think for a moment.

  “Maybe,” I say.

  “Okay, cool,” she says oddly, making me wonder if she’s talking to me or responding to someone around her.

  “Listen, I have to go,” she says, “but I need you to do something for me. Check out my latest video and tell me what you think. I’m uploading it this evening…”

  “This evening? Don’t you usually post in the a.m.?”

  “This is an experiment, which is part of the reason I need your feedback. Will you have time? It’s somewhat time-sensitive.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Great. I’ll send you the link when it’s ready.”

  When I get a text from Angel, I start wondering what the heck she needs my input on again.

  Shouldn’t she have gotten it before posting the video?

  Then again, she sent me a link, and maybe only those with the link can see it.

  I learned that YouYube allows you to restrict the audience if you want when I was maintaining my own channel of song covers.

  I click the link.

  The video freeze-frame is of a section of Angel’s living room, so I guess this isn’t one of her cooking videos.

  It’s not the usual place for her makeup tutorials either, so it’s not about that.

  I hit play, and after a few seconds, Liam comes into frame.

  “What the…?”

  I’m trapped between fascination and wanting to close the page, but fascination is stronger in the end.

  I had missed his handsome face so much and now here it is!

  At Angel’s?

  “I figured this was the best way to reach you,” he begins. “I don’t blame you for not taking my calls, for not trusting my side of the story since I’m guilty of betraying your trust in the past, but I need you to know I’m innocent in this case—as much as I can be,” he says with a bit of a smirk.

  He looks so devilishly cute, my heart lurches, despite myself.

  “I’m not gonna detail anything in this way; I’m just here to let you know how I feel about you.” He lets out a breath. “I’m in love with you, Kiara, and I’m happy to risk public embarrassment and possible rejection to get this message to you. I made a knuckle-headed decision years ago that I paid for emotionally, even back then, and it seems I’m still paying for it now.

  “But I need you to know that I miss you. Dearly. Hell, I’ve missed you the past seven years. No matter what I did or accomplished, there was always the sense of something of importance absent. Someone of importance. I never figured out how to fill the hole you left behind until I ran into you again and realized you’re the only one who can fill it, the only thing left to make my life complete. All I want to do is show you how much I adore you and be there for you. Share my life with you. No matter what, you’re still one of the best friends I ever had, but I want you to be my woman. Will you put me out of my misery and give me another shot?”

  And there, the video ends, leaving me stunned.

  I stare at the screen for a few seconds, snapping out of my trance only when some other video begins to auto-play.

  I grab my phone and dial Angel.

  “What did you think?” she answers cheerfully.

  “When did this happen?”

  “We recorded it earlier today. Took a few takes. Poor guy had a hard time figuring out exactly what to say. He mainly just wanted to communicate to you how he felt about you, and once I got him to focus on that, the words came easily. What you saw was the unedited third attempt.”

  “Is that video public?”

  “He wants it to be. Do you mind?”

  “I don’t but…”

  “Good, ‘cause it’s public now.”

  “Shit.”

  This is yet another thing that could bite me in the ass and become a nuisance—the potential reach of the video is enormous with Angel’s popularity.

  I should tell her to take it down, but part of me loves the idea of Liam declaring his love for me publicly.

  “So what are you going to do?” Angel asks. “About Liam?”

  I rub my forehead. “I don’t know yet.”

  “He said he’ll give you time, but you won’t get to ignore him.”

  I can only imagine what he means by tha
t.

  He’ll probably show up at my doorstep at some point, start sending flowers. Organize singing telegrams.

  “I still can’t believe he did that,” I say quietly, my mind returning to the video.

  “Well, you blocked him, didn’t you? And although he could have tracked you down in a number of other ways, he wanted to do a little something extra. He said that no matter the outcome, he’s glad to let the world know his heart belongs to you.”

  For some reason, that does it—all doubts and worries vanish. For the time being, anyway.

  “Fine, I’ll hear him out. I’ll unblock him and give him a chance to contact me like a normal human, get the messages straight from the horse’s mouth.”

  “Good girl,” Angel replies with a smile in her voice.

  I stare at Liam’s contact info for a moment before unblocking him, then I send him a text.

  I’m ready to listen to you.

  It takes a minute, but when his reply shows up, it immediately sends a thrill through me: I’m coming to you.

  And I just let it be.

  I don’t try to dictate how and when, and I’m not sure yet if he should come upstairs or I should go down to meet him, but I put the phone away and wait for his arrival.

  When a few knocks sound at my door, I snap out of a daydream starring Liam and me. It’s not just dirty this time—it’s more on the romantic side.

  I’ve come to realize I’d only be fooling myself if I thought I could ever get over him completely—that, in fact, I never wanted to.

  Liam holds a special place in my heart and has for a long time.

  I feel grateful rather than resentful that he’s shown up and shaken things up for me again.

  No matter what, time spent with Liam is always time well spent.

  I love being around him, the way he makes me feel.

  I love the way his lips quirk up when he smiles, the twinkle in those blue-gray eyes of his when he’s up to no good. Which is more often than not, it seems.

  I love that he pushes me in more ways than one, nudges me out of my comfort zones.

  He makes me experience sensations no one else has—beautiful, pleasurable, joyous ripples throughout my heart and body.

  Why on earth would I give that up?

  I even love that he and I had time to grow and develop separately, to find our individual adult paths.

  And I love that those paths managed to lead us right back to each other.

  In short, no matter what he does or what I do, my heart beats for Liam Cox, and it seems there’s no running away from that.

  By the time I open the door for him, I’m welling up with too much emotion to contain, and the reasonable conversation I’d planned to have with him must be postponed.

  I don’t bother hiding my feelings, and he seems to notice immediately my naked need for him.

  His own face is full of emotion, and to my utter delight, he steps inside and pulls me to him, quickly lowering his head to plant a passionate kiss on me.

  I kiss him back hungrily, barely registering that he kicked the door closed behind him.

  He pulls away briefly to say, “I love you, Kiki,” his voice husky and full of raw desire.

  “I love you too, Liam,” I say, a new song welling inside me.

  Liam picks me up and walks me toward my bedroom with no complaints from me.

  He tears my clothes off like an animal, undressing both of us in no time.

  He kisses me all over, as if afraid he won’t get the chance again, his lips grazing my flesh from forehead to legs.

  When he brings his mouth back to mine, I get lost in his kiss, distracted long enough to be shocked by his cock suddenly diving into my body, my stunned gasp breaking our kiss momentarily.

  But he doesn’t let me get away.

  He grabs my lips again and continues kissing me hard while grinding against me, thrusting hard and deep into my slick, welcoming tunnel.

  “Do you know how much I hate the idea of being turned into a meme or gif?” Liam says after we’ve been lying quietly for a while, still coming down from our orgasmic heights.

  I chuckle. “And yet you’ve made easy fodder of yourself.”

  He turns to me. “I’d do anything for you, Kiki. I need you to know that. If you want, I can call it all back, pretend none of this happened. I never admitted to anyone what happened between us… well, besides my brother but only after the news broke. Indirectly, he was actually the cause of the leak. He…”

  “Don’t bother,” I say, shaking my head. “I have no interest in walking any of it back—not sure that’s even possible at this point. Besides, I don’t care if everyone knows you’re the one. You are, after all,” I finish quietly.

  “I hope you mean what I think you mean because I feel the same way,” he says, then plants a tender kiss on my forehead.

  Then he sniffs deeply in.

  “Oh, Kiki—I love everything about you. Your smell, your smile, that incredible voice of yours. Your desperation for my cock…”

  I lightly slap his arm.

  “Your self-defense skills,” he adds mockingly then kisses my mock-offended expression away.

  “My sweet, soft Kiki—fair warning: I plan to keep you.”

  “That might be all right with me,” I say with a smile.

  We lock lips again.

  12

  KIARA

  The video went viral.

  Going to Angel was the problem—she already had over two hundred thousand regular subscribers, and since the video spread wide on social media, her subscriber count has jumped tremendously.

  “I don’t appreciate the most viewed video on my channel not having me in it,” she told me at some point with a pout in her voice. “But I guess since I have a lot more eyes all of a sudden, I can live with it. I just hope they don’t expect me to start dropping love scoops every now and then.”

  The entertainment news media outlets had a field day with it too.

  There wasn’t a whole lot to speculate since the identities of all involved were easy to figure out—I mean, Liam called me by my name—but other types of speculation have been running wild.

  Is there a proposal in the near future? A baby on the way?

  Even crude talk that I must have a magic pussy to have this hot young billionaire put it all out there for me like that.

  It’s all still pretty awkward, but the scandalous attention makes me smile this time since it’s for a pretty good reason.

  And yeah, I know the tides can turn at any moment, that there will be times public sentiment is not in my favor and people will happily pass around hurtful rumors instead, but for now, I’ll bask in all the positivity.

  And with the love of my life at my side, what does it matter what others might think or spread anyway? The only people whose opinions truly matter are those closest to me.

  Liam pretends to be tortured by the whole thing but doesn’t really seem to care about his new exposure to the world.

  “I’m glad I don’t have board meetings and shit to attend,” he said at some point. “Don’t need to go around punching people for making snide comments about you.”

  Liam and I eventually agreed to request the video be taken down, which Angel graciously granted.

  The hullabaloo had died off anyway—not much stays juicy news for long.

  LIAM

  I’m in the audience this time for Kiara’s interview with talk show host Helen.

  She wanted company on this trip and I was happy to oblige her, knowing we’d get to explore in a new city together and hang out in a hotel suite.

  But for now, she’s hanging out backstage, waiting for her segment to begin.

  I keep hoping no one recognizes me, and so far, so good; I’m blending in.

  In any case, no one would get very far if they tried to approach me—my bodyguards are well disguised but surrounding me.

  When Helen announces Kiara, she walks out looking like a doll, decked out in a flattering pink
dress and kitten heels.

  It’s still kind of weird to see her all dressed up.

  It’s nice, and I definitely appreciate seeing her in all her feminine glory, but I also love when we’re just hanging out in my place or hers and she’s got her hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing casual hanging-out-at-home clothes.

  It always feels more intimate for some reason—I guess because it’s a side of her not many get to see these days.

  But I know that girl—the one happy to be in jogging pants and free of makeup—and I love that girl.

  “I’m pretty sure the astronauts can see this thing from space,” Helen says when Kiki sits down, taking her hand gently and examining the rock on her ring finger then presenting it toward the audience and a camera for a close-up. “And when are the upcoming nuptials?”

  “We haven’t decided yet but within a year.”

  I can tell Kiara is fighting not to look at me and bring attention to me; she has definitely spotted me.

  She knows how much I wanted to be here for her but also that I don’t want to be bothered with excessive attention.

  We’ll see how it works out.

  Helen’s also doing her best not to acknowledge my presence, but she’s known for blindsiding people. Always good-naturedly, but still.

  “You guys plan to have kids?” she asks, indirectly addressing the rumors that Kiara is pregnant.

  “No kids in the immediate future,” Kiara replies patiently, “but in the near future, absolutely. Although I’ll definitely wait for marriage this time.”

  The audience laughs.

  The two chat a bit about career-related stuff, and then it happens—a sudden shift.

  Helen is definitely up to something.

  My senses go on high alert.

  “I hope you don’t get mad at me, but we’ve got a surprise for you,” Helen says to Kiki with a twinkle in her blue eyes. “We got a tip and the producers thought it would be great to... well, I won’t want to spoil the surprise so let’s just bring him out!”