Dare (Fighting Fate Book 6)

by Maree Green

  I sighed. Thinking about it like that, I could see his frustration. “Okay, fine. I’ll watch the guy if I see him. Happy?”

  Lowering myself down to sit on the edge of the tailgate, I rubbed my hand across my forehead. I just didn’t get it. Zac was a smart guy. He was up there with the top of the class. If he really did buy himself an illegal substance, that was his entire career, gone. And if it was GHB—and he was intending to slip it into some girl’s drink—why the hell would he risk his entire career, just to get laid? I knew plenty of chicks who would jump into bed with him in a heartbeat, despite my opinion of the guy.

  Glancing up at Noah, I shook my head. “I just can’t see it, Bro. He could get almost any chick he wanted. Why would he drug someone?”

  Noah shrugged and gave me a sad smile. “I don’t know, man. Control? Fantasies? Maybe he likes some freaky shit that chicks don’t dig.”

  “Yeah, like fucking a corpse.”

  He sighed before dropping down beside me. “I just don’t like it, man. I have a gut feeling about these things since being in TJ’s gang, and it’s telling me it’s not good.”

  I groaned. “Awesome.” My thoughts shifted to Jess. I didn’t like that she was so close to the situation at all. I mean, I didn’t think she would be in any danger. Zac was unlikely to drug his best friend’s girlfriend, but I still didn’t like it. “How long until you question him?”

  Noah’s jaw tightened. “I’m not officially on the case, so I can’t really say. But Walt shouldn’t wait longer than the weekend before he drops the dealer. If he does, I’ll fucking go do it myself.”

  If it were any other time in the year, I’d rest easy with his words, but we were all on vacation now. The entire week was one long fucking weekend. There was a party every damn night. “You know it would help if we knew what kind of drug we were dealing with here, don’t you, Noah? There’s a massive fucking difference between buying something for yourself and buying something to slip into someone’s drink.”

  “I know, man,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I wish I fucking knew too. If it was just a little E, I wouldn’t even be having this conversation with you.”

  “But you don’t think it just a little E,” I finished for him. And for some reason—maybe it was my gut too—I thought he just might be right.

  Chapter 9

  Jess

  I never used to consider twenty-two to be old. Not by a long shot. I mean, I was still technically in college, so that kind of implied an element of abandoned recklessness in itself. But here I was, at ten o’clock at night, my head spinning after only two drinks, and I was seriously pining for my bed. I had no idea how I’d become such a lightweight. I was trying to tell myself I was just over the ridiculous number of parties Wyatt had been dragging me to every night, but I thought it might’ve been more of a case of just not enjoying the scene anymore.

  As I leaned against the wall, half watching Wyatt say goodbye to Zac—weird, I know—and half making sure I stayed upright, I thought about how Wyatt had been with me since the snobby debacle the other night. He’d said he would show me that I had nothing to worry about, and so far he’d been true to his word. Probably a little more than necessary. But I couldn’t deny that he’d been trying, and I guess that was all I’d been wanting for the last six months.

  Tonight, we’d planned on staying at my apartment. Aiden had taken Emmy away for the weekend, trying to have a little alone time before he had to leave. I thought it was a little dumb scheduling gigs the week before Christmas, but it meant Wyatt and I had the place to ourselves, so who was I to argue?

  Drawing in a deep breath, I let it out in a huff, my eyes widening a fraction when my body started to slide to the side. Whoa. Okay, it was seriously time to get myself under control, or I would be on the floor in no time.

  Straightening, I pulled my shoulders back and focused on my breathing. It was a little harder than it should’ve been. My head was starting to feel like it was filled with cotton wool, and I was having serious trouble getting my eyes to focus on anything for longer than a few seconds at a time.

  I sighed with relief when I finally saw Wyatt break away from Zac and start walking toward me. He was scowling, but when he got close enough to take my hand, he smiled. “All good?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yup.” The P made a popping sound when I released it, making me giggle.

  Wyatt frowned down at me as he began towing me toward the door. “Are you drunk?”

  I mirrored his expression as I thought. “I only had two drinks, but I think I might be,” I said in all seriousness.

  Unlocking the car, he opened my door and held it open for me. “What the hell were you drinking?” he asked, slightly incredulous.

  I shrugged as I climbed in. “I don’t know,” I murmured. “Vodka?” For some reason, my tongue didn’t want to cooperate with me. Normally, it would’ve frustrated me, but it seemed my brain was too tired to care. “But the last one tasted gross.”

  Wyatt closed my door and moved to his side of the car, sliding in behind the wheel before glancing over at me again. His expression was kind, but it bordered on intense. Something about it made me pulse inside.

  My apartment wasn’t very far away—only three blocks from where we’d been—but it felt like an eternity before Wyatt was pulling into a parking space and helping me from the car again. Wrapping his arm around me, he pulled me into his side as we moved down the path. I didn’t even bother pretending I’d be capable of unlocking the door. I just pulled the keys out of my handbag and passed them over to Wyatt without a word.

  Once the door was open, he waited for me to move inside, but I hadn’t gone far before his hands claimed my hips from behind, his breath warm and arousing as it touched my ear. “And I had such grand plans to do very naughty things to you tonight,” he said, his voice deep and dangerous.

  Heat spread through my body. “I like naughty,” I said, but instead of sounding aroused, I sounded like I had a dozen marbles crammed inside my mouth. “What kind of things?”

  Edging me forward, he spun me around so we were chest to chest, then he slowly pushed me back until I was spread out on the couch and he was crawling over the top of me. As his hot breath blew over the exposed skin on my neck, I arched my back, baring my neck to him further. Then, with a touch so soft I thought it may have been my imagination, he brushed his lips down my throat, his wet tongue taking slow, erotic licks.

  “I want to tie you up, Jess,” he said. “I want to see you spread out before me, at my mercy.” Taking my hands, he lifted them until they were above my head, crossed at my wrists. “I would tie you up like this, and then I would blindfold you, so you could only hear and feel me.”

  My eyes closed as I listened to him, his words sending messages to different parts of my body, bringing it to life. But the alcohol in my system didn’t want anything to do with it. It forced a darkness behind my lids. One I wasn’t ready for. I wanted to hear what he had to say. I wanted to know what his fantasies were.

  Fighting it back, I opened my eyes again, the room spinning and blurring as I tried to focus on his face.

  “That’s my fantasy, Jess. I want to see you just like that. Mine to stroke, touch, kiss, taste, until you’re insane with desire.” His hand tightened on my wrists as he ran the tip of his nose down the side of my neck. “And then, while I’m teasing you, bringing you closer and closer to falling apart, someone comes into the room.” I stilled, confused by his words. “They don’t do anything,” he said. “They just watch us, so aroused by what they see, they need to touch themselves.”

  My head spun. Holy shit. I couldn’t believe he actually fantasized about someone watching us. I didn’t know why, but the image his words brought to my head did something strange to my body. And I thought I actually liked it.

  “I love the idea of what the sight of us fucking could do to a guy, Jess,” he said huskily. “He’d be so fucking turned on—so hard he’d have to touch himself, make himself
come—all because of what we were doing.”

  Somewhere in the dazed state I was in, I knew I was aroused, but both my mind and my body were failing me. I just couldn’t seem to make myself respond. I didn’t know why the idea of a guy getting himself off while watching us sounded so hot, but it did.

  “Does that turn you on, Jess?” he growled, lightly biting my lobe. “Would you like someone to watch us fuck? While I take my cock and slowly push inside you?”

  Wyatt emphasized his words by brushing his fingers over my crotch. I moaned something that sounded a lot like yes—even to my own impaired ears.

  His hand paused between my legs, pressing. “You want someone to watch you, Jess? You want someone to pound their cock while I make you come?” His fingers started moving again. “Is that what you want, Jess?”

  Somewhere inside my head, I was confused. Wyatt hadn’t spoken to me like this before. Ever. I mean, he’d talked about fucking me in the ass and other such things, but nothing so graphic. I wondered if it was because I was so drunk.

  But I couldn’t think of that right now. I was seriously struggling to stay awake. All I knew was that the arousal in his voice turned me the hell on. It made me want to agree, to it all, right here and now, but there was still one tiny part of my brain that seemed to be able to think clearly, and she knew it was a seriously crazy idea.

  Chapter 10

  Eli

  It was the longest night of my life. Between watching Zac incessantly flirt with every girl who came within four feet of him, and drinking nothing but soda, I was ready to bang my head against a wall. I had no idea how Noah did any of this surveillance shit. It was as boring as watching paint dry.

  Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it—I’d missed seeing Jess before she and Wyatt had left for the night. I wasn’t sure why they’d left so early, but I was glad Jess was out of harm’s way.

  Taking a sip of my soda, I watched a dainty blonde girl smile at Zac as she sauntered past him, my gaze narrowing when I watched him grin, causing the girl to pause her steps and start flirting with him instead.

  “Are you going to tell me why you’re finding Zac so fascinating tonight?” Brad asked, the fucker settling in beside me with a fresh beer in his hand.

  Deciding I wasn’t going to lie to my best friend, I glanced at him and shrugged. “Secret Noah business.”

  Brad frowned, his mind visibly ticking over with difficulty. I watched his gaze shift over to Zac before the crease between his brows deepened. “I’m confused. Why would Noah be interested in Zac?” It took a few seconds, but eventually his eyes rounded. “Seriously? Is he selling?”

  I sighed. “No. And you know nothing, all right? It’s supposed to be confidential.”

  “I still don’t get it, though,” he said, shifting on his feet. “If he’s not selling, why are you watching him?”

  “That would be a good question, if I was able to answer it,” I said carefully.

  Brad rolled his eyes. “Tell Noah I said he’s a jerk. He’s turned you into the worst friend a guy could have at a party.”

  “Oh, don’t worry,” I said, throwing him a dry look. “I have my own rant already prepared.”

  The blonde girl laughed at something Zac said and turned to give him her full attention. I shifted my body, turning away slightly, so I didn’t look like a total stalker, then took another sip of my drink while covertly watching.

  Brad raised an eyebrow at me. “I get the feeling this would be way cooler if I knew what we were looking out for,” he said.

  “We,” I said with a smirk, “aren’t looking out for anything. We’re just at a party, chilling.”

  “Ah, okay. So you’re just watching Zac to get tips on how to pick up girls, then?”

  My gaze sharpened as I watched Zac pass the girl a drink. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

  I heard him snicker at me, but I was too absorbed by what I was watching to give a shit. The girl seemed to be thanking Zac for the drink, taking a mouthful with barely a thought for what might be in it. Unbelievable.

  Brad coughed before nudging me in the side, just in time for me to see a short, stocky guy step in front of us. “Hey, Kyle,” Brad said cheerily. “How’s things?”

  Forcing my attention to what was in front of me, I watched Brad shake hands with the guy. Giving him a quick nod, I offered him my hand. “Kyle, good to see you.”

  I didn’t know Kyle all that well, but Brad had worked with him on an assignment the year before, so now, whenever they ran into each other, they liked to catch up. As they chatted, I used it as an opportunity to watch Zac a little closer. According to Noah, the rate GHB affected someone was mostly dependent on the amount given, but if it was slipped into someone’s drink, they should start feeling the effects within a few minutes.

  Watching the girl carefully, I tried to gauge her motor skills. She moved around a lot, but she didn’t appear to be too unsteady on her feet. Narrowing my gaze on her face, I searched for any signs of drowsiness, but she looked fairly alert from where I stood. Maybe it was going to take a little longer.

  But after another half an hour, with no sign of exaggerated incapacity, I decided I’d seriously just wasted my entire night. It was confirmed when I saw Zac check his cell and give the chick a kiss on the cheek as he prepared to leave. Without her. My jaw clenched. Noah was going to owe me big time for this shit. That was a couple of hours of my life I’d never get back.

  Interrupting Brad’s conversation, I patted him on the shoulder and gave him a quick nod, letting him know with my gaze that I was more than disappointed. “I’m off.”

  His gaze moved across the room, to where Zac was saying goodbye to a few people. “Really?”

  Even though he was alone, and I knew it was most likely going to be a fucking wash, I decided I’d follow him to wherever it was he was going anyway. At least that way I’d know I had seen it through to the end, and know for sure that no one had been taken advantage of.

  Seeing Zac slip out the door, I shoved my hands in my pockets and weaved my way through the rest of the bodies until I was pushing through the doors after him. His car wasn’t parked that far away from my truck, so when he drove past me, it was easy to pull out and follow him at a distance.

  When I originally had the idea to follow him, I thought I’d get some sense of bad-assery or something—like I was in some tough action movie and I was going to catch the bad guy out—but it was literally just driving behind someone. It wasn’t exciting at all. Maybe it was because the route he was taking was the way I needed to go to get home anyway, so I wasn’t too concerned about him seeing me. If he did, I knew it could always be easily passed off as coincidence.

  But when I saw him pull into the on-campus parking, obviously heading for his dorm, the air around me changed. This was where I would indeed be stalking him. For real. Hiding in shadows and all. I wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to stoop to, but I also knew I wouldn’t be happy unless I followed it through to the end.

  Sighing, I drove past the turn off and slowly pulled over to the curb. Taking a minute to tell myself this wasn’t creepy at all, I switched off the ignition and stepped out to the curb. Moving into the shadows, I ducked through the trees behind the dumpsters and skulked along the path, coming out just in time to see Zac slip in through the front doors and disappear inside.

  I exhaled and let my shoulders drop. So that was that. Zac was alone, and, apparently, drug free. So why did I feel as though I’d missed something important?

  Chapter 11

  Jess

  I was ninety-nine percent sure I was dreaming. The way my body drifted from a state of heaviness to a state of pure bliss in a heartbeat seemed to indicate something along those lines anyway. It also may have been the way the couch underneath me suddenly morphed into a king-sized bed with enormous, fluffy white pillows and sheets as well. You know, considering I didn’t actually own a king-sized bed.

  Wyatt loomed over
the top of me, his naked torso gleaming in the soft, warm light. The exaggerated contours of his muscles were another indication that I was definitely dreaming. While Wyatt was fit and lean, he really wasn’t that ripped.

  His gaze was heated, his hands gentle as he ran them over my suddenly naked body. I shifted to move, to touch him, but my hands jerked to a stop, something around them, holding them in place. I glanced up at Wyatt, ready to ask him why my hands were tied, but when I only saw blackness, I realized I’d been blindfolded too.

  I waited for the panic to come, but instead, I smiled, a slow warmth spreading through my body as I squirmed and writhed. This was what Wyatt had said he’d wanted. I was dreaming his fantasy.

  “Damn, baby,” Wyatt murmured. “You’re seriously thinking about it, aren’t you?”

  I paused, listening, wondering what it was I was supposed to be thinking about, but then I already seemed to know. I was thinking about the other part of his fantasy—of another guy watching us.

  Wyatt groaned, his fingers sliding between my legs, stroking, bringing me to an instant state of arousal. “Fuck. I didn’t think I could get any harder than I already was, Jess.”

  He slid a finger inside me as his thumb continued to stroke over my clit, his movements growing steadily faster. Tension built inside me, bringing me to the brink of orgasm. I could feel it. It wouldn’t be long. With the blindfold on, I could easily imagine someone there, their cock in their hand as they stroked themselves.

  My body, almost at the top before that glorious fall, coiled, waiting, ready, but Wyatt’s fingers suddenly disappeared. “No!” I cried, confused as to why he would deny me this pleasure.

  His breath warmed my cheek. “Not yet, baby. I need you to wait a little longer. I promise you’ll feel good soon, but first, I have a surprise for you.”

  His hand stroked over my breasts, sliding down until his fingers caressed the inside of my thigh again. My head was a mess, my body even worse. His hands and mouth were keeping me in a constant state of arousal. I was so turned on I was aching.