Dare (Fighting Fate Book 6)

by Maree Green

  With one side of my mouth curling up with amusement, I gave her a little nod. “Yes, Mom.”

  She rolled her eyes playfully before turning on her heel to follow the others outside. Following her, I put on a goofy smile, determined to enjoy the rest of my night.

  I loved the Murphys property. It was just amazing. The space they had was perfect, and the way they’d landscaped it always left me feeling inspired. Even though there were bodies standing around everywhere, it was still gorgeous.

  Walking down the back stairs on their split-level deck, I took in the incredible fire pit Luke and Eli had built this fall. The pit itself was stunning, but I loved the built-in, cushioned benches that surrounded it the most. And with the rows of old oaks with dozens of lights strung to their branches, it always looked like some dreamy scene from the movies.

  As everyone squeezed into a spot around the fire, I looked around. All the seats were taken, but there were also people sitting on cushions at their feet. Amber stopped beside me and motioned toward the Murphys’ man cave. “Noah said there are more cushions in the cave. Do you want to claim a spot, and I’ll go grab a couple?”

  I glanced at the gravel-covered ground and gawked at her. “I’m good. You wait here and I’ll go.”

  I heard her laugh as I walked off, but as I glanced over my shoulder, she was already squeezing her butt onto the edge of Isaac’s cushion, mischief in her smile.

  Slipping in through the door to the man cave, I squinted, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the dim light. Spying the stack of cushions over by the far wall, I weaved my way through the obstacle course, stepping over weight benches, motorcycle parts, and tools.

  Putting my drink down on the workbench, I grinned. Take that, Amber. Then I picked up a cushion and tried to dust it off as best I could. They weren’t the cleanest of cushions, but I’d still take it over sitting on gravel. I was just glad I’d decided against wearing my white jeans like I’d originally planned.

  I’d just about finished with it, when the sound of the fridge opening had me turning. As the interior light from the fridge illuminated the newcomer, my body immediately stilled.

  Crap.

  My first instinct was to remain as still as possible and hope he wouldn’t see me before he left again, but fate wasn’t on my side. The cushion I’d just put down obviously didn’t like where I’d put it and listed to the side, knocking a can of lubricant over.

  Eli spun, his gaze pinning me with surprise. “Jess?” he asked, his voice so warm and freaking arousing. Damn him and his whole freaking family with their ridiculous sex appeal.

  “Hi, Eli,” I said, happy I didn’t actually sound like a lunatic standing in the dark.

  “What are you doing?”

  As his words slowly sank into my brain and made themselves clear, I realized I must’ve looked super weird, lurking in the dark corners of his man cave. Holding up the tattletale cushion responsible for my current predicament, I gave it a little shake. “Trying to find a cushion that won’t make me look like I just finished an oil change on one of your motorcycles.”

  He grinned before grabbing a beer from the fridge and closing the door. I’d hoped he would just excuse himself and go back to the party, but I should’ve known he was too nice for that. As he slowly moved closer, my pulse skipped and sped, sending shivers to every one of my nerve endings.

  “How have you been?” he asked, letting me know exactly what he meant by the dark, intense look in his eye.

  I swallowed, forcing my head to consider his question seriously. “I’ve been okay. I’m mostly just angry now,” I said.

  His head cocked to the side a little. “Why angry?”

  Drawing in a slow breath, I let my teeth rub over my lower lip. “Because regardless of who slipped what into my drink and for whatever reason, Wyatt should’ve known I wasn’t myself. He should’ve been able to see that two drinks wouldn’t do that to me. But he still just chose to leave me there and go to the gym like it was nothing. That pisses me off.”

  Eli nodded his agreement, watching me with those damned irresistible eyes. It made it hard for me to concentrate on what I was trying to say. Of course, the alcohol may have had something to do with that as well.

  “Don’t you think,” I continued as he drew closer, my voice losing the majority of its venom in his presence, “if he really cared about me like he said he did, he would’ve at least stayed with me to make sure I was okay?” I said, shaking my head. Sympathy crept over his features, making me sigh with disappointment. “It was all just bullshit.”

  He stared down at me, his long, dark lashes framing the intensity burning in the depths of his eyes. It was plain idiocy for me to think I could fight the attraction I had for him, especially while I was already so intoxicated. My breath shook as I gazed up at him, my heart thumping wildly against my chest. All I could think about was that stupid dare.

  His mouth was so tempting, his lips so incredibly soft looking. I wanted to know what they’d feel like against my own. I wanted to know what his kisses were like. Would he be the type who took his time, trying to taste every little part of me, or was he the kind who became too overwhelmed with hunger and needed to devour me with barely a hold on his control?

  Shivers broke over my skin, causing my body to tremble. Holy crap, I wanted him. That dream had seriously ruined me. Amber’s dare wasn’t looking so impossible right about now.

  “Jess,” he said, his voice low and slightly growly.

  I leaned forward, my head tilting back and my lips parting with need. Visions from my dream swam in the depths of my mind, driving my need for him higher with every breath. Tension coiled my muscles, pressing me, pushing me forward, taking me over until I was straining upward, gravitating closer and closer.

  But then Eli was taking a step back, a gentle smile slipping onto that luscious mouth of his as he lightly nodded. Internally, I heard the sound of a loud slap, the sting seeping through my body like a real physical blow.

  “Wyatt’s a jerk,” Eli said, raising his chin a fraction and shrugging like nothing had just happened. “But you’re strong, Jess. Don’t let him change who you are.”

  I blinked, embarrassment flooding my body in an instant. I wasn’t going to fool myself into thinking I hadn’t been obvious. I knew I had been. I’d more or less just tried to kiss him, and he’d recoiled like it was the most repulsive thing he could imagine. I felt humiliated beyond belief.

  “I better get back to the party,” he said, taking another step back and gesturing to the door.

  I smiled through the hurt and nodded. “Of course. I’ll probably see you a bit later on.”

  With his lips pressed into a tight smile, he turned and practically ran from the shed, leaving me to curl up and lick my emotional wounds. I just wasn’t sure if those kinds of wounds would heal. It sure didn’t feel like it in that moment.

  Chapter 18

  Eli

  Sitting forward on the weight bench, I leaned my elbows on my knees and tried to catch my breath. Somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, some part of me was standing back, arms crossed over my chest, staring at the part of me that was trying to act like nothing was different and it wasn’t fucking weird to pump iron on New Year’s Day.

  I shook my head. So what if this hadn’t been in my original plans? Not having a hangover was actually pretty cool. I’d gotten up while everyone else had still been passed out all over the place, picked up half the shit lying throughout the yard, and cleaned up as best I could without getting an ass chewing from some poor soul who felt like they’d killed their liver the night before.

  The downside of being the only one up was the fact that I needed a distraction, and most things that gave me that were as noisy as shit. I’d have given up my liver for an hour tinkering with my motorcycle right about now, but that’s just the way life was for me these days. It was seriously testing my strength of willpower—in more ways than one.

  Lying back, I wiggled myself under the weight
bar and grabbed a hold of it, adjusting my grip until I was mentally ready for another set of reps. Lifting it up, I slowly brought it down to my chest before pushing it steadily up again. It was nowhere near the weight I usually pressed, but Mom had made us promise that we’d only lift what we were casually comfortable with unless we had a spotter with us.

  Unfortunately for me, this did nothing to help me concentrate on what I was doing. As I continued through the set, my mind steadily drifted to the events of the night before, despite my best efforts to stay away from it. The image of Jess, standing right in this very space, her eyes wide and hopeful as she gazed up at me, open and pleading, was one I just couldn’t get out of my head. It had been taunting me in the worst way possible since the second I’d walked away from her.

  My reps quickened as I thought about the struggle it had been to turn away from her. Every fiber of my being had been begging me to take what she was so obviously offering me, but I just couldn’t. Part of it was the fact that I’d made a promise to myself—a commitment to finish what I’d started, using one hundred percent of what I had. But it was another part of me that actually had the strength to walk away, and that was the aversion I had to being anything like Wyatt. I would never, in a million lifetimes, treat her so badly, but we were studying the same course, we had the same aspirations when it came to success with our careers, and we had the same amount of spare time in all that to give to someone—not enough. Jess deserved more than that. She deserved the world, and if I couldn’t give her something that came even remotely close to that, I wasn’t going to hurt her by offering anything less.

  “Aww, look at the cute little weight set Eli’s playing with, Adam.”

  Closing my eyes in a long blink, I breathed out, pushing the bar up to click into its rack. With my lips curled up into a smirk, I watched Isaac saunter over to the other bench and sit down. He looked like shit.

  “At least I can lift this morning without hurling,” I said, sitting up to face him.

  Adam pulled a can of soda out of the fridge and cracked the lid. “He’s got you there, Bro,” he said, taking a swig.

  Isaac pressed his lips together into an accepting pout as he quickly nodded his head. “Yeah, you’re probably right. My stomach feels as though it’s reenacting a scene from The Perfect Storm or something. I’m not entirely sure which end it wants to come out, to be honest.”

  “Seriously, Bro,” Adam said, coming to lean against the workbench. “Way too much information.”

  Isaac shrugged, clearly nonplussed about it. “At least I scored last night.”

  My gaze narrowed. This was news to me, but I didn’t need to ask whom he scored with. When I’d left the man cave last night, I’d seen him sitting by the fire with his arm around Amber’s waist. Holding back the jealousy that reared up inside me was a lot harder to do than I was comfortable with. The fact that he could just live in the moment without a care for consequences had always been a bone of contention for me. But then again, I wanted Jess for more than just sex.

  Isaac wiggled his eyebrows, his shit-stirring meter turned to maximum strength. “What happened to you last night, anyway? You left to grab a brew and I never saw you again.”

  I knew this question would eventually come up, but it didn’t mean I wanted to answer it. I took a leaf out of Isaac’s book and shrugged as though I didn’t care. “I just had enough.”

  They both narrowed their eyes, suspicion creeping into their expressions. Adam was the first to break, his mouth curving up at the corners. “Jess.”

  I tried to school my features into the most neutral expression I could manage. “Jess had nothing to do with it.”

  That was when Adam flat-out laughed. “Bullshit. Something happened with Jess, and it made you choose to leave.” His expression fell as he realized what his words implied. “Shit. What happened?”

  I sighed. I really didn’t want to get into it. Ever. But that was one luxury I’d never get with my family. There was a reason they all knew everything. The badgering would never end if I didn’t at least give them something. “Seriously,” I said. “Nothing happened. I ran into Jess. We talked. Then I decided I’d had enough, so I went to bed. That’s it.”

  Adam deadpanned me. “You just talked? It can’t have been a very good talk if it made you want to leave.”

  Leaning forward, I ran my hands over my head, wishing they’d just leave it be. “It wasn’t bad.”

  “What are you leaving out?” Isaac asked, cocking his head to the side.

  “Nothing,” I said, exasperation rising inside me. “Jess was a little drunk. I just thought it would be for the best if I left. That’s it.”

  They were both quiet for a while, watching me, studying, scrutinizing. Isaac was the first to break, sitting up and laughing as he shook his head at me. “You made a move and she cut you down.”

  Swinging my gaze out the window, I couldn’t help but wish the answer had been that easy. Isaac laughed louder, but it was Adam’s gaze I felt burning into my skull. I heard him hum a little as Isaac’s chuckling died down. “She made a move and you cut her down,” he said flatly.

  Isaac went silent as I gazed back at Adam. Adam shook his head, disappointment lingering in his eyes. “You’re a fucking idiot.”

  Pushing to my feet, I strode to the other side of the workshop, unable to avoid Isaac’s choking sound of disbelief from reaching me. “What the hell?” he said. “Are you serious, man? Why the hell would you cut her down? You’ve been drooling over her for the last three years.”

  I spun and threw a hand in the air. “Oh, come on. You would’ve done the same thing,” I said, mostly speaking to Adam, because I wasn’t so sure Isaac would’ve been so admirable. “She was drunk. She’s just ended a relationship after being drugged. It wasn’t the right time, and as much as the both of you want to give me hell for it, you know it was the right thing to do.”

  Isaac pressed his lips together while Adam sighed. “I get it, man,” he said quietly. “And you’re right, but Isaac’s also right. You’ve been watching her for almost three years. You’re right not to take advantage of where she’s at, but you’re an idiot for cutting and running.”

  Okay, that was it. I’d had enough. Grabbing my towel, I wiped it over my face before flinging it over my shoulder. “You know what? Screw you both. Yeah, I like her, but that’s the exact reason why I can’t start anything with her. She deserves the best of everything, and that’s more than I can offer right now. It would be unfair and selfish of me to even think about it. So just back the fuck off.”

  Without waiting for their replies, I threw the door open and stormed outside. I was done with this shit. It was time to move the fuck on.

  Chapter 19

  Jess

  “To new beginnings!”

  Holding up my glass, I clinked it against the others, trying not to spill my damned drink as everyone around me crowded closer.

  As we all took a sip, I smiled over at Amber, watching the excitement and nerves flicker in her features. She had done it. All the blood, sweat, and tears, and her dream was now a reality. All around us, books lined shelves and cushions were scattered corners, and in two days’ time, it would be open for business. Of course, until next summer, it was only going to have part-time opening hours. But after that, this was her life. A dream fully born and breathing.

  I was so happy for her. And proud. So many people had mistaken Amber for a preppy little princess from a rich family, who got whatever she wanted. That was a large part of her decision to embrace the rockabilly look. But the truth was, she’d worked hard for this. She did it completely on her own without any assistance from anyone—financial or any other kind.

  Emmy looked around from beside me. Tonight was the first time she’d been here. “This place is amazing. I can’t believe she did all this on her own.”

  I smiled, glancing over at Amber again. “She’s amazing. She eventually wants to extend it into the space next door and add a coffee shop.”
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br />   Emmy’s eyes widened, the idea obviously exciting her. “Oh my God, that’s an awesome idea. I love it.”

  I’d seen all Amber’s designs for the idea. They really were amazing. She could’ve done it now if she wanted to. All three of her millionaire brothers were more than willing to throw the money her way, but, of course, Amber wouldn’t hear of it. She wanted to do it on her own. She wanted to make her own millions and be able to brag about not needing a handout when she got there.

  “It’s so good that everyone could make it tonight,” Emmy said, looking around the crowded room.

  I wanted to follow her gaze and appreciate the people who were here to support one of my closest friends, but I knew Eli was one of them, and he was the last person I could handle seeing right now. It had been a week since my nightmare encounter with him on New Year’s Eve, but the sting of rejection was still burning deep inside me. It was the kind of humiliation that felt as though it would never go away. It was permanently tattooed in my mind.

  “I think it’s really cool Noah’s family are all so supportive of everyone,” Emmy continued, oblivious to my stressed-out inner turmoil. “They’re like the nice in-laws everyone hopes for—not that I don’t have nice in-laws,” she said, laughing at her own boo-boo as Mia slipped in beside us.

  Mia rolled her eyes playfully. “Talking about us behind our backs again, Emmy? Why am I not surprised?”

  “Well, you know,” Emmy said with a shrug, “you guys are pretty hard to put up with sometimes.”

  Giving her a light shove, Mia tried not to laugh as she scoffed, but failed when she almost choked on her drink. “You fit in with our family so well it’s scary. I’m honestly surprised Aiden was charming enough to catch you—especially back then. It wasn’t like he was a barrel of laughs or anything when you first met.”