Dare (Fighting Fate Book 6)

by Maree Green

  Maxwell Schofield was an intimidating man of fifty-six years. With his salt-and-pepper hair, sharp suit, and shiny new Rolex, he was sure to demand respect wherever he went, but I was sure it was his sharp, assessing gaze that made him a force to be reckoned with.

  “So,” he said, pushing back in his chair and resting his elbows on the armrests. Steepling his fingers in front of him, he assessed me for a long moment. “Your credentials are very promising, Mr. Murphy, but can you tell me why you’re choosing the entertainment industry as your field of interest?”

  Working to keep my shoulders relaxed, I drew in a deep, invisible breath. “I have a few friends that have had interests in working in the entertainment industry, and I’ve seen some of the things they’ve been forced to sign. I want to be able to work to protect people like those friends and help them achieve success without being screwed over.”

  His head cocked to the side a little as he watched me. “Admirable.” Picking up my credentials off his desk, he dropped them again. “Other than this, what do you think you have to offer our firm?”

  Sitting forward, I leaned my elbows on the armrests of the chair and clasped my hands together. “Mr. Schofield, if you employ me, I will bring four big names in the industry with me. Guaranteed.”

  Skepticism narrowed his eyes. “Go on,” he said, waiting with a doubtful smirk.

  Edging forward a little more, I reached into my satchel and pulled out the papers I hoped would push me over the line. As I passed them over the desk and dropped them on top of my credentials, I met his gaze with determination. “On the proviso that I will work alongside whoever you assign to them, I can guarantee you’ll get the business of Joshua Emerson, Lucas Cantrell, The Dark Hybrid, and Fighting Fate.”

  Mr. Schofield’s expression didn’t change, but the surprise and interest in his eyes gave him away. Slowly, he reached for the papers, his gaze sweeping the page before shuffling to the next.

  A few moments later, the corners of his mouth started curling upward. “Welcome to the firm, Mr. Murphy.”

  Victory rushed through my veins. Inside I was a maniac, jumping around and screaming with my fist pumping the air, but to Mr. Schofield, I simply smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Schofield. You won’t be disappointed.”

  He smirked. “I’m sure I won’t.” Leaning over his desk, he pushed a button on his phone. “Miss Turner, cancel the rest of the interviews. We’ve found our candidate.”

  The voice came back, soft and tinny. “Yes, sir.”

  Standing, he offered his hand over the desk. As I rose to my feet and gripped his hand, I watched his gaze darken. “Get that bar exam passed, Son. You’re going places.”

  There was nothing I wanted to hear more. It was the final push I needed to make sure my head was still screwed on tight. Giving his hand another pump, I nodded. “Yes, sir. That’s the plan. Thank you.”

  Picking up my satchel, I walked from the office feeling on top of the fucking world. After the night I’d had with Jess, and now this, I thought I could probably try to walk on water right now and fucking nail it.

  Stepping out into the sunshine, I pulled out my cell and powered it up, searching for Jess’s number as I walked toward my truck. She was totally going to flip her shit when she heard that I’d just nailed my interview. She had already told me she thought I was going to kill it, but knowing for sure was a different ball game altogether.

  Hitting call, I held the phone to my ear with my shoulder and waited for her to answer, fumbling with the fob on my keys as I went. As the call connected, I opened the door and smiled, tossing my satchel across to the passenger seat, ready to tell her the good news. But when I only heard rustling on the other end of the line, instead of the sweet hello I was expecting, I paused. “Hello?” I said, climbing in behind the wheel and closing the door behind me.

  A second later, her voice finally came through the line, but instead of a cute, teasing little greeting, I heard the last thing I ever wanted to hear her say. “Zac—”

  Everything around me went still, and the blood inside my veins ran cold. “Jess?” I called, waiting for her to answer me. But there was nothing. “Jess! Are you all right?” And then the line went dead.

  My chest contracted. I literally felt as though I could not breathe. Scrambling with my cell, I called her again.

  As each second passed with the line ringing sickeningly in my ear, my heart picked up a little faster. “Come on, Jess. Pick up,” I mumbled, growing more and more nervous. But as it clicked over to her voicemail, I felt the all too familiar sense of dread I’d felt with Noah when he’d been undercover.

  Trying it again, I turned over the engine. I had no idea where I needed to head—I didn’t even know where she was right now—but I was going anyway. I’d start at her apartment and tear apart the whole fucking city if I had to.

  As the call went to voicemail, I thumped the steering wheel. “Goddamn it!” Pushing a button on my cell, I ordered it to call Noah, my hands clenching the wheel tight as I drove. Relief swelled when he picked up on the second ring. “Noah!”

  “What’s up, man?” he said, concern laced in his voice.

  Panic was quickly trying to beat me down. “I think Jess is in trouble. I just called her and she answered, but all I heard her say was Zac before she hung up. Now I can’t get a hold of her. I’m freaking out, man.”

  “Where is she?”

  “I don’t fucking know!” I yelled, more frustrated by the situation than angry at him. “I’m heading to her apartment now. I’m just not sure what to do after that.”

  I heard movement on the other end of the line. “I’m getting in the car now. I’ll meet you there. And Eli?” he said, his voice dark with warning. “If Zac is there, don’t do anything stupid.”

  He didn’t give me a chance to answer before he ended the call, but I wasn’t sure he would’ve liked my answer anyway, because I couldn’t promise anything of the sort. If Zac was there, and he was hurting Jess in any way, he was mine.

  Chapter 47

  Jess

  Zac stood before me, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders tight, his whole body radiating anger and hatred. Noah and Eli had both warned me that he could be unstable, and judging by the sharp edge to his gaze, they were right.

  Swallowing, I slowly tried moving away from him. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what he was capable of. Who knew what he had in his pocket. I certainly didn’t. All I knew, was that I needed to keep my distance from him.

  He shifted on his feet a little, chewing on his lip as he moved. But all the while, he watched me. “I knew you’d be trouble when Wyatt first started dating you. I warned him, but he wouldn’t listen to me,” he said, his gaze narrowing with contempt. “I had nothing against you back then. You were an inconvenience at most, but then Wyatt had to go and grow feelings for you, didn’t he? He needed to make sure you were looked after so you would be the perfect little wife he thought he needed.”

  On the outside, I tried to keep my expression as calm as possible, but on the inside, my heart was ready to burst out of my chest. I thought I’d seen someone look at me with hate before, but I had been so very wrong. Hate—genuine hate—was as scary as hell.

  Drawing in a deep breath, I tried to think how I could get myself out of this safely. I couldn’t believe I’d accidentally hung up on Eli. I almost swore when the call had ended. If I could manage to unlock my cell without Zac noticing, I might be able to call him back. Or maybe call 9-1-1.

  Zac took a few steps to the side, his gaze never leaving me, even for a second. Slowly he shook his head. “You ruined everything,” he snarled. “Everything I’d been working toward for the last four years.”

  My brow involuntarily creased, and Zac’s snarl rose into a sickening smile.

  “Does that surprise you?” he asked sourly. “To know that Wyatt and I have been lovers for that long?” He tilted his head side to side a little. “Of course it would. You girls are so full of self-importance. Yo
u think you’re all so fucking irresistible that you blind yourself to the possibility that a guy might find another guy more attractive than you.”

  With slow steps, he kept moving around me, circling, preying on me like a vulnerable animal.

  “All you had to do was be happy with what he gave you,” he spat out. “He gave you more fucking time than he did me. But no. It just wasn’t good enough for you, was it? You girls always have to be so fucking needy and demanding, don’t you? It’s just never enough.” He shook his head. “I told Wyatt to dump you—that you weren’t worth the effort—but there was something about you that sucked him in. He chose you over me!”

  His jaw clenched hard, his eyes growing harder, almost resembling steel they were so cold.

  “It was me he loved! Not you,” he bit out. “You were just a part of a game he was playing. You were like the pretty fucking curtains, there to distract from who his really is. But it was me. I loved him! I had our future planned out for the rest of our lives. We were supposed to start our own firm and everything was going to be perfect.” Meeting my gaze, he sneered at me. “You tricked him. You confused him. Turned him against me. You got in his head and made him believe that you were his future and that he needed to make sure you were happy. You made him distance himself from me.”

  “I didn’t—”

  “You did!” he roared. “Don’t fucking tell me what you did or didn’t do! I was fucking there! I was the only one who was there for him. I was the one he complained to every time he had to fuck you. I was the one who listened to him when he was worried about how his family would react if they found out. I was the one who tried to work out a way we could be together. I was the one who tried begging him to come out of the closet with me, but he refused. Because of you! You gave him false hope. You made him think he could make it work! You filled his head with lies! It’s your fault I’m in this mess now!”

  Clutching my cell in my hand, I desperately tried to work the screen without looking, but I had no way of knowing what I was doing. If I could just distract him a little, I might be able to pull it off. “Then why drug me?”

  His expression turned bland, as though I was boring him in some way. His quick switching of emotions from hot to cold scared me even more than the hatred I felt emanating from him. “I needed time. Wyatt wasn’t listening to me, and I needed to make him see how ridiculous he was being. He refused to come to me, so I decided to find a way to come to him.”

  Anger swelled inside me. “So you thought drugging me was the best way to do it?”

  He shrugged. “I came across one of my old college bed buddies after one of our arguments over you,” he said, taking a few steps to the right. “He had this little party drug he said wiped him out, and that got me thinking. If I could just slip something like that into your drink, Wyatt would still technically be spending the night with you, but I’d get to be with him too.”

  As his words started sinking in, it all began to make sense. I shook my head, barely containing my anger. “You could have killed me,” I said, teeth clenched.

  Dropping his gaze to the dirt, he gave another shrug. He seriously didn’t care. “You broke up with him the next day, so it was a win for me. I’d never been happier. I thought, if only I could make him see that it didn’t matter—that he didn’t need you—we could still do what we were doing, and I’d eventually be able to show him that we didn’t need to hide who we were.” His gaze hardened. “But then he only distanced himself from me more. He went back to Portland for the break and turned off his cell.”

  Running his hand over his head, he glared out at the trees. It was my chance to make the call, but I only got as far as my contact list before he was glaring at me again. I pushed a button anyway.

  Zac took a few steps toward me. “He was different after that. When he came back, he avoided me like the plague, and when I finally caught up to him in the parking lot, he told me it was over.” Coming closer still, he lowered his head, his gaze penetrating mine like a knife. “You ruined everything. You took away everything I had to live for. You left me with no choice but to out him.”

  Movement over his shoulder caught my eye a split second before Wyatt stepped from the trees. “Don’t blame Jess for the choices you made, Zac. You’re the one who fucked up. You had no right to make that kind of decision about someone else’s life,” he said, striding forward.

  Surprised, Zac spun. “I had no choice! It was the only way I could make you see that we could be together.”

  Wyatt skirted around Zac until he was standing closer to me. “Oh, you had a choice, Zac. We all do. Every day. And I know why you did it, but it was wrong. Deciding who to disclose my sexuality to and how, is something I should’ve been able to decide on, but you took that away from me.”

  Zac’s shoulders tightened even further. “I did what you didn’t have the guts to do! Because of her!”

  “Jess has nothing to do with it, Zac,” Wyatt said. “I was using her to live a lie. She was a victim of circumstance. I broke up with you because I don’t love you, and, after you drugged Jess and decided to take all my choices away from me, I no longer respect you. How could I possibly be with anyone who treats someone I cared about with such contempt?” he said, shaking his head with sadness.

  As we each stood staring out at one another, tension heated between the two of them, and I thought how sad love could be, and just how crazy it could make us. It was like a thread two people held onto, each trusting the other to treat it right and keep it from decaying. But if you both didn’t have the same idea of what that thread meant, it could start fraying at any given moment, becoming so fragile that it would only take a word to snap.

  Wyatt raised his chin at Zac. “I don’t think I can ever forgive you for what you did, Zac. What you did to Jess is unforgivable. But I can tell you one good thing has come from it, which I am thankful for. I’ve finally found someone who likes me for me.” Slowly, he shook his head. “He’s good, honest, and loving, and most of all, he’s accepting. I hope it was worth what you threw away.”

  No sooner had he said those words, a blur streaked in from the left, taking Zac down to the ground in a rolling heap. I had barely enough time to comprehend that it was Noah pinning him facedown, before Eli had me in his arms, sweeping me to safety behind the trees.

  We’d hardly stopped moving when he grabbed my face in his hands, his gaze raking over every inch of it. “Are you all right? I was freaking the fuck out.”

  I nodded through my limited movement. “I’m okay. Wyatt kind of took the pressure off me a little,” I said, giving Wyatt a thankful smile as he slowly moved toward us.

  Eli frowned. He didn’t seem happy with that, but it was something he’d just have to deal with. “Why didn’t you answer your cell, Jess? I’ve been going out of my mind. I had no idea where you were, or if you were in trouble.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said quietly, but I wasn’t able to keep the happiness out of my voice. “But I really am okay. I promise.”

  “So, uh,” Wyatt, said, cocking his head to the side, “how long has this been going on for?” He was trying to sound stern, but it was more than obvious he was amused.

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” Noah said, smirking as he came toward us, a cuffed Zac being hoisted to his feet by a couple of uniformed police officers behind him. “I’d like to say I’m pissed neither one of you mentioned it, but I’m pretty freaking happy Eli’s finally got his head out of his ass.”

  Eli rolled his eyes. “Fuck off,” he said, putting an arm around me, but he was smiling. “And it only happened last night. She bullied me into it.”

  Wyatt threw his head back and laughed. “The redhead strikes again!”

  I smirked at Wyatt’s obvious happiness. “So a new guy, huh?” I asked, amused at this carefree Wyatt.

  He shrugged, but he smiled. “What can I say?”

  “Okay, spill. Who is it?” I asked, strangely happy about my ex finding happiness.

  Wy
att rolled his eyes and laughed. “You don’t know him, petal. But he’s hot, and I might be a little bit in love.”

  Giggling, I took Eli’s hand. It may have been a strange sight to anyone who vaguely knew us, but, as the four of us started making our way toward the bookshop, it felt very right. Life was just about perfect.

  Chapter 48

  Eli

  The lights flickered above me a second after the sound of thunder rumbled through the apartment. Rubbing my eyes, I slid my laptop onto the couch beside me and groaned. Damn it. How had it gotten so late?

  Sighing, I dropped my head back onto the couch and closed my eyes, only raising it again when I heard rustling coming from the stairs. As Jess appeared around the corner in just a tank and a pair of panties, her bedhead wild and sexy as hell, I smiled. “Hey, baby. What are you doing awake?”

  As she shuffled her way toward me, her gaze moved over the couch, her eyes narrowing on my laptop still humming away. “Are you still studying? You know it’s like two in the morning, right?”

  She stopped in front of me for a moment before sighing and climbing to straddle my lap. Sliding my hands over her ass, I pulled her against me, instantly hard. I didn’t know how she did it, but I felt as though I was in a constant state of arousal whenever she was near me. The fact that she seemed to want me just as much was an added bonus.

  “Yeah,” I said, answering both questions at once. “I’m sorry, baby. I know I said I’d be up earlier. I kind of got caught up reading some transcripts. I didn’t realize how fast the time was moving.”

  Her hands moved over my chest as she watched me. “It’s okay. I was just worried about you. I thought maybe you’d fallen asleep. Are you done now?”

  “Oh yeah,” I said, closing the laptop to prove it. “Come on, let me take you back to bed so you can get some more sleep.”

  She wriggled on my lap, rubbing herself over my cock. “You can take me back to bed, but I’m not going back to sleep until I’ve had you inside me.”