DARE SERIES COLLECTION

by Tessier, Shantel

  Then our names are typed one by one, but Eli, Landen, Maddox, and Kellan have a black line through theirs. Then Austin is after that. Her name is also marked out but in red. And below hers, the last name is Demi. Typed black letters but with no line.

  What the fuck …?

  “Cole …”

  He reaches up and grabs the glass bowl off the table and throws it into the nearest wall, shattering the glass.

  We all stand silently, and Bennett grabs the crinkled-up paper from my hand and his shakes as he reads over it.

  Cole places his fisted hands on the table and leans over. His shirt sleeves strain against his taut muscles, and he’s breathing heavily.

  Shane shakes his head, clearing his foggy mind, and takes the letter from Bennett. He swallows nervously as he too reads over it. “Cole …” He starts.

  But Cole doesn’t allow him to finish. He spins around and shoves Shane’s back into the closest wall. “Whoa!” Shane throws his hands up in the air. “What the fuck, man?”

  Cole grips Shane’s shirt. His eyes murderous, and I’m just waiting for him to punch him. Cole loves to handle his problems with his fists. But instead, he takes in a deep breath as though he’s trying to calm himself. “If anything happens to her, you’re the first one I’m going to kill. Do you understand me?”

  Shane’s eyes narrow on him. “I wouldn’t …”

  “Do you understand?” Cole yells in his face.

  He gives Cole a curt nod. “Understood.”

  “Who the hell is Demi?” Bennett asks, looking over the paper again.

  Cole lets go of Shane and answers. “Deke’s new fuck buddy.”

  “I’m not screwing her.” I sigh. I just dream about killing her. No big deal.

  Shane brushes his hand down his shirt. “You’re fucking Becky’s little sister?” He obviously remembers her.

  “No.” I growl. “It’s not like that. And she’s with Seth.”

  Cole snorts.

  The rest stare at me with hard jaws and narrowed eyes.

  “What?” I snap, not in the mood to play some game with a new psychopath.

  “What all does she know?” Shane asks.

  “Noth …” My words stop when I realize that’s a lie.

  “Fuck!” Shane growls. Throwing his hands up in the air, he knows I’ve run my mouth.

  “What does she know, Deke?” Bennett asks, stepping forward.

  “Enough.” I growl.

  “How much is enough?” Bennett snaps.

  Cole begins to pace with his head down. Shane drops into a seat at the table and places his head in his hands.

  “She knows I’ve killed five people,” I admit.

  “Of course, she does,” Shane mumbles to himself. I’m about to let Cole knock the shit out of him.

  “Why the fuck does she know that?” Bennett shouts.

  “After Cole told me that Becky was driving the car when the accident happened, I confronted her at her house and told Becky what I had done. I was pissed. My intentions were to scare her. Demi overheard us talking …” I pause when his eyes widen.

  Cole has stopped pacing, and Shane is looking up at me from the table with the same look Bennett is giving me.

  “What?” I ask again. “Quit looking at me like that and use your fucking words.”

  “Becky was driving?” Shane asks breathlessly and then looks at Cole. “Becky was driving the night our friends died?”

  Fuck!

  Cole says nothing, and Bennett takes a step back from me, running his hands through his hair. He looks stressed but not surprised. “You knew she was driving,” I accuse him.

  We all suspected that Cole wasn’t driving. We thought he was covering for Eli, but he wasn’t. Cole took the fall for Becky. I thought Austin and I were the only ones who knew that.

  Silence fills the room. And his eyes drop to the floor. “Bennett?” Still, he looks down. His body rigid. My heavy breathing fills the small room, and I take a step closer to him. “Did you know she was fucking Eli too?” I demand.

  Bennett says nothing, but I hear the small gasp from Shane. He obviously didn’t know. Glad I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know that information. “Bennett?” I shout.

  Lifting his head, his eyes finally meet mine. “I had my suspicions. But no, I didn’t know for sure. And when I confronted Eli earlier that week, he denied it.” He looks over at Cole, who stands leaning perfectly still against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. “I saw her that night … of the accident.” He swallows nervously. “The girl I was hooking up with was hanging with Becky. I drove them to the party, and she had me drop her off next to Cole’s car. I thought she was sleeping with him.” I run a hand through my hair. “But then I realized Cole was with Eli, and I knew. I just knew she was there for him.” His eyes meet mine, and they soften. “Thirty minutes later, you called me.”

  I sit in my parents’ living room. My father stands, glaring at me in his ten-thousand-dollar suit. His graying hair slicked back and hands in the pockets of his black dress pants. He stands at six foot four, two inches taller than me, but I’d take him in a fight any day. He’s strong but slow. Sitting in an office with a girl on her knees sucking you off will do that to you.

  I lean back, placing my arms along the back of the couch, and ask. “Are we done here? I have plans tonight.” Being the smartass kid he raised me to be.

  His jaw clenches, and I bite back my smile. “No, we are not done! And no, you are not going anywhere tonight.”

  The guys and I had a swim meet earlier, and of course, he missed it. He was too busy to attend were his exact words, but the second I walked in the door, he decided he had time to spare for a chat.

  Just then my phone rings, and I reach into my pocket to get it.

  “Deke, don’t you fucking …”

  “Hey, sis.” I answer, looking up at him, and he shuts his mouth once he knows it’s Shelby and not one of the guys wanting to know why I’m not at the party yet. “What’s up?”

  “Deke …” She sniffs.

  I lean forward. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  “It’s Cole …” She begins to sob.

  I jump to my feet. “What is it?” I demand. He and some of our friends went to a party tonight. I was supposed to meet them there, but my dad cornered me on the way out and said we needed to talk about my future. “Shelby?” I snap.

  “He’s here, Deke. At the hospital. They were in a wreck …” She pauses. “Maddox, Eli, and Landen …” She sobs. “Didn’t make it.”

  I run out of my parents’ house while my father yells my name. Jumping in my SUV, I fly to the hospital. But on my way, I call Bennett.

  “Kinda busy, Deke,” he answers breathlessly, on the third ring.

  Tears burn my eyes, and I try to take a calming breath while I drive twenty over the speed limit. “I’m headed to the hospital.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “Shelby called me … Cole and the guys were in a wreck.”

  “What? A wreck? What are you talking about?” he asks in a rush, and then I hear movement from his end. Sounds like he’s getting dressed. “Is he? Are they …?”

  “Cole is the only one …” I blink, and a tear runs down my face. Fuck, I can’t catch my breath. “They’re dead, Bennett,” I say and choke on the words. “They’re all dead. And she didn’t say Cole was in the clear.”

  He’s silent for a long moment. When he finally speaks, I can hear that he, too, is having problems getting his emotions under control. “What about her … is she …?” He pauses.

  “Who?” I ask, and he doesn’t answer. I pull into the hospital parking lot. “Shelby called me and said that Cole was brought in. But Eli, Landen, and Maddox didn’t make it. She didn’t mention a she.” Cole didn’t say anything about going out with a girl tonight, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t pick one up along the way.

  “Deke …”

  “She didn’t mention a girl,” I shout, interrupting him. “I don’t know who yo
u’re talking about, Bennett. But I just got to the hospital.” I pull into a parking spot and shut off my Range Rover. “I’ll see you when you get here.” Then I hang up before he can go on about some fucking chick.

  I rub the bridge of my nose. “The girl was Becky.” I nod to myself. “Everyone seemed to know except me.”

  “I didn’t know shit!” Shane snaps.

  “I’m gonna tell you both what I told Deke, and that is none of it fucking matters.” Cole finally speaks. He points at the paper in Shane’s hand. “Someone is trying to fuck with us.”

  Shane lifts his chin. “What are we gonna do about it?”

  “Whatever we need to,” I answer.

  “It doesn’t make sense, though. Why is Demi’s name on there?” Bennett sighs.

  “She knows. Maybe she set this up, and that’s why her name is on it,” Shane offers.

  Cole shakes his head. “That would be too obvious. She would be the first person we suspected.”

  “Does she know you’re Evan Scott?” Bennett asks me.

  I try to think back to what all I said to Becky when I stood in her bedroom three months ago.

  I take the stairs two at a time and knock on her bedroom door. “I said not right now, Demi …” She yanks the door open but stops when she sees it’s me.

  “Hey,” I say gently.

  She has her blond hair up in a high ponytail and is wearing my Hollywood Undead T-shirt from the concert I went to last summer with the guys, a pair of skinny jeans, and pink high heels. My cock instantly hardens. She knows what it does to me when she wears my clothes.

  “What do you want, Deke?” she demands before looking out in the hallway to see if we are alone. Her arms cross over her chest, and those big blue eyes narrow on me—just like her sister. Both Holt women seem to hate me today. This house is like a motherfucking ice castle—cold. “Or should I call you Evan Scott?”

  My jaw tightens at her sarcasm. “You know my name is Deke.”

  “I’m not sure what I know anymore.” She shrugs.

  “Becky …”

  A noise to my left has us both turning to look, and we see Demi coming up the stairs carrying a bottle of water. She looks at her sister and then at me before she walks right past us with her nose up in the air.

  Becky grabs my arm and yanks me into her room, then slams the door shut behind us. I take that as an invitation and step into her. She stiffens. Placing my hands on her hips, I pull her to me. My hard cock straining against my jeans.

  “Deke,” she warns, feeling it.

  I lower my head to her neck and inhale. Her scent of strawberries hits my nose, and I bite my tongue to keep from moaning. I love it when my clothes smell like her. My bed. My car. I love knowing she was there. With me. All mine.

  “Well, let me remind you it’s me, baby.” My voice is rough, and my cock throbs. I wish we were alone. I’ve fucked her in this room so many times before, but since I know Demi is next door, I won’t.

  “No.” She shoves me away, and I go willingly. I honestly didn’t come here to get between her legs. Or her mouth. Although that would be a bonus. “Who the fuck is Evan Scott?”

  I run a hand through my hair. “I had to create a fake profile for a dare.”

  “I don’t know.” I answer his previous question. “She could have, but I can’t say for sure.” I don’t know how long Demi had been standing on the stairs when Becky called me Evan Scott. But she could have heard Becky ask me about him once she and I were in her room.

  “We take her out,” Shane announces.

  I throw my head back and laugh at that ludicrous idea. I wanted to threaten Demi, but take her out? Not happening. Make her life a living hell if she’s behind this? Absolutely.

  “We’re not doing that.” Cole shakes his head.

  “I didn’t get this far to let some little bitch get us thrown in jail. Who the hell knows what she knows?” Shane fists his hands.

  “We can’t kill her.” Cole growls. “We’re not in Collins, you fucking idiot. She has a sister. Parents. She’s a senior in high school. Not some old guy with no one who would look for her.”

  “You did whatever the fuck you wanted to do with Austin,” Shane snaps.

  Cole’s eyes narrow on him. “Yes, but she had no one. This situation is not the same. And we’re not in a place that we know well enough to start killing people and hiding bodies.”

  I hang my head and run my hand through my hair. “How about we just ask her what she knows?’

  “Do you think she’ll be truthful?” Bennett asks me. “Like if she knew her life was in danger?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know.”

  “This is bullshit,” Shane snaps.

  “Watch it, Shane,” Cole warns. “You’re starting to sound like Kellan. And we all know how that worked out for him.”

  Shane ignores his threat and looks at Bennett. “Speaking of Kellan, how do we know you really killed him?”

  “Excuse me?” Bennett quirks a brow at the accusation.

  “I killed him,” Cole corrects Shane.

  “But how do we know he stayed dead?” Shane argues, pointing at Bennett. “This fucker could have …”

  Shane doesn’t get to finish that sentence ’cause Bennett’s fist connects with his jaw, knocking his ass into the table.

  I grab Bennett by the shoulders and yank him back. “Cole? A little help,” I snap, watching him leaning up against the wall.

  He releases a huff and pushes off and yanks Shane up off the floor by the collar of his shirt. Not exactly what I meant by helping, but it’ll do.

  “It makes total sense.” Shane shoves Cole away with a growl. “His name is on there and marked off ’cause we believe he’s dead, but what if he’s still alive?”

  “No.” Cole speaks. “He. Is. Dead. I made sure that fucker was cold before I handed his ass over to Bennett.”

  Shane runs the back of his hand over his bloody chin as he glares at Cole. “You willing to bet Austin’s life on that?” he asks.

  Silence fills the small area. Bennett pulls away from me, and I cross my arms over my chest. Cole squares his shoulders and fists his hands. “I don’t care if God himself wrote us this fucking riddle. I’ve already told you if something happens to her, you’re the first one I’ll kill.”

  Shane ignores him and turns to face me. “Did Kellan know Demi?”

  “We all went to school together. Of course, he knew her,” I answer.

  “No, I mean really knew her.” He growls. “She’s the only one on the list who doesn’t make sense.” He licks his busted lips. “Did they fuck?”

  “Who didn’t Kellan fuck?” Bennett growls.

  The thought of Kellan and Demi together makes my jaw tighten. I always saw Demi Holt as a good girl. A bitch, yes, but someone with very little experience in the bedroom. She never flaunted herself like her sister did. I figured she’d take a little more time to spread her legs open for a guy. And Kellan didn’t have that kind of patience. But then again, I’d never have guessed she would allow me to finger-fuck her in a haunted house either. So what the fuck do I know when it comes to her and what she will do?

  I try to think back to anything that would give away the two of them even communicating in any way. “No,” I say when I realize we already know the answer. “But I know how we can figure it out.”

  “How so?” Bennett asks.

  “We have Kellan’s phone …”

  Bennett shakes his head. “We gave it to the police. Plus, other than the recording I wanted them to have, I wiped it clean.”

  “We still have his other one. Let’s go through it.” His phone never mattered before. Austin survived. Kellan was dead, and his body was never going to be found, so we never went through it, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t keep it.

  Cole finally nods. “Grab the note and let’s go.”

  We lock up the cabin and get back into my SUV. As I start my car, my phone dings. It’s a new text from Austin. I open
it up.

  Austin: Where are you guys? His phone is still off. I’m really worried, Deke.

  Me: Headed home.

  I throw my car in reverse.

  “Who was that?” Cole asks, staring down at my phone sitting in my lap.

  “Demi.” My stomach instantly knots at the lie. And, fuck, why did I have to say her? Becky would have been a better choice. More believable.

  His eyes meet mine, and I know he knows I just lied. I wait for him to call me out on it or maybe punch me in the face. Nothing would surprise me at this point. At least I didn’t think so. But then he nods his head once and looks away from me, not saying one word.

  DEMI

  I sit in my bath, the only light from the flickering candles lining the bathtub. I have bubbles in my water, and Austin’s journal in my hand. I haven’t been able to put this down. It’s like a dark and mysterious maze. Even though I know they end up together, I’m still trying to figure out how Cole will win her over.

  He treats her like shit. Blackmail and physical harm are just a couple of things he puts her through, but she dishes it back. In a way, she’s my hero. I wish she was my sister and not Becky. Yeah, Austin gave in and had sex with Cole, but it was more than that.

  She reminds me so much of myself. She feels this pull to Cole’s darkness just as I do to Deke’s. I wanna see what he can do. How dark he can go. Push his limits like Austin did with Cole. And push him, she does.

  She has just completed her first dare in this part. She pulled the fire alarm at school and stole Cole’s car keys out of his locker. She needed a distraction to get Shane out of the school so he could steal Jerrold’s laptop. Eli’s brother-in-law. The man who was married to his sister. The murderer who killed her just months after Eli died in the car wreck. Deke threw her a party to celebrate it on the beach. And it reminds me of when I went there with my sister and David. That night that changed everything.

  I fall into Eli’s passenger seat and inhale the scent of his car. It smells like his cologne, and I smile to myself, knowing it’s going to be on my clothes long after he drops me off at home.

  He gets into the driver’s seat and starts it up. “Darkest Hour” by Memory of a Melody plays through the speakers.