Dare Me

by River Laurent

  “Are you okay, sweetie?” she asks, sounding concerned, and I have a flashback of the time I fell out of a tree when I was seven years old and broke my hand. She was so frightened and distressed her hands were shaking, and I had to tell her to stop worrying. It was nothing. The image puts everything into perspective again and suddenly the logical side of my brain takes over. What the hell am I doing? How could I even consider for a moment that she is not my mother?

  “Yeah, I am,” I reply quickly. “How are you and Dad?”

  “We’re great, honey. Dad and I were just listening to your game on the radio.” Her voice muffled as if she’s just turned her head to look at something else. I must have interrupted her while she cooking dinner or something.

  “You busy?”

  “I was making dinner, and I think I heard the oven ping. Can I call you back later this evening?”

  “I’m out with the guys, Mom.”

  “Oh, all right. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Have a lovely night, honey. You deserve it. Dad’s out in the garden. I’ll tell him you called.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  “Before you go, I just want you to know that I’m so proud of you, Drake. You’re everything I ever wanted, and I couldn’t have asked for a better son.”

  “I love you, Mom,” I mutter guiltily.

  “I love you too. Speak to you tomorrow.”

  “Bye,” I say, and hang up. Thank God, I had enough sense not to ask her outright. Now that I can think about it without the smell of Reese fucking up my head, the whole idea sounds crazy even to me. I screw up the paper the phone number is written on, and chuck it into the bin by the door as I exit the locker room.

  I get as far as the corridor before I come to a complete stop. A janitor is coming up the corridor with his pail and his mop. He’ll empty out the bin, and her number will be gone forever. I realize that I can’t let it go. I don’t know why, but I just can’t. I whirl around jog back to the bin, and retrieve the screwed-up ball. I smooth it out, turn it over, and spot something on the other side.

  It’s a torn off hotel stationery, but a piece of the logo and name is still intact. What’s more, it looks familiar. I hold it closer to my face, squinting, and finally, it clicks. The Regatta. Okay, that is good to know, because I’ve been in it once before. It’s just outside town. A Swedish girl I was banging years ago, was staying there. I feel happier, suddenly. I stuff the paper into my pocket and head out of the stadium.

  I’ll ask Dad about the adoption thing tomorrow, but I’ll build up to it slowly. No point hurting him. In the meantime, I’ll work getting my mind off Reese.

  My phone rings. It’s one of the guys, probably already hammered on whiskey shooters. Tonight, I’m just not in the mood to get completely fucked up and have my pictures snapped by the paps as I stumble out onto the street in the early morning hours.

  I don’t pick up the call and decide to drown my sorrows in my favorite bar instead.

  My body is still buzzing when I slide up a bar stool. It’s like Reese sashayed into my locker room and pussy whipped me in one encounter. I like it here because it’s small and private and everyone knows me, so I can usually come for a drink and not get mobbed by half the city. I know some of the guys really dig that side of playing, but it’s not my thing. Sure, notice me when I’m on the field, but off it, give me a break, will ya?

  Sandy one of the bartenders comes over with a bottle of beer for me.

  “Great game,” she says with a friendly grin.

  I nod my thanks. As I slide my card along the bar surface I tell her to get herself and the rest of staff a drink too. She flashes an even wider grin and goes away.

  I take a long slow swallow and let out a satisfied sigh as the cold liquid splashes down my throat. Closing my eyes, I try to lose myself in the social buzz of the bar for a few seconds. This is my happy place, but today I find myself fucking tormented by the image of Reese, in nothing but her panties, hand busy underneath the thin fabric. My dick twitches.

  Fuck, that girl…

  Before the image earns me another painful erection I snap my eyes open. I stare moodily into my glass and feel someone’s gaze on me. Not an unusual thing. I spend a lot of time with people either recognizing me outright or squinting at me while trying to figure out where they’ve seen me before. I turn around and clash glances with a woman sitting at the other end of the bar. She is staring hard at me.

  Her mouth curves. I smile back as I lift my glass to my mouth. She’s hot, not Reese-hot obviously, but hot nevertheless. Blonde hair down to her breasts and a tight sweater that accentuates a trim, athletic figure. I trail my finger down the condensation on my glass and wonder what it would be like to ask her to strip, play with herself, then sit on my cock the way I asked Reese to do.

  I don’t have long to wonder because, a couple of seconds later, and she’s making her way over to me. She leans right into my ear to talk to me. It isn’t exactly loud in here, and she really doesn’t have to get so close, but hey, I’m not complaining. She smells good, not Reese good, but good enough and Reese did leave me with a bad case of blue balls.

  “Drake Kelly, right?”

  “Yep,” I confirm, as she pulls back, and beams at me.

  “Damn, I was just watching you play,” she gestures towards the TV above the bar. “You’re hot.” She bites her bottom lip. “I meant to say good.”

  “Thanks,” I raise my glass to her, and her eyes dance down my body, lingering here and there, and ending up at my crotch. Not hard to tell what she’s thinking.

  “Uh, look, I never do this,” she whispers, leaning up against the bar and raising her eyebrows. “But do you want to come back to my place? I’ve got plenty to drink, and…”

  She lets her sentence trail off, leaving the obvious unsaid. I stare at her for a second, waiting for that stirring between my legs at the thought of hooking up with her. She looks like a girl who knows how to give good head, and I was left high and dry, and I’m carrying a full load, but I don’t feel anything. Dammit, really? Has Reese had that much of an effect on me?

  I need a release, but I don’t want her. I want Reese… and her damn freshly shaven, eager pussy.

  “Sorry Princess, I have other plans tonight, but if you’re around another time…”

  She flushes, and steps away, muttering something. I’ve offended her, but I’m just not into her. My head and my dick are somewhere else. I turn back to my beer, angry with myself. What the fuck is wrong with me? A hot woman offers herself straight up to me, and I don’t take advantage of it because of… wait for it… I’m hung up on a scam artist that I haven’t even so much as slid my thick cock into her sweet hole.

  Maybe that’s the problem.

  Maybe that’s how I get her out of my system. What if the tease is actually a crumb and I’m supposed to follow the trail? She’s certainly pointed me in the right direction with the torn off hotel notepad and all.

  I know where the hotel is. I could go there. Yeah, it’ll be a bit intense, a lot desperate, but what the fuck. If she’s feeling even half of what I am, she must want to finish what we started. What’s the worst she can do? Tell me to fuck off? I can take being brutally shot down. I need to find her and know either way.

  I down my beer, pay my tab along with a generous tip and get to my feet. Making my way back onto the street, I flag down a cab and slip into the back seat.

  “The Regatta, please.”

  “It’s an hour’s ride,” he says, turning back to look me in the eye.

  “I know.”

  “Okay,” he says, turning on the meter.

  I sit in the darkness and marvel at what the fuck I’m doing. I have no idea what I find so tantalizing about this girl. I know nothing about her beyond her name, and how good she looks naked. But something about her eyes, the way they burned into mine, or the way her mouth made me dream of sliding my dick into it. Or even the sound of her voice, a little whispery, as if everything she says is a big secret.

/>   It is still bouncing around inside my head and it isn’t going to stop until I figure out what her deal is. Or at least, until I get rid of this damn hard-on.

  “Could you wait for me?” I ask the driver when we arrive at the hotel. “I’ll pay extra.”

  “How long do you think you’ll be?” he asks suspiciously, and I shrug, fighting to keep a cocky grin off my face.

  “Not long,” I promise, even though I hope she’ll be sucking me off for a long, long time. He nods curtly, and I head into the lobby of the hotel.

  “Pay me what you owe me first,” he says.

  I pay him and approach reception. I lean up against the polished wood and look around. They’ve prettied the place up some since the last time I was here. Even the switchboard is fancier. A pretty receptionist comes out of a door and comes up to me. She gives me a dazzling smile.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Uh, yeah, I’m looking for Reese? She left her bag at my place, I wanted to drop it off.”

  She cocks an eyebrow at me. “Where’s the bag?”

  “In my pants.”

  She rolls her eyes, goes to the computer, and taps at a few keys. Then she turns back to me and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, looks like she checked out about an hour ago, but if you like, you can leave your name, in case she calls looking for her… handbag?”

  “No, it’s fine,” I say and I can’t even pretend that I don’t give a shit. I feel like I’ve been shot in the heart. “Thanks anyway.”

  I make my way back outside and get into the cab.

  “She wouldn’t put out, huh?” the driver comments heartlessly.

  Chapter 4

  Reese

  I return to the hotel in a daze and start packing up my stuff. I’m supposed to stay another couple of days and take in some sights, but all I want to do is run back home. Like a zombie, I check out of the hotel, and take a taxi to the airport. In the plane, I attempt to sleep, but it feels as though something has shifted deep inside of me.

  Even when I get back to my hometown and start the long, familiar drive back to my parents’ house, I can’t stop thinking about my shameless behavior while I was out of town. I squirm against the leather seat of the car as I remember my behavior in the locker room. I still can’t believe I did that. Who’d have thought I could be such a brazen hussy?

  No one held a gun to my head. I could have just walked away. Instead, I did every dirty thing he told me to.

  After all these years of waiting for that special guy to punch my V-card, I feel more than a little stupid to realize just how much I enjoyed mindless lust with a guy who is indisputably an asshole, and how badly I still want to go all the way with him.

  To think I rubbed myself on his hard-on!

  That’s basically half a step away from truly hooking up. Heck, if I’d stayed there for one second longer, I wouldn’t have been able to restrain myself. I would have let him take my virginity right there and then in a men’s locker room! Thank God, some sense of self-preservation kicked in and I fled before I could completely humiliate myself.

  I’m completely clueless, I mean, I’ve made out with boys before, and I’ve listened to my girlfriends going on about the stuff they’ve done with their boyfriends, but I’ve never felt this kind of desire for anyone before.

  His cock felt good against my pussy and made me wonder how it would feel buried deep inside of me. I wanted to be on my knees with his cock in my mouth. I wanted to see his face when he came. I wanted to do everything with him. Even thinking about it now is turning me on.

  Maybe I’ve been overthinking it this whole time. Instead of waiting for that one special guy I should settle for someone who turns me on beyond all belief? Maybe, I should have just let Drake push me down on his cock. Just get it over with.

  I force myself to stop obsessing about sex, and Drake, and sex with Drake, and turn my thoughts instead to whether Drake will come to see my stepmom. I really hope he fulfills his end of the bargain and calls her. After he speaks to her and hears just how weak and frail she is I pray that either his kindness, or his curiosity gets the better of him, and he comes out to see her.

  My heart starts to ache when I think about my stepmom.

  When I was three years old my biological mother ran away with another man. A year later Dad met Morgan and married her, but that same year Dad had to have an operation which also meant he couldn’t have any more kids. So, Morgan poured all her love into me. I can, hand on heart, say, no biological mother could have cared for their child with more dedication and love than Morgan did.

  I adore her with every fiber of my being, fiercely and endlessly. I will do anything I can to make any wish she has come true before she leaves this earth, but she has never asked me for anything. She smiles bravely and never complains.

  The only time I have ever seen her cry is when she was telling me how much she would love to see her son again. She wanted to explain everything so he would not think that she just gave him away. She wanted him to know that she never forgot him or stopped crying for him. Even though it is not her fault, deep down inside, she has carried the guilty feeling that she failed him as a mother.

  The real problem is Drake didn’t even seem to know he was adopted. He was shocked when I told him, then very skeptical about the whole thing. As if I’d made it all up. Obviously, his parents never told him he was adopted.

  I pull up to the house and take a deep breath. Okay, Reese, put everything that’s happened while you were away out of your head. That was just a temporary madness. This is real life.

  Morgan can usually see through me no matter how clever I think I’m being, and if she even got a tiny hint of what I’ve done to get Drake to take our address, she’ll never forgive herself for putting me in such a position. So, I carefully arrange my face into a neutral expression before I get out of the car and head to the front door. To my surprise, my Dad pulls the door open before I can even get my key into it.

  “Reese!” he exclaims, stepping aside so I can enter the house. “I thought you were going to be another two days?”

  “I missed you too much, Dad.” I spread my hands in a dramatic gesture, and he rolls his eyes at me playfully. Then, he nods towards the living room, “Morgan’s in there,” He grins, excitement flashing in his eyes. “And she’s got some amazing news.”

  “Oh yeah?” I ask, opening the door to the room. My stepmom is sitting on the couch, a book in her hand, and a blanket thrown over her knees. If one didn’t know better, one would never guess how very ill she is.

  “Hello, my pumpkin!” she cries happily and holds her hands out to me.

  I go over to give her a hug. As her arms close around me, I inhale her familiar scent with a bittersweet joy. I can’t even begin to imagine life without her.

  I sit down on the couch next to her. “So, what’s this big news?”

  She meets my gaze with a smile on her face, and I know without having to ask what she is going to tell me. He must have called almost as soon as I’d left. I assumed he was going to take at least a few days to consider the proposition before he decided either way. Turns out he’s a lot more enthusiastic than I thought. Is that about me? Or about his mom? Even before she can get the words out I can already feel my scalp prickling with tension. I brace myself to react to her news in the way that would be considered normal.

  “You did it, Reese.” She clasps her hands together. “Drake called me, and he said yes, he wants to meet, Reese! He wants to meet his mom. I’m so happy my hands are shaking.”

  “That wonderful, Morgan.” I lean forward excitedly. “When?”

  “Tomorrow!” She spreads her palms and I can see that they are shaking. “I can’t believe I’ll be meeting him after all these years.” She gives a high laugh of excitement. This has been a decades-long dream. Two big teardrops roll down her face and she swipes them away roughly. She never did like to be caught crying. “And I can’t believe that my two kids have been in the same room together already. It�
�s just mad. Completely mad.”

  She has no idea what her two “kids” have been up to. “I’m so happy for you, Morgan.”

  She beams happily. “You must have made quite the impression on him.”

  “I guess so,” I say, averting my eyes for a moment. She pauses and examines me carefully. Shit, she can always tell when I’m hiding something.

  “Is everything okay, Reese?” she asks gently.

  I nod at once. I don’t want the pure joy and happiness of her finding the son she’s been longing for all these years, to be sullied by the truth of what really happened between him and me. What matters is that he’s coming to visit her, and he’s gone above and beyond his end of the bargain. A part of me wonders if he’s expecting to finish what we started. I push the thought from my head at once and take her hand.

  “Everything is just fine,” I assure her. “I’m just glad that it worked out for you and him.”

  “You did get along with him, didn’t you?” she asks anxiously.

  I flush. “Of course, I did. He’s a nice guy.”

  Her eyes widen like a child’s. “Tell me more,” she demands eagerly. “What should I expect?”

  I can’t exactly mention that he’s going to be the star of all my wet dreams from now on, or how close I came to losing my virginity to him. I take a deep breath and try to think of the most diplomatic way to phrase it.

  “I’d say he’s a very confident guy,” I nod. “I think you’ll really like him.”

  Her eyes shine brightly. “Yeah? You think so?”

  “Absolutely.” And that wasn’t a lie either. Not many people would fail to be impressed by Drake’s stunning good looks or his magnetic charm and personality.

  “And he didn’t seem bitter about me?”

  I frown. “Actually, I got the feeling he didn’t know about you at all.”

  Her eyes widen with shock. “His father didn’t tell him?”

  I shake my head. “I thought he was going to fall over backward when I told him.”