Dare Series Collection - Shantel Tessier Page 0,156

be back to visit soon. I love and miss you,” I say and then give it my back.

I walk down the hill, passing the spot where it all began. Where I found the gorgeous brunette spying on my friends and me, and I smile. That was so long ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

I come to the bottom of the hill and see the black lifted Chevy come into view. The passenger door opens, and a little boy jumps out—my five-year-old son. “Daddy!” he says, running to me.

I open my arms and pick him up. “Hey, buddy. Ready to go home?” I ask him.

He nods. “Mommy is hungry.”

I laugh at that. “Mommy is always hungry.” Setting him back down on his feet, I look up to see my wife slowly getting out of the truck.

“We should have driven my car,” she whines, rubbing her growing belly and aching back. “You can’t expect me to get up and out of this monster at six months pregnant. She’s really active today.”

I chuckle, stepping to her. My hand sliding into her hair. “Have I told you that you look gorgeous today and that I love you?”

“I’m a whale,” she whines.

I kiss her red painted lips. “You’re a shark, sweetheart.”

She pulls away, and her green eyes search mine. “Are you okay?” she asks, and her eyes go to the top of the hill.

I nod. “I said what I needed to.”

“I wish Lilly could have made it,” she says, and tears start to form in her eyes. I still find her beautiful when she cries. And she does that a lot with this pregnancy.

“Me too. Maybe next time.”

She nods and looks over at our son who is digging in the dirt. “Come on, Eli,” she calls out, and he dusts off his hands and runs over to her.

I turn and look back over the hill where my mother was buried long ago. I used to ask myself why I survived that car crash. And then one night, I found a girl in a cemetery and all my questions were answered.

I’ve never been a religious man, but I prayed that night I found her on the kitchen floor, and for some reason, God answered them and gave her back to me. Gave me another chance at living. Because without her, I wouldn’t have survived.

It’s been two months since she was released from the hospital, and we’ve officially moved into the place we call home in Texas. She sits with Becky at our kitchen table. Her morning hair a mess and no makeup on her face. I’ve never seen her more beautiful.

Becky looks up at me, and her words trail off.

Austin looks over her shoulder at me, and a smile spreads across her face when her eyes meet mine. But it drops when I don’t return it. “You’re up to something.”

“Aren’t I always?” I ask with a straight face.

Her eyes narrow on me. “Cole …”

When I kneel on one knee, her words cut off and those dark green eyes widen in surprise. “Cole,” she whispers my name.

“Austin Anne Lowes,” I begin and tears well up in her eyes. I open the box, and she gasps when she sees the princess cut red ruby sitting on a platinum band. I take it from the black velvet box and hold it up to her. There’s nothing for me to say. The ring says it all.

She takes it from my hand and reads the three words I had engraved on the inside of the band—I dare you.

I used to think that I was going to go to hell. And that thought hasn’t changed. One day, I’ll have to pay for my sins, but as I watch my pregnant wife hug and kiss our son, I realize I’m okay with that. Because my life right now is heaven on earth.

PLAYLIST

Three Days Grace – “Right Left Wrong”

Urbanstep, Micah Martin – “Throne”

Project Vela – “Everything You Hate”

Zayde Wolf – “Born Ready”

Boy Epic – “Scars”

Chase Atlantic – “DEVILISH”

Tommee Profitt, Jung Youth – “Only One King”

Hollywood Undead – “Riot”

No Reserve – “What You Deserve”

Bohnes – “12 Rounds”

Dark Signal – “Build You Back”

Chase Atlantic – “Into It”

PROLOGUE

COLE

I’M COLE FUCKING Reynolds.

Dark.

Evil.

Fucked up.

A part of me has always been this way. And that part of me will never change. Some would call that too much damage. Others would just say I’m an asshole. I’m not sure which one I really am anymore. But does it matter?

Not one fucking bit.

Have you ever heard someone say that