Dare Series Collection - Shantel Tessier Page 0,223

I don’t pretend to be something that I’m not.

I can be your fucking god—merciful.

Or I can be the fucking devil—ruthless.

Who I am depends on the person’s actions.

She’s frozen in place, her eyes wide and lips parted. I remove my hand from her jean shorts, and it slides underneath her T-shirt, lifting it up to expose her bare stomach. I run the tips of my fingers over her scar ever so gently. “Guess this was a lie, too.”

My eyes meet hers, and they’re full of tears. “Pl …ease.” Her voice shakes.

How easy the tables can turn. I give her a cruel smile. “You know I love it when you beg me, baby.” My hand starts to slide upward, but she shoves it away and takes a step back from me. Not in the mood to fuck around.

The first tear runs down her face. I watch it in complete fascination, thinking it’s a good look on her. That I should have made her fear me more than try to make her love me.

“Was it mine?”

No one knows how far back Becky and I go. Cole believes I’m in love with her, and a part of me was, but we started fucking long before he told me she had broken up with David. I had to pretend I didn’t fucking know. That just gave us the green light to go public. And the fact that Cole went all alpha for Austin, making the entire school aware he was claiming her, took the attention off what Becky and I were doing. The few whispers I did hear were shut down quickly for her sake. But we had been fucking for months prior to that. David be damned.

“So keeping us a secret had nothing to do with you and David. It had to do with you and Eli.” Until he died. I get it now. Fuck, I was stupid for her. “Was the child …?” I begin to ask again, but my voice trails off. I chuckle. This bitch! “You weren’t even pregnant.”

“Yes …”

“No.” I shake my head. Of course. How could I have forgotten? “You weren’t.” She swallows nervously. “I remember us hooking up the weekend before that in my parents’ pool house, and you were on your period.” Her face falls. “Don’t you remember, baby?” I ask, reaching out for her. I pull her to me, and her body shakes. “You told me that I couldn’t fuck you ’cause it was that time of the month”—I lower my lips to her ear—“and I told you blood didn’t bother me.” Fuck, this bitch has told so many lies. “I can’t believe you let him take the fall for you.” I understand why Cole did what he did. I would have done the same thing, but this is why she never wanted me to find out. Because she knows that I can prove she lied to him. And no one wants to be on Cole’s bad side.

“He blackmailed me.” She swallows as new tears run down her face. “Cole …”

“To be friends with Austin.” I nod. “He told us that too.”

“Us?” Her eyes widen.

I smile down at her. “See what I mean by bury you?”

She places her hands over her mouth and sobs into them. “I’m sorry …” she cries out.

“You will be,” I say and give her my back, ready to leave, but her hands grip my upper arm, and I stop, willing to give her a few extra seconds to grovel. I want her to feel weak. Alone. She shouldn’t have fucked me over.

“Please, Deke,” she begs. “It’s not like you haven’t kept secrets from me.”

“What I did was none of your business.” Simple as that.

Her watery eyes narrow on me. “You lied to me!” she screams. “You killed Kellan!”

“I have.” Then I turn and step back into her. “Want to know the truth, Becky?” I grab her blond hair and yank her head back, making her cry out. Lowering my lips to her ear, I growl, “I’m a murderer.” Her body trembles against mine, and she breathes heavily. “I’ve killed a total of five people.” Cole was the only one who physically put his hands on Jerrold when we went to his house and he drowned him in his pool that night, but we all played our parts. I take full responsibility for my actions. I wrap my free hand around her throat and give it a little squeeze. “Do you wanna be my sixth?”

She gasps.

I let go of her and take