Dare Series Collection - Shantel Tessier Page 0,279

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 shaking body toward me. “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.

“Cole.” I sigh and take another quick drink from the bottle. He was man enough to tell me, so I need to do the same. I just hate that it’s like this. I should have done it the moment I realized she had lied to him.

“She was bleeding. Pretty badly. She had to require medical attention,” he continues as he stares down into the water that he loves so much.

“Becky was never pregnant,” I blurt out before I lose my nerve.

He frowns, his eyes meeting mine. “Yes, she was.” I shake my head. “She sat there in the middle of the road, next to my car, holding her stomach, crying and told me she was pregnant.”

My teeth grind. That fucking bitch … “She lied to you.”

A silence falls over us, and he just stares at me. A look of nothing on his face. The old Cole would be furious. This is the new Cole. The one who is unpredictable.

I lean forward, placing my elbows on my knees. “I went to her house after you told Austin and me that Becky was the one driving and that she was pregnant.” I start to explain. “And I demanded to know about it. I thought it could have been mine.” His eyes widen with my confession. “We were sleeping together …” I run a hand through my hair. “And had been for a while at that point. Then I remembered that I had been with her the weekend before the accident, and it was her time of the month. She couldn’t have been pregnant.” I take another drink of the vodka, but the words I just spoke burn more than the alcohol. “I’m sorry, man—”

“None of it was your fault,” he interrupts me.

“She lied to you,” I grind out.

“Doesn’t matter.”

He can’t be serious. “But it does,” I argue.

“It doesn’t change anything.”

“I know, but …”

“It doesn’t fucking matter, Deke!” he snaps. “I don’t give two fucks about Becky! What matters now is that we got a text that puts Austin in danger. And I’m not gonna allow that.” He climbs out of the pool, picks his shirt up off the ground, and dries off his hands before holding it out to me. “Let me see your phone.”

I pull it out of my pocket.

He dials a number and then places it on speakerphone before dropping it onto the round glass table next to me. I take a quick look to see who he’s calling and refrain from sighing.

It rings once, twice, three times. After a few more times, it goes to voicemail. “You’ve reached Bennett …”

Cole hangs up and dials it again.

“Heellloo?” Bennett’s groggy voice answers after the second ring this time.

“Wake the fuck up!” Cole snaps at him.

“I’m up … I’m up …” I hear the rustling of covers. “Everything okay?” He clears his throat. “What time is it?”

“Late,” I answer.

“Who is it?” a woman’s soft voice asks in the background.

“Tell your fuck to pack her shit and get out,” Cole orders coldly. “We need to talk to you!”

I expect Bennett to argue, but instead, he sighs heavily. “Give me a second.”

Cole paces before me, water dripping from his boxers, his entire body rigid. I feel sorry for him. For what he has gone through with Austin. Finding the woman you love dead changes a man. I don’t care who you are. Especially when you were the one who wanted to hurt her in the first place.

“I’ll call you later,” Bennett says after a long second. “Okay.” He returns to the line. “What is going on?”

“Deke and I just got a text. That’s what’s up!” Cole explains.

“A text?”

“It was actually a