Dare Series Collection - Shantel Tessier Page 0,289

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