Dare Series Collection - Shantel Tessier Page 0,347

look over at her, and her head falls toward me, and her pretty blue eyes look up into mine. The same ones I watched the life slowly drain out of while I choked her earlier. I hate that I hurt her. Now that I know the truth of how much shit she has been through. It seems someone is always wanting to hurt her.

“I know I lied to you. Tricked you. We set you up. But …” She licks her lips. “I wanted you to take it, Deke. Don’t think for one second that I didn’t want you.”

I hate how much I like the sound of that. But I find myself saying, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

I reach out and cup her face. For wanting to kill you. For fucking you? My list just seems to keep growing, but I pick. “Your first time should have been different …”

She snorts. “I didn’t want different. And I don’t regret it.” She closes her eyes.

I watch her lips part slightly and her chest rise and fall slowly. She’s so drunk, she won’t be with me much longer. But I still have questions. “If Eli knew what she did to you, then why did he fuck her?”

“I lied about that too the other night. On the back porch.”

“What?”

“He never slept with her.” She yawns, and I know I’m losing her.

“Demi?”

“Hmm?”

“What do you mean he never slept with her?” Cole told me that they were sleeping together. He wouldn’t lie to me.

“He faked it.”

“How do you fake fucking someone?” I growl.

“He set her up. For you … just like I set you up.” She’s beginning to mumble her words.

“You’re not making any sense, princess.”

She digs into the pocket of her jeans and produces her cell phone. She goes to hand it to me but drops it to the floor. “It’s all on our FB chat,” she manages to say before she passes out on me.

DEMI

Sophomore year

“This is a horrible idea,” I say, grabbing Eli’s arm.

“It’ll be fine.”

“Please don’t go,” I beg him.

He runs a hand down his face and lets out a sigh. He’s clearly getting pissy with me. His phone dings, and he looks down at it. “It’s Deke.”

“What did he say?”

“His father wants to talk to him, so he won’t be at the party, but he’ll meet up with us afterward.”

“See, this may not even work.”

He cups my face with both of his warm hands. Brown eyes staring into mine. “It will. I promise you.”

I don’t understand how he thinks my sister will fall for this shit. She’ll see right through him. She won’t risk her secret relationship with Deke. She keeps saying that she and David are on a break right now, but I’m not sure how much I believe that since her phone seems to go off a hundred times a day, and I know it’s David.

His cell rings this time, and I get a quick look to see it reads Cole. Eli answers it. “Hey, man. I’m about to leave.” He nods to himself. “Okay, I’ll meet you there. Then we can all ride with you.” He hangs up and gives me his attention once again. “I’ll see you in a few hours.” He kisses my forehead and then walks out of his front door.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

DEKE

I PULL UP to the house and carry a passed-out Demi inside. It’s quiet, letting me know that Austin and Cole are already asleep. Opening my door, I lie her on my bed and undo her jeans before sliding them down her legs. Then I’m removing her shirt. I leave her in her bra and underwear and make my way back out to my SUV. I open the passenger side door and pick up her phone off the floormat.

Going back inside the house, I grab the pack of cigarettes out of the drawer and make my way out back. Cole is in the pool.

“Thought you’d be asleep,” I say, sitting down.

Standing in the shallow end, he gives me a clear view of his bare chest and all the red scratch marks along his stomach and sides. I bet his back matches. That is why I took the long way home. No telling what Austin looks like at the moment.

“I just got out here,” he tells me.

I lean forward. “So I found out some interesting stuff tonight.”

“I think that’s an understatement.”

He’s talking about the Demi situation and Evan Scott. I sigh. “Other stuff.”

He arches a brow. “Like what?”

She asked me if I could keep a secret, and