Dare Series Collection - Shantel Tessier Page 0,358

our way up the stairs, and I enter behind her.

I come to a stop as I look down at the hardwood floor in the entryway.

“Seth! Please stop!” I cry as he lies on top of me. I reach out in front of me, trying to grab something, but there’s nothing there. My cheek throbs, and it’s hard to breathe with all his weight on me.

I hear his zipper lower, and then his hands are on my hips. He lifts up enough to flip me over onto my back. And I slap at his face.

“I have to.” He growls.

What is he talking about? “No.” Tears run down the sides of my face. “You don’t.” I slap at him again, and he jumps up off me.

I get to my shaky legs and reach for the door, but he grips my hair with his fists and starts dragging me across the floor. “Stop!” I cry, trying to twist in his grip. “Please,” I beg.

He kicks the bedroom door open and shoves me inside. “It’s just sex, Demi. Not like you’re not already a fucking slut.”

He reaches out for me, but I dart to the left. He gets a hold of my shirt and yanks on it, stretching it out before shoving me onto the bed. I kick and scream, knowing I won’t be loud enough. No one will hear me.

He takes a second to shove his jeans off his hips, and I ram my head into his face, smashing it into his nose.

“Fuck!” He growls, rolling off me.

I jump to my feet and run for the front door. I don’t look back. I don’t even stop to grab my bag. Nothing is more important than getting the fuck out of here.

“Demi?” I hear him scream my name as I run outside and to my car. “Demi!”

I yank open my car door, start it up, and throw it in reverse, not even bothering to look behind me.

“Demi?”

I blink to see Deke standing in front of me. “You okay?” he asks softly. His blue eyes searching mine.

“Yeah,” I lie. “Fine. Why are we here?” I look around to see a chair sitting in the middle of the living room. It’s empty, but a rope sits next to it on the floor along with a black duffle bag. Cole stands behind it, wiping his bloody knuckles off with a dish rag. And Bennett sits at the kitchen table with his phone in his hands.

I look at Deke and notice that he too has blood on his knuckles and shirt. “Are you okay?” I ask, placing my hands on his chest. His heart beats slowly, and his breathing is even. Whatever he did, didn’t even work him up.

“It’s not mine,” he says.

I swallow, immediately knowing who it belongs to. “Where is he?”

“He’s in the bedroom.” Cole is the one who answers.

I go to walk that way, but Deke places his hand on my shoulder and pulls me to a stop. I look up at him, and his blue eyes soften. “I’d rather you not.”

“But …”

“Can you trust me that I took care of it?”

“Did you kill him?” He had told me while in bed that he was going to kill him.

“People don’t have to stop breathing to stop living,” he says, and I understand. They took something from him, but it wasn’t his life.

I drop my eyes back to the chair and take a step back, letting him know I won’t go back there. No matter how badly I want to see what they did to him, he’s trying to protect me from something that he thinks I can’t handle. I like that he’s trying. That he actually cares to keep me innocent in their world filled with blood and chaos.

“Let’s go,” Deke orders.

Cole reaches out and snatches Austin’s car keys from her hands. Deke places his hands on my shoulders, spins me around, and ushers me out the front door. He opens up the back door of Austin’s SUV, and I crawl in with him. He pulls me into his side as Bennett gets in on the other side of me. Cole throws his dish rag and a black duffel bag into the back before he gets in and starts up the SUV as Austin gets in the passenger seat.

I snuggle up to Deke, and he kisses my hair. I close my eyes and release a sigh. It feels good for someone to stick up for me. I used to hate the GWS, but it seems