Dare Series Collection - Shantel Tessier Page 0,82

he does but only when he has parties at his house,” she says, before taking a drink of hers. “If he goes to a party that isn’t at his dad’s, then he doesn’t drink.”

“He had a shot that one night we were at that party they showed up at.”

She nods. “One shot. You won’t see him have more than that.”

That surprises me. “Why not?” I ask.

“The night Maddox, Landen, and Eli died, they had all been drinking at a party. Cole was driving them when he wrecked.”

My brows shoot up. No one ever talks about what happened to his friends. It’s like the ghost everyone can’t see, but you know it’s there. Jeff said he killed his friends, and Shelby told me it was a car wreck, but that’s as much as I know.

“What happened?” I ask, looking to see that he and Shane are still talking to Deke, but now Bennett has joined them.

“The brakes went out, and the car rolled. They were all thrown out.”

I take a sip. “Did Cole get in trouble?”

She shakes her head. “His dad has money. He’d just paid for the police academy’s new training facility before the accident. He got a slap on the wrist.” She lowers her voice. “It caused a lot of tension between him and Kellan.”

I frown. “Why Kellan?”

“The other guys understood what happened was an accident and could have happened to any of them. They were all out of control, but Kellan blamed him. Still does. Maddox was Kellan’s cousin.”

“Oh,” I say.

She nods quickly before taking another drink. “But I feel sorry for Cole.” She looks over at him and sighs. “What happened was an accident. Hell, I’ve gone to parties and drove home drunk before. Not responsible, but I get it. He blames himself, and anyone who knows him can see it eats him alive. He and Eli were the closest, and he died in his arms.”

“What?” I breathe.

“Lauren James, a sophomore, her dad is a paramedic, and she said that he told her when they pulled up to the scene, Cole was sitting in the ditch with Eli in his arms. Dead.”

I look over at him and see he has turned and now faces our direction. His eyes are on the sand, hands now in the front pockets of his jeans, and he nods his head as Shane speaks to them. And I remember what he said to Jeff that night in the cemetery.

Give me what I deserve! Why don’t you get your sorry ass up and hit me? Why don’t you be a fucking man and fight me.

He wanted a fight. Needed it. I didn’t understand then, but I do now. He lifts his head, and his eyes land on mine. I stare back without blinking, just taking in the color of his dark blue eyes. They’re just like the sky—always clouded. And I can’t imagine what he went through losing three friends and living with that guilt. It would destroy a weak person.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

COLE

“COLE?”

I look away from Austin first to glare at Shane. “What?”

“Did you hear anything I just said?’

“Yes.”

“Then what did I say?” he questions with an arch of his brow.

“That you didn’t find much on the laptop.”

Deke shakes his head. “I thought for sure we could use something on there.”

“Well, there is some stuff. He’s got accounts we can drain.”

“He’s still looking for him,” Bennett chimes in.

I snort. “He won’t give up because without Jeff, the business will plummet.”

“Do you think he suspects us?” Shane asks.

I shake my head. “We made sure to cover our tracks. Why would he?”

He runs a hand through his hair. “Because we are the only ones who knew what he really did to Aimee.”

“He has no proof that we knew,” I argue.

“What if he found the cameras?” Shane continues.

“You’re reaching,” I growl, tired of talking about this shit.

“I’m trying to think of every angle so if something comes back to bite us in the ass, I can cover it,” he snaps.

I turn and step up to him, my chest bumping his. “Drop it, Shane. You’re making a problem where there’s not one.”

His brown eyes narrow on mine. “No, you made a problem when you decided to continue what Eli had started.”

“We all moved forward,” Deke corrects him.

“I owed him that.” My hands clench. “I …” A hand lands on my arm, and I jump back in surprise. Looking over, I see Austin standing beside me, her green eyes full of worry as they search mine. Her hand runs