When she licks her wet lips and falls to her knees like an obedient slave, I look at her with disgust. I’d always held Becky to a higher standard because she continually held her head high and didn’t care what others said or felt about her. Cole was not driving the car when it wrecked and killed three of our friends—she was—and she allowed him to take the fall for it. Though I can’t blame her for that part. I understand firsthand that when Cole makes up his mind, you can’t change it. I’m just like him in that aspect. But she lied to him when she told him she was pregnant. She wanted him to feel sorry for her and tell her to run, and it worked. She played him, and then she kept it from me because she knew I could tell him the truth.
I’m a killer. But I’ve never lied without a reason, and that purpose is rarely just to save my own ass.
She looks up at me, tears running down her face, and she pulls her shoulders back as though she has a backbone. “I’ll prove it to you.” Her voice doesn’t waver with her renewed determination. As if sucking my cock is going to make me fall in love with her all over again.
She’s not the first girl to suck my dick who I didn’t fall in love with. And she won’t be the last.
“Deke?” Her shaky voice pulls me out of that memory. Her hands are on my chest, and she breathes heavily.
I love that I still have this effect on her. After three months of nothing, I can still turn her into a fucking puddle of water that I can stomp through. I once loved Becky, but now I hate her with a passion.
My fingers dig into her arms. “Yeah, baby?”
She bites her bottom lip at my words. I avoid her like the plague, but maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe she could be more useful than I thought. If I told her to drop to her knees right now and suck my dick, would she do it? Only one way to find out.
I let go and run my hands up her arms. Her breath hitches when I move them over her neck, being as gentle as I can when I really want to fucking break it. Watch her perfect fucking lips open as she tries to breathe while the life drains out of her pretty blue eyes.
I can be a fucking heartless bastard.
Her blue eyes look up into mine, and I see it. That same desire she used to have for me. I wonder how much she faked. Did it make her sick when I touched her? When I kissed her? How about when I fucked her?
I’d love to make her hate herself as much as I hate her now. I can make her believe I love her again. That I’ve forgiven her.
My hands slide into her hair, and she licks her painted pink lips. “I’ve missed you,” I lie.
A shiver runs through her body, but she says nothing.
“Have you missed me, baby?”
Her eyes close and her lips part. The act reminds me of that last memory when I allowed her to suck my cock. The hopefulness she had in her eyes as tears ran down her face from my force. Those boys in high school were wrong—her mouth didn’t make up for what her cunt lacked. But when you love someone, you’re blind to their every flaw. Now that I hate her, I see much clearer. The fog is gone, and I see Becky for who she really is—a slut I can use to my advantage.
Sweet fucking revenge. I’m an expert at fucking someone over. No one plays that game better than I do.
I lean down, pressing my lips gently to hers, and she opens up immediately, but I don’t take the bait. Not yet. Why rush this, when I can have some fun and draw it out?
I pull back, and she opens her heavy eyes. “Deke—”
The doorbell rings, interrupting whatever she was about to say.
I let her go and walk out of the kitchen. I open the front door to see the neighbor kid Misty standing there with her dark hair up in a ponytail. She reaches up and pushes her glasses to sit higher on her nose. She’s a fourteen-year-old girl with three older brothers. I sometimes play basketball with them out in the driveway.
She smiles at me. “Hi, Deke. Austin called and said she needed a sitter tonight.”
I step aside for her to enter. “She’s upstairs in the shower right now, but Lilly is in her room.”
“Thanks.” She walks inside, bouncing down the hallway to find Lilly.
When I return to the kitchen and find it empty, I take my ass up to my room to get ready for the night. I’m going to seduce Becky. And she’s going to realize she’s weaker than she thought when it comes to me.
CHAPTER THREE
DEKE
TWO HOURS LATER, “Like a Nightmare” by Deadset Society plays inside my SUV as I drive us to Silence. The sun has officially set, and we decided to go earlier rather than later to beat the crowd and traffic since it’s a Friday night.
Austin leans forward from the back seat and taps Cole on the shoulder. “Turn that down for a second, please?” He does as she asks, and she begins to read something to us off her phone. “Did you know they can touch you? I’m on their website, and it says that you should not wear open-toed shoes or nice clothing. That you may have to crawl, jump, or run to get free. And that you may have blood thrown on you.”
Cole stiffens in the passenger seat at the mention of blood. And I wonder if he has the same thought as me.
Five months ago
Cole pulls up to the Lowes estate and doesn’t even bother turning his car off. He jumps out, and I follow him up the stairs, and he barges into Bruce’s house. Celeste, Austin’s stepmother, lies dead at the bottom of the stairs. Neither one of us gives her any thought.
“Austin?” Cole yells, pulling the gun out of the back of his jeans. I’m holding mine down by my side, and it’s ready with a bullet in the chamber. “Austin?” He shouts again, running down the hallway.
He follows the blood trail down the hall, and my throat tightens at what we’re going to find. It won’t be good.
He takes a sharp right, entering the kitchen. “Austin?” I hear him choke on her name, and my heart begins to pound. What did he find?
I enter behind him and gasp. “What the fuck?”
Austin lies in a pool of blood on her father’s marble floor. Fuck! She’s bleeding too much. Her shirt and her jeans are soaked. Her once sun-kissed skin looks pale, and the pool of blood underneath her slowly gets bigger. The smell alone almost knocks me off my feet. Kellan still holds the gun in his hand. Why did he shoot his best friend’s girl? I don’t understand.
“Take him,” Cole calls out, not looking up from her body. He goes to touch her but then pulls back.
She’s dead. I’ve helped him kill enough people to know what a lifeless body looks like. “She needs help,” I argue. Looking over her with narrowed eyes, I know there’s not much we can do for her at this point. Kellan killed the only thing Cole has ever loved. And Cole will make Kellan suffer in ways he can’t even imagine.
“Take him!” Cole barks this time. “Help is on the way.” He turns his attention to Austin, dismissing me.
I look over at Kellan leaning up against the countertop with a knife stuck into his side. He smiles, looking over at Austin lying on the floor. Fucking prick. I grab him by the back of his neck and rip the gun out of his hand, before yanking him away from the countertop.
I’m not sure how Cole would handle seeing Austin covered in blood again. Even if he knew it was fake.
“For the ones who think they are fearless, they have a ‘blackout’ attraction where you are given a glow stick to navigate your way out.” She goes on to read about Silence.
“Pass,” Becky says.
I smile to myself. She’s avoided me since I played with her in the kitchen back at the house. She stuck by Austin’s side while she got ready. It’s like she’s afraid to be left alone with me again because she doesn’t trust herself with me. Silly girl. Space won’t save you from me.
“I think that sounds like the most fun,” Austin argues.
I watch Cole relax into his seat and smile at Austin’s words. She isn’t afraid of anything.
“You have to sign a waiver for that, though,” Austin adds.
“I’m not signing shit,” Becky mumbles to herself.
“Silence
was once an insane asylum that was shut down back in 1984 due to a patient being killed. She died by strangulation. She managed to get out of her straitjacket and hung herself by the straps.”
“God,” Becky whispers.
“Afterward, the place was bought by the Thompson family. Over the years, they have added new attractions to Silence, but the part that makes it stand out from all the other haunted houses in Texas is the fact that it is actually haunted.”
“I should have stayed home,” Becky whines.
Austin continues, “Silence sits on a hundred acres and has over 200,000 square feet of attractions. That does not include the original underground tunnels that the staff used to transfer dead bodies from one building to another …” She pauses for a second and then looks up at the back of Cole’s head. “I wonder if we get to walk in the tunnels.”
“You can’t be serious?” Becky asks.
“I mean, wouldn’t that be awesome?” Austin goes on. “If the tunnels were the blackout attraction?”
Cole and I both chuckle. “What?” Austin finally directs her attention to Becky. “Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. Bonfires and ghost stories. Some apple cider with a little rum. Scary movies and haunted houses.”
“The only part I want to participate in is the one where we get drunk off that apple cider and rum.” Becky smiles at her.
“We’re here,” Cole announces as I pull up to a wrought-iron gate.
We enter, and buses line the long driveway to an opening. Men in yellow vests holding flashlights navigate the long line of cars. One guides me to a parking spot in the middle of a field that is quickly becoming full. We exit and turn around to see what looks like an abandoned castle that’s been painted black and has boarded-up windows. The tallest part stands at five stories high in the center with an even taller clock tower. Red lights on each side of the building make it glow.
To the right is another gate and the ticket booth with a Ferris wheel and roller coaster in the distance. You can hear people screaming from here as it takes a loop.
“It has a carnival?” Becky observes.
“It has a scarenival,” Austin corrects her. “I read it on the website as well. It has a maze, a mirrored fun house, and …”
I tune her out and remove the tickets from my pocket before handing them to Cole. I had only purchased three, so Becky is going to have to buy her own once we get up there.
Austin has moved on in conversation and is now talking to Cole about what she wants to do on Halloween in two weeks when Becky groans at her cell going off.
“What?” Austin asks her.
“My sister is here.”
Great!
She quickly types away. “With her boyfriend,” she adds, not pleased with the situation.
“Do they wanna join us?” Austin asks her.
Cole throws me a look of sympathy. This was supposed to be the three of us. With my newfound idea to seek revenge, I don’t mind Becky tagging along, but now I’ve got her bitch of a sister to deal with.
Fucking fantastic!
“Yeah.” She sighs heavily. “She’s gonna meet us over by the wristbands.” At least she sounds about as thrilled as I am.
Cole takes Austin’s hand, and they lead us through the crowd to the ticket booth. We fall into line, and Austin shivers. “It’s freezing.” Her teeth chatter as she wraps her arms around her chest. “The news said it wasn’t gonna get below fifty-five tonight.”
“It’ll be warm inside,” he tells her.
“I hope.” She laughs, rubbing her hands up and down her long-sleeve shirt.
“Probably be cold as death,” Becky mumbles.
“Here.” Cole pushes Austin away so he can unzip his black hoodie.
“No. You’ll be cold,” she protests.
He wraps it around her shoulders and yanks the hood up over her head. She looks up at him with a smile on her lips.
He snorts at her statement. “I’ll be fine, sweetheart.” Then he pulls her back into his side, and she snuggles into him.
It’s sickening how cute they are together. But I can’t deny that I’ve seen my friend turn into a different person since she came along. A better version of himself. But I can tell he’s been a little off and in a funk lately, and Austin knows it too. She watches him closer and makes sure to give him more one-on-one time when I take Lilly out to a movie or shopping for some new toys. I think she’s afraid of losing him to the darkness that he was in when she entered his life. I’m not sure how far he is from that at the moment, but I know it won’t take much to push him over the edge.
A scream has us all turning around to look. A guy lifts a girl dressed as a naughty nurse with fake blood covering her costume and throws her over his shoulder. She screams out again playfully and slaps his ass over his jeans while his hand slides up her short skirt to grip her ass.
When we all turn back to face the line, a blonde stands before us with big blue eyes and her hands on her narrow hips. Demi Holt is the spitting image of her sister, and both girls look just like their mother. I’m pretty sure all three use the same amount of bleach, shade of makeup, and brand of perfume. Neither girl knows who they really are. All they know is who their mother has told them to be.
Such a waste of a good piece of ass.
A guy by the name of Seth stands next to Demi. What are the odds?
“Hey, guys,” he greets us, shaking Cole’s hand and then mine. “Didn’t know you were gonna be here.”
“You know them?” Demi asks with a look of disgust on her face.
If Becky can be a bitch, Demi can be a fucking mega bitch. They’re not close. They’ve always disliked one another, and somewhere over the years, it’s turned to hate.
She looks the same as when I saw her three months ago. Her bleach blond hair is down and in soft waves. Where Becky wears a lot of makeup, Demi barely has any on tonight. Her blue eyes are narrowed, and her usual plump lips are now thin and coated with a shiny gloss.
Seth nods, answering her question. “We attend the University of Texas together. English Lit.”
“Forgot you guys went there,” Demi mumbles.
Liar. She knows where we go to school. She just doesn’t care. About anyone. Another quality she and her sister share.
“I want some popcorn,” Becky announces, looking over at the popcorn cart to the right of us. “It smells amazing.”
“Then get some,” Demi tells her, tossing her hair over to one shoulder. Seth goes to place his arm around her, but she pulls away from him. He doesn’t seem upset in the least.
I wonder if he’s ever tried to fuck that stick out of her ass?
Becky’s face falls. “I left my purse in the car.” She holds up a twenty-dollar bill. “All I have is enough to get in.”
“Why?” Demi asks.
“I didn’t wanna carry it in here. Not after Austin said I may have to run or crawl for my life.” She shivers at that thought, and Austin laughs.
“Just go and get your money,” Demi suggests, rolling her eyes.
“We parked too far away. I don’t wanna make you guys wait for me.” She sighs. “It’s fine.”
Gotta give a little to get a little, I tell myself. “I’ll get it for you.” Becky looks at me with wide eyes. Austin gives me a soft smile, but Demi looks at me suspiciously as if she’s on to my plan. “Anyone else want some?” I ask, not taking my eyes off Becky’s. I am trying to be nice tonight.
“I’ll get my own,” Demi announces while everyone else tells me, “No thanks.”
Walking over to the popcorn stand, I stand behind the only other two people in line. I’m not a fan of the shit. It gets stuck in your teeth, and they never give me as much butter as I like. So, I pull a piece of gum out of my pocket and pop it in my mouth.
“Still her little bitch boy, I see.”
“Excuse me?” I turn around to find Demi standing behind me in line with her arms crossed over her chest. Her blue eyes glare up at me.
“Gotta say, I admired your lack of empathy. Until now.”
“What are you talking about?” I growl. Demi knows nothing about me.
She pops her right hip out. Her blue eyes drop to my tennis shoes and slowly run up over my jeans and T-shirt before meeting mine again. “Men always think with their dicks,” she says.
I give her my back, dismissing her. She’s a child. And someone I don’t like, so I’m going to ignore her the rest of the night.
I get the popcorn and return to my friends, not bothering to wait for Demi. Becky gives me a mumbled thank you. I return it with a smile, and she looks up at me suspiciously. Yeah, baby. I’m feeding you full of bullshit, and I’m gonna cram it down your throat until you choke on it.
We get our wristbands that allow us into the first attraction and make our way over to the black building with a banner that reads Fright Night on it. As we walk through the entrance, Austin sneaks up behind Becky, places her hands on her sides, and screams in her ear. Becky jumps so fucking high she could have dunked a basketball had she been on a court.
“I think she pissed her pants.” Seth laughs, throwing Demi’s now empty bag of popcorn in the trash can as we pass it.
Austin covers her mouth to muffle her laughter. “Sorry …”
“No, you’re not.” Becky pulls away from her.
“I don’t even know why you came,” Demi growls. “You hate anything even remotely scary.” Then her blue eyes slide to mine before looking away.
What was that for?
“Watch what you say and where you look. For it may blind your sight and take your voice,” a creepy man sings while he stands in a corner and gestures to a hallway on his left.
We enter a makeshift room no bigger than the entryway to Cole’s house with black walls and ceiling. Creepy Halloween music plays softly through the hidden speakers. The girls are standing there, waiting for us to pack ourselves inside. Cole walks up behind Austin and places his arms around her chest. Seth pulls Demi into his side, and she looks like she wants to push him away but won’t due to the cramped space. Becky stands next to me awkwardly, biting her lip nervously.
If You Dare (Dare Series Book 3) Page 3
