If You Dare (Dare Series Book 3)

by Shantel Tessier

She’ll pay. No matter what I have to do or who I have to fuck, I’ll get my revenge. I always do.

  I enter my room, slam my door, and run over to my desk. Yanking open the drawer, I pull out a pair of scissors and crawl onto my bed. I scream as I slice the sharp edges through her hurtful words. Through her innocence. I fucking stab it over and over, imagining it’s her face.

  She will pay! Even if I have to have someone else do it for me.

  DEKE

  “So, what are you gonna do?” Cole asks as we sit at the kitchen table.

  Demi: That you took my virginity. In her bed.

  I read over the text Demi sent me earlier this morning for the hundredth time. The more time that has gone by, the more pissed I’ve gotten. “I’m not sure,” I say honestly. I wasn’t able to concentrate in my classes today or during swim practice. My mind was completely consumed with everything Demi. And it’s literally gotten me nowhere. I’m like a dog chasing my own tail.

  “What do you wanna do?”

  “Strangle her,” I grind out. “She fucking played me.” I sit back in my seat. But how did she do it?

  “Have you heard from Becky?”

  “I did earlier.” She stopped calling when she realized I wasn’t going to pick up.

  “And what does she have to say about it?”

  I glare at him. “Since when did you become a nosy little bitch?”

  He chuckles. The bastard has been in a good mood today for some reason. And I know it’s not because he got laid last night. They do that every night, and he’s still always a moody fucker. “Just wondering what you’re gonna do to pay Demi back. I could use some excitement.”

  “I’ve been thinking the same thing. I can’t kill the bitch, and I can’t physically torture her.” I mean, I could, but then what? I’d have to get rid of the body somewhere. And I’d look suspicious. Too many people know I’ve slept with her now. I doubt Becky would mind if I offed her sister, though. Hell, she’d probably help me.

  “You could make her fall in love with you,” Cole states.

  I throw my head back, laughing at that. “Funny.”

  He levels me with that blank stare he does so well.

  “You’ve got to be joking?” I ask when he says nothing.

  “Why not?” He leans forward, placing his forearms on the table. “Isn’t that the best kind of payback? Make her fall in love with you and then leave her for Becky?”

  My brows pull together. “You make it sound like you have experience in this department? We both know you’ve only ever loved one girl.” Austin. And he’s marrying her.

  He looks away from me, and his jaw clenches as though he’s thinking of a similar situation. When he looks back at me, that blank stare is back in place. “Austin said it the other night. A jealous woman is irritational.”

  “How in the fuck would I get Demi to fall in love with me? She hates me.” And why would I want her to love me? The girl is fucking crazy.

  He snorts. “Obviously not. She just gave you her virginity.”

  My teeth grind. “It was clearly to piss off Becky. Not for her benefit.” Fucking bitch.

  “She’s young. Naïve. A rich little girl who has been sheltered all her life.” He smirks. “You’re Deke Biggs.”

  “You say that like it means something.” I growl.

  He arches a brow. “Doesn’t it?”

  I let out a long breath and lean back in my seat. “There’s only one flaw in your plan. It’ll never work because I will never get back with Becky.”

  We hear the front door open seconds later. “Cole?” Austin shouts his name.

  We both jump up at the same time as she enters, all but running in. “What’s wrong?” he asks her, already rounding the table.

  Breathing heavily, she slams down a black and white notebook on the table. He looks at it and then at her. “Did you read this?” she demands, pointing at it.

  “Yes,” he answers, crossing his arms over his chest, and I know this isn’t going to be good.

  She picks it back up, waving it in his face. “All of it?”

  “No, just a few pages …”

  She storms over to our junk drawer and yanks it open. I frown when she pulls out a lighter. Is she going to smoke? Austin doesn’t smoke cigarettes. But instead of pulling a pack out, she walks over to the sink and lights the corner of the book on fire.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Cole demands.

  “What I should have done a long time ago,” she answers, still holding the lighter to it even though it’s already up in flames.

  “What the fuck, Austin?” He snatches it from her hands and turns on the faucet, putting it out.

  “I told her to burn it.” She reaches for it, but he holds her back with his other arm. “And she didn’t. And she lied to me. Told me she didn’t read it. Fucking bitch.” She’s shouting, and her fists shake. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Austin this pissed. And we’ve put her through some very sketchy situations in the past.

  “Who?” I ask, confused by what the hell is in that notebook and why she wants to burn it.

  She looks at me as if she’s just realized I’m also in the room. “Becky.”

  I frown. “What’s in it?”

  She opens her mouth, but her phone begins to ring. She pulls it out of her pocket, looks at it, and then silences it. “Fuck!” she shouts.

  Cole turns off the water and drops the now soaked notebook into the sink. He places his hands on her shoulders and looks down at her with concern in his eyes. “Sweetheart, what’s going on?” he asks softly as though he’s talking to a child.

  She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “I went to go see Demi, to tell her that she could talk to me, and she had my journal. When I was in the hospital, I asked Becky to burn it. I didn’t want you finding it,” she tells him. “But she kept it. She read it. She told me that you read it.” She pokes him in the chest. “And neither one of you ever told me. Then she tried to tell me that I’m with you for money.” She pushes Cole away with disgust. “Like I give a fuck about that shit.” She starts pacing the kitchen. “Then she began to tell me that the only reason I fell in love with you was pretty much because I was broken and enjoyed abuse.”

  Oh, shit. I can’t believe Becky would say that to her.

  He runs a hand through his hair nervously. “Austin—”

  “I slapped her,” she interrupts Cole.

  My eyes widen. “What?”

  She looks back at me. “And I told her that she is not welcome here.”

  “Austin ...”

  She ignores Cole and walks over to me. Her green eyes have tears in them, but I can’t tell if they’re from sadness or anger. She licks her lips and the look on her pretty face makes me think she’s about to break down and sob. “I’m sorry, Deke, but I cannot forgive this. I will never tell you who you can and can’t date, but she’s not allowed back in my house.”

  “Sweetheart?” Cole steps up behind her.

  She spins around and looks up at him. He opens his mouth to speak, but whatever he sees written on her face makes him pause. He reaches out to cup her face, and she shoves him away. “How could you?” she asks, and her voice breaks.

  “I—”

  “No,” she interrupts him. “That was private. You had no right.” Then she turns and storms back out of the kitchen just as fast as she entered, but I don’t miss the tears running down her face.

  “What the hell is in that damn thing?” I ask.

  Cole runs his hand down his face, releasing a sigh. “Things her stepdad did to her. And everything we did to her. From the point she saw us on New Year’s night committing murder in the cemetery up until the night before Kellan shot her.”

  Fuck! No wonder she’s mad. “You told her you only read a few pages.” Had he been lying?

  “I read enough,” he says through gritted teeth, knowing none of it was pretty. “I gotta go talk to her.”

  “Good luck,” I offer, thinking he may be the
thing she sets on fire.

  He slaps me on the back as he exits. “Austin will forgive me. You’re the one who needs luck. Two women equally hate you at the moment.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  DEMI

  SETH BRINGS HIS car to a stop in front of my mother’s house. “You okay?” he asks.

  I nod my heavy head. “Yep.”

  He chuckles. “Need me to carry you upstairs and put you to bed?”

  I snort. “I didn’t drink that much.”

  “I know, but you also haven’t eaten anything.”

  I open the door and look over at him. “I’m fine.”

  “Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I crawl out and turn to shut the door, but he speaks. “Don’t let her get to you,” he tells me.

  “I won’t …”

  “She’s pissed. Just lost her best friend and her boyfriend.”

  I snort. “You don’t know them like I do.” After what went down with my sister and Austin, my sister left. I’m sure she went running to Deke. Begging him to love her from her knees. I’m sure he promised her the world since he owes her for fucking up and sleeping with me. He probably told her we were drunk. Or he thought I was her. Who knows what he said and what she’ll believe?

  “I know your sister is a bitch.” He growls. “And that you should sleep with your bedroom door locked and one eye open.”

  I nod. “Thanks for the ride home.” I slam the door shut and make my way up to the front door.

  It’s a little after midnight. I left a few hours after Becky and Austin did. I called Seth, and we went to hang out with a friend of his. We had some drinks and played video games. I needed to celebrate. I fucked over my sister, and she fucked over her best friend.

  It was a great Monday!

  I hated the look on Austin’s face when she realized she had been betrayed, because I’ve been there with Becky, and it hurts. I’ll go see her tomorrow after school and apologize for how things went down. And let her know that I’m here for her too. I can be her friend.

  I make my way into the house and up the stairs. I enter my room and gently close my door. Flipping on my bedroom light, I squeal like a pig when I see a man sitting on the end of my bed.

  “What the fuck?” I breathe. It’s midnight.

  How the hell does he keep getting into my house?

  Deke looks up at me. “A little late to be out on a school night, isn’t it?”

  My eyes catch sight of a black bag at his feet. It reminds me of the same one Eli kept close to him. And Austin had mentioned in her journal that the GWS gave her one when they forced her to join their group.

  Any other time, I would be afraid of him being in my room at midnight after I tricked him into sleeping with me, but I’m not sober at the moment. He’s come to play. To piss me off. I know how he works. I do something to him, and he comes and threatens me. But he has yet to hurt me. I haven’t seen that side of Deke that Austin wrote about in her journal or the one I heard when he threatened to kill my sister. I want to poke the shark. See how much he can endure before he gets deadly.

  I push off the door and walk slowly over to the foot of the bed, crossing my feet as I walk. I’ve seen enough of my mother’s models grace the stage to know how to walk like them. I come to a stop before him, and he tilts his head back to look up at me. Placing both hands on either side of him, I lean over, making sure my tits are in his face. “Is that why you came here, Deke?” I lick my lips. “You want me to play Becky while you play my daddy?”

  His jaw sharpens and eyes narrow as my words piss him off. I laugh. Pushing off the bed this time, I stumble more than anything as I make my way back to my door. And I’m not even in heels. I dressed comfortable for my evening celebration. I swing it open and lean against it. “We both know you’re only here to tell me that you love her.” I roll my eyes dramatically, and it almost knocks me off balance. Maybe I had a few more drinks than I thought. “And that you made a mistake. So go ahead and walk over to her room and be with her.” Somehow, Becky has talked him into rubbing it in my face. That even though he fucked me, he still loves her. I’m not surprised. But it does piss me off. Again, she’s so goddamn perfect, and I’m insignificant.

  He stands, squaring his broad shoulders. He looks taller, scarier for some reason in a pair of black jeans and matching long-sleeve shirt. He’s got the sleeves pushed up, showing off his tan, muscular forearms. Walking over to me, he takes hold of the door and shuts it.

  My eyes go to the door and then to his. He reaches up and runs the back of his knuckles up and down my neck. I swallow nervously as my heart rate picks up. I close my eyes at the feel of his hands on me, but they spring open the moment his hand grips my throat, and he pins me against the door.

  “I’m here for you, Demi.” He whispers my name, and even though the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in warning, my pussy throbs.

  I swallow. “Is that supposed to scare me?”

  His right leg forces its way between my knees. I tighten mine, refusing to let him through, but he’s stronger. He smiles when he’s pressed fully against me. His muscular thigh now wedged between mine.

  “I’m not afraid of you,” I state, moving to my tiptoes. His hand keeps getting tighter, and my knees threaten to buckle.

  “That’s your first mistake.” He gives me a cruel smirk that makes him look like the beautiful bastard he is.

  My hands grip his wrist that holds me in place. “The … second?” He’s almost cutting my air off.

  “Playing me.” His free hand comes up and palms my breast over my shirt.

  I moan, and my eyes fall closed. He pushes his hips into mine, and he’s hard. I’m wet. Fuck, why does he do this to me? Why, out of all the boys in the world, does Deke Biggs manage to make me want to spread my legs and slap him at the same time?

  “Feel how hard I am for you, princess?” he asks, running his lips along my jawline.

  Pulling all the self-control I can manage, I rasp. “You think I’ll give in that easily?”

  He gives a rough laugh before taking my earlobe between his lips while his hand tightens on my neck, taking away my air before he whispers, “I don’t need permission to take what I already own.”

  And his cockiness brings me out of my drunken and lust fog. I’m not in the mood to play his stupid games tonight. I’m tried, drunk, and need a shower. I push him off me. He takes a step back with a smug smile on his face.

  I rub my sore neck and swallow roughly. “I can’t tell you how much I hate your unannounced visits, but it’s time for you to go.” I walk over to my adjoining bathroom, trying to stay upright, and flip on the light.

  I go to slam the door shut, but his black boot stops it, and it flies open. “Deke … What …?”

  He reaches out, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling my back to his front. He stares at me in my bathroom mirror. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asks, bringing his right hand up and wrapping it around my neck again, forcing my chin up.

  “I need a shower,” I say, trying to fight him off, but he’s not allowing it this time. He’s too strong.

  He leans down, whispering in my ear, “It’s cute that you think I give a fuck what you need.”

  “I’m dirty,” I protest. I smell of weed and alcohol. I don’t smoke the shit and neither does Seth, but his friend was. Pretty sure I have a contact high at the moment.

  He leans down, inhaling my ponytail. “Baby, I’m about to make you filthy.”

  My breath hitches when he releases my stomach and lowers his hand to the button of my jeans. “Deke?” What is he doing? We’re done. The back and forth game is over.

  “Yeah, princess?” His ocean blue eyes stay on mine. The sound of my zipper being lowered is barely heard over my heavy breathing. A smirk graces his handsome face when his hand slides into my jeans. “All you gotta do is tell me to stop.”

  I don’t.

  My heart pounds, my body physically shakes, and my mind screams fucking stop! B
ut I can’t make my lips move. My hands lie heavy at my sides completely useless against this man.

  He lowers his lips to my ear, and whispers, “Tell me to stop, Becky!”

  And just like before, that knocks me out of this trance. I shove him off, and he doesn’t even resist. Spinning around, I glare up at him, and it makes me even more pissed to look at his smug smile. “I hate you, Deke!” I seethe.

  He throws his head back and laughs as if I just told him a joke. It makes his entire body shake, and I let out a scream of frustration. I think I’m losing my mind.

  “Say it like you mean it, princess.” He looks me up and down while licking his perfect lips.

  I ignore the way it makes my heart race. I shove him. “I FUCKING HATE …”

  He grips my hands, pins them behind my back, and slams his lips to mine. “I fucking hate you too.” He growls.

  My hands fight him, and he lets them go, but instead of shoving him away this time, they wrap around his neck. His large hands grip my ass, and he picks my feet up off the floor. My legs wrap around his hips, and he walks me back to the bedroom. Then he’s tossing me onto the bed. His blue eyes stay trained on mine as he stands by the edge. He removes my shoes, socks, and then yanks my jeans down my legs. I find myself kicking them a little to help the guy out. My heart pounds like a drum in my chest—loud and viciously. I’m trying to catch my breath, but I’m afraid I may pass out before he undresses me. Without taking his heated eyes from mine, he grips the white lace fabric of my thong, and in a much slower pace, he slides them down my shaking legs.

  “Are you still bleeding, princess?”

  If I wasn’t so drunk, I’d blush at that question. “No.”

  He drops them to the floor and reaches up, gripping the back of his black shirt and pulls it up over his head. His abs flex, showcasing a six-pack that looks carved out of stone. Then he pushes his jeans down his muscular thighs along with his boxers.

  My eyes slowly travel down over the V that you only see on the cover of magazines. I bite my bottom lip when I get to his hard dick. It stands to attention and makes my thighs tighten. When we had sex, I had the lights off, so I never got to see it. My mouth goes dry at his impressive size. No wonder it was so painful.