Dare Me: The Pierce Boys of Georgia, Book One

by Brittany Tarkington

  I died right there in Grandma’s driveway.

  He took a few steps backward, waving at Emily. “It was nice to meet you.”

  “Yeah? You too,” Emily said, frowning at me. “We have a lot to catch up on.”

  “Yeah, I guess we do,” I said.

  “Well, I guess we can do that while you drive me to a restaurant in this fancy new car of yours.”

  Still wanting to protest, I watched Emily get in the passenger seat. Sighing, I balled my hands into fists at my sides and spun on my heels. Roman was backing out of the driveway, shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

  I guess I’m hanging out with Emily.

  Cockblocked two times in a day. And I think Roman was enjoying my torture.

  I slid in the Mustang and twisted the key, when it roared to life, my radio blared through the speakers. Emily jumped, and I turned it down fast, shooting her an apologetic smile.

  “There’s a coffee shop a couple blocks away. We can grab something fast there?” I said.

  “That’s fine with me,” she clipped.

  I racked my brain, wondering what in the hell I did to make her short with me. She was staring out the window, refusing to even look my way.

  I’m not good at reading people, or picking up on social clues, but Emily usually doesn’t hold it in. She knows my social skills are lacking and she spells it out in layman terms. So, I don’t know why she’s shutting down now.

  After the stop sign on my grandma’s street, the coffee shop is nearby. At least, I don’t have to drive in tortured silence very long. I whipped in the first parking lot I saw.

  “This is it,” I said.

  She opened the door, leaving me behind. I hopped out of the car, jogging to keep up with her pace. Which said a lot about her mood because I have at least three inches of legs on her. She tore open the door and walked to one of the booths at the back.

  I slid in on the opposite side and tugged my purse off my shoulder. “We have to order at the counter, but we can scan the code and pull up the menu.”

  “Okay,” she said, scanning the code, she buried her face in her phone.

  And without another word, she left the table and walked to the counter. I’d lost my appetite at this point, so I dragged my feet behind her and ordered a black coffee to sip on while she ate and eventually spilled her guts.

  Whatever it was, it was long overdue. I hadn’t seen her in weeks, and she obviously had a chip on her shoulder when it came to me.

  I sat down with my coffee, and she sat across with her soup and tea.

  “So, this is really a thing, huh?” Emily’s tone was still clipped.

  I took the lid off my coffee and poured two packets of sugar inside before meeting her eyes.

  “What is?”

  “Roman.”

  I didn’t like the way she said his name as if it were a piece of old gum she couldn’t wait to spit out of her mouth.

  “He’s my friend?” I took a sip of my coffee and almost spit it out. “Slow down. Backup. How do you know about him?”

  She gave me a look. That one I hated that she did. Judgey. Mean. That type.

  “Aiden is falling apart because you dumped him for some guy. I didn’t believe it, and then your mom called and told me you could use a friend. And when I show up, you’re actually with the guy!” She said and I opened my mouth to defend myself, but she held her finger up. “Don’t even. He was all over you.”

  I took a deep breath before I jumped over the table and slapped her right in the smug mouth. Okay, just imagining that made me feel better. I’m calm.

  “He wasn’t all over me, Emily. And like I said, he’s just a friend.”

  She huffed and actually rolled her eyes at me. “He practically mauled your face in front of me. Remember that girl who hated being touched? Or were you lying about that, too?”

  “I’m not lying about shit.”

  I tried to keep my voice hushed so the few tables around us couldn’t hear our conversation. I’d like to be able to come back to my favorite coffee shop without being stared at.

  “What you did to Aiden was wrong, Raquel, and you know it.”

  “I shouldn’t have texted, you’re right but, I honestly didn’t think he was in love with me or anything. It was always like a friendship with him. It just wasn’t there.” I shrugged my shoulders. And she actually laughed at me.

  “I seriously can’t believe what I’m hearing. Who are you?”

  I squared my shoulders, looking her in the eye. “I’m who I was always supposed to be.”

  She shook her head at me as she closed her to-go bowl of soup. “You need to be careful with that guy. I heard about what happened when Aiden came to talk to you.”

  “Aiden was a dick to me that night! He attacked Roman!”

  “Yeah, well there’s two sides to every story,” she said, cleaning her side of the table.

  “Emily, are you serious right now?”

  “Your mom should’ve called me a while back. You’re too far gone now.”

  I rolled my eyes and sat back in the booth. “Maybe if she bothered to get out of the bed and be a mom every once in a while, she could’ve done that.”

  “At some point you have to take ownership of your shit, Raquel. Stop using your mom and your issues as a crutch.”

  A slap to the fucking face.

  Shots fired.

  “Fuck you, Emily. That was low and you know it!”

  There was no lowering our voices at this point. She shot out of her seat, and I followed after her. She swung open the door and stormed off, away from my car.

  “Where are you going?” I shouted after her.

  “I’m not sitting back and watching you self-destruct. When Roman gets what he wants and tosses you aside, leave Aiden out of it!”

  My fist was balled at my side. Under a small tree, in an upper-class neighborhood, I was screaming at my childhood best friend. And at this moment, I didn’t give a damn.

  “If you’re so fucking worried about Aiden, date him. Get him off my back, please!”

  Her face went blank.

  Holy shit.

  Double punch.

  This is why she hasn’t been around. She only came when my mom called, and only to scream at me about hurting Aiden.

  I took a few steps closer to her.

  Finally, I caught on to something about her.

  I could spot her crushy face from a mile away, and it was staring back at me right now.

  “You want him,” I said.

  “I wouldn’t act on it,” she said, shaking her head.

  I looked back at the café where we’d made a scene. A family across the street was hurrying by, glancing in our direction. Yeah, she’d already acted on it. No kiss or date with Aiden would’ve hurt as much as her taking his side and lashing out on me today.

  “Looks like you already have.”

  I fished my key out of my purse and tossed it to her. “What’s this for?”

  “Take it back to my grandma’s so you can get home,” I said.

  She flinched as if I’d physically slapped her. “Raquel, I won’t do anything with him.”

  I held up my hands, walking past her. “It was never about the guy for me, Emily. You can’t take the shit you said back now. Date him, fuck him, I don’t care, just leave me the hell alone.”

  “Raquel! Wait!”

  She called after me, but I was walking so fast, I almost broke out in a jog. Tears streaked down my face, but I didn’t look back, I kept going.

  Past the main street and away from Grandma’s house. I have no idea where I’m going, but I can’t stand looking at Emily’s face. Or moms. Fuck both of them.

  I kept walking, angrily slapping every tear that fell until an expensive looking sports car pulled up beside me.

  The window rolled down, and my knight in shiny black, stolen armor looked back at me.

  “Get in,” he said
through clenched teeth.

  And I did. Because despite what Emily or Mom or Aiden thought, Roman would never fuck me over the way they have.

  The moment I saw Raquel storm out of the coffee shop, I knew something was wrong. I wasn’t following her. Not really. Not in a stalker kind of way. I just knew she had shit for friends, and I wanted to see what this chick was up to.

  I knew from the moment I said my name, she’d heard about me. Through that Aiden douchebag, or worse, my reputation. She didn’t look familiar, I knew I didn’t fuck her at some party, but something about her seemed off.

  So, when she made Raquel cry, I had enough, I was dashing in to save her.

  Mostly just to ensure I didn’t go after that chick and do something stupid, demanding to know what she did to make my girl cry.

  She faced the window as soon as she got in the car. I knew she didn’t want me to see her cry, but I didn’t give a damn about that right now.

  “The fuck did she say to you?” I asked. Gripping the wheel, I made a sharp turn.

  We weren’t going to her house. I was taking her home with me. No one would fuck with her there.

  “It’s nothing.” She hiccupped.

  “The fuck it is. You never cry.”

  I tried to keep calm, but I didn’t like seeing her like this. Raquel was tough as nails. No one should be able to break her. If Emily was a dude, I would’ve knocked that asshole out without question.

  “I’m just pissed, okay?”

  I slung the car into my driveway and hauled ass to the garage. Once we were inside, I closed the automatic gate, and hopped out.

  “You cry when you’re mad?” I asked, my face pulled into confusion.

  I grabbed the car cover and draped it across the top. Pulling it to the back, I walked around the car until it was fully covered. I took a risk taking this thing out in the middle of the day, but I didn’t want Raquel to notice the Range Rover in case she didn’t need backup.

  “Yeah! SO?” She snapped at me.

  She directed her anger at me. And her sobs were replaced with sniffles, so I took that as a victory.

  She can be pissed at me any time, I know I can make her happy again. But when someone else hurt her? I couldn’t stand that. Seeing Raquel cry, damn, it did something to me.

  She shot daggers at me with her eyes, and I realized I’d been staring at her. Leaning back on the counter in the garage, with my arms across my chest, my eyes never left her.

  “What is it?” Her cheeks pooled red.

  I don’t know.

  For the first time, I was speechless.

  “Nothing. I just didn’t like seeing you upset,” I finally said.

  “Yeah, well, I think that’s a normal human emotion,” she murmured.

  “I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

  Her lips tilted up in a small smile. A victory.

  “Me either,” she said.

  With wide strides, I crossed the space between us and grabbed her hand. I didn’t want to be stuck in the garage with her anymore. I dragged her behind me until we reached my room.

  She sat on my bed and crossed her knees under her. Swiping under her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie, she looked up at me again.

  “Stop looking at me like I’m going to fall apart,” she snapped again.

  The fighting spirit didn’t leave her long.

  And just as quickly as I thought I’d lost her, Raquel was back.

  My head was scattered, but the clues pieced together like a perfectly fit puzzle. It hit me.

  I think I like this girl.

  I knelt down in front of her, taking her hands in mine. I couldn’t hide the grin plastered on my face. “I don’t think you’re going to fall apart. But you are going to tell me what the hell happened.”

  She nodded. Pulling her knees up, she hugged them and propped her chin to rest on top. “I don’t know where to start.”

  “Anywhere you want. We have all day,” I said.

  Feeling restless, I stood and leaned against my dresser. I couldn’t sit any long, knowing she might say things that piss me off.

  Sighing, “My mom is in and out of it. I don’t know if she’s depressed or bipolar, or what. My dad always kept it from me. He died last year, and no one could take care of her anymore.”

  I gripped the edge of the dresser. “So, that left you.”

  “He was kinda shitty at it toward the end anyway. He met someone else. Wasn’t home a lot. So, we were pretty much alone the last year of his life.”

  I’d bring the motherfucker back just to kill him.

  “How’d you end up here? Child services?”

  She shook her head. “I guess she was stable enough to figure out we were about to lose everything. Or maybe my grandma found out. I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “They were never close. My mom wouldn’t let me see Grandma, and then all of a sudden my mom is selling the house senior year and we have to leave everything I know to move in with the woman.”

  She’s still curved in a ball, resting her chin on her knees. Staring into space. I wonder what goes through her mind when she zones out like that.

  “What’s your grandma’s deal?”

  “Fuck if I know. She actually seems cool. She gave me a car and actually speaks to me. I don’t know what’s so bad about her.”

  “Your mom was jealous,” I said without missing a beat. “Your grandma could give you material shit. And have an actual relationship with you. Something your mom could never do.”

  Her eyes snapped to mine.

  “You’re probably right. So, Emily shows up today and tells me my mom called her because she’s concerned about me.” She rolled her eyes and dropped her legs in front of her, bracing her arms at her side. “My grandma forced my mom out of the house and made her get a job. So, I guess she thinks now’s the perfect time to wedge back into my life and tell me what to do.”

  My eyebrows bumped together, confused. I stride over to the bed and took a seat next to her. “Why is she worried about you?”

  She looked at me with a grin. “Apparently you. Imagine that. A parent of a teenage girl not wanting their daughter involved with you.”

  Chuckling, she pushed my shoulder, hoping to ease the tension in the room. I tried to smile, but fuck, she was right. I wasn’t good enough.

  I picked her up in a stolen car for God’s sake.

  Twice.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How does she even know about me?”

  “I mean, I’ve left notes for my grandma saying I’m studying at my friend Roman’s,” she grinned at the lie. “And Aiden probably said something. He ran his mouth to Emily. His mom may have called my mom.”

  My brain snapped to attention.

  That motherfucker. How did I know he was involved?

  “Hold up. What’d he say to Emily?” I was fixated on the current issue. Fuck the past, I’d deal with that later. Right now, I needed to rearrange Aiden’s face.

  “Basically, he told her I broke up with him over text, and he came to talk to me and thought we had something going on.”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong. Fuck that guy.”

  “I shouldn’t have broken up with him over text message. That was an asshole thing to do,” she said, biting her bottom lip. “But I don’t think he told her how he came at me and swung on you. Not that she would care.”

  Her jaw clenched with anger. She took a few deep breaths and released them slowly.

  “She likes him, likes him. She said some horrible shit about me. I don’t even care. She can have him, but what she said wasn’t fair,” she said. A tear escaped and she swiped it before it could fall down her face.

  “You’re staying with me for a while, okay?

  She looked up at me with teary eyes and my ice-cold heart damn near melted.

  “This is embarrassing. I’m never like this.”

  My lips curved into a smile. Even when
she’s a broken mess, my little fighter still wants to be strong.

  “Your friends treated you like shit, I’d be worried if you didn’t get upset. Get some rest, you’ll feel better after,” I said, and she nodded.

  I pulled the covers back and she crawled into my bed-where she belonged every night. I switched off the main light and laid next to her, hoping she’d fall asleep soon.

  “Raquel?”

  “Yeah?” She croaked out, half asleep.

  “When you said Aiden thought we had something going on.” I know she couldn’t see me, but I smirked. “He was right, you know?”

  She let out a small chuckle. “I figured that out last time your face was between my legs.”

  I laughed along with her. “Yeah, but I think it’s more than that.”

  She sucked in a breath. “What is it?”

  “Fuck if I know,” I said. I stared at the dark ceiling, watching the blades of the dark fan spin as fast as my thoughts. “All I know is my face is the only one who belongs there.”

  She never responded to that. But how could she? We were in a limbo, neither of us having felt feelings before. Yeah, she dated that douche canoe, but I know she didn’t give a shit about him.

  This was uncharted territory for both of us, but we’d figure it out.

  Enough about feelings. Raquel’s breathing evened out. I pulled my arms out from under her head and grabbed my phone from my pocket.

  I found Rhett’s number and hit call.

  He answered on the second ring. “Yeah?”

  “Find Aiden Bray’s address and swing by the house to get me.”

  I hit end and shoved my phone back in my pocket. Raquel hadn’t stirred. So, I placed a kiss on her temple, and left my room, hoping like hell she stayed asleep.

  Because it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission or some shit like that.

  We swapped Rhett’s Audi out for my parent’s Escalade. Everyone drives an SUV around here, so we had a better chance of blending in with a family car than my brother’s expensive ass sports car.

  Rhett could find anyone, especially a straight-laced family like the Bray’s who had no reason to hide their address. Besides their son being a total dickhead, they were a normal family on paper.