Triple Dare (Sterling Shore 7)

If they say something snide, she doesn’t get her feelings hurt and cry. She makes them cry, and then she smiles about it. Girls are fucking vicious.

“You can let go now,” Ruby says on a sigh, angling her head to look up at me.

I notice the way she always squirms in my arms, and the way she always sounds a little breathless when I’m holding her. I notice all the little things that tell me I still affect her.

But I also see the same resolve in her eyes that I’ve seen for years now. That resolve tells me she’s never trusting me in that way again. It sucks. But I know I deserve it. Just like I know I lost my right to her the day I made the biggest fucking mistake of my life.

Those endless blue eyes continue staring straight into mine, narrowing when I continue holding onto her. I hate fighting with her. In fact, it’s my least favorite thing in the world. And we seem to fight a lot.

“No,” I tell her, smirking when her eyes narrow more, almost turning into furious slits. “You’ll have to triple dare me if you want me to let go.”

She glares at me while my smile grows. The second she wastes her triple dare, I can use my turn to get her over this shit. I’ll just triple dare her to spend all her free time with me for two months or something. Obviously I’d make that dare longer, but some dares have expected limitations—a rule we put into place a while back. And I know Ruby would find a dare from the past to cap this one out soon.

“You really think I’m that stupid?”

I shrug, acting as though I’m not secretly hoping she’s suddenly lost a lot of IQ points. She rolls her eyes before turning back around to face Rain, who is still struggling to suppress a grin. It’s such a bad attempt that she looks constipated. Not a good look for her.

“We’re out,” Jax says as he claps me on the shoulder from behind.

Ruby turns in my arms, even though I continue holding onto her, and her eyebrows go up.

No. No. No. She can’t be interested in him. I will kill him and hide the body if I have to, because I can’t triple dare her to ignore him.

I wasted that dare on another guy she was interested in already.

“Bye,” I say without looking at him, resisting the urge to wrestle Ruby back around.

“I’m Jax,” he says, and I inwardly groan. Did he not take the hint? If I wanted her to know who he was, I would have introduced him to her.

“Ruby,” she says—fucking grinning as she says it.

Just as I’m about to turn into a caveman and haul her out over my shoulder, he speaks again.

“Sexy name.”

Definitely killing him.

Ruby laughs while leaning back into me, and that eases some of the tension in my body.

“Thank him for that. He started calling me that when we were little and it stuck.”

She points to me with her thumb, and I finally turn to glare at the asshole who won’t go away. He just said he didn’t want to hang out with us.

Maverick… Maverick The Dick Sterling is right beside him. He set me up.

Jax’s lips twitch, and Maverick’s eyes dance with amusement.

I guess I’ll need a place to hide two bodies instead of one.

My backyard isn’t that big, but…

“How did he name you Ruby?” Jax asks, moving so he’s in front of us and we don’t have to twist to see him.

I continue glaring daggers, because eventually he’ll take a hint. Or he’d better.

***

RUBY

Jax is hot—no doubt about it. But he’s a little too pretty for me.

Even though longer hair isn’t my usual preference, Corbin wears it in a way that makes him look just rebellious enough to be sexy. And the scruff he has on his jaw…

What am I doing? I cannot start comparing guys to Corbin again.

It’s this touching thing he’s doing. It messes with my mind. I never should have let him push those boundaries. They were there for a reason.

“So?” Jax asks, apparently expecting me to answer something.

Oh crap. What did he say?

“Sorry,” I say, making a show of motioning around. “Music’s too loud. What’d you say?”

His grin flashes, and I know I feel Corbin’s grip tighten on me. He’s totally crazy about guys talking to me. Always has been.

Maybe that’s why I enjoy doing it—just to piss him off.

We really have an unhealthy “friendship.”

“I asked how he came up with Ruby,” Jax goes on.

“Could just ask me,” Corbin drawls, sliding his hand up higher until his thumb grazes the underside of my right breast.

My freaking legs tremble. Stupid, traitorous, useless legs. Don’t they realize we can’t be trembling for Corbin Fucking Sterling?

Jax crosses his arms over his chest, smiling differently at Corbin. Maverick looks like he’s barely stopping himself from bursting out laughing.