Triple Dare (Sterling Shore 7)

“I’m here because of Krysta,” I tell her just before the door closes. When it opens again, a knowing look replaces the panic in her eyes.

She doesn’t say a word before walking away and leaving the door open, allowing me to come in, and I follow the sounds of obnoxious wannabe rock music coming from the pool.

Cassie is laughing as some guy younger than me plays air guitar. Is he really wearing a fucking white speedo?

Cassie’s eyes meet mine, and she turns a little puce.

“What are you doing here?” she gasps.

The dickhead beside her turns, letting his eyes roam over my body, and I narrow my eyes.

“Krysta won’t be back. I dare you to contest that,” I say, never moving my eyes off the guy I assume is Sam.

He confirms that theory when he pales a little.

“You won’t take Krysta,” Cassie growls.

I point my bat at her, cutting my eyes in her direction. “I’ll deal with you next. Shut the fuck up.”

Her eyes widen, and Sam stumbles backwards, tripping as I near him. He lands hard on his ass, and he starts crab-walking backwards.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asks in panic as I raise the bat.

The first strangled cry escapes him as the bat crashes down on his side. I’m about to be a homerun derby contender.

“Ruby Kross,” I tell him as he curls into fetal position, “A.K.A. the bitch with a bat.”

CHAPTER 27

CORBIN

I’ve barely made it back home when my phone rings, and my brow furrows. Why is Krysta calling me?

“What’s—”

“Ruby just left, and she’s going to Mom’s. You have to stop her before Sam loses his shit. He’ll hurt her.”

I don’t fucking know what she’s talking about, but I still slam my car in reverse and burn rubber on my way to Cassie’s house.

“What happened?” I ask, positioning the phone between my shoulder and ear so I can shift and drive without wrecking.

“Sam got rough with me, and Ruby… Ruby flipped out, Corbin. She left about give minutes ago. I didn’t know what to do. If you hurry—”

“I’ll handle it.” I drop the phone, letting the call disconnect, and I gas my car more.

Fuck. Ruby will be ready to kill someone, but she thinks she’s invincible when she’s not. I get stuck behind an Audi that keeps cutting me off, and it takes a second to realize it’s Maverick. I know he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, but I’m still ready to wreck his ass when he blocks me a third time.

Finally, I shift gears and gas it hard, making him move or be hit. He swerves out of my way as I blow by him, and then he starts following me. I skid into the driveway sideways at Cassie’s, and Maverick skids to a stop behind me.

“What’s going on?” he yells as he runs behind me.

“Ruby is—”

My words die on my tongue, and we both pretty much stumble to a halt, because a guy in a speedo is running, screaming something over his shoulder about a crazy bitch…

He trips and face-plants into the sod, and Ruby is suddenly running out, knocking away her mother who is wearing a bikini and high heels. Cassie lands on her ass pretty hard, considering she was off balance before Ruby knocked her over.

“Kicking ass,” Maverick says, finishing my forgotten sentence in a much different way than I was expecting.

Ruby is still in her clothes from last night, wearing her red heels, and she has a damn bat.

“You just get as turned on as I did?” Maverick asks. My hand quickly connects with the back of his head, and he grunts.

We watch in a little awe as Ruby slams the bat against the guy’s ass.

He yelps and tries to crawl away, but she slams the bat into his side.

“You want to hit a girl? Let’s see how tough you are with one who can fight back. Come on!” she yells, taunting him.

“Think they got popcorn in there?” Maverick asks.

We both wince when Ruby takes another shot at his side, and he rolls over onto his back, pleading with her to stop while crying. Yes, he’s actually full-on sobbing and begging for his life.

It’s morbidly hilarious, and definitely not what I was expecting to see today.

“I’ll get her. You get him,” I tell Mav.

Just as I stop Ruby from slamming the bat on the guy’s balls, Maverick jerks the guy off the ground.

“Let me go,” Ruby growls, struggling. Fortunately, she doesn’t swing that bat at me.

The guy wipes blood off his face, and Cassie sobs from the doorway. And to think I woke up feeling like my life was perfectly normal this morning.

Sirens in the distance have me silently cursing. Looks like I need to get my lawyers on the phone.

“Dude,” Maverick groans, sounding disgusted as he shoves the guy away from him hard enough to send Mr. Speedo to the ground on his hands and knees.