The Dare (North Woods University 2)

“Fucking her? Really?” I lift a brow. “I don’t think fucking her would help at all. I don’t want her lying pussy wrapped around my dick. I want her crying, not writhing in pleasure, asshole.”

Clark shrugs, taking a drink of his beer. “Then I don’t know what to tell you. What can you do that doesn’t involve physically hurting her? And plus, who knows, maybe she just showed up for her mother’s wedding? Maybe her intentions aren’t as bad as you’re making them out to be?”

Always the benefit of the doubt kind of guy. Clark has no idea what he’s talking about.

“She better hope for her own sake that, that’s all she’s here for,” I ground out.

Though it’s doubtful. I’m pretty sure I heard my father talking to Laura about inviting Ava out to stay with us. If she’s smart, she won’t take the offer. She’ll run for the fucking hills.

Like a creep, I stare at her, watching her smile, and talk amongst the guests. There’s a darkness inside of me, an anger that’s laid dormant for a very long time, and it’s returning, rising up inside me like lava pushing out of a fucking volcano and when I erupt, she’s the first person I’m coming for.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the first dance. Please, Henry and Laura, come and let us see those sweet dance moves,” Steve, my father’s best man’s, voice which also happens to be Clark’s father, rattles through the speakers.

The crowd parts making way for my father and his new wife. Everyone grows quiet as the music starts to play, all eyes on them, including my own. They dance, my father holding her close, while leaning in to most likely whisper sweet nothings in her ear.

Their smiles are dazzling and filled with love, so much love it’s truly disgusting. I take another swig of my beer to stomach the image before me.

No way can I bring myself to feel even an ounce of happiness for them. It will never happen, no matter how much Laura tries to warm up to me. In my eyes, she’ll always be the enemy’s mother. Resentment pools in my belly as they continue to dance. This stupid marriage was both a blessing and a nightmare.

A nightmare because it made Ava my stepsister, and a blessing because it brought her back to me, making it possible for me to get revenge, something I had told myself a million times over I would never get.

That night when we left with nothing but a few belongings after my father told me what she had done. I vowed to get even with her, and maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad, maybe I could’ve let it go, but then my parents divorced, and that drove the knife of betrayal deeper into my chest. Channeling all my feelings over it, I placed that blame on Ava as well, knowing that if I ever got the chance to see her again, if she ever showed her face in this town again, I would ruin her. And lucky me, her stuck up mother fell for my filthy rich father.

I try not to think about Laura being married to my father, basking in his riches while my mother got nothing after the divorce, not a single dime. I give her a few hundred dollars each month from my allowance so she can get by. I don’t give a shit about the money, I would give her thousands if I could.

When the song ends and their dance is over, and thank god, I was close to puking, Steve’s voice booms through the room again causing me to roll my eyes. Enough with the sappy speeches and corny jokes already. Let’s just get drunk and forget this nightmare ever happened.

“Now as requested by the bride and groom, I would like to invite Vance and Ava to the dance floor to join their parents.”

The fuck? No way.

No. Fucking. Way.

The beer bottle in my hand almost slips to the floor. A wave of ahhs and ohhs whisper through the crowd, and all I can do is stand there, mouth parted in shock, unable to believe the words I just heard. No way, no motherfucking way.

“Here’s your chance…” Clark nudges me in the side.

“Now don’t be shy, you two. Get out here, and show your folks how it’s done,” Steve chuckles into the mic.

My gaze swings to my father who is giving me a don’t make a scene look. He told me to play nice and welcome Ava into the family, probably to please his new wife. But I’m never going to welcome her back into my life, not ever.

Grinding my teeth together so harshly I think I might chip one, I shove my beer into Clark’s chest and make my way out onto the dance floor.