If You Dare (Dare 3)

I start to follow them.

“See you later, sis,” Demi calls out.

I turn and give my sister a tight smile. She stands with her arms crossed over her chest and a fucking smile on her face. What the fuck is she up to? Ignoring her, I toss my hair over my shoulder, then I turn and walk off after them.

By the time I make it to Deke’s Range Rover, he’s already got it started and shifted in reverse. I jump into the back seat behind him. The tires grip the gravel, and he backs us out of the spot.

Austin pouts beside me. “I really wanted to do the blackout attraction.”

“We’ll come back,” Cole promises.

I’ll make sure to stay home for that one. Putting myself in a situation where I can’t see is not my idea of fun. Especially with Deke.

Austin shoves some gummies in her mouth and then pulls her cell out of Cole’s hoodie pocket that she’s still wearing. “Have I shown you Lilly’s Halloween consume?” she asks me.

I refrain from sighing. This is her life now. Lilly and Cole. Cole and Lilly.

I really like Austin, even if I was forced into a friendship with her. She was fun and always up for a hit or a drink. But now that we’ve moved to Texas, she’s changed. Ever since she almost died, Cole keeps her on a tight leash. As if someone still plans to hurt her. She waits on the guys and Lilly nonstop. She makes them breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She takes Lilly to and from school. I popped by yesterday when I knew the guys were in class to ask if she wanted to go to the mall, and she turned me down. She said she had to finish laundry and then clean the kitchen. All before running Lilly to ballet.

She has become a fucking mom.

It’s a total disappointment.

I honestly don’t know how she ended up with Cole. Well, that’s not the truth. I’ve read her deepest, darkest secrets. She doesn’t know that, but what’s that saying? What you don’t know can’t hurt you? She’s so full of life, and Cole is just a black hole.

He’s hot. I’ve always had a thing for him but never went there. His loyalty to Deke is unwavering, and I have a fear of being alone with him. The guy has death vibes, and I don’t want to die.

I thought she could change him, but I think he ended up changing her more. But my question is why? Is it because of money? She came from a poor druggie mother. Her father was wealthy, but she didn’t have access to it until she came to live with him at the beginning of this year. I’m not sure what she plans on doing with her life. Be his fucking housewife? Raise Lilly and whatever kids they plan on having?

She could be a stay-at-home mom and live whatever kind of life she wants because he has money too. His mom died when he was twelve, and she left him her millions when he turned eighteen. If I was Austin, I’d have jumped on that too. Hell, her engagement ring is around fifty thousand. I know because I googled that shit. It’s some kind of rare ruby. Talk about a reason to lie down and spread your legs. The sad part is her expectations are so low that she would have been fine with a rubber band. She has no idea how much it cost him, and she would never ask him because she couldn’t care less. And he’d never tell her because that’s just Cole.

“It’s a bee.” She beams, showing me the picture.

Lilly’s standing in a dressing room with a bumble bee costume on. Her blond curls up in pigtails and her hands on her hips.

“Adorable.” I nod my head as if I fucking care.

“Isn’t she?” She tilts the screen toward her and smiles down at it.

I roll my eyes and look out the window. I was supposed to move in with them but decided against it after Deke told me Cole ratted me out. He disclosed to Deke and Austin that I was the one driving the car the night their three friends died. He also snitched that I was fucking Eli. Well, that was only half the truth. I hadn’t quite made it that far yet.

That fucker.

He only ever does shit in his best interest. After Deke told me he had enough information to bury me, I decided against living under the same roof as a killer. I chose to move in with my mother and stepdad. And of course, Deke moved in with them instead.

It’s not awkward when it’s just Austin and me, but whenever Cole is home, I tense, waiting for him to get me alone and tell me he’s going to make me pay for the lie I told him. When I lied that I was pregnant.