I Dare You (Dare 1)

“Out!” Celeste snaps.

I stand frozen to my spot as they walk past us and down the hall. Celeste follows them out and shuts the door behind them.

“What the fuck was that?” Cole demands, letting go of my hand.

Celeste joins us once again and sighs. “It’s nothing—”

“Bullshit!” he interrupts her, making me jump. “Why the hell were they here and what were they promised?”

She looks at me and then down at the floor.

“I don’t want to know,” I say softly.

Cole looks at me, and his features soften. “Austin …”

“I don’t care, Cole. Don’t you see? She got what she wanted. She got rid of me, and she got him to marry her.” Then I turn, walk out of the room, and head up the stairs to my bedroom. I sit down on the end of the bed and pull my cell out of his pocket, going to my mom’s number. I hover over it for a few seconds, trying to remember a time when she was actually a mother to me. When she hugged me. Kissed me. Tucked me in. Any time that she actually acted like she cared about my well-being. And I come up with nothing.

I delete her number as the door opens. Cole walks in and kneels in front of me. “I gotta go,” he says, pushing some hair from my face.

“Where are you going?” I ask. “I thought we were gonna take Lilly to the zoo?”

He nods. “Later. I got something I have to go do.” Standing up to his full height, he leans over and kisses me on the forehead. His phone starts to ring in the pocket of his jeans, and he pulls it out. I see Deke flash across it. He silences it. “Why don’t you go and get Lilly and then meet me at the clubhouse,” he offers, and I nod.

“Here.” I stand and remove his hoodie. His eyes go to my naked chest, and his hands grab my hips.

“Are you trying to distract me?” he asks roughly.

“No,” I say honestly. “Just thought you would want it back.”

He leans down and kisses my cheek. Then his eyes meet mine. I wait for him to give me something—some indication of where he is going or why Deke is calling him—but he doesn’t. Some things about Cole will never change.

He turns and walks out, and I sit back down, knowing that deleting my mother’s phone number was pointless. She won’t be calling me anymore anyway, but I’m okay with that. Like Cole said, she was never my mother.

I’m pulling a shirt over my head when there’s a knock on the door. “Come in,” I call out.

The door opens, and Celeste peeks her head in. “May I speak to you?” she asks.

“Do I have a choice?” I reply.

She sighs heavily. “I wanna explain myself,” she says entering. “I haven’t really had the chance …”

“You’ve been avoiding me,” I argue.

She nods once. “I have, and I’m sorry.” She swallows. “I wanna explain about Kellan too …”

“I don’t care about Kellan,” I growl, interrupting her.

“He’s just worried!”

“Worried?” I snort. “About what?”

“About you and Cole.”

I don’t respond to that because she has no idea what is going on between us. And she doesn’t need to know.

Running a hand through her hair, she takes a step farther into my room. “I’m sorry that Cole hurt you.”

“He didn’t do it.”

“Austin, I know you think he loves you, but he doesn’t.” She shakes her head as she looks me up and down as if I’m not good enough for him.

“This has nothing to do with love,” I grind out.

Her brown eyes soften, and her look turns to pity. “You were lucky this time. But next time …”

“Kellan did this to me,” I say, pointing at my face, unable to listen to this anymore.

She shakes her head. “No. He wouldn’t do that.”

Unbelievable. “Cole found my phone in Kellan’s car.”

Her hands fist. “If Cole found your phone in his car, then it was because Cole planted it there.”

“Jesus.” I hiss. “He has you brainwashed.”

“Kellan is trying to help you. Cole wants to hurt you,” she shouts, finding her anger. “That’s why Kellan wants you out of the group. He’s mad at you, but he’s trying to protect you in the long run.”

I shake my head at her words. She says Kellan wants me out of the group. But when Cole tried to get me thrown out, Kellan was the only one who wanted me to stay. So either Kellan hasn’t filled her in on what’s going on or he’s lying to her. “You have no clue what you are talking about,” I say, not wanting to argue with her.

“You don’t know what Cole is capable of.”

Oh, I do! “Apparently, I don’t know what any of you are capable of because I would have never thought you’d call out my boyfriend’s name while you fucked his friend,” I snap.