The Dare (The Bet 3)

Beth laughed.

I held my breath. It was that beautiful. I didn't want to ruin it by making any noise at all.

"Fine." She chewed her lower lip, tilting her head to the side. "I think it's jealousy."

"Jealousy?" I leaned forward so our knees were touching. "How so?"

"Travis was in love with Kacey since he was little. Char was in love with Jake. Each of them had their past, their own story, and a Cinderella ending with a fairy godmother in the form of a lipstick-wielding grandmother."

I chuckled. "And?"

"And," Beth leaned forward and sighed, "I have science."

"Rock on." I nodded encouragingly.

She smacked me in the arm. "I'm serious!"

"I thought you liked your job."

"I do! I just…" She started twirling a piece of her hair. "I just… sometimes, I just wish for the Cinderella story. I want the happy ending, I just want… more."

"More isn't always better, Beth. Remember that. It's easy to watch from the outside. Especially when you're lonely. Hell, it's easy to assume people have the perfect life. You make up a fantasy about how lucky they are and how perfect they are. But truth? Life sucks. It's freaking difficult. Most couples bleed and fight and burn to stay together. That's what it takes. It isn't a fairytale. And I don't think that's what girls want in the first place. They may say they do. You may say you want easy, but believe me when I say you want hard. You want a guy to fight. You want him to be willing to go to battle for you. Don't for one second envy a situation you know nothing about. Instead, be at peace with where you're at in life and know that when the right time comes, it will happen. And when it happens, it's going to be hard, and you're going to have to ask yourself if it's worth it."

"Do you think it is?" she asked in a small voice. "Worth it?"

Sometimes I hated my own honesty. "Most of the time." I swallowed and looked away, feeling guilty about what I was hiding from her. "No. I don't think it's worth it. And even if it were, I can say with absolute certainty that I wouldn't stick around to find out."

"Whoa," Beth said. "Brutal. But honest."

"Who says politicians can't be honest?" I joked aloud even though my heart thumped in betrayal. "I hope I didn't let you down. I just don't think I'm made that way." Lies. All lies. I had been made that way, at one point, but people change. Things happen.

"What way?"

"Like Prince Charming." I elbowed her. "Walking straight into love just seems like a bad gamble to me. It doesn't make sense. Why willingly walk into a situation where the odds aren't in your favor? Why take the chance that things won't end up happily ever after? Why not just do what you're good at and be successful? To me, success makes me happy, I don't need another person in my life to know that I'm a good person. And I don't need approval from the opposite sex to feel like more of a man."

"So..." Beth smirked, "you're okay with dying alone?"

"If I don't get assassinated first," I teased.

The boat approached a dock. That was quick. Someone walked toward the boat and helped tie it up. A line of Tiki huts lit up the front of the shore. Things didn't look abandoned, but it wasn't as if there were tons of tourists.

"She sure took us a long way just for dinner," Beth said.

"That's because you aren't here for just dinner," the captain answered. "Your bags will follow in the next boat with your grandmother. Everything has been taken care of. Enjoy your stay."

"Stay?" we repeated in unison.

"For six days." The captain scratched his head and checked his clipboard. "Yup, says here you have Romeo and Juliet Honeymoon Suite. And wedding be, oh yes, Saturday. Now is there anything else you needed?"

"Wedding!" Jace yelled.

"Chill, hang loose, man." The captain laughed. "I love pulling that trick on tourists. Gets 'em every time. No wedding. But you do have the suite. It was the only hut available."

"Hut?" Beth annunciated the T with vengeance.

"Sure." The captain smiled. "Though here on the island we just call them fertility huts."

"Holy shit. Grandma's trying to get you knocked up." I chuckled. "Not gonna happen."