I’ve never seen such a fitting tattoo, for a guy with such a fitting name. If anyone lives free, it’s Dare.
“I love your tattoo,” I call out to him, as he walks from the kitchen to the bedroom, out of my sight.
“Freedom is an illusion,” he calls back.
I want to ask him why, but I don’t want to use a question, so I let it go. For now.
He emerges a minute later in a clean shirt.
“We’ve got some gauze and tape up at the house,” I tell him. “Will you come with me so that I can bandage you up? Finn and I caught some crabs today. Stay for dinner.”
I’m not asking. It’s an instruction. And surprisingly, Dare nods.
“Ok.”
I lift an eyebrow. “Ok?”
He smiles and the Dare I know is back, the charming and friendly one. “Yeah. I want to see if they really scream when you drop them into the pot.”
I must recoil a bit, because he chuckles. “I’m kidding. That’s a myth, right?”
I nod. “They don’t have vocal cords. But it sounds like a scream sometimes, when the air bubbles out of their stomachs.”
“That’s a pleasant thought,” Dare says wryly.
“I just don’t think about it,” I shrug. “Because they’re delicious.”
“Sadistic yet practical,” Dare observes as he holds the door open for me.
I grin. “That’s my hamartia.”
Dare shakes his head. “I don’t believe in fatal flaws.”
I pause, staring up at him. “Really? Then what, pray tell, will be your downfall?”
Dare pauses too, purveying me with his arms dangling limply at his sides.
“There’s a very good chance it’ll be you.”
13
TREDECIM
“How can you possibly say that?” I stutter. “You only just met me.”
Dare’s lip twitches and he starts walking toward my house. “I’m a very intuitive guy, Calla-Lily. I guess you can just call it a feeling.”
I feel like I’m walking on a cloud of confusion as we make our way to my house. I barely greet Finn when we walk in, and he immediately knows that something is up, although he doesn’t ask for details. Instead, he just calmly assesses me.
“Everything ok?” His voice is slow and even, and I nod.
“Yeah.”
He nods. “Good. I’m not feeling well, so I’m going to eat in my room.”
He turns and disappears into the back hallway before I can say anything. I suspect that his absence has more to do with Dare’s presence and less to do with not feeling well. I sigh as my father comes through the kitchen door.
He glances at Dare. “Would you like anything to drink?”