If You Dare (Dare 3)

“Austin?”

She pushes Cole away, breathing heavily when Lilly enters the kitchen. “Yes, Lilly?” she asks, breathlessly.

The cute little six-year-old smiles up at her. She is Cole’s little sister, and he’s raised her since the day she was born. Celeste, Austin’s stepmother, killed Cole’s mother by shoving her down a flight of stairs when she was pregnant with Lilly. Lilly survived, but their mother did not. “I don’t know where my phone went.”

Austin takes her hand and pulls her own cell out of the back pocket of her jeans. “I’ll call it.”

“I think it’s dead.” She frowns.

“We’ll find it,” Austin assures her before they walk out of the kitchen.

“Need a moment?” I ask Cole, jokingly.

“More like an hour,” he answers.

I turn to face him, and he has his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Things have been awkward around us since the night he told me all his secrets in Collins. He thinks I’m mad at him, but I’m not. He did exactly what I would have done, so I can’t fault him for being like me. But I hate that I’m still keeping my own. Maybe he’s pulling away from me because he knows I’m not being honest with him. And it makes me think of Eli. How close we all once were, but how many secrets we had among us. Were we all ever really friends? I think that’s the hardest part about all of this. I was loyal to the sharks. I may have been an ass to most, but I would have laid my life down for any of them. Even Kellan. But in the end, I helped Cole kill him. Would Cole have helped me kill Eli if he hadn’t died that night in the car accident? Would Cole have dug with me to get the answers I needed? Still want? I’m not sure. And I hate that I’ll never know. You can’t kill someone who is already dead. But the unanswered questions still eat at me.

He finally looks away from where Austin exited the kitchen with Lilly, and his eyes meet mine. “You gonna be okay with Becky tonight? I can tell Austin I don’t want to go—”

“No,” I interrupt and wave him off. “It’ll be fine. How bad can it be?”

His dark brows rise at my question as if to say really? You gonna ask that? Because we both know just how bad shit can get.

Austin pops her head back into the kitchen. “Found the phone and Misty is gonna come stay with Lilly.”

Neither one of us says anything to her.

Her green eyes narrow, and she walks over to me. “Please be nice.” I open my mouth, but she continues, “It’s just one night.”

I grind my teeth but nod once because that’s the first time Austin has ever asked me for anything. And I love that girl like my own sister. Even if I did once aim a gun at her, planning on ending her life in the middle of a cemetery. But now that’s water under the bridge and all that. “One night.” I’ve put up with worse in my life.

She smiles and looks over at Cole. “I’m going to take a shower and start getting ready.” Then she turns and walks out of the kitchen once again.

And no surprise, Cole all but runs out of the kitchen to follow her up to their room for a little shower time of his own. He’s been on her ass more than usual and doesn’t let her out of his sight. If it were anyone else, I would say their relationship has gone from extremely toxic to a tad unhealthy, but I know the loss that he has suffered and the scare he had with her five months ago. Hell, even I’m protective of her now.

I walk over to the fridge and grab a bottle of water, and when I turn around, Becky is standing there. I bump into her on accident, and it pushes her backward. Instinct has me reaching out and grabbing her upper arm to keep her standing. I should shove her ass to the floor, but I don’t.

Her blue eyes are wide as they look up at me, and I realize the last time I was this close to her was three months ago. When I stormed into her bedroom back at her father’s house in Collins and told her I knew all her secrets. That she had been fucking my best friend, Eli, and that she had lied to Cole and wasn’t really pregnant. She begged me to love her, to want her, but it didn’t work.

“Wait! Please?” she begs. “I can fix this.”

“No. You can’t.” Things have gone too far, and there’s no going back now.

“Deke? Please? I can’t lose you,” she cries.

“You already have.” I reach for the door handle, but she places her hands on my back, gripping my T-shirt and causing the collar to choke me.