Dare Me

I pulled Isabel back. “First of all, Nick, calm down – ”

“You don’t tell me to calm down,” he laughed bitterly. “Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m a grown woman who makes her own decisions, including when and where I want to drink, so I do get to tell you to stop harassing me to get plastered because you think it’ll get me loose enough to give your brother some ‘birthday action,’” I snapped, losing my temper.

Isabel’s jaw dropped. I hadn’t told her that detail in hopes of keeping the drama at bay but here we were, in the thick of it because Logan had stopped me on my way out of the bathroom and revealed what he’d overheard Nick telling his friends – that Theo would owe him big if he could pull out this surprise party and “get Lake drunk enough to finally give up some pussy.” I was ready to leave that second, especially since Nick started thrusting more booze in my face, but then Isabel came to get me. She was ready to go but was obligated to stay and say surprise to Theo, since Alec couldn’t. I figured I’d do the same. I would say ‘hello,’ do my part in giving second chances and then go the hell home with Isabel. But now, I was positive I couldn’t hold out any longer.

“Oh, fucking sue me, Lake,” Nick snapped. “It’s not like Theo’s a stranger – you used to date him. And to be honest, he was a saint for putting all that time and money into you when you weren’t giving him the only fucking thing he wanted you for.”

“Nick!” Isabel swiped at him. “Are you kidding me? You’re such an asshole!”

“God – w

hat are you going to cry to Alec now and make this another family drama?” Turning his dark eyes back at me, Nick sneered. “Honestly, you should be fucking honored that any of us even give a shit about you.”

“Oh, really?” I laughed bitterly, knowing exactly where Nick was going with that one. I got up and grabbed my purse. I knew he was baiting me, trying to get me to get sensitive and demand what the hell he meant by that but I wasn’t going to give him the pleasure. “I’m going home. Goodnight.” I slid out of the booth and waited for Isabel to put on her shoes but she was fuming as hard as I was and her fingers were stumbling over the straps. Nick used the time to grab my wrist and yank me away. “Nick!” I cried out as he nodded for his friend to contain Isabel. “Let go of me!”

“Quiet,” he growled, pulling me into a corner and muttering an inch from his face the way his brother used to. “Why don’t we get something straight here, Lake? When I invite you to a nice party and you come and you eat my food and drink my liquor, you should probably have the fucking decency to give something back. You do realize that you’re nobody right? You may be friends with some of us but you’re not one of us, so if you’re here with us, you need to earn your keep.”

“Oh my God – ” I walked away with a true laugh. He caught my wrist and jerked me back.

“Listen to me. I told my brother I had a very big surprise for him and I didn’t mean this party, so don’t fuck it up for me.”

“I’m not some stripper you hired to jump out of a birthday cake,” I hissed, wrestling out of his grip.

“You might as well be – you’ve always been a fucking tease.”

“I was a teenage girl who wasn’t ready to have sex yet, Nick. Grow up.” I tried to push past him but he shoved me into the wall.

“I grew up. We all did. We’re all successful but look at you.” I knew from the way he laughed that he was going to say it. “Lake DePalma. Still trash.”

There it was. Trash. The word rang in my ear and as hard as I tried to keep it from happening, it sunk me back into the dark place I was in every day at Sunstone with that miserable woman and her miserable family. Trash. You’re trash! I squeezed my eyes shut and fought the urge to believe it, to succumb to what so many people had told me. But closing my eyes made me see her. It flashed memories before my eyes – of the day I walked in on her, strung out and naked in bed. I heard the crackle of her smoke-singed voice.

“Like mother, like daughter, baby girl.”

No. No. Never. I shook my head and breathed deep, refusing to let the thought settle into my brain. You’re not like her, I repeated. Over and over. But it was barely working and when I opened my eyes, Nick was grinning at me, reading my face with satisfaction. “Glad you at least know it,” he smirked, walking into me and palming my hips. “Now, come with me and let’s give you the chance to be something special,” he murmured in my ear. “Maybe Theo’ll take you back if you give it to him good enough.” His sticky tequila breath coated my lips. “What do say, Lake?”

I didn’t respond. My head was spinning. I saw Sunstone. The couch, the bed, the needles. Between those vivid flashes and the words leering out of Nick’s boozy mouth, I was feeling nauseous. Sick to my stomach. Still, I tried to muster the strength to push him off me. I needed to. His hands were starting to slide to my backside as he whispered into my ear.

“Who knows. Maybe I’ll bring you to the bathroom and let you do a test run on me.”

He squeezed my ass. My insides lurched.

“Get off!” I shoved Nick so hard to the floor that he let out a cry as he landed. I ran as he writhed on the ground, my wild eyes searching frantically for Isabel.

Instead, I found Callum.

The look on his face took my breath away. He was across the room but the second his stare landed on mine, he had a muscled shoulder angled into the crowd, parting his way to me till he was in front of me, eyes blazing. “Where is he?” he demanded. “Where’s Theo?”

“He’s not here. It was Nick.” I felt a wave of guilt as I watched the switch flip in his beautiful blue eyes. I turned him into an animal and I knew he hated it. Under his fitted suit, I could see his muscled frame expanding, rigid with anger. “Callum, you don’t have to defend me, let’s just find Isabel and – ”

“Follow Oz. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Before I could ask who Oz was, a looming giant of a man gathered me and said “I don’t bite” before parting the crowd for us both. I turned back to look for Callum but he was already out of sight, so I hiccupped and wiped tears the whole way out of the club, down the elevator and out of the building. Oz, a wall of a human being with a full beard and man-bun, watched me in wary silence the whole time.

“Did someone hurt you tonight?” he dared to ask once he had me seated in the backseat of a shiny black SUV. He closed the door and spoke to me through the open window. I couldn’t bring myself to answer. “Whoever did it, they’re in for a world of hurt right now.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”