Cole pulls up to my house, and I open the passenger door to get out. “Austin …” He grabs my upper arm.
I swing my head around to glare at him. “I didn’t delete them for you.” Then I yank my arm free and get out.
_______________
Sunday evening, I find myself back at the clubhouse with the guys to do another dare.
I sit on the couch with Cole to my left and Deke to my right. We haven’t spoken much since yesterday afternoon. We went to see a movie last night, but the best thing about movies is that you can’t talk during them. Then afterward I told him to take me home. He didn’t argue even though earlier in the day he had told Celeste I would be staying the night with him. I think he knew I was pissed and didn’t want to fight with me over it.
“So who’s up?” I ask.
“Cole,” Deke answers.
“Don’t make your dare illegal,” Cole warns me without looking my way. And I know it’s for my sake, not his.
I ignore him.
Like last time, Shane passes out pieces of paper and pens. I write down a dare and put it in the bowl.
I peek over at Kellan standing by the table, and he’s staring at me. I look away.
Cole gets up and goes over to the bowl. He draws out a piece of paper and silently reads it to himself at first. His jaw sharpens and nostrils flare. His eyes instantly go to Kellan who smiles back at Cole, then looks back at me.
“I dare you,” Kellan says to Cole with a sinister smile on his face.
I swallow nervously.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
COLE
MY EYES GO to Austin, and her face is white, eyes wide. She looks nervous. Looking back down at the paper, I read it out loud. “You must fuck Kaitlin. Consequence. If you do not complete your dare in one month, you must pull out of the group.”
Deke snorts and mutters, “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m very serious,” Kellan says, looking at Austin.
Her face has turned red, and I’m not sure if it’s from anger or embarrassment.
Deke stands and looks at Kellan. “What the fuck, man?”
He shrugs carelessly. “Not sure what the problem is. We all know that he’s just playing with Austin for the month, and he’s fucked Kaitlin before. Not like she’s a bad lay. We’ve all had a piece of that.”
“You know why,” he snaps.
Shane runs a hand through his hair nervously while Bennett looks at Kellan with a tight jaw. We all know what he’s doing. But there’s nothing we can do—rules are rules.
I smile. Kellan is just asking for me to fuck him over. He still doesn’t know that I’m aware he’s fucking Celeste. I know she hasn’t said a word to him because he would have confronted me.
I could tell him. But what good would that do? It won’t change anything now. Plus, I want him to continue fucking her. I need insurance. And I won’t get it if he stops.
Kellan looks at me. That smirk still on his face. “You’ve got a month, Cole,” he says, then looks to Austin and winks before he walks out.
Her eyes meet mine, and she looks absolutely pissed. And I find I like another side of her. One I’ve never seen before—jealousy.
_______________
Everyone but me, Austin, and Deke have left the clubhouse. She still sits on the couch. She hasn’t said a word since I read my dare out loud over thirty minutes ago.
Deke sighs heavily as he approaches me. “What are you gonna do, man?” he asks, lowering his voice.
“What I have to do,” I say simply.
He shakes his head. “I told you shit was gonna come to a head. And it’s gonna happen within a month.”
“It’ll be fine.”
He growls. “Kellan was out of line.”
“He’s playing the game.” Not very well, I might add.
“Fuck the game,” he snaps.
I slap his shoulder. “I’ve got it under control.”
“You can’t pull out of the group.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I assure him.
“So you’re gonna fuck Kaitlin?” He gives Austin a quick look over his shoulder. She is typing away on her cell. “You can’t come back from that, Cole.”
“Quit worrying so much, Deke,” I decide to say.
He lets out another long breath, shaking his head. Then, without another word, he turns and walks out.
“Let’s go,” I say to her.
She stands from the couch and walks out to my car. I follow her and close up the clubhouse. When I get in the car, she looks straight ahead. I turn the car on and take her home.
As I pull up to her driveway, she’s already reaching for the door. “Wait,” I say, grabbing her arm.
She finally looks over at me, and her green eyes are simmering with rage and her lips thinned.
“Trust me.”
She says nothing. Doesn’t even blink.
I hold in a sigh. I’m going to fucking kill Kellan. I haven’t worked this hard to get her where I want for him to come along and fuck it all up. “I know I haven’t given you a reason to, but I need you to trust me on this.” Deke was right; I could never come back from this. And if I want Austin Lowes to fall in love with me, fucking another woman isn’t going to do it.
“You’re right. You haven’t given me a reason to trust you, and I’m not gonna start now.” Then she gets out, slamming the door behind her.
_______________
The next week went by quicker than I would have liked. And I hated it. This was the last free week I would have before I was going to be spending all my time in a pool. My weekends full of swim meets. It was the last time before I graduated. And Kellan fucked it up by giving me that ridiculous dare.
I still picked up Austin and took her to and from school. She didn’t say anything to me when we were alone. She spoke to me here and there in class and while at lunch, but I could still tell that she was mad. And I’m not sure what to do about it.
I have a little over three weeks left to complete my dare, and I’m going to take up every single day of that. Because once I fulfill it, shit will hit the fan. And I’m not ready to clean up that mess yet.
Friday afternoon, we are all sitting at the lunch table with the exception of Kellan. He’s been MIA since last Sunday. I see him in practice, but we ignore one another. So does Deke and Bennett. Shane seems to be the only one speaking to him at the moment.
“Austin, I need a favor,” I say, turning to face her. She sits beside me eating Chick-fil-A nuggets.
“What is it?” she asks, not bothering to look at me.
“Can you take Lilly to school and pick her up for me next week? Blanche is busy, and Bruce is going to be back in town …” She drops her nugget in the barbecue sauce at the mention of her father. “So Celeste will be too busy—”
“Yeah,” she says, interrupting me and digging it out.
Becky gives me a glare, and I ignore her. She’s been cold since last Sunday, but that’s to be expected. I’m sure Austin filled her in on my dare.
“Thank you,” I say, but she’s gone back to ignoring me.
“Hey, babe, I made our reservations for tomorrow,” Deke tells Becky.
She looks at him but doesn’t say anything. Their relationship is on the rocks as well. Not sure what happened there, but it’s not good.