“What is this about?” Deke asks, checking his phone. It’s after midnight on a Friday. I’m sure he’s going to go meet up with Becky if she’s not already waiting for him at his house.
Kellan looks at me. “Cole’s dare. I say we move on.”
Deke raises a brow, and Cole stiffens as he stands by the table. “I can redraw—”
“No,” Kellan interrupts him. “We can move on to the next person.” He shrugs carelessly. “I don’t mind. Does anyone else have a problem with that?”
No one says a thing. The room falls silent, and even I can tell Kellan is setting someone up for something. I get my answer a moment later.
He rubs his hands together. “Okay, so we’ll move on, and come Sunday, Austin will draw.”
Cole spins around to face me. “Absolutely not. She’s out of the group.”
“What?” I snap.
Kellan looks at me. “If you don’t leave willingly, then we all have to vote you out. Do you choose to leave willingly?”
“No,” I say without looking at Cole. He brought me into this; I’m not going to let him throw me out. Not after all I’ve done. All he’s put me through.
“Then we will vote you out.” Cole growls. “Who says she’s gone?”
Deke is the first one to say I’m out. I ignore him. He made it very clear tonight when he yanked hair out of my head that he will do whatever the fuck Cole says.
Shane comes next. Bennett sighs as if he doesn’t want to but folds anyway.
Everyone looks at Kellan, and he smiles. “I say she stays.”
The air in the room changes, and Cole takes a step toward him. “What the fuck?” he barks. “You’ve wanted her gone since day one, and now all of a sudden you want her to stay?”
I could argue that Kellan may think if he votes me out, that I’ll tell my dad he’s fucking my stepmom, but I’m not sure that is the reason.
He shrugs. “She wants to stay.”
“I don’t give a fuck what she wants,” Cole shouts.
“That’s obvious,” I say.
Cole spins around to face me. His eyes blazing with fury, and I square my shoulders. “Everyone, get the fuck out!” he barks.
Kellan smirks at me as he walks by. Shane and Bennett hang their heads as they walk to the door. Deke is the last one, and his eyes shoot from me to Cole as if he’s waiting for one of us to tell him to stay. We don’t.
The moment the door closes, Cole turns on me. “You’re not doing this.”
“You no longer control me, Cole,” I reply flatly.
“Cut the shit, Austin!” he snaps.
“No! You should have cut the shit, Cole!” I shout. “Long ago. You should have told me about Lilly. About Kellan and Celeste.” His eyes narrow on me. “Fuck!” I shout frustrated. “I did so much. I let you take so much.” I shake my head. “But not anymore. You brought me into this.”
His jaw sharpens.
“I let you use me,” I growl. “I let you fucking take and take because you needed something. Someone. But not again, Cole. Find someone else to fuck with. Because I’m done.”
I turn and go to walk out the door, but he grabs my arm and yanks me back. “Don’t touch me,” I shout. Spinning around, I go to slap him, but he was ready for it. He grabs my hands and pushes me onto the couch, pinning my hands above my head.
“Cole,” I say, my heart pounding.
“Guess not much has changed since that night in the cemetery, huh, sweetheart?” he asks with an arch of his brow and a cocky smirk on his face, referring to how easily he was able to pin me down.
“What? Gonna stab me this time?” I ask, fisting my hands. “Gonna let Deke just kill me?”
His cockiness fades, and he loosens his grip on my wrists but doesn’t let go. “I don’t want to hurt you, Austin.”
I narrow my eyes. “Quit trying to mind fuck me. It’s not gonna work.”
“I’m not …”
“Bullshit!” I shout.
I want to break you. His agenda hasn’t changed.
He lets go of my wrists, and I shove him off me. He falls onto the couch, and I scramble to get up. I straighten my top that rode up, grab my phone that fell onto the floor, and head to the door. This time, he doesn’t stop me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
COLE
“YOU KNOW HE’S setting her up, right?” Deke asks me as we both sit on the couch in the clubhouse.
It’s Sunday, and we have all gathered back here for Austin to draw her dare. I’ve been in a pissy mood ever since she walked out of here on Friday night.
“Yes.”
“What are we gonna do about it?”
I look over at him. “Be there when he does.”
He nods and goes back to texting on his phone.
The door opens, and she walks in with a look of indifference. She’s as good as I am at giving a blank expression. I fucking hate it.
I sit back and watch Kellan look over her tight skinny jeans and black high heels. She wears a black top to match that is low cut, showing off her tits. She looks like she’s getting ready to go have drinks with her girlfriends at a bar, not draw a dare.
Shane passes out a piece of paper to each of us. I lean over and whisper into Deke’s ear. “Leave it blank.”
He nods and folds it up.
One at a time, we each get up and drop them into the bowl. When we’re all done, she draws.
Her eyes instantly go to mine. I refrain from smiling.
“What does it say?” Kellan demands.
“Nothing,” she replies and tosses it the ground. She draws again.
“You can’t draw more than once,” I say as I stand.
“What the hell?” she demands when she opens the folded piece of paper and looks at Deke. He says nothing.
“You guys can’t do that,” Kellan snaps at us.
“Actually, they can,” Bennett says with a smile. And I wonder if he had the same idea as we did.
She reaches in and draws again. I go to rip it out of her hand, but she opens it up and reads it out loud. “As dark as night, as red as light. Let’s take a match and make it shine bright. Consequence- you must show the world your darkest secret.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I snap.
“It’s a riddle,” Kellan says with a smile.
“I fucking know that!” I growl. “What the fuck does it mean?”
“I don’t know. It’s not my dare. Shane?” He looks at him.
My eyes narrow on Shane. “What does it mean?” I demand.
“I don’t have to answer that.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “She will find out soon enough.”
_______________
Monday afternoon, we all sit at the lunch table. Becky and Austin talk about a test we had today while Deke speaks to me. I completely tune him out.
“So I spoke to Celeste when I got home last night, and she’s throwing me a birthday party.”
Becky frowns. “Is that what you want?”
She shrugs. “Not really but she is kissing my ass. And she feels a birthday party will help it.”
“When is your birthday?” I ask her, wanting her to tell me. But I already know. Turns out that Facebook page I made came in handy.