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 gonna 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 gonna 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 gonna 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 gonna 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.

Deke throws me a glare.

“Okay, how about we go out to eat together?” I offer, trying to fix this since I’m the reason both girls are pissed.

“I’m busy,” Austin states and then stands to throw her trash away.

I grip her arm and pull her back down into her seat. “Doing what?”

Her eyes narrow on me. And they look like she did that first night I met her in the cemetery. When she hated me. That seems so long ago. “None of your business,” she snaps.

The bell rings, and she tries to get up again, but I don’t release her. “Austin—” Becky starts, but Deke grabs her arm too and pulls her away from the table.

“Stop,” I tell her.

“Stop what?”

She’s playing my game. Where I act oblivious. I don’t like it. “Stop acting like I’ve already fucked her.” Her nostrils flare. “I was going to give you some time, but you’ve had enough.”

“Enough time for what, Cole?” she demands.

“To get over this. To understand that Kellan is trying to play both of us. And you’re letting him win.”

“No.” She leans in, her face inches from mine. I swallow the urge to kiss her. “What you don’t understand, Cole, is that I don’t fucking care.”

She yanks her arm from my hold, gets up, and walks out of the cafeteria.

AUSTIN

I don’t care!

I don’t fucking care!

I’ve been repeating that in my head for the past five days. Five long fucking days. My mind has been a mess. And my chest tight. I don’t love him. Hell, half the time I don’t even like him. Then why am I so mad that he has to sleep with someone else? Especially someone he has slept with before?

I snort. Hell, for all I know, he’s been sleeping with other women over the past month. I still swear he has a thing going on with Shelby, and I never gave much thought to that, but this is eating at me. Though I’m not sure what bothers me more. The fact he has to do it or the fact he wants to do it.

I saw the way he smiled at Kellan after he read the dare out loud. Like it was a fucking pass to screw around on me. For all I fucking know, Cole told Kellan to give him that dare. And I can’t do a single thing about it.

I storm out of the cafeteria and down the quiet hallway. The second bell has already rang, and now I’m late. That’s been my week. Turning the corner, I come to a quick stop when I collide with another body. “I’m sor …” My words cut off when I look up into a set of brown eyes.

Kellan! I straighten my shoulders and go to walk around him. He grabs my arm and yanks me back. “Don’t touch me!” I snap.

Slamming my back into a locker, he places his hands on either side of my head and cages me in. Just like Cole used to do. I swear they are so much alike, it’s scary. “I would ask how your week is going, but I can tell it’s shitty.”

I clamp my mouth shut, refusing to speak to him.

He smiles down at me. “He’s gonna fuck her, Austin.”

I say nothing but my hands fist, knowing he’s right.

“He’ll pick the group over anything. Even you.”

I know. “I don’t care what he does.”

He chuckles. “Yes, you do. Or you wouldn’t be walking around this school with a scowl on your face. Everyone is talking about it. They see the way you ignore him. How when he touches you, you pull away. And when the school finds out he fucked Kaitlin … because they will, Austin, I’ll make sure of it. No one will feel sorry for you. They’ll all say you sent him right into her arms.”

I narrow my eyes on him. “I’m having a hard time putting two and two together. Why don’t you help me out? Is it me you hate the most or Cole?” I come right out and ask. I’ve never backed down to Cole, so I’m sure as hell not going to with Kellan.

“I hate you both equally,” he says as his eyes drop to my chest.

My breathing picks up as he pushes himself into me, pressing my back into the lockers. “Kellan,” I warn.

“There is a way that can keep him from having to fuck her,” he says as his hips press into mine. He’s hard. My hands shoot out to his chest, and I try to push him away, but he doesn’t budge. He presses his face into my neck, and I swallow the bile that wants to rise. “I’ll retract my dare if you pull out of the group.”

Could it be that easy? Could I just call a meeting and tell them that I’m done? That I won’t tell a soul what I know, and they’ll let me leave.

He chuckles, and I grind my teeth. It’s a trick. “Then that will show that I actually care. Which I don’t.”

“But we all know that you do, Austin. End it with some dignity and pull out of the group. Or let him cheat on you and make you more of a joke than you already are.” He kisses my neck, and I pull it away from him the best I can with his body pinning me to the lockers. “You’ve got until Sunday,” he whispers and then he licks up my neck to my ear, before pulling away.

I suck in breath after breath while my heart races as I watch him walk down the hallway. He places his hands in the pockets of his jeans, whistling a merry tune.

I fist my hands down by my side, trying to calm my racing heart. This bastard is not gonna play me. I’m so tired of them thinking that they can push me around. Bully me. Fucking blackmail me.

I pull my cell out of my back pocket and send a quick text to Cole.

Me: Dinner tomorrow night @ 6. My house.

Then I put it away and storm off to class. I know exactly what I need to do. It’s a simple answer. It just took Kellan in my face to realize it.

_________________________________

I’m just putting the dessert in the fridge when I hear the doorbell ring. I open it up to see Becky and Deke standing before me. She looks unhappy, and he looks pissed.

I feel bad for them. She’s been mad at him since Sunday. After Cole dropped me off at my house, she had called me. To my surprise, Deke told her what was going on. She was mad at him for even doing these stupid dares. But when she spoke to me, she cried. She told me that she couldn’t imagine her life without him and what if someone had dared him to sleep with someone else. She wasn’t sure if he would pick her over the boys’ stupid group. That was when I realized if Deke was questionable, then there was no doubt about what side Cole would choose.

He’ll fuck Kaitlin!

I’m just some girl Cole blackmailed. Deke loves Becky.

“You look gorgeous,” I say, pulling her in for a hug.

“So do you.” She hugs me and then pulls away, giving me a fake smile.

“Deke.” I greet him.

He nods.

I loop my arm in hers, and we make our way into the kitchen. “You cooked all of this?” Becky asks wide-eyed, looking over the table.

I cooked my favorite meal, Italian stuffed shells with garlic parmesan cheese bombs, along with tiramisu cupcakes for dessert. “Yep. I hope you’re hungry. There’s dessert in the fridge.”

She goes to open her mouth, but the doorbell rings again. “Deke, will you get that?” I ask and turn my back to him.