Chapter 26
Rylie held the bottle of champagne in one hand and the skirt of her dress in the other. She stood beside D’agostini Pond, a large reed and tree-filled swamp that was just outside of Somerset. The D’agostini family owned a lot of the area.
When they’d left the wedding, and headed out of Sweetheart, she hadn’t minded when Dustin had taken a left down the private dirt road that led to the pond. She’d even been cool when he’d parked the Jeep and announced they were going to play sexy truth or dare. It had sounded exciting.
Until she’d picked dare for the second time. “Let me be clear, you inferred that this was to be a date and that it would be fun.”
Dustin laughed from his position beside the Jeep. “Sexy truth or dare is fun!”
“No, there is nothing sexy about swimming in a swamp. Why did I let you talk me into this? This is something small town high school kids do when they lie to their parents about going to the movies!”
“Are you punking out?” he challenged.
Rylie glared at him.
“I do not want to swim in this. It is slimy and there are probably snakes!”
“Nah, the snakes are all sleeping.”
She started to inch her toe near the water and could have sworn she saw something move beneath the surface. She stumbled back with a squeal. “I hate you.”
He sighed as though he was a benevolent king granting her greatest wish. “All right, you want to use your pass on this one?”
Rylie nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, yes!”
“Fine, my turn.”
Rylie pulled out her phone and scrolled through her music. “I dare you to strip while doing the Macarena.”
“Yeah, I’m not doing that.”
“Oh come on! That’s easy compared to what you wanted me to do.”
“Okay, but if I see your camera come out, you’re taking a swim.” He hopped down from the hood of his Jeep and Rylie climbed in to flip on his headlights.
“What are you doing, trying to bring the cops down on us?”
“You need a spotlight if you’re going to perform.” She pressed play on her phone and giggled. “You’re up, Chippendale!”
She took a swig of champagne from the bottle as she watched Dustin do a very clumsy version of the Macarena. When he crossed his arms, he pulled his bow tie loose and by the time he put his hands on his hips, he pushed his pants down to around his ankles.
A flash of blue and red from the main road caught the corner of Rylie’s eye, and she turned off the music and lights. “Shit, it’s the fuzz.”
“Did you just say the fuzz?”
She ran over to him and grabbed his hand. “Come on, we’ve got to hide.”
“Or we can just get in the car and if they happen to meet us on the road, we can just tell them we came down here to make out.”
“Again, not in high school. We are adults. And I am too tipsy to deal with this situation.”
Dustin bent over and pulled his pants back up. “Get in the Jeep, Tipsy, and let’s get out of here.”
By the time they started backing up, a patrol car had blocked them in.
“Ah, crap! They’re going to think we were going at it.”
“Do you want me to tell them the truth?” Dustin asked.
“Oh, God, where do I put the champagne bottle?”
Dustin took it from her and stuffed it under the backseat.
A lit flashlight tapped on his window, and when he rolled it down, Rylie recognized Luke right away.
“Hi, Luke,” she said.
“Rylie. Dustin. You two know you’re on private property, right?”
Dustin slid his arm behind her seat and squeezed her shoulder. “Yeah, sorry, Luke. We were coming back from the wedding at my mom’s winery, and Rylie said I had to pull off so she could kiss me and—ow!”
Rylie pinched him on the arm and shouted, “He’s lying, Luke! He tried to get me to go skinny dipping in the pond.”
Luke shook his head and rubbed a hand over his face. “Guys, I am way too tired for this. I’m going to write you a ticket for trespassing on private property and then I want you to take your extracurricular activities home. Capisce?”
“You got it, bud. Still invited to poker this week?” Dustin asked.
“Only if you bring two hundred bucks and promise to be on a losing streak.”
“I will do my best.”
When Luke walked away, Rylie shoved his shoulder gently. “I cannot believe you did that.”
“Well, since we’ve been ordered home…your place or mine?”
“Hey, buddy, I don’t know who you think I am, but I don’t put out on the first date.”
Dustin tangled his fingers in the curls falling from her up-do and kissed her so thoroughly that her toes were practically double-jointed by the time he’d pulled away.
“You were saying?”
She licked her lips. “My place, but you have to give me five minutes to pick up.”
“Come on, I don’t care what your house looks like.”
“Easy for you to say, Victoria always has your home looking like a magazine and I had four women over last night. I still think there are little dick straws all over the place and I need to do some damage control.”
Dustin laughed and kissed the side of her neck. “Fine, I’ll go home and grab a bag while you clean up. Think a half an hour will give you enough time?”
“That’s perfect.” She kissed him sweetly, which turned into a full-on make-out.
A tap on the car door broke it up and Luke cleared his throat. “If you two don’t separate immediately, this ticket is going to double.”
Dustin took it from Luke and his jaw went slack. “A thousand dollars?”
Luke grinned. “Next time you want to get it on, take her back to your castle, rich boy.”
Once Luke was backing away, Dustin turned to her, flashing her an evil smile.
“I am going to destroy him on poker night.”
Fifteen minutes later, Rylie hopped out of the Jeep with her tote from the day in hand and blew him a kiss. “See you in a half an hour.”
“Not a minute more,” he said.
She closed the door, floating all the way to her house. She put the key in the knob and then turned it. As she was coming through, she realized she hadn’t heard the click that usually happened when she unlocked the door. Had she forgotten to turn the deadbolt when she left this morning?
She shut it behind her and heard Raider’s frantic barking from his crate. Still buzzed from the champagne, she fumbled in the dark toward her bedroom.
“Hey, baby, do you need to go potty?”
As she passed by the bedroom, it registered two seconds too late that there had been a large shadow on the wall.
Suddenly, she was slammed against the wall in the hallway, a sweaty hand covering her mouth.
Raider’s barking became high and hysterical and the clink of metal told her he was throwing his body against the cage. She tried to scream, to tell him to stop, but she couldn’t make a sound. She stared up at the ski-masked face, his eyes glittering in the dark.
“If you make one sound, you’re dead. You understand?”
Oh, God. She knew that voice, and it wasn’t Asher.
It was Will.