I Dare You (Dare, #1) — Chapter no 41

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

COLE

I lie next to her. My heart pounding, and her breathing is still ragged. I turn onto my side and push her hair from her damp face. Her eyes are closed and a soft smile on her lips.

She opens her eyes, and her smile widens. “Who owns this place?” she

asks.

I frown.

“You guys spend a lot of time here. Does someone’s dad own it?”

“I own it.”

Her eyes widen in surprise. “You own it?”

I nod. “When my mother passed, she left Lilly and me each a trust fund. I got access to mine when I turned eighteen and bought this that day. It was abandoned and cheap. The guys and I wanted a place to get away, so it just made sense.”

She nods. “When you told me what my dad tried to do to you, I thought that he had something to do with your mother passing.”

“The thought crossed my mind for many years,” I admit.

“But not anymore?”

I shake my head. “Although I miss her and wish she could have been here to see Lilly grow up, I think it was just something that happened. I was angry about it for a very long time, but it was no one’s fault.”

She lies down and runs her hand over my chest. “Why did you quit the group?”

“Because it wasn’t safe for you, and I knew you wouldn’t drop out unless

there was no longer a group at all.”

“So it’s just over?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I say with a smile. “It’s just over.”

“What do we do now?” she wonders.

“We enjoy what’s left of our senior year as a real couple.”

She gets up and straddles my hips. I place my hands on her bare thighs as she smiles down at me. Even with a bruised eye and stitches in her face, she

is still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

“Does this mean you’re gonna go to prom with me?” she asks.

I laugh. “Yes. That’s exactly what it means.”

“Guess I better start looking for a red dress then.” She wiggles her

eyebrows.

I groan. “I love when you wear red.”

She gives me her wicked smile that makes my cock hard. “I know.” She leans down, giving me a soft kiss.

I pull back. “What are your plans after graduation?”

“Haven’t really thought about it. Why?”

I take a deep breath and let it out. “You know when I had you take Lilly to ballet and I was gone the following day? I told you I had something personal to do?”

“How can I forget? That’s when Celeste pretended to be sleeping with

you.”

I ignore that. “I was in Texas.”

Her eyes widen. “You flew to Texas?” I nod. “Why?”

“Deke and I have scholarships to the University of Texas. And I needed to see my counselor about housing because I’m taking Lilly with me, and kids can’t live in the dorms.”

Her eyes fall to my chest. “Oh. I didn’t think about Lilly leaving with you.”

I place my hand in her hair and force her to look back up at me. “While I was there, I bought a house for Lilly and me.” Texas is where I’m going to call home for the rest of my life. I’m gonna go to college there and swim while I get my degree. Then Deke and I are gonna open our own business together. We’ve had it planned for years.

Her eyes widen once again, but she says nothing.

“And I want you to come with us. I want you to live with me and Lilly.”

“Cole … that’s …” She licks her lips. “Too much.”

“No, it’s not.” I sit up. “Tell me you’ll come with us. Tell me you’ll live with us.”

“If you want, I can help you with her …”

“No, Austin. You’re not understanding me. I want you there to be part of Lilly’s life, but I want you there for my life too.” I run my hand through her hair. “Move in with me, Austin.” I can’t imagine my life without her. This

amazing woman is everything I never knew I wanted. And in case I had any doubt, the past two weeks without her made me realize just how true that is.

Her dark green eyes start to well up with tears. “I don’t know …”

“You dared me to show you a side of me that no one sees. And I have, Austin. Now I’m daring you to give me a chance to be more than the guy who hurt you.” I give her a soft smile. “Move in with me and let me show you that I can be what you need.”

AUSTIN

Cole and I walk into my father’s house. “What do you wanna do today?” he asks me with a smile on his face. It’s been two weeks since my birthday, and things have been going great. Too great if you ask me. I’ve never considered my life to be normal, but things have been just that. Cole and I spent all of spring break together hanging out with Becky and Deke or just chilling at my house with Lilly. My bruised face had healed some by the time we went back to school. Shelby removed the stitches, but the bruises are still visible without makeup. But no one questioned it. Shane and Bennett have been calling Cole, but he keeps their conversations short when he does answer. I think he’s mad at them for not throwing Kellan out of the group when he and Deke first suggested it. And as for Kellan—he’s been everywhere this last week. Over spring break, it was easy to avoid him, but now that school is back in session, not so much. He’s everywhere I look and always smiling at me. It gives me the creeps and pisses Cole off. And I hate that I’m always looking over my shoulder. When I’m not in school, I always have the Taser on me, prepared to use it at any given second.

“Let’s take Lilly to the zoo,” I offer.

He nods. “Sounds good to me.”

“Austin? Is that you?” I hear Celeste call out.

Instead of answering, I walk down the hall, Cole’s hand in mine, and enter the living room. I come to a halt when I see she’s not alone.

Cole’s hand tightens on mine. “Mom?” I shriek. “What the hell are you doing here?”

I never did respond to her text she sent me on my birthday. And she never sent me another one.

She smiles brightly at me. Her green eyes go to my hand in Cole’s, then she looks him up and down before her eyes return to me. They trace over my face, and I square my shoulders, knowing she can see the faint bruise.

We just got back from spending the night at his clubhouse, and I didn’t put any makeup on. She allowed Phillip to hit me, but he also hit her. I’m sure she thinks Cole did this to me.

Celeste clears her throat and pushes her blond hair behind her ear nervously. “Your mother wanted to come and give you the good news in

person,” she says.

“Good news?” I ask arching a brow.

My mother smiles brightly and holds out her left hand. “We got married.”

My eyes go to Phillip for the first time as he sits on the couch next to my mother. He doesn’t smile at me; instead, his eyes take in my face. My freshly fucked hair and lack of clothing. I’m wearing Cole’s black zip-up hoodie and a pair of cotton shorts and tennis shoes. That’s it. No shirt underneath and no bra, which is why it is zipped all the way up to my neck.

Cole ripped both off me last night.

Cole takes a step forward, jerking on my hand, reminding me he is here. I pull him to a stop.

“When did this happen?” I ask, trying to figure out why she’s here. Why she thought I would need to know this. I couldn’t care less what they do.

You would think she already knew that.

“Two weeks ago.” She claps her hands. “On St. Paddy’s day.”

I’m not surprised.

“You married this piece of shit on your daughter’s birthday?” Cole growls, finally speaking.

My mother narrows her eyes on him, and Phillip stands, bowing out his chest, thinking he’s the superior man in this room. He’s not. “I don’t know who you are, son, but I’d suggest you not talk to her mother that way.”

Cole snorts. “I’m not your son, and she’s sure as hell not a mother to her.”

My mother shoots to her feet. “Who the hell is this, Celeste?” she demands.

“His name is Cole, and he’s my boyfriend,” I snap.

Celeste runs a hand through her hair. “I think it’s time you and Phillip go.” She clears her throat. “You got what you were promised.”

“Promised?” Cole questions.

I don’t care what they are talking about. I just want them gone.

Phillip chuckles, throwing his arm over my mother’s shoulders. “It’s adult business, son. You wouldn’t understand.” Phillip looks at me. He

stares at my eye again and smirks. “Guess I trained you right.” Then he

looks at Cole and winks.

“Out!” Celeste snaps.

I stand frozen to my spot as they walk past us and down the hall. Celeste follows them out and shuts the door behind them.

“What the fuck was that?” Cole demands, letting go of my hand.

Celeste joins us once again and sighs. “It’s nothing—”

“Bullshit!” he interrupts her, making me jump. “Why the hell were they here and what were they promised?”

She looks at me and then down at the floor.

“I don’t want to know,” I say softly.

Cole looks at me, and his features soften. “Austin …”

“I don’t care, Cole. Don’t you see? She got what she wanted. She got rid of me, and she got him to marry her.” Then I turn, walk out of the room, and head up the stairs to my bedroom. I sit down on the end of the bed and pull my cell out of his pocket, going to my mom’s number. I hover over it for a few seconds, trying to remember a time when she was actually a mother to me. When she hugged me. Kissed me. Tucked me in. Any time that she actually acted like she cared about my well-being. And I come up with nothing.

I delete her number as the door opens. Cole walks in and kneels in front of me. “I gotta go,” he says, pushing some hair from my face.

“Where are you going?” I ask. “I thought we were gonna take Lilly to the zoo?”

He nods. “Later. I got something I have to go do.” Standing up to his full height, he leans over and kisses me on the forehead. His phone starts to ring in the pocket of his jeans, and he pulls it out. I see Deke flash across it. He silences it. “Why don’t you go and get Lilly and then meet me at the clubhouse,” he offers, and I nod.

“Here.” I stand and remove his hoodie. His eyes go to my naked chest, and his hands grab my hips.

“Are you trying to distract me?” he asks roughly.

“No,” I say honestly. “Just thought you would want it back.”

He leans down and kisses my cheek. Then his eyes meet mine. I wait for him to give me something—some indication of where he is going or why Deke is calling him—but he doesn’t. Some things about Cole will never change.

He turns and walks out, and I sit back down, knowing that deleting my mother’s phone number was pointless. She won’t be calling me anymore anyway, but I’m okay with that. Like Cole said, she was never my mother.

I’m pulling a shirt over my head when there’s a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I call out.

The door opens, and Celeste peeks her head in. “May I speak to you?”

she asks.

“Do I have a choice?” I reply.

She sighs heavily. “I wanna explain myself,” she says entering. “I

haven’t really had the chance …”

“You’ve been avoiding me,” I argue.

She nods once. “I have, and I’m sorry.” She swallows. “I wanna explain about Kellan too …”

“I don’t care about Kellan,” I growl, interrupting her.

“He’s just worried!”

“Worried?” I snort. “About what?”

“About you and Cole.”

I don’t respond to that because she has no idea what is going on between us. And she doesn’t need to know.

Running a hand through her hair, she takes a step farther into my room.

“I’m sorry that Cole hurt you.”

“He didn’t do it.”

“Austin, I know you think he loves you, but he doesn’t.” She shakes her head as she looks me up and down as if I’m not good enough for him.

“This has nothing to do with love,” I grind out.

Her brown eyes soften, and her look turns to pity. “You were lucky this time. But next time …”

“Kellan did this to me,” I say, pointing at my face, unable to listen to this anymore.

She shakes her head. “No. He wouldn’t do that.”

Unbelievable. “Cole found my phone in Kellan’s car.”

Her hands fist. “If Cole found your phone in his car, then it was because Cole planted it there.”

“Jesus.” I hiss. “He has you brainwashed.”

“Kellan is trying to help you. Cole wants to hurt you,” she shouts, finding her anger. “That’s why Kellan wants you out of the group. He’s mad at you, but he’s trying to protect you in the long run.”

I shake my head at her words. She says Kellan wants me out of the group. But when Cole tried to get me thrown out, Kellan was the only one who wanted me to stay. So either Kellan hasn’t filled her in on what’s going on or he’s lying to her. “You have no clue what you are talking about,” I say, not wanting to argue with her.

“You don’t know what Cole is capable of.”

Oh, I do! “Apparently, I don’t know what any of you are capable of because I would have never thought you’d call out my boyfriend’s name while you fucked his friend,” I snap.

Her eyes darken, and her lips thin. She takes a step toward me. “Don’t push me, Austin.”

“What are you gonna do, Celeste? Ship me back to my mom’s? I’m eighteen now. You can kick me out, but then you’d have to explain to my father why I no longer live in his house.” I smile. “And I don’t think you

want him to know about Kellan, do you?”

“You little bitch!” she snaps.

“Why did you bring me here?” I ask, ignoring her anger. “You guys are all full of secrets and lies. So why bring in someone who has the power to expose you all?”

She gives a dark laugh. “You don’t hold that kind of power.”

I take a step toward her. “I’ve got more than you.”

She lets out a growl and spins around. Storming out, she slams my door behind her, not giving me an answer.

_________________________________

“Lilly?” I call out, entering Cole’s father’s house an hour later. After he left and I had my not so productive talk with Celeste, I relaxed in a long shower and took my time getting ready.

“She’s in her room,” a woman with jet black hair and just as dark eyes says. Blanche is always smiling.

“How is Sophia doing?” I ask about her daughter.

Blanche and I have become close the past couple of weeks. I found out that she has been with the family since before Lilly was born. She used to help take care of Cole as well.

“She’s doing well. She made the choir at church,” she answers with pride.

“That’s awesome. Tell her congratulations.”

She nods, and I make my way upstairs. I open her door and step into her

pink room. “Lilly?” I call out.

“In here.” I hear her across the hall.

I walk into Cole’s room. “Where at?” I ask with a chuckle, wondering if

we are playing hide and seek.

“Here,” her little voice calls out.

I find her in his large walk-in closet, sitting on the floor. “What are you doing in here?” I ask, sitting down next to her.

“I can’t find Hippo.”

Her favorite stuffed bunny. “Where did you have him last?” Doubt it was in Cole’s closet.

“I gave it to Cole to wash.” She pouts. “I spilled milk on him.”

“Maybe he’s down in the laundry room,” I offer.

“Maybe,” she says as tears spring to her brown eyes.

I get up on my hands and knees. “Here, I’ll help you look in here first.

Okay? Then we will go downstairs and look.” I pat her knee as a tear runs down her face. “We’ll find him.”

I look around the closet, not really knowing where it could be. It’s pretty clean. Not like a lot of things are lying on the floor that it could be hiding under.

My eyes catch sight of a brown box sitting back in the corner. It doesn’t have anything written on it, but it looks out of place. I reach out for it and then pull my hand back, biting my lip. Shouldn’t snoop. As far as I know, there’s some little black book in there with all the girls he’s ever slept with.

That’s one thing I don’t want to find.

“I tried calling him,” she says her voice still soft.

“How about I try?” Leaving the box alone, I pull out my new phone and press call on Shark.

It begins to ring, and after the fifth time, it goes to voicemail. “You’ve reached Cole …” I hang up and look at her. “He’ll call us back.”

She hangs her head and stands up. “I’m gonna check my room again.”

I stand too and go to follow her, but the box gets my attention again.

Looking back over my shoulder, I make sure Lilly is gone and bend down, removing the lid.

It’s full of pictures. I pull a stack out and look through them. They’re of Cole when he was younger. He looks around Lilly’s age. He’s swimming in

an indoor pool. There are some of him sitting at a kitchen table with boys his age all around him. I linger on the other kids to see if I recognize them as the guys in the group. I’m not sure how long they have all been friends.

In the next one, he is leaning over blowing out a number seven candle. I shuffle through a few more but stop when I come to one with him and an older blond. She’s pretty. Dark blue eyes and a kind smile. She stands next to him with a proud smile on her face, and he holds a gold medal around his neck. A swimming pool in the background. This must be his mother. And for some reason, she looks familiar. I go through a couple of more and come to a stop at a picture of Cole, along with three other boys and one girl.

The boys are smiling, one mid laugh, but the girl is not happy. She has her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face. Her right hip is pushed out, and her green eyes are narrowed as she glares at the camera.

“Don’t let her play,” the boy says to the other one.

“I don’t wanna play with you anyway,” I say, reaching out and shoving the boy with the blue eyes.

He growls and shoves me back, pushing me down onto my butt. They laugh at me before they turn around and walk off.

It’s me! The girl in the picture is me! I remember now. My father had a get-together with his friends, and I was the only girl there, and the boys wouldn’t let me play their stupid game.

“I don’t wanna play with her,” the little boy says with his lips pulled back.

“Cole, that’s not very nice,” the pretty blonde says, bending down to our level.

“So. She poured my juice out, Momma,” he whines.

“That’s because you threw dirt at me,” I say.

“Cole Ethan Reynolds,” she scolds. “You tell her you’re sorry right now.”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “Sorry,” he growls.

She pats his back and nods her head at him. “Now you play nice.”

He watches her walk off, and then he turns back to face me. “I’m not

sorry.”

“You will be,” I tell him.

His blue eyes narrow on me. “No, I won’t.” He yanks the Barbie out of my hand and rips her head off and then throws her head down into the dirt, stepping on it. Then he tosses her body out to the grass. “Have fun playing with that now.”

I place the picture in my back pocket with a smile on my face. Even back then, Cole Reynolds was a pain in my ass.

“I found Hippo!” Lilly says excitedly, bouncing back into the closet. She hugs him tightly to her chest wearing a big smile on her face.

“Ready to go?” I ask.

She nods happily and reaches out for me. I pick her up in my arms and kiss her soft cheek. “Let’s get going then, princess.”

I pull up to the clubhouse and see Cole’s car is parked outside. Lilly and I walk in hand in hand, and he stands from the couch. “Hello, girls,” he says, holding his arms out. Lilly runs to him, and he picks her up, giving him a hug.

“I thought I lost Hippo,” she tells him.

“What? I had put him on your bed,” he tells her with a frown.

She nods. “I found him on the floor.”

“He must have fallen off.”

Lilly hugs him as I look him over. Earlier, he was dressed in blue jeans and a white long-sleeve t-shirt. Now he’s dressed in a short sleeve black t- shirt and his black jeans. His hair is damp as if he just got out of the shower.

He sets her down, and his eyes meet mine. “Ready to go?” he asks, stepping into me.

My eyes search him for a hint of where he went or what he did. But his stare gives nothing away. He never does. “If you are,” I answer.

He nods. “I am.”

Then he takes my hand, and I look down at them to see his knuckles busted and dried blood. “Cole …”

“Shh,” he whispers against my lips. His eyes go back and forth between mine. “What did I tell you, sweetheart?”

I frown. What did he tell me? “When?”

He smiles softly at me. “That time I came and saw you and you were swimming in the pool.”

“That no one would ever touch me again,” I say, remembering it.

He nods, sliding a hand in my hair. “That was a promise I’ll never break, Austin.” Then he kisses me gently.

When he pulls away, I pull the picture out of my back pocket. I hold it against my chest so he can’t see it just yet. “I went through the box in your closet.”

His eyes meet mine, and he tilts his head in confusion. “Box …?”

“The one hiding in the corner. And I found something.”

“What is it?”