I Dare You (Dare, #1) — PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

COLE

Have you ever been to a funeral where the preacher stands before the friends and loved ones of the deceased and talks about how shitty the person was? How he fucked around on his wife? Or spent his family’s life savings to feed his gambling addiction? How about during his bachelor party when he snorted coke off a hooker’s ass?

Me neither.

Why is it that we’re fucking saints the moment we die?

You hear the preacher say things like, “Oh, John Smith was a lovely man who loved his wife and kids,” when he should really be saying, “John Smith was a worthless piece of shit who fucked the underage babysitter every chance he fucking got while his wife was busy working two jobs and raising his ungrateful children.”

And let’s not forget that the deceased in that casket before you never even went to church. Let alone knew the preacher who speaks so highly of him. All he knows are the stories the blinded loved ones wrote down on a

little card for him to share.

He’s a fucking puppet.

Now, I haven’t read the Bible word for word, but I know the Lord says if we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, he will cleanse our souls, and

we will be forgiven.

Poof. It’s like magic.

Now that begs the question–what if you’re not sorry? What if you don’t care to be forgiven?

No amount of holy water could cleanse my soul, and I’m okay with that because when I sinned, I understood that I would one day have to pay.

We’re all going to die eventually. You can be one of those people who bury your head in the sand to avoid talking about it all you want, but it’s life!

Live or die.

Heaven or hell.

Angel or devil.

It’s black and white. There are no gray areas.

So tell me … when you’re lying in that casket in front of your friends and family, what are they going to think of you? Are they gonna believe that preacher who talks bullshit, or are they gonna know you didn’t care if you were going to burn for eternity?

Now, I’m not a religious person. Obviously. But I do know this. When I am damned to hell, it’ll be because I fucking earned it.