I Promise You (Dare, #2) — Chapter no 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

DEKE

“12 ROUNDS” BY BOHNES blares in my car as it squeals to a stop in Becky’s father’s driveway. I make my way up their front porch and don’t even bother knocking this time. I shove the front doors open, and the sound of them hitting the interior walls bounces off the grand foyer and travels up to the high ceilings.

I take the steps two at a time, gripping the banister to pull me up and barge into her room.

“I said no. I’m not having this conversation with you again!” Becky stands at the foot of her bed, and she’s arguing with her sister. “Deke?” She jumps in surprise when she spots me. “When did you—”

“Get out, Demi!” I order, interrupting Becky. Normally, I don’t mind an audience, but right now, I’d rather not have one.

Without even looking at me, she just lifts her chin and walks out, slamming the door shut behind her. The kid is always angry. She reminds me of a female version of Cole.

“What are you doing here, Deke?” Becky asks, taking a step back and looking down at my fisted hands. My entire body is tight. My teeth clenched. Too bad putting distance between us isn’t gonna help her.

“You have something to tell me?” I take another step closer to her.

She frowns, shaking her head, but it stops midway, and then she swallows, her eyes growing larger. “He told you,” she whispers.

I chuckle at the look of terror in her eyes. I’m just as much of an evil bastard as Cole is. All the GWS are, or the group wouldn’t exist. But Becky has never seen this side of me. She’s about to though. I never wanted to hurt her or scare her, but now, all bets are off.

“Deke …” She takes a step toward me. Her eyes widen in terror. “Let me explain …”

“Yes, please explain how you were fucking my best friend!” I grind out. I should have seen it. I should have known. There were signs, but I ignored them.

Her bottom lip begins to tremble, and she pulls it between her teeth.

“Cole made me …”

“What? Made you what? Fuck Eli?” I throw my head back laughing, and my chest vibrates. “Please, the next thing you’ll be telling me is that Eli raped you.”

Her eyes narrow on me and burn with hatred. She goes to open her mouth, but I step into her, and she shuts it immediately.

“See?” I lift my right hand and run my knuckles down her neck and feel her pulse race. She doesn’t have all of her makeup caked on today. I always told her she never needed it. “Cole thinks he saved you.” I lower my lips to her ear and whisper, “But all he did was bury you.” She whimpers. My free hand grips her hip, and my fingers dig into the material of her jean shorts.

“Because I know where you were supposed to be that night.”

She begins to tremble. “It’s not what you think …”

I pull my face from hers. “So you weren’t pregnant?” I ask with an arch of my brow.

Her face pales while her blue eyes stare up into mine. There’s no doubt that Becky is beautiful. The only problem is that she knows it, and she uses it to her advantage. I just never realized how much she played with people until now. I may have secrets, but I don’t pretend to be something that I’m

not.

I can be your fucking god—merciful.

Or I can be the fucking devil—ruthless.

Who I am depends on the person’s actions.

She’s frozen in place, her eyes wide and lips parted. I remove my hand from her jean shorts, and it slides underneath her T-shirt, lifting it up to expose her bare stomach. I run the tips of my fingers over her scar ever so gently. “Guess this was a lie, too.”

My eyes meet hers, and they’re full of tears. “Pl …ease.” Her voice shakes.

How easy the tables can turn. I give her a cruel smile. “You know I love it when you beg me, baby.” My hand starts to slide upward, but she shoves it away and takes a step back from me. Not in the mood to fuck around.

The first tear runs down her face. I watch it in complete fascination, thinking it’s a good look on her. That I should have made her fear me more

than try to make her love me.

“Was it mine?”

No one knows how far back Becky and I go. Cole believes I’m in love with her, and a part of me was, but we started fucking long before he told me she had broken up with David. I had to pretend I didn’t fucking know.

That just gave us the green light to go public. And the fact that Cole went all alpha for Austin, making the entire school aware he was claiming her, took the attention off what Becky and I were doing. The few whispers I did hear were shut down quickly for her sake. But we had been fucking for months prior to that. David be damned.

“So keeping us a secret had nothing to do with you and David. It had to do with you and Eli.” Until he died. I get it now. Fuck, I was stupid for her.

“Was the child …?” I begin to ask again, but my voice trails off. I chuckle.

This bitch! “You weren’t even pregnant.”

“Yes …”

“No.” I shake my head. Of course. How could I have forgotten? “You weren’t.” She swallows nervously. “I remember us hooking up the weekend before that in my parents’ pool house, and you were on your period.” Her face falls. “Don’t you remember, baby?” I ask, reaching out for her. I pull her to me, and her body shakes. “You told me that I couldn’t fuck you ’cause it was that time of the month”—I lower my lips to her ear—“and I told you blood didn’t bother me.” Fuck, this bitch has told so many lies. “I can’t believe you let him take the fall for you.” I understand why Cole did what he did. I would have done the same thing, but this is why she never wanted me to find out. Because she knows that I can prove she lied to him.

And no one wants to be on Cole’s bad side.

“He blackmailed me.” She swallows as new tears run down her face.

“Cole …”

“To be friends with Austin.” I nod. “He told us that too.”

“Us?” Her eyes widen.

I smile down at her. “See what I mean by bury you?”

She places her hands over her mouth and sobs into them. “I’m sorry …” she cries out.

“You will be,” I say and give her my back, ready to leave, but her hands grip my upper arm, and I stop, willing to give her a few extra seconds to grovel. I want her to feel weak. Alone. She shouldn’t have fucked me over.

“Please, Deke,” she begs. “It’s not like you haven’t kept secrets from me.”

“What I did was none of your business.” Simple as that.

Her watery eyes narrow on me. “You lied to me!” she screams. “You killed Kellan!”

“I have.” Then I turn and step back into her. “Want to know the truth, Becky?” I grab her blond hair and yank her head back, making her cry out.

Lowering my lips to her ear, I growl, “I’m a murderer.” Her body trembles against mine, and she breathes heavily. “I’ve killed a total of five people.”

Cole was the only one who physically put his hands on Jerrold when we went to his house and he drowned him in his pool that night, but we all played our parts. I take full responsibility for my actions. I wrap my free hand around her throat and give it a little squeeze. “Do you wanna be my

sixth?”

She gasps.

I let go of her and take a step back. “You … What …? Why, Deke?” she rambles.

I’d never kill her. But the fact that I can scare her excites me. My dick is already hard. Now I understand how Cole got off on this shit. “It doesn’t concern you.” I turn to leave.

“Wait! Please?” she begs. “I can fix this.”

“No. You can’t.” Things have gone too far. There’s no going back now.

“Deke? Please? I can’t lose you,” she cries.

“You already have.” I reach for the door handle, but she places her hands on my back, gripping my T-shirt and causing the collar to choke me.

“I’m sorry. Is that what you want me to say?” she grinds out. “I lied. And I’ve felt terrible about it. Austin is my best friend. And I love you. You love

me.”

“Not anymore.” I shake my head.

“I don’t believe you,” she argues. “There has to be something I can do.

Please … tell me.” The desperation in her voice makes me smile.

I turn around and cup her tear-streaked face. She sucks in a long breath, and her body presses into mine, now interested. Funny how women turn to sex when they’re desperate for forgiveness. “Unless you plan on falling to your knees and opening that mouth of yours so I can fuck it, I have no use for you.”