If You Dare (Dare #3) — Chapter no 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

DEKE

“HEY, WE’RE GONNA head home,” Cole announces, coming up to me.

I look over at Austin, and she sways even though he has an arm over her shoulders. The girls probably got quite a few shots before we got here, and that was over an hour ago.

“Okay. We’ll see you guys back at the house.”

Austin steps up to me. “Don’t you dare—”

“I’m not going to hurt her,” I interrupt her. “I promise.”

She looks like she wants to argue, but Cole doesn’t give her the chance.

He pulls her away and out the front door.

“What’s the damage?” I ask William, the bartender.

“The brunette had a tab open. The guy already covered it, Deke.” The guy knows me by name. I come here when I want to drink alone. The music isn’t too loud, so you can actually hear yourself think. No one bothers you.

I let out a sigh and look over at Demi sitting next to me, staring down at an empty shot glass. She hasn’t spoken to me since I arrived. Not that I blame her. I throw down a hundred anyway. “Let’s go, princess.”

She doesn’t argue as I help her to her feet and out to my Range Rover.

Cole and I drove together so he could drive Austin’s car back. I buckle her into the passenger seat. Getting in, I start it. I avoid the highway and take the backroads.

She’s notices. “You’re going the wrong way.”

“We’re just taking the long way.” I’m giving Cole and Austin time alone to dish out whatever issues they’ve got going on right now. And I know they’ll do that in their bed.

He acted like he wasn’t mad at her when we arrived at the bar, but when we entered the house to find them gone, he was furious. He tried calling, and she ignored it. I instantly knew she was paying him back for the night we went to the cabin, and he turned his phone off. He was not happy. But no surprise, he has a tracker on her car. She has no clue. After she bought

her Range Rover, he took it to have her windows tinted and had them add a tracker. He’s so paranoid of something happening to her. Of losing her. It just happened to come in handy tonight.

“Giving Austin and Cole some time together,” I tell her.

“Can you keep a secret?” she asks.

She has no idea. “Yes.”

“She’s worried he’ll get bored with her.”

I snort. “That’ll never happen.”

“You and I know that, but Becky got in her head.” She sighs. “That bitch gets in everyone’s head.”

Can’t argue that. But I say, “That’s just the alcohol talking.” Referring to Austin.

“What’s that saying? A drunk man’s thoughts are a sober man’s words.

Wait …” She pauses, her drunk self having to think about it. “A drunk man’s words … are a sober man’s thoughts.”

I smile. “Oh yeah? What are your drunk words?” I’ve never been around her drunk before. She was tipsy at her Halloween party and the other night, but nowhere near gone like this. I watched her have six shots on top of what

she had before we got there.

“I’ve got all kinds of secrets.”

I arch a brow. “The ones you say you know about me?” Which I now

know came from Austin’s journal.

“No. Everyone else,” she whispers.

I frown. “Like what?”

Her head falls to the side, and she looks at me. “I know more than you think.”

“Whatcha got?” I ask. She can’t know much.

“I know that Becky lost her virginity to Shane.”

“What?”

She closes her eyes and nods. “Yep. She was acting weird for a couple of days, and I was in her closet looking for a shirt of mine that went missing. I heard her enter her room on the phone. She was crying. Told Shane that she had been bleeding for two days and it wouldn’t stop. He asked what the fuck was he supposed to do about it?” She laughs. “That was when I realized a girl’s virginity didn’t mean anything. Which is crazy, right?

We’re told it’s supposed to be special. You’re supposed to give it to someone you love.” Her drunk laughter grows. “Such bullshit.”

I shift in my seat because I didn’t make anything about her first time special. “What was the second?” I ask, fully taking advantage of her intoxicated state.

“When my sister drugged me and didn’t care if I got raped.”

What? “When the fuck did this happen?” I growl.

“You were there.” She gives me a smile, and that’s how I know she drank too much. Because nothing about what she is about to tell me could be anything worth smiling about. Her eyes are still closed. “The beach party.

You handed me a bottle of vodka. That was actually my first drink.

Anyway, Cole took it from me, and I wanted to leave. So I went over to tell David I was going to wait in the car, but he told Becky to make me a drink.

After that, I ran into Eli, and I left with him. He took me to the cemetery.

But then I started feeling weird, and I couldn’t open my eyes. He tasted my drink and said I had been drugged.” My hands tighten on the steering wheel. “How was I supposed to know it didn’t taste right? I hadn’t had a drink before that night. Anyway, he had to carry me to his car. Then he took me to his house where I got sick. The next morning, my sister showed up to get me, and when he confronted her about it, she said she and Maxwell did it. He called her a bitch and said that he could have raped me. That’s when we learned that was their plan all along. That bitch knew I was a virgin. She didn’t fucking care.”

I come to a red light and clear my throat. “Demi …”

“That’s one of the reasons I slept with you.”

I look over at her, and her head falls toward me, and her pretty blue eyes look up into mine. The same ones I watched the life slowly drain out of while I choked her earlier. I hate that I hurt her. Now that I know the truth of how much shit she has been through. It seems someone is always wanting to hurt her.

“I know I lied to you. Tricked you. We set you up. But …” She licks her lips. “I wanted you to take it, Deke. Don’t think for one second that I didn’t want you.”

I hate how much I like the sound of that. But I find myself saying, “I’m

sorry.”

“For what?”

I reach out and cup her face. For wanting to kill you. For fucking you?

My list just seems to keep growing, but I pick. “Your first time should have been different …”

She snorts. “I didn’t want different. And I don’t regret it.” She closes her eyes.

I watch her lips part slightly and her chest rise and fall slowly. She’s so drunk, she won’t be with me much longer. But I still have questions. “If Eli knew what she did to you, then why did he fuck her?”

“I lied about that too the other night. On the back porch.”

“What?”

“He never slept with her.” She yawns, and I know I’m losing her.

“Demi?”

“Hmm?”

“What do you mean he never slept with her?” Cole told me that they were sleeping together. He wouldn’t lie to me.

“He faked it.”

“How do you fake fucking someone?” I growl.

“He set her up. For you … just like I set you up.” She’s beginning to mumble her words.

“You’re not making any sense, princess.”

She digs into the pocket of her jeans and produces her cell phone. She goes to hand it to me but drops it to the floor. “It’s all on our FB chat,” she manages to say before she passes out on me.

DEMI

Sophomore year

“This is a horrible idea,” I say, grabbing Eli’s arm.

“It’ll be fine.”

“Please don’t go,” I beg him.

He runs a hand down his face and lets out a sigh. He’s clearly getting pissy with me. His phone dings, and he looks down at it. “It’s Deke.”

“What did he say?”

“His father wants to talk to him, so he won’t be at the party, but he’ll

meet up with us afterward.”

“See, this may not even work.”

He cups my face with both of his warm hands. Brown eyes staring into mine. “It will. I promise you.”

I don’t understand how he thinks my sister will fall for this shit. She’ll see right through him. She won’t risk her secret relationship with Deke. She keeps saying that she and David are on a break right now, but I’m not sure how much I believe that since her phone seems to go off a hundred times a day, and I know it’s David.

His cell rings this time, and I get a quick look to see it reads Cole. Eli answers it. “Hey, man. I’m about to leave.” He nods to himself. “Okay, I’ll meet you there. Then we can all ride with you.” He hangs up and gives me his attention once again. “I’ll see you in a few hours.” He kisses my forehead and then walks out of his front door.