If You Dare (Dare #3) — Chapter no 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

DEKE

COLE AND I exit my car and walk up to the small cabin. Cole unlocks it, and we step inside. I stop and look around the living room and entryway.

There was a small square table that sat next to the door. It has been knocked over, and the glass covers the hardwood floor. But other than that, there is no sign of a struggle.

I walk over to the coffee table and pick up the cup. It’s full to the brim with what looks like a clear liquid of some sort.

“He left in a hurry,” Cole observes. “He didn’t even bother disposing of the evidence.” Then he walks down the hallway.

I fist my hands and look down at the side of the couch. A Louis Vuitton bag sits on the floor. I reach down and pick it up. Grabbing the drink with my other hand, I walk it into the kitchen and pour it down the sink.

“Hey,” Cole enters the kitchen. “Look what I found in the bathroom?” He holds up a small clear bottle with a blue lid. A piece of tape is on the side of the bottle and written in black Sharpie is GHB.

My jaw tightens. “It’s almost fucking empty.”

He nods and places it in his pocket. “I’m guessing he wanted to make sure she had enough so she wouldn’t fight him. Or wouldn’t remember a single thing.”

I throw the cup into the sink and drop her bag. Gripping the counter, I growl. “He could have killed her.” Who knows how much he would have had her drink? Demi is fucking small. Too much and she could have had seizures. Could have fallen into a coma. Not to mention he mixed it with alcohol.

His phone rings, and he answers, placing it on speakerphone. “Hello?”

“You guys there?” Bennett asks.

“Yes.” I growl and push off the countertop.

“Find anything?”

“A bottle of GHB.” Cole speaks.

“Fuck.” He hisses, then sighs. “Hang on, I’m adding Shane to the call.”

Seconds later, he’s back. “Okay. We’re all here.”

“Did you guys get your tickets?” Cole asks him.

“Yes. We fly out tonight,” Bennett answers.

“I’m confused as to why we have to come back to Austin.” Shane speaks.

“Don’t,” I snap, not in the mood for his bullshit today. “Stay the fuck up there.”

Bennett sighs. “We’re both coming. This involves more than just Demi.

Whoever it is hasn’t physically touched us, but we’ve been threatened and that’s enough to worry. If we can get a hold of Seth, maybe his phone can tell us what we need to know.”

I hang my head and run my hands through my hair aggressively. I’m starting to lose my shit. I kept it together for Demi’s sake this morning when she woke me up horny. I wanted her, needed to feel her, but I was rough. I took my anger out on her, and she liked it. She passed out immediately afterward. I didn’t get to tell her about the message she got from Evan Scott or the fact that I blocked whoever the fucker was. Cole and I snuck out this morning before the girls had even woken up. It’s a Saturday. They both got wasted last night, and Lilly was sleeping over at her dance teacher’s house, so the odds of them sleeping in pretty late are on our side.

“What I can’t figure out is why he was going to do it.” Bennett speaks.

“He’s gay. Why would he fuck her …?”

“Hate to be the dick in this situation,” Shane interrupts him. “But he could have been planning on fucking her ass. That is what they prefer.”

My head snaps up, and I snatch the phone from Cole’s hand, but he speaks before I can bark at him more. “Or maybe he didn’t care where he had to fuck her. I mean, to some men, a hole is a hole.”

“Shut the fuck up …”

Cole takes his phone back from me. “He was forced. He told Deke there was a video of him fucking his professor.”

“Who all knew he was gay?” Bennett asks.

I run a hand down my face. “I’m guessing not many. Demi said she was his cover. And his friends who are on the swim team at UT think they have an open relationship.”

“Hmm …” Bennett sighs. “What about the professor?”

“I … I don’t know.” I growl and close my eyes. I try to put what few pieces we have so far together. “It can’t be him. Demi got a message last night from Evan Scott. You guys saw it. It stated she should have let him fuck her. How could the professor be Evan Scott? They wouldn’t know my information to get into it.”

“True,” Bennett says. “Listen, I know it’s gonna be hard, but just lay low.

We’ll be there later on tonight, and we’ll do whatever we gotta do to get the information we need to figure this out. Okay?”

________________

I enter my room and remove my hoodie. Demi’s still in my bed passed out cold. It’s not even ten a.m. yet. And by how quiet the house was when we entered, I’d say Austin is still asleep as well.

The guys and I have a plan. But I’m not going to lie to her like Cole did Austin. I’m going to be honest with Demi. She deserves that. She may not like it, and she may hate me, but I’m not going to allow Evan Scott to fuck with us. Or her. I’m going to protect her, and in order to do that, she needs to know just what we’re up against.

Undoing my jeans, I kick off my shoes and then push them down my legs before removing my shirt and then climb in beside her. My knuckles run over her busted cheek and down over her jaw to her neck. The bruises from my hands remain. They’re worse today than they were last night.

I wanted to kill her. If she hadn’t hit me with that stupid swimming trophy of Cole’s that Austin put out, she would be dead right now. And it makes me sick to my stomach.

I’ve killed people but not for sport. The men and woman I killed deserved it. Demi would have been innocent. She played me, yes, but I was just jealous that, for once, I met someone who knew how to play the game better than I did.

She releases a little moan and shifts, causing the comforter to pull down and expose her chest to me. My fingers make their way over her chest bone and then her breast. She shifts again and my hand lowers over her stomach and between her legs. She’s naked. “Deke.” She sighs my name when I run a finger over her pussy.

“Yes, princess?” I ask, leaning down and kissing her neck as my finger slides into her.

“Oh, God, Deke.” She pants, her hips lifting off the bed.

I shove off the covers and position myself between her legs. She looks up at me with heavy eyes. I remove my finger and slide two in this time. She arches her back and whimpers. “Does that hurt?” I ask as my thumb starts

to rub her clit.

“Yes.” Her hands grip the sheets.

“Good,” I say and remove them before gripping my hard cock. She likes it when it hurts. And I hate to admit that she can take the pain. Becky hated it. Demi craves it. I like that I don’t have to pretend with her.

DEMI

I sit on Deke’s lap in the living room with my second cup of coffee in my hand. Austin sits beside me, glaring at Cole who lounges in the recliner across from us. I haven’t heard them say one word to each other all day.

She’s pissed, and he seems indifferent about it. Like this is something that happens often. Not sure what went down after they left the bar last night, but she obviously isn’t over it.

“I don’t understand how this is gonna work?” I finally say.

“We’re gonna ask him,” Bennett says simply.

He and Shane arrived an hour ago. That could be another reason the tension is high in this house. “He won’t tell you anything.”

“Oh, he’ll talk.” Deke snorts.

“You don’t know him,” I argue.

“I don’t need to know him. There’s something he loves, and if he doesn’t tell us what we want, we take it from him.”

Austin finally speaks. “You’re gonna kill the professor? That’s not smart.

You’re all gonna end up in jail.”

Cole smiles at her. “I’m glad to see you still care about me, sweetheart, but no. No one is gonna die tonight.”

“That we know of. But plans change,” Deke says cryptically.

I sigh. “Then what are you gonna take?”

“His legs. His arms.” Cole shrugs carelessly. “Hands. Whatever body

part the man needs to play football.”

“You’re gonna break his bones?” I ask.

Deke chuckles behind me. “No, princess. Bones can heal.”

I swallow at the amusement in his voice, but I feel butterflies in my stomach. This is the part of Deke I wanted to see. The ruthless evil that swims inside him.

Cole leans forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “I’ve got a question, though. There was a woman. She was at UT. Before we knew he was gay, we saw him talking to her outside the classroom. And we thought he was cheating on you with her. Do you know who she is?”

I frown. Seth has a lot of girls who are friends. He gets along with everyone. “What did she look like?”

“Pretty,” he says with a smirk and I know he said that just to piss Austin off. “She had brown hair and brown eyes—”

“That’s his twin sister.” I interrupt Cole, knowing who they are talking about. “She is dating Peter. The guy who you guys beat up the other day after swim practice.”

A slow smile spreads across Shane’s face and it has me sitting back more into Deke. I don’t know much about him. Less than the others. He was closest with Kellan. Who knows what Shane is thinking now?

“Are you going to hurt her?” Austin asks.

Cole sits back and runs his hand over his chin. “We’ll do whatever needs to be done.”

“Our concern is Seth,” Bennett says, looking at Austin. Clearly trying to smooth over what Cole just said. “He’s our main priority. I doubt she knows much.”

Austin gets up and walks out of the room. Cole watches her from his seat but makes no move to go after her. Seconds later, you hear their bedroom door slam shut.

Shane laughs. “Don’t you worry she’ll kill you in your sleep?”

Cole just smiles. He’d probably get off on that.