Page 6 of The Dare

“No, girl,” Jenna interrupted. “If you think you might have come, you didn’t.”

I hated that she was looking at me like my sex life was a tragedy, even though I kind of thought so, too. I needed to pick better guys, I guess. At least I could get myself across the finish line pretty successfully.

We went through another round of Truth or Dare, and when it came back to me, I didn’t want to risk being asked anything else about my sex life. I didn’t want my best friends to look at me with pity in their eyes. So, I chose dare.

Jenna’s eyes lit up and she let out a little squeal of excitement. “Yes! I was hoping you’d pick dare. I came up with an idea for you during dinner while your creepy-ass brother was staring at you.”

My stomach twisted with unease. I’d caught him staring at me several times throughout the evening, and I kept trying to ignore it, but it was impossible. His gaze burned into the side of my face when I was talking with anyone, and when I looked over at him, he didn’t bother to look away or pretend he wasn’t staring at me. It was unnerving as hell, and I didn’t know why he was being such a creep. Was he trying to get back at me for how I treated him? I’d always teased Atticus, giving him a hard time because he was so strange. There was just something about him that got under my skin and made me lash out. It had always been that way, and he used to just ignore my barbs.

Tonight, his dark eyes burned with such intensity that I just couldn’t understand. Maybe he was done letting me get away with treating him poorly. But what was he going to do about it?

“What’s the dare?” I asked.

“Go to your brother’s room and a take a picture of him.”

I frowned. “A picture?”

That wicked grin was back, and Jenna’s eyes glinted. “Find some way to embarrass him. I bet he sleeps in Spider-Man pajamas or something ridiculous like that. I mean, he’s in his thirties, and he’s still obsessed with that stuff.”

I rolled my eyes at Jenna, but Olivia frowned, looking uncertain.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Going into his private space in the middle of the night like that is kind of crossing a line, isn’t it?”

If Jenna was the reckless and wild one in our group, Olivia was the voice of reason. She never did anything without thinking twice about it, which was why her scandalous threesome story was so shocking.

Normally, I gave Olivia’s cautious attitude a little more consideration, but I’d had a little to drink, and I was pissed off that Atticus was here at all. Why couldn’t he just skip the birthday dinner again?

“It’ll be fine,” Jenna said, laughing. “Maybe he’ll have Ninja Turtle sheets or something. That’d make this our best humiliation stunt that we’ve done to him.”

“I’ll do it,” I said.

Olivia looked uneasy, but she didn’t argue further. Leaving my friends behind, I slipped out of my room with my phone in hand. The second floor of the house was dark, and I walked along the hall next to the railing that allowed me to look down at the huge dining room where we’d celebrated my mother’s birthday just a few hours ago. There was a soft light illuminating the table where my two uncles still sat. They had a half-empty bottle of whiskey between them, and they were both sipping from glasses while chatting quietly. If that bottle was full in the beginning, they’d feel like shit tomorrow.

They didn’t notice me as I crept quietly down the hall. There were plenty of bedrooms on this floor, including my parents’ master suite and the two large guest bedrooms that my aunts and uncles would be using this weekend. Finally, at the end of the hallway, I came to Atticus’ room. My heart was racing with equal parts nervousness and excitement as I gripped the doorknob and turned it slowly.

The door opened silently, and I stepped into the dark room, closing the door behind me. My blood rushed to my ears as my nerves got the better of me. It was too dark to see anything, and I fumbled with my phone for a moment before turning on the flashlight feature. Raising it, I cast a glow across the room where the bed lay, only to find it empty. Frowning, I pivoted toward the bathroom attached to the bedroom, my breath catching in my throat when the light hit the nude form of my brother standing there with a towel in his hands.

Stumbling backward, I dropped my phone, the clatter of it hitting the hardwood deafening in the quiet room. I couldn’t stop, couldn’t think. I just had to get the hell out of here. My thoughts were a jumbled mess, and all I knew was the instinct to flee. I ripped open the door and ran, my panic eliminating the urge to be quiet and careful. I fled down the hallway, shocked to my core by what I’d just seen.

I was panting as I got back to my room, rushing inside and slamming the door shut. I leaned against it and stared at my friends, my mind replaying what I saw in that room over and over again.

Oh my God. I just saw my brother naked.

Olivia and Jenna stared at me in concern as I tried to calm myself down. I was so shaken that it took a moment to even register that they were speaking to me.

“Molly? What’s wrong?”

“Are you okay?”

“What happened?”

“Did he hurt you?”

I blinked at them, trying to gather my thoughts. I rarely kept secrets from these two. They were like sisters to me, but that, I couldn’t explain. I hesitated to tell them exactly what had happened.

“He was awake,” I said. And naked. “H-he was awake, and he saw me.”

Jenna winced. “Oh damn. I didn’t think he’d be up so late. It’s after midnight. Was he pissed?”

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