Page 11 of Double Dare

“I don’t know,” I tell her.

She presses her lips together. “You do, but I’ll wait.” She starts to climb off me, but I hold her there desperately.

“Wait.” I dig my fingers into her hips. “I just thought…it was…we were all fucking around and…” Oh, I’m going to kill this brain-mouth block.

Laken laughs and Kade scoffs. I want to kiss her and punch him, but that’s not really anything new. Laken leans forward, presses a quick kiss to my lips, and then pushes all my buttons, calling my bluff and forcing my hand. She pushes on Kade’s chest and switches to his lap, straddling him.

Shit. Fuck. Dammit. What am I feeling? Do I hate it? Do I the opposite of hate it?

“Bossy,” Kade warns, his hands purposefully not touching her, his jaw clenched, his eyes shifty.

“This bother you, Jed?” Laken asks, looking at him.

I snatch the bottle from Kade’s hand and tilt it to my lips. “Nope.” I chug three shots worth of whiskey, loving the burn. Why is the booze burning me but jealousy isn’t? Shouldn’t I be the caveman she thinks I am, standing up to pound my chest and stake my claim? Why am I just sitting here like a buffoon? What even is a buffoon? Me.

“What’s this?” Laken asks Kade. “You’re all blunt and cocky, but now you’re shy?”

He glares at her. “Not shy. Trying not to get killed.”

“You think he’s going to kill you? He just said it didn’t bother him.” Laken wiggles on his lap, and he groans so low in his throat that it vibrates in my chest. Jesus, his restraint game is top-notch.

“He’s lying.”

I scoff into the bottle. It should be a lie. It isn’t.

“Touch me,” Laken challenges him. “Or walk away.”

“Fuck, Laken,” Kade groans again, closing his eyes in a feeble attempt to settle himself. “No.”

“No what?”

“I can’t.”

Can’t touch her. Can’t walk away. Catch-22.

Laken wiggles again, taunting the shit out of him. I know this is her way of getting us to own up to how we’re feeling, to talk about it, to have a discussion about where things are going and what we’re comfortable with, but my mind is a dirty place, and it’s thinking about something different. What it might be like to see things from Kade’s POV, to watch them as…wait, fuck. What?

“Laken,” Kade growls, losing his nerve. “I don’t have the kind of restraint you think I do. Stop.”

Consent is big to Lakes, but she pushes one more time. “It seems like you do.” She starts to climb off him, and the fucker finally breaks, latching a hand onto her thigh to keep her there. He’s about to get bitchy, so I take another sip.

“You wanna know what I think, Bossy?” he snarls at her like the monster he was in the cage with me. “I think you’re my brother’s girlfriend, and the temptation of having you for that reason alone is the only thing…”

Laken tilts her head at him, not allowing herself to be hurt by that lie. If he continues with that thought and actually hurts her, I really will murder him.

“You’re my brother’s girl,” his tone changes, a sigh tacked on at the end. “And as much as I’m an asshole, I don’t want to be even more of a homewrecker than I’ve already been. I can’t do that to you. To him.”

“Good luck trying to wreck us,” I fire at him like a smug prick. He hasn’t succeeded so far, not that he’s been trying, but we’re solid, and I’m legit, like one hundred percent confident in that.

“Then why’d you do it, Kade? Why’d you kiss me?” Laken pushes.

She’s trying to get us to admit our limits and our boundary lines. She’s just learned that it takes taunts and banter to do that. She really is a Dare now.

“I don’t know, Laken. Fuck.” He looks at her, then looks away.

“Try again.”

“Because I fucking wanted to!” he shouts. “And I shouldn’t have done it. Now I’m all fucked up about it.”

---