Page 115 of Dare To Take

I release a shaky breath, my eyelashes lifting, and I stare bleakly at the cemetery behind the wall, still covered in patches of snow. I’m sitting on the bench in the cold, numb inside and out. I haven’t been able to sleep. After tossing and turning all night, I finally ventured to the one place I can lose myself. The woods.

I never meant for any of this to happen. Miles could have died, and from the threat my blackmailer made, they would have done it without a second thought. They’re capable of anything. I see that now. This game they want me to play has become more dangerous than it was before.

“Arabella.”

My head snaps up at the voice. Kellan stalks toward me along the path that leads from the school. His expression is harsh, his eyes pinned on me with a look that sends abject terror down my spine.

What do they want with me now?

I’m very aware of how alone we are, and it’s enough to get self-preservation to kick in.

Scrambling up off the bench, I back away, hands held out to ward him off. “What do you want?”

“To talk.” His gaze roams over my face.

I shake my head. “No. You stay the fuck away from me.”

I take off along the path and veer into the trees. Memories roar through me. Kellan unbuttoning my jeans in the cafeteria. Kellan pinning me in place, his fingers forcing my jaw open while Eli made me drink the tainted coffee. His cruel and unfriendly words in my ear.

I run and run until my legs ache.

I don’t look where I’m going, head down and breathing hard. When the primal urge to flee finally lets me go from its grip, and I glance over my shoulder, there’s no sign of him.

Is he waiting for me back on the path?

The thought has me moving in a different direction, and I keep going until the chapel comes into sight. I check around anxiously, taking my time until I’m sure there’s no one there. I slip inside, relief coursing through me when I discover it’s empty. Tugging nervously on the cuff of my coat, I cross to the corner and lower myself down to sit with my back against the wall. It’s the perfect angle to view the colors from the stained-glass windows as they dance across the stone floor. It’s soothing. The longer I watch, the more my mind calms and my heart rate slows.

Classes will start soon, but I can’t find the will to move.

I pull the red-bound diary out of my bag and weigh it in my hands. I’m hooked on Zoey’s words, finding an odd sense of comfort in the pages. By reading it, I feel like I know who she was and how she felt. As if, somehow, I’m part of the life she lived.

I start to read.

There was a dare in my locker today. I know the whispers and the rumors surrounding them. Eli thinks it’s just the faculty messing with us, but I’m not sure. This is the second one I’ve had. You’re only supposed to get one, or so everyone says. I’m curious. Maybe it wasn’t meant for me and was put in my locker by mistake.

Zoey got more than one dare. I reread the sentence, and frown. Could it have been from Sin? She’d been found in the cemetery.

Conflicting emotions roll through me. No, he couldn’t be behind her death. He’d dared me, but he’d never hurt me physically.

As I turn to the next page, a noise disturbs me. I lift my eyes up from the words, and everything inside me turns to ice.

Eli is framed in the doorway. His lips are pressed together in a thin line, his eyes are blazing with an emotion I can’t define. It’s more terrifying than any other look he’s ever given me.

He looks as though he’s finally ready to kill me.

Chapter 71

Eli

“Eli, what are you going to do?”

“Eli, do you think it was Arabella?”

Eli … Eli … Eli …

The questions all merge together into a cacophony of noise, which I ignore by pushing my earbuds into my ears and hitting play. ‘Johnny Wants To Fight’ by Badflower replaces the voices, and I walk to the stairwell and head upstairs to the senior girls’ floor.

Tina, Lacy, and Linda are standing in the hallway. They fall silent when I walk out of the stairwell.

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