Page 29 of Dare To Fall

Kellan chuckles. “And we’re back to the verbal foreplay between the two of you.”

A familiar chime stops any response I have. I freeze at the sound, and my stomach flips. Kellan, who still hasn’t bothered to cover himself up, finds my purse on the floor and hands it to me. I locate my phone and check my messages.

Unknown number: We know you’re still in their dorm room. Take a photograph of Eli’s back.

“They want a photo.” My voice is low.

Are they close by? Were they listening outside the door?

Kellan peers over my shoulder. “Let me guess. They want proof that my dick is as big as the rumors say?”

“Eli’s back.”

The boy in question goes rigid. “No.”

“But they—”

“I said no.” The words leave him in a snarl.

I flinch at the venom in his voice. He stands and stalks toward the bathroom, slamming the door. Silence and confusion are left in his wake.

Chapter 17

Eli

I grip the edges of the countertop, head bowed, as I suck in breath after breath. It shouldn’t bother me, not after this many years. Students at school have seen my scars before. Everyone has seen them.

Arabella hasn’t. Not for long enough to really see them, anyway.

Yes, she did. When you were both at the hotel. She asked you about them.

I whirl and bury my fist against the wall.

“What was that?” Arabella’s voice is raised and worried beyond the door.

“It’s just Eli. Don’t worry about it.” Kellan’s is the opposite, calm and level.

I walk across to the door, meaning to open it, but my hand won’t move, won’t turn the doorknob. I stand there, frozen, listening to the conversation in the other room.

“After what they wanted me to do yesterday, taking a photograph seems a little …”

“Anticlimactic?”

“Yeah.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you?”

I turn and rest my back against the door, then slide down to the floor, drawing my legs up and looping my arms around them. I should go out there, explain myself, but I can’t. I just fucking can’t.

“Why do you think he’s called the monster, Bella?”

My eyes close. I wish I could block out the sound of Kellan’s voice, but my earbuds are in the other room.

“Because he’s an asshole who does what he wants?”

Kellan laughs. “Now he does. But back then …” He pauses, and in my mind, I can see him shaking his head. “That’s not where the nickname came from. Most people have forgotten now. Eli made sure he molded the nickname to fit something else, something darker. He took something that started as an insult and turned it into a warning.”

“An insult?”

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