Page 141 of Dare To Break

“Can’t she be both?”

Chapter 91

Arabella

I head for the bleachers, where the cheerleaders are meeting. We have a free period, and Lacy wants to go through some new moves. The late morning sun is unusually warm against my face, and I’m still daydreaming about last night. I woke up this morning with my hand shoved down the front of my panties, my fingers filling me up. Although I’d been sore, I still managed to make myself come.

There had been no messages from my darer when I checked, and it was hard not to feel disappointed.

He said he was going to show me the video.

I get wet at the thought.

I should check the cloud later to see if it’s there. No, he’d tell me if he’s uploaded it. I just need to be patient.

Lacy, Tina, and Linda are with their heads together, sitting on the first row of the bleachers. Tina has her cell out, and all of them are giggling. Quickening my pace, I hurry to join them.

“Hey, Arabella,” Linda calls when she sees me. “Did you have fun at the party on Saturday?”

I study her grinning face. “What’s going on?”

Tina shoves her phone in my face. “Care to tell us what happened after you kissed Eli?”

An image fills my vision. It takes a second for me to absorb what it is, and when I do, everything inside me turns cold. The photograph is of me with my arms wrapped around Eli’s neck, our lips locked together in a passionate kiss. The one that should never have happened. A moment I had forgotten about, thanks to my darer last night.

My hand automatically searches for the soothing presence of charms on the bracelet on my other wrist, only it’s not there. Tensing, I scrape my nails over the bare skin.

Lacy pulls a face of disgust. “I can’t believe you kissed your brother.”

Tina’s smug expression freezes on her face. “What did you just say?”

My roommate blinks, owllike, at her question. “Oh, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Linda is staring at me, open-mouthed, beside her. “You and Eli are brother and sister?”

I fight my rising panic. “We’re stepsiblings. His dad married my mom.”

“And why don’t we know about this?”

Lacy shrugs, not meeting my gaze. “Arabella wanted to keep it a secret. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to let it slip. I’m sure the girls won’t tell anyone.”

Tina is already typing away on her phone, a cruel smile curving her lips.

A secret she’s announcing to the fucking world on the heels of a damning photo.

No, no, no. This cannot be happening. Let it just be a nightmare I’m about to wake up from.

Leaning out of her seat, Tina dangles the screen of her phone in front of my face again. “Isn’t this incest?”

“It’s only incest if they share the same parent by blood,” Linda corrects her. “Not if they’re stepsiblings.”

The need to escape has me in a chokehold.

“I’m not feeling good. I’m going to skip practice today.” I spin on my heels, forcing myself to walk and not run as far from them as I can get.

Oh, god. Everyone is going to know. That photo of us, and the fact we are stepsiblings will be plastered everywhere. Kill me now. Who took the photo? There was no one in the cemetery. Just me and Eli …

An unpleasant thought worms its way through my head. If the kiss had been a setup, had the photograph been the goal?

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