Page 76 of Dare To Break

There’s a chorus of no’s as we shake our heads.

“He was sneaking back from a late-night swim last night, and saw a girl running out of the woods in nothing but her underwear.” A full-blown grin overtakes his face. “She was too far away to see who it was, but she was blonde.”

The edginess I’ve been experiencing all day multiplies tenfold. I keep my face down toward the ground so that I won’t risk any eye contact with anyone around me.

Bret saw me. He must have been in the shadows because I saw no sign of anyone when I made that run. What if he recognized me?

“What do you think she was doing?” Brad asks Evan.

“Maybe it was a dare.”

“I wonder who’ll get the next one?” Jace says.

That’s enough to grab my attention and have me looking up. “Do a lot of people get them?”

“There’s only a few given throughout the term, and you only get it once,” Lacy explains.

My heart stutters in my chest at the news, and I go still. “Once?”

She nods. “One dare per person. That’s all you get.”

One dare.

One?

How many have I had now?

Thoughts spinning in my head, I lose my grip on the phone in my hand. As it slips from my fingers, I numbly watch it bounce across the grass. Breaking away from the others, I keep my attention pinned on it. The second it stops, I crouch and scoop it up.

Why have I been receiving more dares?

The question repeats on a loop, and it takes me a second to realize I’m still kneeling on the grass. My eyes focus on a pair of sneakers in front of me, and as I slowly raise my head, everything inside me turns cold.

Eli.

Those dark green eyes bore straight into mine, holding me hostage, and for one awful second, my heart stops beating.

Chapter 50

Eli

I look down at the blonde on her knees in front of me and thank the universe I’m wearing dark jeans. If I’d still been in my sweats, there’s no way I could hide the way my dick is pushing against the front of my pants at the thought of her mouth so close to it. The fact she has such an immediate effect on my body sends a surge of anger through me, and by the time her head lifts and her gaze clashes with mine, I’m burning with fury.

Her lips part, eyes widening, and I wonder what she sees on my face, in my eyes. Whatever it, is drains the color from her cheeks, stills the breath in her lungs, and she scrambles backward until she tumbles onto her ass, hands planted behind her. The position spreads her legs, presses her breasts against her shirt, and I can’t stop the smirk which tips up my lips.

“I appreciate the offer, Princess, but I’d need to see a recent clean bill of health before I’d put any part of my body near yours. Fuck knows what I might catch from a dirty skank like you. I hope Miles bought some disinfectant for his dick. Don’t want it rotting off. That’d be embarrassing for the swim team.”

There’s a collective intake of breath from her friends, and embarrassment turns her face red. I let my gaze drift over her—her face, down her throat, pausing on her breasts for one long obvious moment, then lower to the thin slither of flesh I can see between the hem of her shirt and waistband of the sweats she’s wearing. I wonder if she’s wearing panties today. She’s definitely wearing a bra. I reverse the direction of my gaze until I lock eyes with her again.

“You were in the woods again this morning. What did I tell you about that?” I don’t bother to lower my voice.

Her tongue sweeps out across her lips, but she doesn’t answer. The red in her cheeks deepens and she drops her gaze. My smirk broadens. “Seemed a strange place to leave your clothes when you have a perfectly good room to change in.”

“You—” The word is a strangled moan, and it sends a flood of lust through me.

Fuck.

“Yeah, I found them. I recognized the sneakers. Why were you changing in the woods, Princess?”

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