Page 92 of The Wayward Son

“I’ve never told anyone.”

“It’s not what I expected. But it’s not weird or anything. I thought you were going to say a rock star.”

“That was my adolescent dream. My childhood dream that never quite went away was a ballerina.”

He laughed. “That’s so cute.”

“Shut up.”

“Did you ever take dance lessons?”

“With my parents?”

“Right.” He drank some more tequila and followed it with some beer. “The more you drink, the better the tequila tastes.”

She took the bottle from him and drank some, then shrugged. “I think our taste buds are just drunk.”

“I don’t think that’s a thing.”

“Alright. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Drop down and give me fifty, mister.”

“Piece of cake, drill sergeant, sir.”

He stood and went to the middle of the elevator. He took off his coat and tossed it toward Jade, then dropped to his knees before assuming the position on his hands and toes. He started doing pushups while keeping count.

Jade raised her eyebrows. “Wow. I had no idea how…interesting that is to watch.”

He stopped at twenty and rested on his knees. “I’ll give you the full experience.” He took off his t-shirt, then resumed doing pushups.

“Oh my.” She covered her eyes with her hands, then split her fingers and peeked through them. “I don’t know if my heart can take much more of this.”

Sawyer continued until he hit fifty. Then stood up and picked up his shirt.

She looked up at him as he put it back on. “You’re not even tired.”

“Do you want me to keep going until I’m tired?”

She shook her head. “No. You made your point. Show off.”

He sat back down next to her and opened his third beer. “Your turn.”

“Dare. But I’m not doing pushups.”

He laughed. “Fair enough. I dare you to stand in the middle of the elevator and scream a curse word as loud as you can.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Too hard?”

“No.” Jade stood and moved to the center of the elevator, took a deep breath, and screamed out the last word Sawyer expected her to yell.

He jumped to his feet and put a hand over her mouth. “Jesus! That’s not what I thought was going to come out of your mouth.”

She smiled at him. “Did you think I was going to say darn or shoot?”

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