Page 19 of Incipient

“I was joking,” I pointed out as I leapt off the bed, nearly taking the row of dishes right along with me. “We’re not playing truth or dare.”

“Why not?” he asked as he stood up then took a looming step toward me. “Are you scared of playing with me?”

“I’m not scared!” I answered indignantly and with way too much defensiveness. “I just…think it’s stupid.”

“Suit yourself. It’s no skin off my back,” he said nonchalantly and started to turn, taking all of his juicy secrets right along with him.

“Wait,” I said and grabbed his arm, thinking. Did I really want to miss out on the chance to learn some of Trace’s most tightly guarded secrets? Doing my best to ignore the electricity buzzing between us, I let go of his arm and asked, “How will I know you’re actually being honest with me?”

He gazed down at me with another victorious grin on his face and then craned his head as though he were going to tell me a secret right then and there. “I guess we’ll just have to trust each other.”

Alright, okay, I needed to take a second and think about this. I mean, Trace was actually willing to spill some of his most closely held secrets here—Trace who had always been Fort Knox about everything. Would I really be stupid enough to pass that up out of a fear of playing a stupid kid’s game?

The more I thought about it, the more it sounded like a damn good deal. I’d be a fool not to take him up on it. Besides, I didn’t have to share anything dangerous with him. I could pick and choose what to tell him.Right?Right.

“Okay,” I agreed, rubbing my sweaty palms against the front of my pants. “I’m in.”

“Great. I’ll be right back,” he said and then stalked out of the bedroom.

“Wait,” I said as I ran into the hallway and then watched as he barreled through it. “Where are you going?”

“Where do you think?” he said without looking back. “To get the Tequila.”

Right. Of course. Because mixing alcohol and truth or dare was definitely a great idea.

9. TRUTH OR DARE

Less than ten minutes later, Trace and I were sitting across from each other in his bedroom, him on desk chair and me on the edge of his bed with a bottle of Tequila propped up on the night table between us. There was a very vocal and responsible part of me that was screaming how terrible of an idea this was, and that I was asking for trouble by even entertaining it.

But then there was that other part of me; the part of me that wanted to have some fun, to forget all the horrible things that happened, and in the process, finally be able to dig up some of Trace’s deepest, darkest secrets. And that part of me was a hundred times louder than the other boring bitch.

Plus, it wasn’t like I had to share anything I wasn’t comfortable sharing, or anything that might trigger a memory. I could pick and choose while using the opportunity to finally get inside Trace Macarthur’s head. Something I never had the opportunity to do, not even when we were dating all those months ago. The more I talked myself into it, the better of an idea it sounded like.

“I go first,” I decided as Trace set down a shot glass in front of each of us. “Truth or dare?”

“We need to set the ground rules first,” he said, cutting me a look as he filled up each shot glass.

“What’s there to set? It’s truth or dare. You pick one and do it. If you chicken out, you take a shot.” Seemed simple enough to me.

“Is that the way you want to play it?’ he asked, his eyebrow quirked.

“Well, what didyouhave in mind?”

His gleaming blue eyes captured me through the dim bedroom light. “How about we up the stakes a little?”

I was intrigued. “I’m listening.”

“Alright…how about for every turn we refuse, we take a shotandremove a piece of clothing?”

I gave him a knowing look. “You’re just trying to see me naked.”

“True,” he said, not even bothering to deny it, “but you can easily keep your clothes on by telling the truth or doing the dare. Otherwise, what’s to stop us from passing on every turn?”

Hm. He had a point there. “Okay, fine. I’m down to play it your way,” I said, silently vowing to get this man in his boxers before the end of the night. “But I’m still going first. Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” he answered easily, his rebellious eyes boring into me from across the way.

Dammit. Okay, so he wasn’t going to let me get the truth out of himthateasily. No problem. I could still salvage this. Make it fun. Use the one night I had off in god knows how long to actually do something a normal teenager would do. “I dare you to go eat something from the fridge,” I said and then smiled, mighty pleased with myself.

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