Page 23 of Love Me, I Dare You

“Hey, I had to get it out of my system. You didn’t let me get a good enough hit in on you that night, fighting back and blocking every punch I threw. Anyway, by the time I came back to Crossroads, I couldn’t get a hold of you. Monty didn’t know where you were and Theo, who I knew had been with you that night, refused to tell me anything. But I’m glad you're back.”

“Passing through, Jase,” I remind him. It seems everyone’s quick to forget I’m not here to stay. “I ain’t staying in this hellhole any longer than absolutely necessary.”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time. Anyway, I probably shouldn’t be bullying Bailey into letting you stay with her but, it’s my way of trying to make things right. Right the wrongs of our past and all that.”

We’re interrupted by Bailey herself when she walks up beside us and places three shot glasses down on the counter. Some liquor spills on the table, but she doesn't pay it any attention.

“Two months,” she blurts out, looking my way. Her indigo eyes gleam with a hint of mischief, but it’s instantly masked by a wave of unease and uncertainty. Leaning forward, close enough so I can smell the sweet scent of her perfume and the hint of sweat that works like a fucking aphrodisiac, she keeps her gaze locked on mine. “That’s all I’m giving you, Bishop. And trust me, that’s being quite generous. You stay out of my way and there won’t be a problem. But if for one second you think this is anything more than me doing my yearly charity work to stay in good standing with the Lord, you’re mistaken. If it weren’t for Monroe, I’d never have agreed. But she doesn't deserve to have her life thrown all out of whack because you strolled back in on that bike I‘ve heard so much about.”

I can’t help myself. “I can always give you a ride home if you’d like. I hear we’ll be living together.” I end with a wink for good measure, and fuck me. The look the woman gives me is equally wicked, sweet and sexy, though slightly murderous too. Though as the words leave my lips, I know it was the wrong thing to say.

Grabbing one shot glass, she shoots it back and walks away, leaving Jase and I dumbstruck. I watch her go, that sweet ass swaying back and forth to the beat of my throbbing cock.

“Fuck me. I didn’t think it would actually work,” Jase says, reminding me he’s still here right next to me.

I take the shot on the table she left behind, hating the taste of tequila as it burns through me. I’m a whiskey or bourbon guy. A beer on a hot summer day, a scotch while running a game of poker, but tequila fuck, that’s the devil’s juice.

I look over to Jase, who picks up his shot glass only to set it back down. “This is a disaster in the making.”

Jase claps a hand down on my shoulder. “Yup. But it’ll work out, trust me. Though in all seriousness, now that she’s actually fucking agreed, you have to promise me something, Nash.”

I already know what’s coming, but I act like an idiot and let him have his moment and make his request. One he thinks he deserves or has any right over making. “What is it, not to whoop your ass in a game of darts?”

He doesn’t laugh at my attempt at a joke, his face going completely stoic as he stares at me. “Do you want to make things right? Win back the friendship we had? Even if you say it’s temporary.”

I toss the dart and hit the bullseye, reaching for the shot glass Jase didn’t take, only this time I drink it without so much as a blink. “Is that what I need to do?”

He doesn’t take the bait, instead continues giving the protective older brother speech he thinks he needs to make. “It starts here, Nash. Get my sister to stop hating you and maybe things can finally go back to the way they were, but don’t fuck with her. You want us to be cool, for the past to be erased. Don’t you dare fuck with my little sister. Not again.”

I scoff, anger suddenly burning within me. He must be fucking joking. It couldn’t have been this easy, now could it? Jase had this little request up his sleeve the entire time, and this is his way of ensuring I’m not here for her.

“Is this some sort of test? You throw me in the lion's den and then ask me not to tame it? Or worse, risk getting eaten by it?”

Jase suddenly goes defensive. “Sure, Bailey’s different from how she was all that time ago, but she ain’t a lion. A kitten with sharp claws she ain’t afraid to use, sure. But if you pet her and show her some love, she’s harmless.”

Did this fucker just say what I think he said?I laugh at the absurdity of his contradiction. “Not sure if you’ve been around many cats, but those shits are fucking vicious. And I thought you didn’t want mepettingyour sister?”

Thick brows furrow between his eyes as he realizes his mistake. Contrast to his blonde hair, his eyebrows have alwaysbeen much darker, which is why he first started getting them waxed when we were in high school. Jase’s got that pretty boy thing down to a T. Styled hair, neatly trimmed beard no thicker than a slight shadow along his sharp jawline, piercing blue eyes, and perfectly groomed eyebrows that don’t seem very impressed with my joke.

“Fuck you, that’s not what I meant and you know it. Bailey’s all bark and no bite, or in her case, all meow. Deep down she’s the same old Bailey. A girl with the heart the size of Texas she wears on her sleeve. It’s you who’s not the same, Nash.”

That’s exactly the problem. Jase wants me to promise not to touch his sister, not to fuck with the tempting bombshell she’s become, even when he’s the one forcing the temptation to come knocking on my door—on purpose. Two months, that’s how long I have to keep my hands to myself and not fall for the temptation that is Bailey King.

Easy. I’ve spent ten years fighting it. What, another sixty days?

“You don’t have to worry, Jase. There’s no way I’m ever going anywhere near Bailey. What happened between us ten years ago was a mistake I’m not planning on ever making again. You can rest easily. I won’t touch your sister. Living with her will be like living with Monroe.”

Chapter Ten

Bailey

What happened between us ten years ago was a mistake I’m not planning on ever making again.

I know I said I’d moved on, but goddammit hearing him say that fucking hurt. Like a sharp knife dug into an already bleeding wound, I had to hope I wouldn’t bleed to death from the constant reminder I’d meant nothing to him. I tried my hardest to swallow back the tears burning in my eyes as Nash promised my brother there was no way he’d ever make the mistake of touching me again.

Which finally proved what I'd always suspected was true. Jase knew more about what happened between Nash and me the night of my eighteenth birthday than I’d first believed. I’m one hundred percent sure Jase was part of the reason Nash disappeared. The only question is why is he now acting like it never happened?

I knew I hadn’t imagined hearing voices outside Nash’s room when I walked out after he confessed being with me had been a mistake. Though, when I did, there was no one out there. So I’d run home instead of returning to the party, assuming Nashprobably freaked out about what had just happened between us and needed some space to work it all out in his mind.

---