Page 30 of Just Dare Me
“Me? You don’t know anything about me.”
“Don’t I? Are you not all he’s talked about since the second he woke up, and inmybed, no less!”
“Your bed?” I jab Jay in the ribs with my elbow.
“Babe, I told you I dropped fifty feet into the river. I was unconscious.”
“Indeed,” she says. “Just the way I like him. Totally submissive, not moving in your direction, not looking for you, not talking about you. I’ve lain next to him for hours just watching him sleep.”
Wow, so…I’ve got no more words. Just a wide-eyed look for Jay. He winces. “I told you this was complicated.”
“Complicated, Jay? Complicated! Are you hearing this? She’s…I mean, she’s really—”
“In love with him,” Dominique finishes for me. “Since the moment I saw him, it’s true.”
I rub my temples. “Okay, why is literallyevery person in the worldbetter at speaking their mind than me? I mean, who just vomits out those kinds of words. Atmywedding!”
“It’s the sire bond,” Charlotte says. “If she shared it equally with her master, then it’s not the kind of bond that can survive alone. Brenner was the first man she encountered after that bond broke.”
“I am in your presence,” Dominique says. “You will speaktome, notaboutme.”
Charlotte squares up to her. “What I’m saying,Your Midnight Highness, is that you’re codependent as shit, because a queen isn’t a queen without a king. You’re not in love with Brenner. You justneedhim. I mean literally, physically. It’s like he imprinted on you. Your bond attached itself to him, whether you liked it or not.”
“Oh, he’s your rebound!” Nora blurts, then clamps a hand over her mouth when Dominique angles a withering glare at her.
Jay raises both hands. “Okay, let me just stop everyone right there. Can we just take a minute? Charlotte, you’re right. Isn’t she, Dominique? It’s the bond that’s making you feel these things about me. We’ve talked about this, haven’t we?”
“Yes, we have. While lying together in my bed.”
I groan. Jay puts a comforting arm around me and says to her, “Yeah, we get it. We get the picture.”
“Sometimes in the nude.”
“You, yes.Youwere nude. Not me.”
“Never you.” She huffs. “You resist. Always resisting.” She slides her pouty eyes and French accent my direction. “Because of her.”
“Yeah, me,his fiancée. Get your own!”
“Eh! You see, Jay? You see how she talks to me?”
I stick my hand in Jay’s face. This is my fight. “Because you’re the worst wedding guest ever!”
She leans toward me, with eyes kindling. “You can go to hell!”
I fire right back. “You can go to Dodger Stadium!”
Russo’s eyes bug out. Nora’s jaw drops. Jay pulls me back, shouting, “Whoah, whoah!”
Dominique is livid. “You seem to forget that with my power I can take him. Anytime I want—in an instant—I can command him to be mine, compel him to forget you ever existed!”
“But youdidn’t,” Jay cuts in. “You didn’t compel me, Dominique. Not then, not now, not ever. That’s what you said to me. Do you remember why you said that?”
“I’m sure I haven’t a clue anymore!”
“You said you would never compel me, because you wanted mychoice, not my compliance. Because you’re a good person.”
“I only said that because it sounded good at the time, and I was trying to get your clothes off.”
