Page 16 of Dare Me

Was no one else going to go after her? He wondered. Glancing around, he had no idea where she went, and he couldn’t hear anything over the loud conversation around the table. It was maddening.

Unfortunately, he had no idea what to do.

So he finished his dessert while answering questions about where he was from and what he thought of Liam’s business plans.

“If you’re looking for a place to live,” Patrick said when they all stood to clean up their dessert dishes, “I can definitely hook you up.”

“Thanks, but this is all really just a trial run,” he said carefully. “I’m going to stay with Liam until we figure stuff out.”

Smiling, Patrick shrugged. “No worries. Just know I’m here if you need me.” Then he glanced around. “I should probably tell my sister the same thing. Sorry you got caught in the middle of that.”

But before Will could respond, he had walked away.

Not sure what to do with himself, he followed everyone into the kitchen and smiled at Mrs. Donovan as he handed her his plate. After that, he found Liam and quietly announced that maybe it was time for him to go.

“You’ve got the address, right?” Liam asked. “Because I’m gonna hang out here for a while if it’s okay with you.”

“Not a problem,” he said, relief swamping him.

Well, one less problem…

Chapter Three

Arianna wanted to run back into the dining room and scream and rant and stomp her feet and demand that her family take her seriously.

Then she wanted to walk right over to Will Jameson and shake him and demand to know what the hell was going on before kissing him senseless.

In other words, she was a mess.

“Ari, come on,” Ryleigh said as she walked over and hugged her. They were standing on the back porch and she appreciated that at least one sibling gave a damn about her. “Are you okay?”

“No,” she mumbled before stepping away. “I’m an adult and Dad still thinks he has the right to control my life!”

“It’s not just your life,” her sister reminded her. “He does it to all of us.”

“Seriously? That’s what you’re going with?”

“Okay, fine. He’s like that with me and you. But, to be fair, today probably wasn’t the best day to drop that bombshell.”

“No, it was the perfect day because everyone was happy that Liam was home and in a good mood. It was the perfect distraction.”

“You want to know what’s a perfect distraction?” Ryleigh asked with a grin. “His friend Will. I mean…damn! That is one hot Marine!”

It would be wrong to scratch her sister’s eyes out, but she was tempted. “Can we just focus on me for a moment?” she demanded. “What am I supposed to do?”

“For starters, you’re going to have to go and pack a bag. Then…you’ll come and stay with me. We’ll make it work somehow.”

Her mind was spinning and right now, her emotions were all over the place. “Thanks, Ry, but…I need to go.”

“Do you need a ride?”

Oh, right. She’d forgotten about that. “Um…no. I think the walk will do me good. I’ll text you when I’m heading over to your place.” Hugging her sister, she thanked her again before quietly walking back into the house and grabbing her purse. No one noticed as she walked out the front door and started off down the street.

And for some reason, that angered her even more.

One block.

Two blocks.

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