Chapter One
At Rock Valley High, there was nothing quite so deadly serious as a game of truth or dare. Reputations were built or buried on such things. It was a tradition at the end of summer tryouts for the athletics teams to gather on the beach at the nearby lake. Eventually, once the party got crazy enough, someone would suggest the game and like wildfire it would spread. The brave would take front and center. People like me would usually conveniently disappear in the bathhouse or back to our cars. But not today. Today, I had a target on my back.
I was the only senior in all of history to try out for the Rock Valley cheerleading team.
“All right, skanks, who’s next?” My utterly gorgeous and equally evil cousin, Savannah Keys, strode barefoot in the sand. Her long brunette hair flowed perfectly in the gentle breeze behind her as if she were Beyonce at Coachella. She had razor sharp talons, blue eyes, red lips, and a spattering of freckles across her nose.
I couldn’t brush off the bit of jealousy I felt whenever we were together. Savannah and my mother had inherited my Grandma Ivy’s good looks. The very same good looks that had made her into a Hollywood starlet back in the day. Me? I got my ruddy brown curls, dark brown eyes, and lack of grace from my dad’s side of the family. My lying, cheating, and newly remarried dad. Lucky me.
“Audrey Black, truth or dare?”
I flinched when I heard my name come out of her mouth. It shouldn’t have been a surprise. She was captain of the cheerleading team and spitting mad that I was encroaching on her territory this year. She’d insisted that I be present at all team events, including this one. Of course, she’d take it out on me at the end of a massively exhausting week of try outs.
“Um...”
My gaze wandered over the heads of the people sitting in the sand, their attention on me. A bonfire shot out sparks in the middle of the crowd, smoke billowing up toward the dark summer sky. My two best friends were watching me on the other side. Trina and Mandy made jerky hand movements, their faces trying to impart some kind of advice. My brow wrinkled as I cocked my head to one side and tried to translate.
“Ugh, get on with it already, recruit,” Savannah spat, looking down at her blood red nails as if she’d like to cut me with them. “It’s not rocket science.”
A smattering of laughter followed her insult. I felt my cheeks burn as I took a deep breath and blurted out, “Dare!”
From the defeated expressions on my friends’ faces, I knew I’d picked wrong. Savannah’s face lit up, her eyes glittering with anticipated cruelty. I sunk into myself, wrapping my arms around my torso, and waited for the pitch. Maybe she’d make me eat a mud pie again like she did when we were five years old. I could handle that one.
“Let me see...” She prowled through the people sitting at her feet, her steely eyes never leaving my face. “What should I make you do, recruit? You are aware that if you chicken out, you get cut from the team? You can’t run from tradition.”
I gulped, hoping the fear I felt in my gut didn’t reflect on my face. “I know the rules, Savannah. I’m not a freshman.”
“No, you’re not.” She stopped in front of me, adjusting the straps on her extremely low cut bikini top. “You’re a senior.”
She said it as if it were a dirty word, although we were both in the same class. Still, I held her gaze until a smile quirked on her thin lips and she looked away.
At that moment, a ruckus drew the attention of everyone at the party. Three muscular boys had picked up a fourth and were carting him toward the shoreline.
Just as it was a yearly tradition for the cheerleaders to put on a game of truth or dare, the senior football players would soak their freshman recruits. Bursts of laughter and violent swears reached my ears as they tossed the poor freshman into the water with a giant splash. The seniors high-fived and flexed for their audience, their muscles gleaming in the pale moonlight.
I couldn’t help but drool a little bit. Receivers Nick Winston and Peter Meadows were hot in their own right and many of the girls in my class followed their Instagrams with borderline stalkerish intent. But it was their ringleader who really caught my attention.
Collin Preston was the senior quarterback and all-around bad boy. He had a way of entering a room as if he didn’t have a single care in the world. His dark hair would fall seductively into his molten chocolate brown eyes and all the girls would swoon. His half-cocked grin was legendary for disarming even the harshest of teachers at Rock Valley High.
He’d moved here in our sophomore year to live with foster parents. This bad boy came packaged with a loud motorcycle, a playboy reputation, and a preference for leather jackets. Pretty much any father’s worst nightmare. I was sure we’d never spoken a single word to each other, even though we shared several classes. But I was okay with that. Sometimes, it was safer to look than to touch.
“Do you mind? We’re trying to play a game here?” Savannah’s voice held a hint of flirtation as she cocked her hip and placed a hand on the waist of her cutoff denim shorts.
“Not at all,” Collin replied haughtily. He wore a pair of dark swimming trunks and nothing else. The tattoo of an eagle on his broad chest did nothing to distract from the beauty of his washboard abs. “We’re just about finished taking the babies for a swim.”
“Perfect.” She blinked her heavily mascaraed eyes. “Then, why don’t you join us?”
There was definitely hesitation on Collin’s part as his gaze flickered over the bonfire crowd. I felt the tiniest bit
bad for him. No one resisted my cousin for long. She had ways of bending people to her will. Still, he waved his hands in front of his chest and took a step backwards. “No, I’m good.”
“Come on, give me your truth or dare V-card, Collin.” She pouted her lips perfectly. I immediately wished I could replicate that kind of expression. She must’ve stood in front of a mirror and practiced until her lips bled. “I promise, I’ll be gentle.”
It was nice to have the attention off of me for a minute. I took a step backwards, hoping that if I put a little distance between my cousin and me, she might forget I existed.
“No.” Collin shook his head, spraying lake water. “I’m definitely out.”
“Fine.” Savannah’s eyes hardened as a red hot alarm went off in my head.
I knew that look. It was the look that said she was about to go on the rampage. Anyone and everything would be trampled in her wake.
I’d stuck around for a few minutes of the game. That was long enough. Time to get out of here and back to my guitar. My fingers itched to try out a new chord progression that had been playing in my head all day. I’d pick music over a lame high school party any day of the week.
“I dare Audrey to kiss Collin,” Savannah announced loudly. She shot me a look of savage hatred. “Seven minutes in heaven. Bathhouse shower. Lights out.”
My stomach dropped into my feet. She knew just where to strike. I’d made the mistake of confessing to her our sophomore year that I’d never kissed a boy. She probably thought I was still a loser who hadn’t kissed anyone.
She would be correct.
I shot Trina and Mandy a look of desperation. Trina’s face was scrunched up like she wanted to cry for me. Mandy, on the other hand, appeared about ready to claw Savannah’s eyes out. But they both knew I had to do this. Especially if I wanted a slot on that cheerleading team.
My gaze moved to Collin where he still stood, his chiseled jaw flexing in anger. He was staring Savannah down, his shoulders taut. His eyes flicked to me and then back to her. I grimaced, wondering if the idea of kissing me was so repelling that he’d storm off. I wasn’t exactly like any of his usual conquests. He seemed to prefer glamadons with big hair and short skirts. Certainly, none of them would have shown up at the yearly beach party in a lifeguard swimsuit and shorts that covered up all of the goods. Not like me.
“Well?” Savannah met his challenging gaze head on. “Are you going to leave our poor sweet Audrey hanging, or are you chickening out?”
Our poor sweet Audrey. Ugh. As if she cared for one second about me.
“I’m not a chicken.” His voice was like a growl.
“Good.” Her attention moved to me. “Move along, cousin. Don’t keep him waiting.”
My knees wobbled as I took the steps to the beach house, one by one. Part of me prayed he wouldn’t follow. That he would laugh off her challenge and walk away. But the sound of foot steps behind me made my heart thunder. And when he opened the door to the bathhouse for me, my throat nearly closed up.
“Time starts now,” Savannah called from the beach. “Better get those lips moving!”
“Get inside,” Collin said harshly, with a curt nod of his head.
I gulped, scooting inside as quickly as my feet would carry me. The bathhouse was dark except for the silver moonlight coming through the push out windows lining the top of the east and west walls. If memory served me right, there were three shower stalls to my left. Infamous make out spots for those who didn’t care about the eight-legged guests creeping in every corner. A long dark wooden bench stood against the wall on my right and three porcelain sinks, one cracked in half, lined the opposite wall. The floor was sandy and damp under my bare feet. I stepped lightly, praying that I didn’t step on something creepy and crawly.
Collin shut the door behind us and threw me a frown. “You’re Savannah’s cousin?”