Fucking bastard.
I let out a long breath while cars pass us once again. “I walked into my bedroom one day and found Phillip going through my photos. Photos that I had taken of myself and sent to Martin. After that, I knew I needed to put a lock on it that he wouldn’t be able to guess. Retina scanner was the best bet.”
He tosses my phone to me, and it hits the door. Then he releases the emergency brake and throws the car in gear and squeals the tires as he takes off, barely making it before the light turns red again.
I look over at him as he drives like a maniac now through traffic. Cutting cars off and tailgating. “What is your problem?” I demand.
He slams on the brakes at another red light. I can see his jaw tighten.
“Why do you make me tell you things and then get mad at me? If you don’t want to know the answer, then don’t make me tell you. It’s not that hard of a concept,” I snap.
He remains silent, and I look down to turn my phone on. It starts to ding instantly with notifications. I open my Facebook page and see I have over a hundred new friend requests, which is a surprise. But only one stands out. Cole Reynolds. His profile pic is of us. I’m sitting on the counter at his father’s house, and he’s standing between my legs, kissing me.
I ignore it and go to my pictures. I scroll through them, looking at the ones I have with Martin. Each one makes me angrier and angrier that I haven’t heard from him.
I click on his page. His profile is still the same picture it has been for two years now. Him standing with his surfboard on the ocean. I scroll down through his posts and see that he is still addicted to the games. He likes to smoke weed, sit back, and play on his phone. I see he was tagged in a picture just a few days ago. The person doing the tagging is a girl. She has short brown hair and light brown eyes. His lips are on her cheek and her hand is on his chest. But there’s no caption.
I swallow, hating the feeling that he is with someone else so fast. I’m not gonna say I thought we would get married, but he was a big part of my life. And then, boom. Nothing. It hurts.
It’s not like Cole and I are anything important. Like I wanted this relationship with him.
I unfriend Martin, exit his page, and go back to mine, deleting every picture he was in.
Cole pulls up to my house, and I open the passenger door to get out. “Austin …” He grabs my upper arm.
I swing my head around to glare at him. “I didn’t delete them for you.” Then I yank my arm free and get out.
_________________________________
Sunday evening, I find myself back at the clubhouse with the guys to do another dare.
I sit on the couch with Cole to my left and Deke to my right. We haven’t spoken much since yesterday afternoon. We went to see a movie last night, but the best thing about movies is that you can’t talk during them. Then afterward I told him to take me home. He didn’t argue even though earlier in the day he had told Celeste I would be staying the night with him. I think he knew I was pissed and didn’t wanna to fight with me over it.
“So who’s up?” I ask.
“Cole,” Deke answers.
“Don’t make your dare illegal,” Cole warns me without looking my way. And I know it’s for my sake, not his.
I ignore him.
Like last time, Shane passes out pieces of paper and pens. I write down a dare and put it in the bowl.
I peek over at Kellan standing by the table, and he’s staring at me. I look away.
Cole gets up and goes over to the bowl. He draws out a piece of paper and silently reads it to himself at first. His jaw sharpens and nostrils flare. His eyes instantly go to Kellan who smiles back at Cole, then looks back at me.
“I dare you,” Kellan says to Cole with a sinister smile on his face.
I swallow nervously.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
COLE
My eyes go to Austin, and her face is white, eyes wide. She looks nervous. Looking back down at the paper, I read it out loud. “You must fuck Kaitlin. Consequence. If you do not complete your dare in one month, you must pull out of the group.”
Deke snorts and mutters, “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m very serious,” Kellan says, looking at Austin.
Her face has turned red, and I’m not sure if it’s from anger or embarrassment.
Deke stands and looks at Kellan. “What the fuck, man?”