Page 26 of Dirty Dare

“Hold up,” he calls after me. “I got a couple bottles that’ll go great with your dinner.”

I have no idea what pairs with piccata, but I nod and wait. My phone pings with a text from Static. Cam’s still rustling around in the kitchen so I skim the team gossip, coughing out a laugh when I read what just happened to Boomer. Holy shit.

“Here, take this over for me?” Cam says, pulling my attention back to the now as he hands me a loaded reusable grocery bag.

“No problem.” This time the kiss is just a sweet peck that leaves me humming as I back toward the truck. “Swim fast, Captain.”

He hooks his hands on the frame above the door and leans out with a cocky grin. “State champ.”

So. Hot.

I drive home wearing a stupid grin I feel through every cell in my body. I’ll get the chicken out, then grab my trunks and a couple towels. We could eat on the back terrace.

Talk.

Talk about whether this really needs to end when I leave. If maybe there’s a way we can—

I frown as I pull into my drive and catch a glimpse of another car through the trees. Being this far outside of town, it’s not a place people drop by unannounced. So who?

Realtors? Squatters? Burglars?

But then I clear the trees and—

No.

Hell, no.

I pull to a stop, dread pooling in my gut. I know exactly who this asshole unfolding from the front step is.

Leo. My ex.

9

Cam

If there were a touch pad sensor on the floating swim dock in front of Trevor’s, I’m pretty confident today would be my personal best time yet. And even without the timer, the fact that I beat him says I was blazing.

Either that, or maybe he liked the look of the bottle I sent and started without me? Ever the optimist— at least since Trevor pulled back into town three and a half weeks ago —I swim to shore and then start up to the cabin.

Halfway there, I hear it— “I love you, T.” —and I trip over my next step.

Suddenly, it feels like I swallowed a gallon of lake water. Like it’s in my lungs, choking me. In my legs, weighing me down. In my gut, making me sick.

I climb faster.

“Leo… you love me?”

The sound of Trevor’s stunned laugh filters around the house, muted to the point that I can’t read the emotion in it. Joy or disgust, I have no idea. All I know is that I need to be there. I need to see this motherfucker who broke my boyfriend’s heart… and I need to see what Trevor looks like when he looks at him.

Because suddenly the only thing I can think about is Neil and Judy and Harvey. And I’m realizing that if Trevor goes back to this jerk, I’m going to usurp Neil as Captain of the simp squad and be everything I begged my buddy to stop being. The friend. The rebound. Anything I can get.

I hear the door from the truck slam and gravel crushing underfoot as Trevor’s voice carries to me loud and clear. “I don’t think you know what that word means.”

Rounding the side of the house, I play like I’m not about to die inside. Like I don’t have a single thing to worry about.

Raising a hand, I push my mouth into a slanted smile, barely sparing a glance at the built asshole standing in front of my boyfriend with a look of confusion and heartbreak in his eyes.

“Hey, babe. That was some workout.” I toss my goggles by the front stoop, striding into Trevor’s space, dripping wet and acting like the possessive dickhead I’ve become in the last two minutes.

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