Page 17 of Dare You to Run
“So you’re tellingme that you have a virtual stranger living in your house for the next two weeks while you work on her car? Oh, and this stranger is a girl who, according to Kins, is as gorgeous as a summer sunset.” I can hear Malik’s smarmy grin on the other end of the phone and if I could, I’d reach out and smack him Miss Shirley style.
“She’s a kid, Mal. I’m just helping her out. She was trying to find a place to stay when I offered. Rather, Kins and Miss Shirley forced me to offer up my place. I’ll probably never see her. She has homework and classes. You know, kid stuff.” It’s a lie I tell myself, because more than anything, I wish I could see her as just a kid.
The line is quiet for a moment longer before Malik says, “I gotta see this for myself. Danté and I will be there in fifteen.”
“No, Malik. Don’t do–” my words are cut off when his side of the call goes dead. “That.” I sigh and hang my head, shoulders slumped as my elbows rest on my knees. “I don’t have time for this shit.”
I toss my phone on the couch and stare out into the vast living room. Kinsley left thirty minutes ago saying she needed toget pajamas for their sleepover atmyhouse. I begged her not to come back, but that girl is as persistent as a fly on dog shit. Of all the people for her to find stranded on the side of the road, it had to be Dagen. I’d have rather it been a scared kitten. That at least I can handle. Dagen…she has my head all sorts of fucked.
How can one person spark a fire with just a look? Add in the smartass mouth and a body that I’d like to roadmap with my tongue and she’s an instant bad idea. I should be thankful that Kinsley will be here to keep her occupied and out of my hair. Instead, I’m pissed that I won’t have her all to myself. Even a hundred feet away, I can still smell her sweet scent.
When she bumped into me in the garage as she made heart eyes at my car, her perfume invaded my senses. I smelled her, which led to pictures flashing behind my eyes that made me want things.
I wander to the kitchen and yank the fridge door open, diving in and retrieving a cold beer from the back. I flip off the cap and toss it on the counter, not caring where it lands, and take a long pull. It doesn’t satisfy my thirst like it normally does, and I can only attribute it to the woman who will be sleeping between my sheets and bathing in my tub, her naked body wet and slick.
I gulp down the entire bottle and slam it down when I’m finished, letting out a deep belch so loud I’m worried she’ll hear it and think less of me.What the fuck am I talking about?She can’t think any less of me than she does already. I’ve treated her like absolute shit for no reason. I’d be surprised if she didn’t want to smother me in my sleep.
Now I’m thinking about burying my head between her full tits and it only takes minutes for me to have to adjust myself when my dick grows hard thinking of her nipples in my mouth.
The doorbell rings and I groan. Dealing with Malik and Danté are not on my list of things I want to do right now. In fact,at the moment they rank below cutting my toenails with a belt sander.
Stomping to the door, I let my sour mood grow until it’s seeping from my pores. My hand grips the black handle of the door, and I tear it open like there’s a fire.
“Fuck my life right now,” I growl and come face to face with a pale faced Dagen.
“Oh, I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to–I’ll go back to my room.” She spins to retreat and my guilt hits with a pummeling wave.
“No. Dagen, I’m sorry.” I reach out and take hold of her arm, pulling her back. “I thought you were someone else. I didn’t mean that for you.”
She gives me a wide eyed stare with a bite of her lip and there goes that damn dick again, imagining her lips wrapped around it.
“I don’t mean to bother you. I was just wondering if–” A loud shrilling pierces her words as Danté and Mal come speeding up my driveway.
“Fuck.” I roll my eyes and drop my hand from her arm.
Dagen looks over her shoulder to watch the two men clad in all black turn off their bikes and climb off. Malik, despite his happy and friendly demeanor, is always dressed head to toe in pitch black. Not even a stitch on his jacket is a different color. Sit him on top of his black Aprilia RSV4 bike and he’s like the grim reaper flying through the night. Danté wears black with streaks of fire red, the kind suited for the devil himself. Most people call him Satan so it fits quite well.
Helmets get pulled off and a menacing grin covers both of their ugly mugs. Neither takes off their gloves or jackets, and they swagger across my lawn, not caring one bit that there’s a perfectly good sidewalk they could use.
Under her breath I hear Dagen whisper, “Holy shit.”
It has me clenching my jaw with anger and my hands balling into fists. The two of them look like sin and sin’s more devious and insane brother, walking side by side. Malik’s deep olive skin and eyes that look like amber gemstones, and Danté with his short cropped black hair and eyes of the same color.
“Well who do we have here?” Danté hisses, slithering up to stand right in front of her. “Hello gorgeous.”
He holds out his hand and Dagen places her smaller one in his. Instead of shaking it, he brings it to his lips and leaves a kiss on the back. My eyes narrow at his as they lift to meet mine, a gleam in them.
“H-hi,” she stutters, her voice a breathy rasp. “I’m Dagen.”
He drops her hand as his gaze travels up and down her spandex covered curves.
“Danté Dare. It is trulymypleasure.” He smiles and his white teeth shine like diamonds amongst black coal.
Danté’s skin is covered with tattoos, more than me, from his ears down to his damn feet, and his nose and ears are pierced, shiny diamonds and silver hoops adorning him. The guy decided he wanted to be anything but who he was growing up, so he remade himself into a dark force that founded a new family of misfit men who no one wanted, and became something that people fear and desire.
Malik steps in and elbows Danté out of the way, and with a huge grin on his face, introduces himself.
“Hello beautiful. I’m Malik Dare. The most handsome of the three brothers. You don’t have to say it with your words, but I can see it in your eyes that you agree.”
