Page 16 of Dare (Fighting Fate)

The blonde girl laughed at something Zac said and turned to give him her full attention. I shifted my body, turning away slightly, so I didn’t look like a total stalker, then took another sip of my drink while covertly watching.

Brad raised an eyebrow at me. “I get the feeling this would be way cooler if I knew what we were looking out for,” he said.

“We,” I said with a smirk, “aren’t looking out for anything. We’re just at a party, chilling.”

“Ah, okay. So you’re just watching Zac to get tips on how to pick up girls, then?”

My gaze sharpened as I watched Zac pass the girl a drink. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

I heard him snicker at me, but I was too absorbed by what I was watching to give a shit. The girl seemed to be thanking Zac for the drink, taking a mouthful with barely a thought for what might be in it. Unbelievable.

Brad coughed before nudging me in the side, just in time for me to see a short, stocky guy step in front of us. “Hey, Kyle,” Brad said cheerily. “How’s things?”

Forcing my attention to what was in front of me, I watched Brad shake hands with the guy. Giving him a quick nod, I offered him my hand. “Kyle, good to see you.”

I didn’t know Kyle all that well, but Brad had worked with him on an assignment the year before, so now, whenever they ran into each other, they liked to catch up. As they chatted, I used it as an opportunity to watch Zac a little closer. According to Noah, the rate GHB affected someone was mostly dependent on the amount given, but if it was slipped into someone’s drink, they should start feeling the effects within a few minutes.

Watching the girl carefully, I tried to gauge her motor skills. She moved around a lot, but she didn’t appear to be too unsteady on her feet. Narrowing my gaze on her face, I searched for any signs of drowsiness, but she looked fairly alert from where I stood. Maybe it was going to take a little longer.

But after another half an hour, with no sign of exaggerated incapacity, I decided I’d seriously just wasted my entire night. It was confirmed when I saw Zac check his cell and give the chick a kiss on the cheek as he prepared to leave. Without her. My jaw clenched. Noah was going to owe me big time for this shit. That was a couple of hours of my life I’d never get back.

Interrupting Brad’s conversation, I patted him on the shoulder and gave him a quick nod, letting him know with my gaze that I was more than disappointed. “I’m off.”

His gaze moved across the room, to where Zac was saying goodbye to a few people. “Really?”

Even though he was alone, and I knew it was most likely going to be a fucking wash, I decided I’d follow him to wherever it was he was going anyway. At least that way I’d know I had seen it through to the end, and know for sure that no one had been taken advantage of.

Seeing Zac slip out the door, I shoved my hands in my pockets and weaved my way through the rest of the bodies until I was pushing through the doors after him. His car wasn’t parked that far away from my truck, so when he drove past me, it was easy to pull out and follow him at a distance.

When I originally had the idea to follow him, I thought I’d get some sense of bad-assery or something—like I was in some tough action movie and I was going to catch the bad guy out—but it was literally just driving behind someone. It wasn’t exciting at all. Maybe it was because the route he was taking was the way I needed to go to get home anyway, so I wasn’t too concerned about him seeing me. If he did, I knew it could always be easily passed off as coincidence.

But when I saw him pull into the on-campus parking, obviously heading for his dorm, the air around me changed. This was where I would indeed be stalking him. For real. Hiding in shadows and all. I wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to stoop to, but I also knew I wouldn’t be happy unless I followed it through to the end.

Sighing, I drove past the turn off and slowly pulled over to the curb. Taking a minute to tell myself this wasn’t creepy at all, I switched off the ignition and stepped out to the curb. Moving into the shadows, I ducked through the trees behind the dumpsters and skulked along the path, coming out just in time to see Zac slip in through the front doors and disappear inside.

I exhaled and let my shoulders drop. So that was that. Zac was alone, and, apparently, drug free. So why did I feel as though I’d missed something important?

Chapter 11

Jess

I was ninety-nine percent sure I was dreaming. The way my body drifted from a state of heaviness to a state of pure bliss in a heartbeat seemed to indicate something along those lines anyway. It also may have been the way the couch underneath me suddenly morphed into a king-sized bed with enormous, fluffy white pillows and sheets as well. You know, considering I didn’t actually own a king-sized bed.

Wyatt loomed over

the top of me, his naked torso gleaming in the soft, warm light. The exaggerated contours of his muscles were another indication that I was definitely dreaming. While Wyatt was fit and lean, he really wasn’t that ripped.

His gaze was heated, his hands gentle as he ran them over my suddenly naked body. I shifted to move, to touch him, but my hands jerked to a stop, something around them, holding them in place. I glanced up at Wyatt, ready to ask him why my hands were tied, but when I only saw blackness, I realized I’d been blindfolded too.

I waited for the panic to come, but instead, I smiled, a slow warmth spreading through my body as I squirmed and writhed. This was what Wyatt had said he’d wanted. I was dreaming his fantasy.

“Damn, baby,” Wyatt murmured. “You’re seriously thinking about it, aren’t you?”

I paused, listening, wondering what it was I was supposed to be thinking about, but then I already seemed to know. I was thinking about the other part of his fantasy—of another guy watching us.

Wyatt groaned, his fingers sliding between my legs, stroking, bringing me to an instant state of arousal. “Fuck. I didn’t think I could get any harder than I already was, Jess.”

He slid a finger inside me as his thumb continued to stroke over my clit, his movements growing steadily faster. Tension built inside me, bringing me to the brink of orgasm. I could feel it. It wouldn’t be long. With the blindfold on, I could easily imagine someone there, their cock in their hand as they stroked themselves.

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