Page 23 of Dare (Fighting Fate)

Her gaze was a little more than pissed off when she turned to look at me. “When I asked Wyatt why Zac had been at my apartment, he said Zac had come to let him know his brother had been in an accident. He said Zac had been really upset.”

Okay, now I was pissed off. If Wyatt was lying to her, that increased the chance of him being involved with her drugging. But for what fucking purpose? Like Jess, I just didn’t get it. Maybe it was just like she’d said. Maybe she had been just a lab rat.

“You know what?” Jess said, turning on that smile of hers I loved so much. “I don’t care. They’re nothing to me anymore. They can be all weird and shit. I’m not going to let them get to me.”

Pressing my lips together, I exhaled. I understood where she was coming from completely, but something still smelled fishy to me. “I know you just want to forget about it, Jess, but I really think you should report the test result.”

“Why?” she said, already shaking her head. “I’ve got no idea who it was, really. I can’t just walk in and say, ‘Hi, I went to a party the other night and someone drugged me. Here’s the test results.’”

“Uh, yes, you can,” I said, not liking her tone. “Okay, so there might be a chance that nothing comes of it, but at least if you give them whatever details you have, they might have the resources to piece the rest of it together.” I sighed, trying to keep my gaze soft as I looked at her. “They’ve already got their own evidence on Zac buying the drugs, Jess. Your test results might be the missing piece of evidence they need to get a conviction. It might help them to be able to access CCTV from the party. There are lots of things you might not be aware of unless you go and report it.”

Anxiety crept over her features, almost making me kick myself for pushing the issue, but if Zac was seriously out there drugging girls, I couldn’t just brush it under the carpet. I wanted him put away.

Jess bit her lip before sitting forward and rubbing her hands over her cheeks. “I don’t know, Eli. It’s just . . . it sounds so serious. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”

Chewing on the inside of

my cheek, I gave her a little nod of understanding. It was hard not to keep pushing. The wannabe lawyer inside me knew she was sitting on that precipice. It would take so little for me to persuade her to do it. But I could never do that to her. I wanted this to be her decision.

Blinking up at me, she swallowed nervously. “Can I just think about it?”

Offering her a reassuring smile, I nodded. “Of course you can. I’m not telling you what to do here, Jess. This is your decision to make. There’s no right or wrong. I just wanted to give you a little different perspective, that’s all.”

As I watched her draw in a relieved breath, I wondered how far she would need to be pushed into the dirt before she finally stood up for herself. It was sad to think, but I had a feeling it was a lot.

Chapter 15

Jess

At the first sound of the tires crunching on the drive, I grinned. Tossing the book to the side, I darted off the couch and ran for the door. It had been a good six months since I’d seen Austin, and I was craving some serious sibling time—the kind where I was actually understood.

Jumping down the porch stairs, I squealed, running up behind him as he waved goodbye to his ride. He turned just in time to catch me with a laugh. “Hey, Rabbit. How are you doing?”

I squeezed him tighter, laughing at his old nickname for me. It was one I didn’t think I’d ever get him to forget. It came from the character Jessica Rabbit. Austin thought it was very fitting when we were kids, mostly because she had red hair too.

Emotions swelled inside me as he squeezed me back. It was something that seemed to happen a lot when I saw Austin these days. Growing up, it felt like he was the only one who had any idea of what I was going through and could sympathize with me. When he moved away, it felt like I lost the one person who listened to me unconditionally. So, when I saw him now, it was as though all the things that had upset me in between his visits came rushing to the surface.

Squeezing my eyes shut tight, I pressed my lips together, trying to stop the tears from coming, but the events of the last week were still too fresh for me to contain. As a sob escaped, Austin tightened his hold again.

“What’s the matter, Rabbit?” he said softly.

“Nothing. Everything,” I said, stepping back and swiping at my eyes.

Taking my hand, he scooped up his bag in the other, and started towing me toward the side of the house, where two swings were tied to the big, old oak tree. Dropping his bag, he gently nudged me to take a swing, while he took the other. “Okay, now tell me what’s going on.”

Staring at the ground, I slowly rocked back and forth, my feet still planted on the dirt. “I broke up with Wyatt a couple of days ago,” I said softly.

I looked up to see him frowning at me. “Why?”

“It’s a long, complicated, and messy story,” I said, letting a slight humorless laugh slip out. “I don’t know. That’s not even the reason I’m upset, really.”

“Okay, you’re confusing me, Rabbit. Start at the beginning. You know I haven’t met Wyatt, so I’m having trouble getting what you’re talking about.”

I sighed, letting my shoulders sag. “I don’t know. I’m struggling to work it out in my head. I keep going back and forth, trying to figure it all out, and I just keep getting nowhere. I mean, to start with, I kind of feel bad about the breakup. Wyatt’s a nice guy. In a way, he was kind of perfect. He said and did all the right things. He has ambition and goals of success, and he wanted me to be a part of it.”

“But . . . ?” Austin probed.

“But, in my gut, something just didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel as though we connected. All his goals—all the things he would get excited about—they just didn’t excite me.”

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