Page 48 of Dare (Fighting Fate)

Drawing my teeth over my bottom lip, I assessed this darker side of him. If he thought it would make me behave and accept the rules he’d put in place, he was in for a nasty surprise.

Chapter 34

Eli

Swinging my feet to the floor, I groaned and forced my body to sit up. With great effort, I leaned forward and dropped my head into my hands. As much as Jess’s couch was unbelievably comfortable to sit in, it wasn’t great for sleeping on. It just wasn’t anywhere near long enough to fit my six-foot-three frame, unfortunately.

Pushing to my feet, I sauntered into the kitchen and studied the coffeemaker. It didn’t look too different from the one Mom had, so I hoped like hell I’d be able to get the thing working. I seriously needed caffeine.

After a minute of searching with close to ninja-like skills, I located the water tank and refilled it, before doing the same with the coffee. With fingers crossed, I pushed a couple of buttons and sighed when I heard the telltale signs of magic happening.

Relieved the coffee was on its way, I grabbed a mug off the sink and dumped a spoonful of sugar in the bottom. As I waited for the brew to be done, I gazed over at the stairs, wondering what my next move should be. Jess had been pretty drunk when I’d put her to bed the night before, so I didn’t think she’d be up too early, but if I didn’t make the decision to either stay or go soon, the choice of whether I wanted to see her this morning would be taken out of my hands.

The other issue was the fact that I had no idea what time Emmy was due home. All I knew was that she and Aiden had stayed at his mom’s house for some family celebration or something. I wasn’t too keen to be here when she got home, so it wasn’t the ideal situation for me to be in.

Taking the finished pot, I poured myself a cup and leaned back against the counter. As much as I’d tried not to think about the events of the night before, it had been virtually impossible for me not to while I’ll been lying on her damned couch, wide awake for most of the night. The entire club scene

had been a fucking nightmare. With Noah all over Kaeli and Isaac all over Amber, the distance between me and Jess had been like a living, breathing pit of hell.

Noah hadn’t been impressed with the fact that I’d tagged along in the first place, but he was even less so when I made sure I kept my distance from Jess while they’d been partying. I knew he didn’t get it, but that was the promise I’d made to her.

I sighed as I remembered the way Jess had approached me later in the night, telling me she was ready to go. She didn’t say it in so many words, but I knew her night had been ruined, and it was all my fault.

I tried to feel sorry for that, but I couldn’t. With everything that had happened, and Wyatt still not in the clear, I didn’t trust anyone enough to just let her go off without a care in the world. The others may have said they had her back, but with the amount of alcohol the girls had consumed, and the tunnel vision my brothers had for them, it wasn’t a chance I was prepared to take.

Nursing my mug in one hand, I rubbed the other over my face. This shit was just going from bad to worse. It didn’t matter what I did, or what I said, I was just getting myself in deeper. Was there any point in trying anymore? I was starting to feel as though I was swimming against the fucking current.

Closing my eyes, I shook my head. Four months. That’s all there was. Surely, I could suck it up and just get through it. It couldn’t be that hard.

My body stilled as I caught movement on the stairs, the raging battle inside me muting, dumbfounded by the image appearing before me. I groaned, trying to swallow down the reaction taking place inside me.

Jess, wearing nothing but a tank and a pair of panties, her hair disheveled and falling wildly over her shoulders, stepped down the last of the stairs, her hands rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she moved. “Oh my God, Emmy. That smells amazing.”

Motherfucking hell.

Tensing, I tried to compose myself before she saw me.

As she rounded the corner, I saw her look up and blink before her eyes widened with horror. “Eli!”

“Good morning,” I said, unable to help the crooked smile that crept onto my lips. Damn, she was gorgeous. “Coffee?” She continued to stare at me, but her head bobbed up and down in response to my question. “I thought you’d sleep longer,” I said, pouring her a cup.

She took the cup from me like someone dying of thirst. “Don’t you know? Coffee can summon the dead, Eli.”

I smirked. The fact that she could still make a joke while she had a hangover impressed me. “How are you feeling?”

She gulped down a mouthful before nodding. “Not too bad, actually.” She winked. “Must’ve been the Advil or whatever the hell it was you made me take last night.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You remember that?”

“I remember it all, Eli,” she said, cocking her head to the side. “I don’t often forget things the next day. That’s why the drugging freaked me out. It’s not cool not knowing what you did or what happened around you for hours on end.”

Darkness tinted my vision. “No, it’s not. So why would you risk that again by going out drinking last night?”

She rolled her eyes and turned away from me, walking out of the kitchen. If it weren’t for the sight of her curvy ass swaying from the room, I would’ve growled at her brushoff.

Following her out to the living room, I stood on the opposite side of the couch from her, needing to put some distance between her barely covered body and my barely contained need for it. “Are you going to answer me?”

She shrugged. “I needed a release.”

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