Page 91 of Meet Dare

“You can’t cancel my plans,” I growl.

“Already done.”

He’s bluffing. There’s no way he cancelled my hotel reservations. “I sincerely doubt it.”

“Lilac says if you want to reserve a hotel room anonymously you need to use a VPN to mask your IP address in addition to using a false name.”

“Crap.”

My brother just had to fall in love with a super smart woman, didn’t he? He couldn’t have settled for his blonde secretary. Although she was a bitch who did try to ruin his career, so avoiding her was probably a good choice.

I snag two beers out of the refrigerator and hand one to Beckett before collapsing on the sofa. “Let the lecture begin.”

“What would I lecture you about?” he asks as he sits next to me.

“I don’t know. About my running away. About my refusal to talk to the ‘family’ about Cedar. About Cedar. Pick a topic. Any topic.”

Please don’t. Please don’t pick any topic. Please drink your beer and exit posthaste.

“How about none of the above?”

“Sounds good. We’ll drink our beers in silence before you return to the lovely Lilac who is now at the top of my prank list.”

I need to think of an epic prank for his fiancée. Something I’ve never done before. Something to make her realize messing with Cassandra was a mistake. Her worst mistake ever.

Beckett snorts. “Silence? You’re funny.”

“I’m hilarious,” I mutter before downing my beer.

“You didn’t kill our parents,” he whispers.

“Yeah, I did.”

“They died in a car accident.”

Damnit. Why did I ever open my big, fat mouth and tell Gabrielle and Elizabeth the truth? I knew they wouldn’t keep it to themselves. The Dempsey family is as bad at observing privacy boundaries as the people of Winter Falls. There’s a reason my sisters feel at home here. Except for Olivia who is currently who the hell knows where.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” If it sounds like I’m pouting, it’s because I am.

“Too bad. Mom and Dad died twenty years ago. You’ve been holding onto this guilt for all these years for no reason.”

No reason? Wrong. There’s a big reason. A ginormous reason. Because I’m guilty. Thus, the guilt.

“Still don’t want to talk about it.”

“You can’t out stubborn me on this.”

Oh yeah? Watch me.

“I’ll sit here all night bugging you until you talk.”

Did big bro throw down? It’s on.

“Good thing I just bought groceries. You want another beer?” I stand.

“No. I don’t want another beer. I want you to sit your ass down and talk to me.”

“Sorry, big brother of mine. I don’t take orders from you.”

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