Page 124 of Double Dare
I shrug. I mean, maybe, but maybe not. I’m learning to embrace my sexual side, and to be quite frank, my sexual side is alive and vivacious. But Kade doesn’t push it. Instead, he rests his head against the back of the couch and closes his eyes, his hand massaging my thigh.
“You okay about Gar?” he asks as Jed spreads out with his head on the armrest and his legs on my lap, almost kicking Kade’s hand away.
No, I’m not okay about Gar. I’ve never fought with him before, but worse than that, I’ve never feared losing him. Even when there was a chance I’d be moving back home after our two-month trip around Alaska, I felt confident that we’d always be friends. Things are changing now because he’s battling his girlfriend and his best friend, and he doesn’t know who to believe. Well, I think he knows to trust me, but I’m not around him as much as Amber is, so she’s like a gnatty little pest buzzing in his ear and telling him what to think and what to believe.
“She somehow convinced him I’m doing this to try to break them up.” Which is pathetic. Yes, I want them to break up, but I’d never try to force it. “And now he says he needs time to think about everything because he’s all confused.”
“He’ll come around,” Jed says, throwing his arm over his eyes. “He’s just brainwashed right now.”
But I never thought Gar would be so easy to manipulate. He’s always been strong and independent, and now it seems like he’s lost all that to depend on her. I say as much.
“That’s because she's making him that way,” Kade says. “Gaslighting and manipulation tactic 101. Make them dependent and then control them.”
“How do I protect him?” I rub Jed’s feet, making him groan.
“Give him the space he asked for, love. He might be brainwashed, but he’s smart. He’ll come out of it eventually, and if he doesn’t, we’ll fucking drag him out and lock him here until he smartens up.”
“Mm, Gar all tied up and begging,” Kade hums. “Did you tell him you changed your phone number?”
“I texted him from the new number and told him it was me, but I haven’t heard back.” It felt important to change my number and get a whole new phone. I also changed all my passwords, logged out of everything and added two-step authentication for all my accounts. I deleted Instagram and started a new page, but I haven’t made it public yet because I’m still working on my new branding, and I got a new business name and email address. My fresh start is here, but it sucks that Gar isn’t with me for the adventure.
He went from apologizing and wanting to get to the bottom of what happened to being mad at me for trying to ruin his relationship. What happened between our trip to Lowell Point and now?
Hardin also found messages from Gar’s phone, giving Jed’s number to random contacts and adding it to group chats, so no wonder he’s been getting a lot of girls texting him. He got a new phone number too, and now all his clients are out of sorts trying to keep up with his contact information. It’ll all buff out, but this whole thing has been such an inconvenience. Not to mention degrading. And I don’t believe Gar did that either. He knows how much I love Jed and how crazy possessive Jed is of me; he’d never share his number with a bunch of horny hookup-seekers. Not anymore.
Which means Amber is trying to fuck my relationship up, and I won’t fucking have that. I won’t lose my boys or my best friend.
Bring it on, bitch.
Chapter 47
“Okay, boys,” Mom shuts us all up. “Family reunion is next weekend. Did you all book it off like I asked you to three months ago, last month, last week, and yesterday?”
Smart ass woman.
“Shit,” Kolt says. “Mom, can I get next weekend off?”
Mom glares at Kolt. She’s his boss since the twins run the climbing and hiking expeditions from the resort. “Don’t be a twat, honey. We all know you’d call in fake sick anyway.”
“Your boss is a hardass, Kolt,” Zahn laughs.
“Don’t forget it.” Mom nods at him. “Alright. The Dares will be showing up between Friday morning and afternoon, and we’ve booked the whole resort with them.”
Which means shit is about to get rowdy. Dad’s side of the family is like ours—crude, loud, big drinkers, lots of males, and adrenaline junkies. I love almost everyone on my dad’s side, and I love it even more that they took Mom in when her family threw her out. We’ve been fortunate all our lives to come from the family we come from, and I’ve learned not to take that for granted.
“Grandma and Grandpa coming early?” Bo asks, sticking his fork in Rydan’s dessert like he has every right to it.
“Yep. Grandpa wants you all to go up to the cabin for skeet shooting and shotguns.”
I laugh at that. Grandpa always kicks our asses at skeet shooting, but it’s always a good time, so I’m looking forward to going.
Kade leans in, whispering, “This weekend is going to be nuts and we won’t get a lot of time with Laken. I say we take her back to the cabin and finally fuck her at the same time.”
I resent my dick for getting hard at his words, but it happens anyway.
I’ve got a new fetish, and I don’t like it. I get caught up staring at Kade work Laken over, get her all revved up, and taunt and tease her, and now my mind is spinning into gutters where I’m just sitting in a dark corner, jerking it to the show they put on. Role reversal, if you will; taking the part Kade used to play for the year I was with Laken before he joined in.
But fuck that. Tonight isn’t the night to delve into that deprivation. Tonight, we’re fucking her. At the same time.