I Dare You by Lylah James

Four months earlier

I couldn’t remember the exact moment I realized what I felt for Lila was more than friendship.

Maybe it was the first time when Lila wrapped her little pinky around mine outside of her grandparents’ grocery store.

Or maybe it was the time I woke up from a nightmare and found her sleeping beside me, the night she took care of me, pulling me out of the freezing tub, and didn’t leave my drunk ass behind – the same night I realized what it felt like not to be alone.

It could have been any time from the first moment I laid eyes on her, any moment we’ve had in between, until our last moment together – when I saw her with Lucien and I knew I was about to lose her forever.

I never could quite understand my own feelings. Lila wasn’t a monochrome in my black and white world, she was a kaleidoscope of colors. She had made my life less dull.

I didn’t know if I could call it love then.

Or if it was love now…

What is love?

When I was seventeen years old, Lila sashayed into my life with all the fierceness of a dragon, sassy and stubborn. Like an R-Rated Snow White, with an ass that should have been illegal and a mouth that tempted me to shove my dick down her throat.

At twenty years old, I realized that when we first met, Lila and I were two teenagers who were too young to understand what love was until we’d fallen too deeply into it.

“Just friends” was an easy way out, rather than accepting our growing feelings for each other.

It was around three in the morning when Lila fell asleep in my arms, breathless, sore and exhausted. She curled into me, pressing her soft, naked body against mine.

I watched her sleep, her pouty lips, her soft sighs and quiet snores.

Everyone has an addiction, mine just happened to be Lila Garcia.

My best friend

The same best friend I fucked last night.

There was no going back now; the line had been crossed, and now that I’ve had a taste of her, there was no way I was letting her go.

Lila was my favorite type of drug, and she was so goddamn addictive.

Her smell, her smiles, her laughter.

The way she moved, the way her face lit up whenever she talked about something that made her happy.

I breathed her.

Lila was so deep under my skin, digging deeper under my flesh, mixed with my blood, and pumping through my veins.

There was nothing calm and easy about what I felt for her.

My feelings for Lila were maddening. Like a storm that opens up the sky, violent and raging… all-consuming.

I couldn’t let her go, not after tonight.

I’d never forget the sound of her moans, her little whimpers as she begged me to fuck her harder, the sight of her pink pussy, glistening with need – for me. I’d never forget how she felt in my arms, naked and without restraint.

No, I couldn’t let her go.

Not now. Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever.

Wrapping my arm around her hips, I pulled Lila closer. Her scent was all around me, on my skin, on my hair… on my lips…

I could still taste her on my tongue.

If I knew Lila, as well as I’d like to think I did, then…

Come tomorrow morning, she’d wake up and try to escape. We might have been a bit drunk last night, but we both knew damn well what we were doing and the consequences of it. She was going to overthink this and try to put more distance between us.

Too bad.

Too. Fucking. Bad.

She was mine now.

I woke up to Lila leaving the bed. I peeked up at her through hooded eyes, half-asleep, watching her as she silently freaked out.

I waited – hoping she’d climb back in bed.

I was no longer drunk and could think with a clearer mind. And so could she.

Face me, Lila. Face what we’ve done and don’t. fucking. leave. me.

She stumbled toward our discarded clothes and pulled on her robe. Lila sniffled, casting me a quick glance, but she didn’t notice that I was awake… watching her walk away from me.

I waited for her to change her mind, waited for her to stay.

Make me your first choice.

When she reached the door, I sprang off the bed, my fists clenching.

Fuck that. Hell no.

Enraged and disappointed at her choice, I stalked forward and slammed the door shut. My heart thumped in my chest. Lila gasped when I gripped her arm and shoved her away from the door, caging her between the wall and my naked body.

She was a goddamn coward.

Lila pushed at my chest; her eyes wide.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked, my voice harsher than I intended. My jaw tightened as I snarled through gritted teeth. “Back to Lucien, so you can fuck him, too? Was last night not enough?”

I knew I wasn’t being fair, but I hadn’t expected that, although it was there… the intense need to claim her.

She slammed her tiny fists into my chest, trying to push me back but unsuccessful in her poor attempts. I crowded into her space with a low growl, kicking her legs apart, pushing my knee between her thighs, holding my Lila captive.

Maybe it was the adrenaline pumping through my veins, but I was so damn angry. At her. At myself.

For wanting her to stay.

I… couldn’t… think… straight.

When Lila tried to push me away again, my palm slid up her neck. Her eyes widened as she stopped struggling, her lips parting with a silent gasp, and my hold tightened around her throat.

She came to me last night. She wanted me as much I needed her.

My gaze lowered to her pouty lips, begging to be kissed. My hand moved up, cupping her jaw. Slightly unhinged, with a fierce need to push her past her carefully set boundaries, I stepped over the line. “Is your sweet cunt that greedy, Lila?”

Yeah, I was an asshole.

But she was a coward for running away.

“Let go of me! What is wrong with you?!” she spat, raising her hand as if to slap me.

Finally, the reaction I was waiting for.

Before she could hit me, I clasped her wrist and jerked her hand down, pressing her palm over my chest. Feel me.

She hiccupped a soft breath, and I swore I could hear her heart pounding, just as hard as mine. Thud, thud, thud.

There was a moment, where time stopped, the world coming to a halt, before I slammed my lips over hers.

Feel me.

The moment our lips met, the world fell into a spinning silence.

Before we crash-landed. Gasping, kissing… fighting a silent war. She pushed me away and then pulled me harder against her.

Lila groaned into our kiss and opened her mouth for me. I wanted to possess her – her heart, her body… her mind. Fuck, I must have completely lost it.

There was nothing sweet or gentle about this kiss.

I punished her with my teeth and my tongue, still mad that she even considered leaving me behind.

Walking… away… from… me.

My fingers gripped her nape, and she let me brutalize her mouth, whimpering but not pulling away. My teeth grazed her lower lip, feeling it swell, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. I must have cut her… or she bit me hard enough to draw blood. I didn’t know. I didn’t know where I started and she begun.

Her nails dug into the skin over my heart, and I hissed against her bruised lips. I pulled away, only slightly. Lila’s chest heaved with every labored breath she took. Her lips were swollen and red, ravished. Beautiful. Mine.

My breath lingered over her lips, before I pressed my mouth against hers again.

Feel me.

Everything about this kiss was… sweet and tender.

I kissed her as if it was our first kiss – how I should have kissed her the first time – when we were seventeen years old. When we had been too young and too stupid.

Lila melted in my embrace, her arms curling around my shoulders.

“I dare you to kissme,” I rasped between our kisses, throwing her own words back at her. She dared me last night, it was my turn now.

“I dare you to stay.” My lips touched hers again. Feel me.

My heart thudded in my chest. Lila trembled in my arms, but it wasn’t from the cold. She dug her fingers harder into the curve of my shoulders.

“I dare you to give us a chance,” I said, looking into her dark, muddled eyes. “I dare you, Lila.”

When I claimed her lips again, I didn’t let go.

I knew Lila was going to fight me on this, but I had to find a way to convince her to stay.

I wanted her to need me, the same way I needed her.

The perks of being Lila’s best friend for almost four years…

I knew how to break through her walls, tear apart the carefully put together pieces of her heart.

And break her, I would – so I could put her back together and make her fall for me.

There was no other option.