I Dare You by Lylah James

I said I’d fight for Maddox, but I couldn’t fight for him, if I were bedridden with pneumonia. So, against my own accord, and because I knew I wouldn’t win a fight in the rain, I drove home, after Maddox slammed the door in my face. Again.

I spent thirty minutes in the tub, as I tried to warm up my body. Then, I spent another two hours in front of the fireplace, and after four cups of hot cocoa, I was finally warm again.

My gran mumbled under her breath, as she packed blankets around me, but she didn’t ask any questions. Maybe it was the look in my eyes, but I truly didn’t have the energy to give her an explanation tonight.

Hours later and late at night… I was finally in bed, thinking of my next step. Was I pissed that Maddox played me? Yes. I was rightfully angry, frustrated and… hurt. The Maddox I knew would never purposefully be so… vindictive.

But then I realized, it was because of me.

I made him snap. I turned him into this furious, ugly beast.

Walking away from him… breaking my promises… turning my back on him when he needed me the most, I tainted our friendship.

I just wanted us to go back to the old Maddox and Lila. Team MALA – invincible and untouchable. Without all the misunderstandings, hurt and miscommunications.

My mission to go back to being Team MALA would start tomorrow. How long could Maddox stay angry at me? Another week? Another month…?

We’ll see…

Because I was fighting for him, this time.

I was just drifting off to sleep, when I heard it. The scratching sound outside my window. A thump. A louder sound. More scratching.

Was someone trying to break in? Shit! I frantically looked around my room, searching for some kind of weapon. Where the hell was my baseball bat?

A knock on my window made me pause.

I clenched the bedsheet closer to my body and eyed the window.

More scratches. Another knock, louder this time. More desperation in it.

And then…

His voice.

“Lila.”

Oh my God!

“Lila,” he called out louder.

I scrambled off the bed and rushed to my window, practically ripping away the curtains in my haste. There he was. Maddox.

Looking utterly handsome and breathtaking under the moonlight.

He balanced himself on the roof and gripped the edge of the window, staring at me with a look I have never seen before.

Maddox was here. Outside my window. Demanding for me to open up and let him in… hours after kicking me out of his house. Oh, the irony. Why were we such a mess together?

Wordlessly, I cracked the window open, and sidestepped, to let him in. Maddox stumbled inside and then straightened to his full height.

I forgot how small he made my room feel, whenever he was in here.

His presence was imposing, like a storm crashing through. Maddox towered over me, and I looked down at my bare arms. My skin was full of goosebumps.

His gaze slid over me, taking everything in. I was wearing a tank top and my sleeping shorts. This was the most skin he was seeing, since our breakup.

“What are you doing here?” I finally asked.

He cocked his head to the side. “I’m asking myself the same question.”

When a cold air gushed through, I closed the window and leaned against the sill. He inspected my room, his attention falling on a photo of us on my nightstand. Our graduation picture. The day he gave me our dreamcatcher. We were both silent for a very long time, the tension in the room growing thicker.

I wasn’t cold anymore. My skin flushed under his rapt attention, and I couldn’t look away from his face. Thick eyebrows. Blue eyes. A strong nose. Full lips. Squared jaw and what appeared to be three-days’ worth of stubble. His handsome, rugged face.

Our eyes met again.

My heart thudded.

And then I felt it… the butterflies in my stomach. The butterflies I thought I had lost before. They were never gone. Just silent. Waiting for me to finally snap out of it. Waiting for him…

He slid closer, taking one step toward me. I gripped the windowsill, so I wouldn’t do something stupid, like reach out to him, begging him to kiss me.

He leaned forward, his chest brushing lightly against mine. My nipples pebbled through my tank top, and my breasts felt tighter and heavier.

“Lila.”

I shuddered, as my name rolled off his tongue, like he was tasting molasses. He didn’t speak out my name with a taunt. No, it was a plea. My name on his tongue was a whisper, a sacred prayer.

His hands came up, and I waited, with bated breath, before he cupped my face in his much bigger palms. His thumb brushed across my jaw.

“Tell me a lie,” Maddox rasped, caging me in with his eyes. There was nowhere to run.

“I hate you.”

His eyes darkened with pain, before his lips slammed into mine, stealing my words and my breath away.

My arms curled around his head. Our lips clashed together, fighting, breaking apart and meeting again, like a wild, angry wave across the shore. The kiss deepened, turning desperate. Furious. There was nothing sweet about this kiss, but it was maddening.

The heat between us scorched our skin, as I clung to him, kissing him back, with just as much frustration and frenzy.

The kiss lasted long, until we lost our breath. The world spun and swayed under my feet, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want my lips to separate from his. I didn’t want this to end.

This kiss.

His mad, mad kiss.

This touch.

His mad, mad touch.

These lips.

His mad, mad lips.

I knew Maddox Coulter was my destination, and this reaffirmed it. This feeling in my chest that no longer felt hollow.

Our pent-up anger, weeks of frustration, and months of misunderstandings bled through this kiss. “I’m so angry with you,” he growled, into my lips.

My fingers curled into his hair, and I tugged it, hard, bringing out a hiss from him. “Good. Be angry.”

That was all the affirmation he needed.

He shoved his tongue into my mouth, tasting every inch of me, forcing me to submit to his assault. Maddox attacked my mouth, and this kiss was purely animalistic.

Hurt me.

Heal me.

Hurt me.

Save me.

Maddox wrapped an arm around my waist, and he dragged us back. We tumbled onto my bed, and he crawled over my body. Without breaking the kiss, he ripped off my tank top. I bit his lip, tasting his blood, and a snarl tore from his mouth, pouring down my throat.

He cupped my breast, squeezing and making me gasp into his bleeding lips. His fingers twisted and tugged my nipples, hurting me with his torturous touch. The pleasure came with the pain. I cried out; I kissed him harder.

Clothes disappeared, naked skin met each other, our bodies clashed together. We were fighting; we were kissing. This was utter madness, and everything I had craved. Maddox finally forced his mouth away from mine, and we both gasped, breathless.

He shocked me by straddling my chest. Lust masked his face, while his eyes matched the storm raging between us. His cock sprung forward, thick and long. He gripped his hard length and rubbed the tip across my lips. Pre-cum covered the engorged head, and I licked my lips, tasting his slick essence.

Maddox groaned. He fisted his cock, and I parted my lips. His eyes flared darker, and he forced his length into the wet heat of my mouth and down my throat. I gagged, tears burning the back of my eyes. My nose tingled, as I tried to breathe and take all of him.

This position was different. I was completely vulnerable to Maddox, and it seemed to feed that thunderous beast in him.

I couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t breathe.

Maddox grunted, as the tip of his cock hit the back of my throat. I closed my lips around his length. He throbbed inside my mouth. I clenched my thighs tighter, feeling the insistent pulse between them. My cheeks hollowed, as I sucked him.

He shuddered, the veins in his neck bulged, and I felt incredibly… powerful. Even though he was dominating me.

His hot shaft jerked in my mouth, as I used my tongue on his thick, hard length.

There was need in his eyes.

A frantic look on his face.

His hand curled around my neck, and his fingers brushed along my throat, feeling his hard cock, as I deepthroated him. I gagged when he pushed deeper and then gasped when he pulled out, without warning. He fisted his hardness, and with a grunt, he released all over my neck, my mouth and my chest.

I licked my lips, tasting him.

He swore. “Fuck.”

I grinned, lost in this euphoria. Drunk and addicted to him. Long ago, I plummeted head first into love and lust with Maddox. Tonight was proof of how much I craved him.

“I made you dirty,” he growled, his voice rusty and gruff.

This was everything depraved. This was carnage. This was our mad, mad love. Ugly and beautiful. Desperate and passionate.

I reached out, curled my arms around his shoulders, and pulled him down to my lips. I kissed him with a violence of my own. I spread my thighs, and Maddox settled between them. I could feel him, rubbing his tip over my wet folds. My hips raised, chasing more of his teasing touch.

When I pulled away a little, our lips still lingered against each other. His minty breath mingled with mine, and I found myself smiling at the familiarity. My lips feathered over his jaw, before I licked a small path down his neck. His weakness, I knew that.

Maddox released a hiss, and his body tightened at the same time I licked his prominent Adam’s apple. His throat moved, as he swallowed hard. “Lila...”

I reached between us and wrapped my fingers around his dick, pushing him inside of me. Where I wanted him. Where I needed him. My heated core clenched, and I whimpered, as he slowly filled me.

His nose flared.

His jaw twitched.

His body shuddered.

I moaned.

He grunted.

I whimpered.

He growled.

I dug my fingers into his chest, right over his pounding heart. “Maddox–”

His hips jerked against mine, and I didn’t finish my sentence. My mind went blank, and a desperate moan slipped from me.

Maddox bit down on my lip, leaving a painful sting behind, as his hand circled around my throat. He thrust hard inside, stretching me with every thick inch of him. “Take it like a good girl,” he said, in a low and guttural voice. I clenched around him in response.

“Fuck,” he grunted in my ear. “Just like that, Baby. Squeeze me good and let me fuck you like I need to. Like you want me to. Your pussy is goddamn therapeutic, Lila.”

My eyes fluttered shut, as he pulled out and thrust back in, just as hard. There was nothing gentle or sweet about this. Maddox was using me, desperately chasing his release through my body, ridding himself of that pent-up anger inside of him... through