Do You Dare? by Lylah James

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lila

I walked through the door of my grandparents’ home and stumbled onto the couch. Gran leaned against the kitchen’s doorway, having heard the door open. She watched me closely. “What’s with that face, sweetie?”

“Nothing,” I grumbled, rubbing a hand over my face.

“That sigh tells me it’s definitely something.” She took a seat on the opposite couch, waiting for my answer. I knew she wasn’t going to rest until I told her what was actually bothering me. “Is someone bothering you?”

Someone? Yes, your precious helper aka Maddox, my enemy.

I groaned in defeat. “There’s someone…”

She gave me a knowing look. “A boy.”

“Yes, a boy.”

“What boy?” Grandpa came down the stairs, and he settled beside me with a hard scowl on his face. He was a tad overprotective.

The last boyfriend I had was two years ago. We dated for about four months before I lost my virginity in the back of his dad’s pickup truck, in the dark. The next time we made out, he noticed my scar and the look of disgust on his face still burned through my memory. Leo broke up with me the next day. When Pops found out, without any of the nasty sex details, he lost his shit. Since then, he had been wary of any boys who came around.

“It’s someone from school,” I finally admitted, leaving Maddox’s name out, since they both thought highly of him and it’d break my Gran’s heart if she ever found who the real Maddox was. Granted, yes, he was the perfect helper on Sunday, and he really did work hard, so I couldn’t really ruin his image just because he was an asshole to me in school. Right?

“Is he being rude to you? Do I need to file a complaint to the Headmaster? Molly, where is my rifle?” He stood up, his back straight and his jaw hard as granite. My sweet grandpa, even in his old age, he was fierce.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him back on the couch again. “No, no. He’s just… a bit annoying.”

“A bully?” Grandpa inquired. His intense stare burned holes through the side of my face. This was his if-you-lie-to-me-I-will-find-out look.

“Not exactly. I won’t let him bully me. You could say I’ve been a pain in his arse, too. I dyed his hair pink.”

Gran snickered. “Did you know that’s how our love story started?”

“You dyed Pops’ hair pink?” I gasped, my jaw going to slack.

“Not exactly. It was during summer camp. Your grandpa was a sweetheart, but his friends were vexing. You see, I didn’t mean to dye his hair. It was meant for his other friend who stuck gum in my hair.”

“She had to cut off her beautiful locks.” The forlorn look on his face as he stared at Gran, as if he was remembering that day very clearly, made my romantic heart sing

“Yes. But Sven went into the shower first and… he came out with white hair.”

“Jack Frost,” Pops mumbled under his breath.

“A handsome Jack Frost.” Gran lifted her chin, a twinkle in her pretty brown eyes. “That’s how our love story started. We hated each other until he kissed me at the end of summer. We parted ways, but he followed me. He said he was going to marry me, and he’d win me over. He did.”

I was already shaking my head before she could finish her sentence. Love story? Maddox and I? Ha. I refrained from letting out a mocking laugh. “Oh no. There’s no love story between us. He’s my….”

My what? My nemesis who kissed me? Confused, I couldn’t find the right word to describe him. The definition of our relationship was… complicated. He was a jerk, but he wasn’t exactly a bully, since I fought back just as hard. Sure, he was my enemy, but he also kissed me, and my treacherous heart had done something weird in my chest. We were both passionate about our ongoing war, but it wasn’t hate.

Pops patted me on the knee, always on my side, always so encouraging. “If he’s making your life hard, make him miserable. Don’t be shy. Make him bend the knee,” he said fiercely.

I swallowed past the knot in my throat, refusing to admit that Maddox and I had anything more than war between us. It was a battlefield between us. Turning to Pops, I gave him a tender smile. “You’ve been watching Game of Thrones again?”

“It’s… interesting.” He gave his wife the side-eye, his lips twitching with a half-smile. There was something in his look, and when Gran’s flushed under his appraising gaze, my own eyes widened, and I fought a gag. Oh shit, I didn’t want to know.

“Right. I need to shower, then I’ll help with dinner.” I got up to kiss Gran on the cheek and Pops on his balding head. They both chuckled as I walked away.

***

The next morning, I walked down the halls of Berkshire. It was a whole hour before the bell rang, to indicate the start of the school day. There were barely any students roaming the school halls. Berkshire was participating in a science experiment, and if we won Regionals, we would be representing our State. Today was our first meeting. I, of course, joined. Science was my drug, plain and simple.

I was marching down the halls when something caught my eyes, making me come to a halt. Not something: someone. Through the window, I caught sight of Maddox sitting outside on a bench.

I didn’t even think he’d be up this early since they didn’t have football practice today. Why was Maddox here?

He stared at the empty field; his elbows perched on his thighs as he smoked his cancer stick.

It was starting to grow cold in Manhattan, and we now needed a sweater or thicker jacket before stepping out. Maddox was only wearing his Berkshire uniform, as if the cold wasn’t bothering him, as if he had grown immune or numb to it.

But that wasn’t what made me stop and stare. No, he was alone.

He was never alone; he was always either surrounded by his fangirls or his friends, or he was annoying me.

I placed a hand over the window as I studied him from afar. There was no reason for my heart to ache, but it did. Something clenched in my chest, like a fist holding my heart tight. Sitting on the bench, in the cold, with a cigarette between his lips, he looked like a sad, lonely god.

Maddox stood up, his longish hair falling across his face, hiding himself from my view. He took one last inhale before dropping the cigarette on the ground and stepping over it.

His hands curled around the back of his neck, and he looked up at the sky. His blond locks fell away from his face as a gust of wind breezed past him.

Eyes closed, he turned toward me and…

The agonized look on his face made me suck in a harsh breath.

His pain was stark and on display for all to see, but there was no one looking at Maddox except me.

He looked like a beautiful canvas being torn apart as sorrow bleed through him.

For the first time since I’ve met Maddox, I felt something other than annoyance. I really shouldn’t have cared. I convinced myself I didn’t, that I only felt bad for him because I had a habit of tending to strays.

But Maddox wasn’t a stray or a wounded animal.

He wasn’t mine to soothe.

But still…

“Why do you always think the worst of me?”

For the first time, I decided to not be a judgmental bitch and wondered what his story was.

“See, that’s your problem. You assume too many things.”

I did assume a lot of things, but that was only because Maddox had only ever showed me one side of him – the asshole side.

This side of him? The pained, broken one – it spoke to the inner part of me, my little caged heart. Because I remembered staring into the mirror, my own reflection staring back at me, with the same expression on Maddox’s face.

Broken.

Lost.

Lonely.

Scared.

His eyes opened, and my lips parted with a silent gasp as our gazes met. He couldn’t see me… right?

But oh, he did.

He watched me, silently, as I’d done to him.

Something unspoken crossed between us, something… personal.

He lifted his chin in silent acknowledgement before he walked away, fading out of my sight.

The heavy weight on my chest didn’t lift away. My heart cracked for a boy who probably would forget about me soon enough.

My fists clenched. I shouldn’t care.

I didn’t care.