Do You Dare? by Lylah James

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Maddox

Three weeks later

Lila slammed her thick textbook closed and growled low in her throat. If she thought she was being intimidating, she was highly mistaken. That was a kitten growl, cute and harmless.

“You’re distracting me. Stop!” she said through clenched teeth, keeping her voice low since we were both huddled in a corner of the library.

“What am I doing?” I feigned innocence because, seriously, my favorite pastime was annoying her.

She was studying for our upcoming calculus test while I was watching… porn. Okay, fine. Not exactly porn. But Tumblr was nasty, and I was making a habit of showing Lila all the videos I came across. Miss Garcia didn’t find that amusing, but it was hilarious to me, so she was growling and hissing. Like I said, a kitten.

I didn’t know if I had a semi-boner because of the videos I was watching or because Lila was sitting across me. Probably a bit of both.

“Do you realize you’re the most frustrating person I’ve ever met in my life?” she finally snapped. I bit my tongue to keep from laughing.

I’d give her credit, though, for lasting three weeks as my friend.

I thought she would break, but no, Lila was fierce, something I greatly admired about her.

She plugged her earphones in and went back to her textbook. Her notebook was filled with equations as she did the practice questions over and over again. Over the past few weeks, I’ve learned a few things about Lila:

1. She was a perfectionist.
2. She wanted to get into Harvard and was still waiting on her confirmation letter to come through. Every day, she grew more anxious, although she tried hard to hide it.

Since I got a football scholarship, I already had an early acceptance to Harvard.

3. She loved her grandparents dearly.
4. She was competitive as fuck.

Two minutes later, Lila gave up. She snatched her earphones out and glared at me. I tried to wipe the grin off my face, but damn it, it was hard when she was being so… cute.

“I know you’re getting into Harvard with a football scholarship but don’t your marks need to be just as good, or you could lose your scholarship?”

I swiped out of Tumblr as she ranted. My textbook and notebook laid in front me, untouched. “Yeah.”

“Then, why are you not taking any of your classes seriously?”

Ah, so she was on my case. I refrained from rolling my eyes and shrugged instead. “I don’t care.”

“So, you’re okay with not playing football after high school and losing your scholarship?”

That made me pause.

I didn’t care about school or Harvard… but football was my fucking kryptonite. Similar to how Lila was my favorite drug of choice, sweet and so fucking addictive.

I was MC–Maddox Coulter, Berkshire’s reckless quarterback and casanova.

But there was just something about Lila that kept me…grounded. It wasn’t exactly a bad thing but it wasn’t a good thing either. I didn’t like how she could get under my skin, and I didn’t like how she could read me so easily. It made me feel… weak, like that time in the closet. She saw everything I didn’t want anyone to see. And even now, she could see through me.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m getting into Harvard either way.”

“Because your parents are going to buy your way into Harvard. Gotcha.”

My head snapped up at the tone of her voice. She sounded… disappointed. In me.

My parents were on the Board of Directors for Harvard. It didn’t matter if my marks weren’t good, I wasn’t going to lose my scholarship. They’d make sure of it. After all, that was all they ever did for me. Pay my way through Berkshire, throw a cheque at me, give me a fancy car for my birthday although they were never actually present on the day… it was all ever materialistic to them. Harvard was no different. Maybe paying for me to get in Harvard would actually remind them they did in fact have a son.

“You’re getting into Harvard because of your parents.” She paused, giving me a look as she studied me. “How about for once in your life, you don’t depend on your parents’ money and reputation. Why don’t you do it for you? On your own. Through your own hard work and failures… and success on your own merits.”

Her eyes bore into mine, looking…searching into my soul.

My jaw clenched and the muscles in my cheeks twitched. “Thanks for the pep talk, Garcia. Do I need to slow clap?”

“Still an unapologetic asshole,” she whispered. Lila looked thoughtful for a second before she leaned closer, her face a mere inch away from mine. “I dare you…”

Bewildered, I let out a laugh. “What?”

Lila didn’t laugh. In fact, I’d never seen her more serious. The look on her face made me capitulate, and my laughter turned into a coughing fit as she waited, patiently.

When I cleared my throat, she nudged her chin high and gave me another one of her I’m-serious-right-now looks. “I dare you to get into Harvard on your own, to keep your scholarship without your parents’ help.”

I blinked.

Then blinked a-fucking-gain.

She was kidding, right?

“Chop chop. Gotta work your ass off, Coulter.” Lila paused and gave me a mock gasp. “Oh wait… don’t tell me, are you chickening out? Gonna lose this dare? Tsk, so disappointing. Here I thought the Maddox Coulter will never turn down a dare.”

She was goading me, waiting for a reaction.

Fuck it.

She got me.

Lila got the reaction she wanted.

I gripped the back of her neck and brought her face closer to mine. She had to lean forward, half of her body bending over the table. Her lips parted with a silent gasp, and her eyes darkened. “I accept this dare.”

Her lips twitched, and she smirked. Yeah, I was definitely rubbing off on her. Miss Perfectionist was now a she-devil.

“Good luck because you’re about to get your ass kicked. First level of this dare, you have to pass this calculus test.”

“Easy fucking peasy.”

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow, not at all convinced.

“I’m a genius, Sweet Cheeks.”

Little did she know…

She cocked her head to the side, her hair falling over one shoulder. Lila looked every bit the wet dream she was –sexy, smart as hell, bold and passionate.

And my friend.

My dick was regretting this and begging for mercy.

Goddamn it.

She gave me a sugary smile. “Game on.”

***

Four hours later, Lila closed her textbook. She leaned her head back against the chair and stretched, a small groan escaping her lips. I didn’t know how she did it, but Lila barely came up for air in those four hours. Her eyes barely came off her textbook.

I closed my own notebook and studied my little friend. “Ready to go home?”

“Yeah, I’m exhausted.” She piled her things in her shoulder bag and stood up.

“Will you let me give you a ride this time?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

Lila paused. “No.”

I didn’t push because the day she lost her shit on me was still a vivid memory in my mind. She panicked when I asked her to get in the car; I saw it in her eyes, on her face and the way her body trembled.

My fists clenched at my sides. The question was on the tip of my tongue as her lips pursed.

“The bus will be here in ten minutes. You can leave now if you want.”

I stood up next to her, and we walked out of the library. “I’ll wait.”

Because…

Just… because.

We waited at the bus stop. Lila shivered, and I could hear her teeth rattling from the cold.

“Lila,” I started.

“Hmm?”

My lips parted; I went to ask the question that has been burning inside me for the longest time, but I couldn’t form the sentence. Lila lifted her head up and stared, waiting.

“You refuse to get in a car… is it because of your accident?”

Lila gave me a wide-eye grimace, and I instantly regretted probing. The crestfallen look on her face, as if she had been sucker-punched and viciously hrown into a lake where she couldn’t swim back up for oxygen – that almost gutted me.

Her eyes were tortured, and they reminded me of myself when I looked in the mirror.

“Your parents…”

“They died in that car accident,” she whispered. Each word felt like they had been torn from her throat, raw and painful. “I was… I was the only one… the only survivor. They… died…they didn’t… pull through.”

I cupped her cheek. “Is that why you can’t get in a car?”

She nodded, one slow nod. Lila silently spilled her secrets, so trusting of me, and my heart thudded in my chest.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the bus approaching. She must have noticed it too because her eyes darted that way, and she quietly sniffled.

Lila looked like she was swallowing a bitter lump of tears. My fingers brushed against her cold cheeks, and she gazed at me with burning eyes, her chest heaving.

One single tear trailed down her cheek, and I caught it before swiping it away.

I’m sorry, I wanted to say.

She gave me the tiniest smile, so strong yet so delicate. It’s okay. Thank you, her eyes told me.

Lila took a step back, and my hand fell away from her face. I wanted to keep her pinned to me, wanted to hug her… but when she nudged her chin high and regarded me with red eyes, shining with fierce intensity, I let her go.

She didn’t need me to swoop in to be her hero or her protector.

Long after the bus had disappeared from my view and she was gone, I stayed at the bus stop, with an overwhelming set of emotions swimming inside of me.

What started out as a game for me was not a game anymore.

Lila was truly and honestly my…friend.

The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her. In fact, I didn’t like the thought of her hurting at all. I didn’t know when or how it happened. But too soon, Lila became someone important to me.

Maybe it was when she hugged me in that dark closet and sang me a lullaby.

Or when she had offered me that tuna sandwich.

Or maybe it was when I wrapped my pinky around hers and did that silly pinky swear.

But somehow, Lila Garcia became more than just my prey.

She was someone I wanted to protect.

From the world.

From me.