Do You Dare? by Lylah James

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Lila

Three years later

I tapped my foot against the asphalt, waiting for Maddox to show up. I shot Riley a text, letting her know I was going to be late for dinner. She was cooking tonight, her infamous ravioli dish. We were celebrating since she finished her thesis last night. We were currently halfway through our second semester in our third year at Harvard.

While I had gotten accepted into Harvard for Chemistry, Riley was studying Sociology. She was planning to pursue a post-graduate degree in Criminal Law.

Colton was majoring in Statistics while Maddox was studying Business, although he wanted to pursue a football career. Him getting a business degree at Harvard was just to appease his parents, although he did say he enjoyed it. At the end of the day, football was where his heart belonged and he was really fucking good at it.

I still couldn’t believe it had been three and half years since that day in the coffee shop–the day I spilled my ice coffee on Maddox and the rest was history. I tried to think of a moment when I hated him, but although we had been enemies for a short period time, I never truly hated him. Sure, I had despised his arrogance and douchebaggery attitude, but it wasn’t hatred.

Maybe that was the reason why it was so easy for us to go from enemies to friends to best friends.

Such a strange twist of fate–from that day to now, almost four years later.

There was a tap on my ass and I rolled my eyes, knowing full well who it was.

“You got to stop touching my ass, Coulter,” I warned.

He chuckled and walked around me, coming into view with his glorious self.

A lot had changed in three years. Maddox, for instance, had grown bigger. He was already brawny in high school from playing football and working out, but now, he had packed on extra muscles. His shoulders were half a size bigger than before and now twice the size of my own. His biceps bulged, his arms full of veins and muscles. He filled out the black shirt he was wearing, the fabric stretching tight over his wide chest. He had a six-pack before and now he had eight. His abs were hard and cut. My fingers itched with the memory of touching them. I had seen him shirtless countless times and had seen his progress from seventeen-year-old Maddox to twenty-year-old him.

Me? I was still the same. Same height, same weight – still a midget compared to Maddox, and he took great pleasure in reminding me of that fact every time he manhandled me and put me where he wanted.

His blue eyes glimmered in the sunlight. He eyed me up and down, his gaze lingering longer on my bare legs. I wore denim shorts that were frayed at the end and a black long-sleeved shirt with a brown leather jacket over it and ankle boots. It was March, and the weather was slightly hotter than normal. To our surprise, spring came early this year.

“My eyes are up here, Maddox,” I teased.

He glowered, and I fought back a smile. I stuffed my hand in my bag and pulled out his phone charger. “Here you go. Thank you for letting me use it.”

I handed him the charger and waved for him to go. “I’ll see you tonight. You’re going to be late for your next lecture. Go!”

“I'm always coming to your rescue.” He tsked with a slight grin.Maddox gave me a finger salute as he started to backtrack. “Always at your service!”

“I don't need a knight,” I said, loudly enough for him to hear a few feet away.

“I know you don't. You're not the damsel in distress who I need to save.”

My heart warmed, and my lips twisted in a smile. “You're right. I guess I am more like the dragon, eh?”

“A cute and sexy dragon,” he called out.

Maddox jogged across the open field toward his building. Since our programs differed greatly, his classrooms were on the opposite side of the campus while mine were on this side.

He faded away in the distance, and I strode away to our apartment building, which was only about a ten minute walk through the campus.

I took the elevator up to our apartment, which was on the third floor. I found Colton at the door with a girl in his arms. They were kissing, and by the look of it, they were about to fuck in the corridor.

I cleared my throat, and he peeled himself away from the chick, his eyes hooded. “Sup, Lila?”

My eyes narrowed on the girl beside him. Her mocha skin glistened with a sheen of sweat, and she flushed. It appeared like they had clearly already fucked on the way here.

“Are you coming over for dinner or…?” I asked.

He gave me a half shrug, his gaze moving to the apartment next to him. “She didn’t invite me.”

I grimaced and smiled sheepishly at him. Things were tense between Colton and Riley–well, tense was an understatement at this point in their ‘relationship’ or whatever they had.

To put it simply, they… hated each other.

But that story was for another time.

I opened the door to my apartment, the one I shared with Riley, which also happened to be next to Maddox and Colton’s; we were neighbors.

“Baaabee, is that you?” Riley called out.

Colton’s jaw clenched at her voice, and he grabbed the chick, pulling her into his apartment. The door closed with a bang behind him.

“It’s me,” I said, walking inside.

Her back was to me as she stood in front of the stove, humming a song under her breath. She had sweatpants and a shirt on, her blond hair up in a messy bun. Riley spared me a look over her shoulder. “Did you get the garlic sticks I asked for?”

I lifted my arm up, showing her the grocery bag I was holding. “Gotcha. It smells good in here.”

She brought the spatula to her lips and blew on it. “Wanna taste?” she asked, cheekily.

I nodded, and she offered me the spoon. The richness of the sauce hit every one of my taste buds, and I moaned. “Yummy!”

We set up the plates, and she placed a bottle of wine on the table. “Is it just us? Is Maddox coming?” Riley asked as she took her seat at our small dining table, opposite of me.

I shook my head, piling some ravioli on my plate. “No, he missed his lecture this morning, so he’s attending a later class today. Isn’t it too early for wine? It’s not even six yet.”

Her lips curled up. “Lila, it’s always time for wine, and we’re celebrating today.”

Riley loved to drink–wine and margaritas in particular. She had been obsessing over red wine lately. It was her favorite and now my favorite as well. We were besties for a reason, right?

Riley swallowed a bite of her dinner and then gave me an inquiring look. “How’s it going with Landon?”

My heart stuttered. Landon, my boyfriend of five weeks.

“Good,” I said, moving a piece of my ravioli around in my plate.

Riley sighed, carefully placing her spoon on her plate, before leveling me with a look. “Lila, don’t give me that shit.”

I chewed on a piece of ravioli before swallowing it down with red wine. I drank half of my glass before slamming it back on the table. “He’s not replying to my text.”

Riley let out a curse. “Did you call him?”

“I’m not that desperate,” I snapped.

“Lila,” she sighed. I refused to look at her because I didn’t want to see the sympathy on her face.

Landon pursued me for three months before I finally gave in. He was a good guy: smart, sweet and nice. At first, I refused to give in since I thought I was his rebound. Landon had broken off with his long-term girlfriend four months before he turned his attention to me. But he courted me, flowers and all, and he was different than the other guys.

Maddox was hellbent on keeping us apart because he believed Landon was no good.

But then again, that was his excuse for every guy I dated over the years.

Granted, none of them really lasted for long–four months maximum.

Sex wasn’t some sacred thing to me. I wasn’t a virgin; I had a few hook-ups here and there, but I never had a one-night stand. I need the intimacy before and after sex, and one-night stands don’t give me any of that. I’ve had a few boyfriends over the years, but Landon was the one I felt… comfortable with, enough for me to give in and have sex so soon into our relationship.

That was three days ago. And he was acting weird since then.

Leo was the first guy to turn away with disgust when he saw my scars. Since then, I either had sex while half-dressed or when we were in the dark–dark enough they couldn’t see the jagged, pink lines between my breasts–just so I could spare them the disgust or shock they’d feel if they saw it. I didn’t need or want their sympathy either.

My scars never bothered me, and I wasn’t really embarrassed of it.

But maybe I was lying to myself.

Landon… he saw my scars. He didn’t really flinch away, but I noticed the way he kept his gaze averted during sex. He didn’t look at my boobs and kept his eyes on my taunt stomach or the spot between my legs instead.

I’d be flattered… if I thought he was focusing on my pussy, but I knew he was just trying to avoid looking at the marks on my chest.

He didn’t act weird afterward, so I believed everything was okay.

Until yesterday.

Landon wasn’t replying to my texts, which was unusual. He had always been very attentive… until now.

“Damn it,” I growled and poured more wine in my glass. “Maybe he’s just busy.”

“Too busy to send you a single text?” Riley stabbed her ravioli with too much aggression. She was a tad bit overprotective of me. Maddox was probably rubbing off on her. “It’d take him two seconds,” she added.

I cleared my throat and took a slow sip of my wine. Drinking too much and too fast would have me tipsy in less than an hour. “It doesn’t matter.”

She made a face at me. “He’s an asshole.”

I shrugged and continued with my dinner, shoving a spoonful into my mouth.

“You don’t care… if he breaks up with you?” she asked slowly.

“I’m not in love with him if that’s what you’re asking,” I said around a mouthful.

It was true, I didn’t love Landon. He was nice, and I liked him.

But that was it.

“Maddox–”

I cut her off. “He doesn’t know and you won’t tell him.” I leveled Riley with a hard look, and she leaned back against her chair, looking only a bit intimidated. “If he finds out Landon is ghosting me or if he thinks I’m hurt over this, which I’m not honestly, he’s going to kill Landon.”

Riley cocked her head to the side, thoughtfully. “Didn’t you… um, spend the night over at Maddox’s last night?”

“We fell asleep while binge watching Friends,” I amended. I woke up in his bed in the morning; he carried me to bed after I had fallen sleep, and I had been all cozy against his pillows and his blankets while Maddox slept on the couch.

“Do you think maybe the issue is Maddox? Not that I’m saying he is, but you know how all your exes were sensitive about him. Maybe Landon is too?”

She raised a good point.

Maddox loathed every guy I dated.

Consequently, they hated him, too. And none of them were too happy of my relationship with Maddox. They didn’t like that we were that close. They didn’t approve of Maddox having access to my apartment. He could come and go freely and vice versa. They didn’t like that I attended all of Maddox’s football games and some of his practices.

It was a lot to juggle, and granted, yes, it made sense why they didn’t approve of Maddox’s relationship with me.

But none of them came close to what or who Maddox was to me.

I wasn’t going to fix what I had with Maddox to suit these guys. Maybe that was the issue in all my past relationships, but I wasn’t willing to change anything between Maddox and I.

My stomach twisted at the thought of losing Maddox. The mere idea of being without him made me sick.

We were best friends; no one and nothing was going to change that.

Not Landon… and none of those girls Maddox fucked around with.

***

“Lila!” Maddox called out from the bathroom.

I settled back into the couch and stuffed a handful of sweet caramelized popcorn into my mouth.

“What?” I responded, before taking a sip of my energy drink. I was a bit tipsy from all the red wine I had tonight with Riley. She was passed out in our apartment, and I had come over to our neighbors’ place to bring him dinner.

Colton and his fuck buddy had disappeared when Maddox came home.

Maddox walked out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped low around his waist, bare chest and his v-line teasing me. You see, I’ve seen Maddox half naked many times over the years. But each time, my mouth watered at the sight of his wide, muscled chest and washboard abs and that nipple piercing. He had gotten it one night when he was out partying with his football team. They had been pissed drunk and they went into a tattoo and piercing shop. The rest was history.

I never considered a nipple piercing sexy, but on Maddox? Puuurfect. Yes, I just purred.

I was his best friend, but I wasn’t blind, and I had a pussy, which meant that I appreciated the male species. A lot. Including my best friend.

Was I drooling? I wiped the corner of my mouth just in case.

Maddox huffed and gave me a look that bordered between comical and exasperation. “Did you get in my phone and change your name to My Main Chick?”

Oh.

I had been a bit drunk when I did THAT a few nights ago. And then I had been too lazy to change it back.

I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. “Well, yeah. Because I am your main chick. All the other girls are just your side chicks.”

Maddox opened his mouth and then shut it, falling silent. He blinked and then just shook his head.

I gave him a cheesy smile. Fuck, maybe I was more than just tipsy.

“It’s okay, though. You can fuck around with them. At the end of the day, you come back home to me. And I know I’m better,” I muttered around another mouthful of popcorn, sending him my best smile.

He growled and the sensitive area between my legs clenched. Shit, this was bad.

Abort mission, abort mission.

Maddox ran his fingers though his wet hair, exhaling sharply. “For fuck’s sake, woman! My only side chicks are your other personalities. And there are like twenty-five of them.”

I paused midchew. Ouuh-kaay.

He showed me his hand, ticking off each list with his fingers. “Grumpy Lila. Lazy Lila. Pouty Lila. Funny Lila. Lila when she’s sleep-deprived. Sugar high Lila, like right now. On her period Lila. Normal Lila.”

My mouth opened then closed. My lips parted again, trying to say something. When I found nothing to say, quite speechless, I stuffed another fist of popcorn in my mouth and chewed in mock aggression.

“Do you want me to go on?” He paused, giving me a blank look as if daring me to argue with his claims.

I had no legit argument, and I had lost this round.

“Whatever,” I mumbled. “Go shower. You stink.”

“You're impossible.” Maddox shook his head with a slight curl of his lips. He walked back into the bathroom.

“You love me,” I yelled loud enough for him to hear even with the door separating us.

“YOU ARE A PAIN IN MY ASS.”

“You still love me, though,” I whispered, once I heard the shower turn on, with the silliest grin on my face. I knew he did because if he didn’t… we wouldn’t have lasted this long as a friend.