Do You Dare? by Lylah James

CHAPTER FIVE

Lila

“Do you want to go to the haunted house this year?”

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been to a haunted house. I hated them as a kid, but my dad would always hold my hand through them. With him, I was safe, and nothing about the haunted houses scared me.

Every Halloween, Berkshire Academy builds its own haunted house on the school grounds. It was a tradition that started a whole decade ago, and to this day, we still honored it.

I took a bite of my pizza, chewing while I contemplated Riley’s question. “I guess we could check it out.”

She clapped her hands, her face lighting up with excitement. “I heard it’s scarier than last year. They’re going all out this time. It’d be fun! How about some girl time? We go to the haunted house then a sleepover at my place? Movie and pizza?”

Riley continued to chatter with enthusiasm while I tried to ignore all the eyes on me. It was difficult when they made it so obvious. The cafeteria had become a nightmare now. I could have tucked my tail between my legs and made a run for it; I could have hidden – but I was never one to accept defeat.

Since Maddox had made me his prey, I’d been the center of attention. A year ago, when I enrolled at Berkshire, I got used to all the judgmental eyes.

Lila Garcia, the ‘poor’ girl. I didn’t have Louis Vuitton shoes or Chanel bags or the latest iPhone. I didn’t prance around with a kilo of makeup on my face nor was I a cheerleader who constantly rubbed herself against the jocks. I wasn’t a follower.

I’d always been the outsider, but after a few months of critical eyes on me and their constant judgment, they had forgotten about me. I blended into the crowd and soon became invisible. It made life easier.

Until Maddox.

Now, the girls looked at me with contempt, like I was the dirt under their feet. They gawked at me with envy because I had Maddox’s attention while the boys stared at me with obvious interest.

None have made a move though.

Riley said I was Maddox’s trophy. Nobody would dare to approach me. The moment he laid eyes on me, I became untouchable to the rest of Berkshire Academy.

Ha, lucky me.

Riley snapped her fingers at my face, causing me to flinch. She smiled sweetly. “Ignore them, Lila.”

I hummed in response before taking another bite of my cold pizza.

“So, haunted house and then sleepover?” Riley asked again.

“Okay, I like that idea. I’m not a big fan of haunted houses though.”

“I’ll hold your hand. It’ll be romantic! Me and you, walking through the dark. I’ll protect you from the bad guys.” She cooed, like a romance hero – way too dramatic.

“Funny. Very funny. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were into pussies.”

She paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. “I kissed a girl once. A few years ago. It was a dare, and I liked it. She had really soft lips, and she said I was a good kisser. Wanna find out?”

When she leaned across the table, puckering her lips up, I let out a small laugh. “Um no. Stay away from me, Riley.”

“I’m disappointed,” she said with a cute pout.

Riley’s gaze landed behind my shoulder again, before she blushed and quickly looked away. “Okay, that’s it. What’s going on?”

“What?” She feigned innocence, batting her long lashes at me.

I half-looked over my shoulder before facing her again. “Him. You keep looking at him and blushing. What’s up?”

“Nothing.” She was too quick with the denial. I call bullshit.

“Riley, who is he?”

I saw the moment she gave in. Her eyes softened, and she chewed on her bottom lips. “That’s Grayson.”

“And?” I kicked her under the table, demanding more answers.

“I heard some whispers in the hallway. They weren’t really nice. He was bullied a bit last week. Jasper and his friends were being assholes, but Grayson just ignored them and walked away. Apparently, he was living on the streets for a while before he was recently adopted by a famous lawyer and his wife. They can’t have kids. We don’t know much about him yet, but he’s in two of my classes.”

I looked over my shoulder again, finally taking a good look at Grayson who was sitting at the far end of the cafeteria in a corner by himself. “I didn’t know you were into nerds.”

Grayson wore a black pair of glasses perched on his nose, and he was reading a book. I could see the appeal and definitely understood why he caught Riley’s eye.

“He’s a nerd, but did you see him? He’s hot with a capital H O T. But he’s kinda moody. He doesn’t really talk to anyone. Typical loner. But he’s smart and we bumped into each other last week. Remember the bruises on my knees? Yeah, Grayson took me to the infirmary after I fell down, and he noticed my knees bleeding.”

Aha… I remembered that incident. I had found Riley in the infirmary; she was alone, but now that I remembered – she had been blushing heavily and was a stuttering mess.

“Well, at least he’s not an asshole.”

Riley let out a dreamy sigh. “He’s sweet. Except he barely spared me a glance. I said hi to him a few times, and he just…ignored me. Apparently, he doesn’t like when people talk to him.”

“I didn’t think the nerdy ones were your type…”

The last boy Riley dated was a jock and an asshole. After Jasper, it made sense why she’d swear off all the guys like him.

“Fine, I’ll confess my secret. I like nerds. There’s just something attractive about them.”

I couldn’t deny that Grayson was indeed appealing to the eye.

“Hot and moody nerds, you mean.”

Riley popped a piece of mint gum into her mouth. She looked over my shoulder again, where her new crush was sitting. “Exactly,” she chirped.

I quirked up an eyebrow at her. “Grayson, specifically.”

“Yeah. Too bad he won’t even look at me.” The pout was evident in her voice.

“Is that why you wore extra makeup today, curled your hair, and rolled your skirt higher?”

I already knew the answer, but I still wanted to hear it from her.

A nervous laugh bubbled from her, and she twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “You noticed that?”

My sweet friend. Gripping her hand over the table, I gave her a small, comforting squeeze. “Just be yourself, Riley. If he likes you, you’ll know.”

She let out a sigh, her eyes moving to Grayson one last time before she focused on me. “So, what’s up with you and Maddox?”

I crooked my finger at her, and Riley leaned closer, as if we were about to share a secret. It kind of was – a secret.

“He wants a fight? I’m going to give him a fight.”

Riley’s face lit up, and a huge smile spread across her lips. “We’re going to be bad?”

Well, if she put it that way… then yeah, we were about to be very bad.

“Oh, we’re going to play his games, with my rules.”

She slapped the table loud enough to rattle our trays and smirked. “I’m in!”

My lips twitched, and I held back my own smile. Maddox was about to be bested at his own little, shitty game.

***

“Can you see him?” I asked, leaning closer to Riley. It was two hours after school, and we were hiding in the hallway, which also overlooked the huge football field. Where, very conveniently, the boys were practicing. They had a very important game in a week, and I heard the Coach was being extra hard on all their asses.

“I can’t believe we’re hiding with binoculars, Lila. But yeah, I can see him. He’s playing just fine. Did you put a lot of the powder in his pants?”

“No, just a little, but enough to make him lose his mind.”

An unladylike snort came from Riley. “You’re so fucking petty.”

I let out a mock gasp, but the urge to defend myself was strong. “He started it.”

“Aha! Okay, he just stopped in the middle of the game.”

“Yeah?”

Riley looked into her binoculars, her shoulders shaking with mirth. “Oh, he looks confused. The coach is walking over to him. Lila!” she whispered-yelled before bursting into laughter. “He’s scratching at his inner thighs now. Oh my God, he looks like a monkey. The boys are hollering. Oh, oh, shit. He’s walking back this way. Ohhh, he looks pissed!”

Good.

“How pissed?” I demanded, feeling mighty proud of myself. Maddox was made of rock. He was untouchable, and if little ole me, Lila Garcia, could get him this pissed off – then I won.

“He’s reaaally mad. He’s still scratching himself. You should see the look on his face!”

Riley handed me the binoculars, and I looked through them. True to her words, Maddox was marching across the field like a mad bull. His face was filled with rage, his nostrils flaring like a wild beast. He was seething, and I could bet, he figured out what happened. Maybe not who was behind the prank, but at least what was done to him. It should have scared me, the brutal look on his face, but I couldn’t help but chortle with laughter at the way he couldn’t stop scratching at his muscled thighs and crotch.

As if he could sense me, his stormy eyes connected with mine through the binoculars, although I was sure there was no way he could see me. Riley and I were perfectly hidden.

But just in case, I lowered myself to the ground. “Hey, are you sure… it’s safe? I mean, I wanted to prank him but what we did isn’t too extreme, right?”

Riley waved away my concerns. “Nah. He’ll be fine. The itching powder doesn’t leave any lasting side effects. It’s harmless. I kinda feel bad for his dick though.”

My jaw clenched as I remembered the cafeteria scene where he had cornered me. “He deserves it after the comment he made in the cafeteria. He propositioned me for sex, like I’m some kind of paid who–”

Riley slapped a hand over my mouth before I could finish my sentence. “Shh, he’s coming in.”

We both ducked around the corner, the same time Maddox stormed into the building and right into the locker room.

“I feel like a spy,” Riley announced in my ear, giggling softly.

Basically, we were spying on him.

Riley and I snuck closer to the locker room. The door was partially opened, and we peeked inside. It was empty, since everyone else was on the field – except Maddox. From where we stood, we could hear the shower running.

“He must be itching really bad right now.”

I shushed Riley when she couldn’t hold in her laughter any longer.

“Can you see him?”

I stood on my tip-toes, trying to get a look inside. “Nope.”

A few minutes later, the shower turned off and then I did see him.

“Oh,” Riley whispered behind me.

Yeah, oh.

Maddox was bare chested, with a towel wrapped loosely around his hips. His body was still wet and glistening as if he didn’t care to dry himself the moment he stepped out of the shower. He roughly rubbed another towel through his long curly hair, before running it over the rest of his body.

I hated him; I truly did, but there was no denying it. Something about his physique was making my lady brain go mushy and all my lady parts tingle. I inhaled deeply as I took in the sight in front of me.

Maddox furiously wiped the ringlets of water from his muscled chest until his skin was glowing pink. I tried to look away – it was the decent thing to do, but I failed miserably. My curious eyes found his torso, and I bit my lip, mentally slapping myself but I. Could. Not. Help. It.

It was like studying an expertly, carved statue in a museum. Beautifully chiseled chest, strong arms and well-defined masculine thighs. Auguste Rodin would have begged to sculpt a man like Maddox Coulter since he was damn near close to rugged perfection.

“Even his nipples are sexy,” Riley whispered.

My heart slammed in my chest, and I bumped back into her. I had completely forgotten she was there with me, and she was also getting an eyeful of Maddox.

I watched as he slammed his locker open and rummaged through it. The effects of the itching powder were still not gone since he was still scratching at his crotch.

I could tell the moment he read the note I left him. His back went rigid, and the muscles of his shoulders clenched tensely. Maddox turned sideways, giving me the perfect view of him as he scrunched my little note in his fist.

How does your crotch feel? – Lila

First rule of enacting a well, plotted out revenge plan: always leave a note behind, so your nemesis knows it’s you. Play dirty but don’t be a coward.

He muttered something under his breath and shook his head, before I noticed something I didn’t expect. I expected him to be mad, and he was, but then his lips twitched. Maddox rubbed his thumb over his full, smirking lips.

“Uh oh,” Riley muttered from behind me. “I’m not sure I like the look on his face.”

“Ladies, what are you doing here?” Another voice joined us, loud enough to have my heart leap in my throat, and I choked back a gasp.

Riley and I jumped away from the locker room, and we swiveled around to see a teacher giving us the look. Oh shit, busted.

“It’s late. Why are you two still on school grounds?” She demanded with her hands on her hips.

“Um, we forgot something,” I stammered, looking back toward Maddox while contemplating my escape.

Maddox’s head turned toward me at the same time, and through the partially opened door, for only a nanosecond, our gazes collided. His deep, ocean blue eyes flared in surprise, and I could swear his stare burned through me, causing a warm flush to spread through my body. Then… the moment was gone.

Riley grabbed my hand, already pulling me away. “Sorry! We’re leaving.”

We sprinted out of the school, and once we passed through the Berkshire’s main gate, Riley and I came to a halt.

“Shit. That was close,” Riley panted with her hands on her knees.

“So worth it though.”

She straightened her back, one perfect eyebrow raised. “Are you sure? Maddox is not the type who is going to let you off the hook. Revenge is a dish best served cold. He’s going to get you back, probably not tomorrow or the day after, but he will – trust me, and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”

“He shouldn’t have messed with me. I’m prepared for anything he’s going to throw my way,” I responded, fighting back a smile of my own.

I remembered the look in Maddox’s eyes when our gaze briefly met in the locker room. I didn’t admit it out loud, but I wanted to see what Maddox could do and how far he was going to push me. It was too tempting to mess with him, to retaliate after seeing Maddox’s reaction – he started this game, and now, I was all in.