The Dare (Briar U, #4)

by Elle Kennedy

Hockey men are definitely a handful. We’re animals.

the front door swings open to reveal Brenna. “Oh, this is perfect!” She shakes her head with a look of amused pity. “You dumbass.” “She’s talking to me,” I assure Taylor. “Obviously,” my girlfriend replies.

I’m busy trying to figure out if her mom marrying Coach makes us brother and sister until I realize Coach and I aren’t related. My brain’s stuck in neutral.

“Go. Run free, you sexy Viking conqueror.” Taylor turns to study me. “What?” I demand. “You do look like a sexy Viking conqueror.” Then she grabs my hand and grips it tightly. “And you’re not going anywhere, Thor. You’re my wing-man, remember?” “I agreed to the job before we discovered your mom’s banging my Chad.” “She’s banging my dad,” Brenna corrects with a snicker.

I gulp. “Uh, hey, Coach.” “What are you doing here, Edwards?” Coach growls. “If Davenport’s in jail again, tell him he’s spending the night. I’m not bailing him out agai—” He halts when he catches sight of Taylor.

“Hey, Mom. This is Conor. Conor, this is my mom. Doctor Iris Marsh.” “Nice to meet you, Doctor Mom—I mean Doctor Marsh. Fuck.” “Language!” Brenna chides me, and it takes all my willpower not to flip up my middle finger.

“How ’bout a beer,” I say, opening the fridge. He yanks it from my hand and shoves the door closed. “Don’t be a dumbass tonight, Edwards.” Man, he and Brenna are so much alike. It’s scary. “I’m twenty-one,” I drawl. “You know that.” “Don’t care.”

“Only thing going down your throat tonight is water or juice or my fist,” he warns. “Sounds delicious.”

“Edwards. I don’t know why I’ve been cursed with sitting through this dinner with one of you knuckleheads—I assume I ran over a unicorn or set fire to an orphanage in a past life—but if you act like an idiot tonight I’m going to have you doing bag skates every day until graduation.”

I keep my mouth shut. Hell, I don’t even comment on his weird unicorn murder fantasies, because I’ll do anything to avoid bag skate punishment.

“Oh, we just met tonight,” I say, winking at Taylor. “Yeah, he was my Uber driver.” “She was like, listen, this is going to sound crazy, but my incredibly rich and eccentric great-uncle died and in order to get my share of the inheritance I have to show up to this family dinner with a boyfriend.” “And at first he said no,” Taylor adds, “because he’s a man of honor and integrity.” Coach snorts. “But then she started crying and it got awkward.” “So finally he agreed, but only if I’d give him a five-star review.” “What about you two crazy kids?” I say to Coach. “You being safe?” “Don’t push it, Edwards.”

“No, he’s right, Dad.” Evil Brenna is on my side now. I prefer it this way. “I know it’s been a while since we had the talk, so…” “Don’t start,” he grumbles at Brenna, although Taylor laughs and Iris seems blissfully unbothered.

She’s gorgeous. I don’t know, sometimes I just look at her and it hits me all over again. How hot she makes me, how badly I want her.

“Hey, so, there’s this Kappa gala coming up. And I was going to ask my other fake boyfriend to be my date…” Conor raises an amused eyebrow. “He goes to another school, you wouldn’t know him. Anyway, then I figured, well, since you’ve already met my mother and we’ve escaped a burning house together, maybe you’d go with me?”

Conor has the artistic aptitude of a gerbil.

“A frog.” He admires his genetic abomination, so sweetly proud of the grotesque creature that were it alive it would wheeze in agony before throwing itself in front of a moving car.

“It looks like a turd with warts.” “The fuck, Marsh.” With a look of sincere insult, he covers where the frog’s ears would be. “You’re going to give him a complex.” “He needs a good mercy kill, Edwards.”

“Do you spend your off hours poisoning all the less than conventionally attractive baby bunnies, too?” “Here.” I hand him a few sheets of colored paper where I’ve already traced several flowers. “Just cut these out.” He pouts. “You’re going to be the meanest teacher.” “Try to stay in the lines, please.”

“When I was in first grade, Kai and I once hid in the cabinet under his kitchen sink to spy on his brother’s friends watching Girls Gone Wild DVDs.” “That explains so much.”

“No guy is worth losing your self-respect over, okay? Just remember that.

I should be at a dumb dance with my girlfriend, not having a panic attack on the side of the road.

Sweet, shy Danny. Life would be so much easier if he was the one my heart pounded for, but he’s not. Because life isn’t fucking fair.

“You look gorgeous tonight.” “Shut up.”

“Because the worst thing about all of this, the worst thing I could have possibly done, was lose your respect. Nothing else matters if you hate me.” “If that were actually true⁠—” “Damn it, T, I’m trying to say I’m in love with you.”

Because when we aren’t together, the world feels misaligned.

“I mean it—I’m stupidly in love with you. I should have said it sooner. I’d blame repeated head trauma, but I was just an idiot. I’m sorry.”

“You seemed a little jealous back there at the gala.” “I will break that dude’s hand if he touched you,” I tell her with no hesitation.

“Oh, for sure. I’m not one of those super-mature people who thinks jealousy is a character flaw. I fucking eat that shit up.”

“I mean it. With all my heart. I wouldn’t fuck with someone like that.” “You love me.”

“No,” he mocks, “I just like to come in a few times a week to gather petals for my bubble bath.”

“You two got big plans?” He turns his back, exploring the arrangements in the cases. “Dinner in Boston.” “Well, you two kids be safe, and don’t stay out too late. Remember, arrive alive.” “Don’t be cute, Edwards. I still got a trashcan with your name on it.” My asshole puckers right up when he says that. “Yes, sir.”

I can’t imagine what it must be like for Brenna’s boyfriend, Jake. He’s lucky they’re in a long-distance relationship while he’s playing pro for Edmonton, because Coach strikes me as the kind of man who might sit polishing a gun at the kitchen table when a guy comes over for his daughter. And then Brenna struts out the door after a kiss on his cheek with a pocket full of bullets.

Iris was easy as far as meet-the-parents horror stories go. I mean, what’s one little fire between family, right?

The thing about Max is, he’s so goddamn nice all the time. I don’t trust it. No one smiles that much. It’s fucking weird. Anyone who’s in a good mood that often is hiding something.

Pain is part of the game. If we didn’t want to lose some teeth, we’d stay home and knit.

I slouch in the booth, hands in my lap, wanting to shrink into the space between the cushions and live with the dust.

Sasha, especially. More than anyone else, she has supported me through the rough spots over the last few years. I probably would’ve had a total nervous breakdown and set my hair on fire more than once if it weren’t for her.

“You inviting me to Netflix and chill?” “Damn, you’re easy. I mean, jeez, Conor, have some respect for yourself. You’ll never find a good woman if you’re always giving the milk away for free.”