Do You Dare? (Truth And Dare Duet #1)

by Lylah James

Maddox Coulter was still an asshole behind a pretty mask. And I was the stupid girl who fell in love with her best friend.

Maddox might be on my shit list, but… I had a feeling I was on his now, too.

There was just something about Maddox that irritated me. It was like he had hit a nerve I didn’t know I had. He made me feel edgy. I didn’t know why I felt like that, but I was defensive around him.

“You know what you remind me of? A little chihuahua trying to fight a bigger and stronger dog when she knows she can’t win. Careful or you’ll end up with a nasty bite, Garcia.” I snatched my apple from his hand and leaned forward, bringing our faces closer. “Did you know that chihuahuas are known as an aggressive breed when they’re moody, and when they do bite, they bite hard. Careful, or you’ll end up with a nasty bite, Coulter.”

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

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.

She was fucking trouble. Guess what? I wasn’t the type to shy away from trouble. Come at me, Sweet Cheeks.

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

His deep voice rolled down my spine. “Don’t fall for me, Lila. I’ll break you.”

Hate is a strong word. It’s a bitter but sweet fucking poison. It’s like cocaine, and once you’ve had a taste, it’s damn addictive. It becomes something more. It infiltrates your system, running through your veins, until you can’t see anything other than red rage. Hate kept me going. Rage kept me alive. It became the oxygen I breathed.

“I solemnly swear not to be an asshole, but I’ll still think of sixty-nine ways of how I can dick you down every time you look at me or shake your ass my way.”

“Because I need the world to know they can’t mess with what’s mine.”

I realized Maddox Coulter was a little bit ruined, a little bit messy, a little bit broken -- a beautiful disaster. Like me.

She was the calm in my reckless life. I was the chaos in her peaceful one.

“Friends?” I asked, showing him my pinky. It was something so silly to do, but it was us. He grinned and hooked his finger around mine. “Friends.”

didn’t have to confess my undying love to Maddox. What we had; it was an unspoken understanding with unsaid words and a feeling we couldn’t explain. Love was too simple a word to describe it because love was black and white. Love or don’t love – there was not really an in-between. What we had… it was a kaleidoscope of colors.

I didn’t need a girlfriend. Lila Garcia was already the best thing in my life.

“If I love you, I give you the power to destroy me. I’m not strong enough for that. I can’t be just another girl to you, Maddox. I need to be more; I deserve more, and I don’t think you can give that. I can’t risk us and what we are. We’re beautiful… just like this. Friends.”

Maddox taught me how to enjoy life, how to let go of fear and the need for control and to just… live.