Don't You Dare (Reckless Games #1)

by C.E. Ricci

True love exists in moments stumbled upon by accident… — Atticus

I was clearly mistaken for thinking it was smart to take eighteen credit hours this semester.

Literally me rn

We might’ve been basically family since we were born, but we still choose each other. Always have, always will. And damn if that doesn’t make me feel like a million bucks.

“I didn’t want to kiss you because I didn’t want it to mess me up all over again, okay?”

Kissing him, it flipped my life upside down. Opened up a whole new curiosity I never knew I had. One I still haven’t figured out, and I’ve been struggling on my own to understand what it means. And it’s something I’m scared shitless to try and navigate, whether it be with or without his help.

Pen: That kissing me made you realize you were MAYBE into dudes? Not at all. It’s kind of a compliment, if you think about

But when I could hear him, right there on the other side of the wall, my body took over. Took notice. No matter how hard I tried to push it out of my mind, it wanted release. It wanted…him.

I shouldn’t even care, because if Keene’s happy, that’s all that matters. Yet all I feel is this overwhelming sense of…jealousy.

What are you doing to me, Kee? Why can’t I get you outta my head?

“Fuck, Pen. All of me wants to kiss you again.”

“I’m done holding back. Not when refusing to give in only makes it worse.” “Give in,”

I’m not as straight as I thought I was. Especially when it comes to Aspen Kohl.

Right now, the only thing I’m sure of is I don’t want this to end, no matter what it’s doing to my sanity. Namely, making me lose it all together.

Goddamn. When I go gay, I bat for the fucking fences.

But he deserves more than just my lust. More than a heated kiss or a half-drunken dry-fuck fest. And there’s a massive piece of me that wants to give him everything he could ever want or ask for.

And his pale skin makes him look like a marble statue of some sinfully beautiful god. With the dark hair, bad-boy aura, and wicked gleam in his eyes, I wouldn’t say anyone but Hades. And I’m more than happy to let him drag me to Hell.

And yeah, I guess I was wrong about sex stuff overshadowing our friendship. Friendship is a lot more fun when kissing’s involved.

What is it about Keene Waters that’s different from the rest of the world? I don’t know, but I sure wanna figure it out. So naturally, I do the only logical thing that comes to my idiotic twenty-year-old mind. “Don’t you dare?”

“I’m not just talking about your cock, Kee,” I growl out the words. “I’m going to lick every inch of your body before fucking you so hard, you have no choice but to remember what I’m about to tell you. No option but to hear me when I say this.” I lick my lips and lower my voice, my eyes locked on the hand still wrapped around his cock. “You. Are. Mine. You belong to me and me alone.”

But how can I be afraid when everything about him screams things like safety and security and home?

In the safety that is Keene. At least, I thought so until his breath, hot against my lips, destroys it all with three words. Not those words, but ones that answer thoughts I never spoke aloud. Ones with the power to detonate that fucking bomb sitting inside my chest. “You’re mine too.”

“You’re so tight, Kee. Can I permanently take up residence inside you?”

The heat in his eyes is downright searing now, and what’s sleep again? I don’t know her anymore. I’m too busy being dick-drunk on Aspen Kohl.

“Well, in the words of the great Olaf? Some people are worth melting for.”

And all I know is…I want more. More of Keene, and in ways I’ve never wanted anyone else. In ways I’ve never wanted him before now. You have to be all in.

But I’ve come to realize, it’s not just his kiss that I’m hooked on. It’s everything about him. Keene. My best friend. The only person who has the power to completely ruin me. And I might just let him.

Because I could lose everything in my life, every damn person or thing I hold dear, and I’d be okay. Just not him. God, never him.

But I want nothing between us. I want to be surrounded by him. Enveloped in him. Taken captive by every single thing about him that I’ve fallen in love with.

I want more, however I can get it. Giving this up would be like living without oxygen. Impossible.

Because I don’t want him to own my body alone. I want him to take my heart and soul too. Everything I have to give, I want him to own. Make his and protect it. Cherish it. But what I want is something I know I’ll never have…and I’d do well to remember that.

It’s not the kind of love two best friends have for each other, either. It’s the deeper kind. The complete infatuation. The get-married-and-grow-old-together kind of love. Two-halves-of-a-whole love. And…my other half just bolted from the stadium like his life depends on it.

It’s always been Aspen.

“You might not see it this way, but you’ve always loved him, Aspen. It was obvious how much you meant to each other since you were old enough to walk. Anyone who was around the two of you for more than ten minutes could see it. So after all this time, and the friendship and love you’ve shared? I’m not surprised falling in love with him was the next step.”

“I hate to break it to you, sweetie, but life never goes according to plan. Not for a single person I’ve ever met. Which is why you have to learn to adjust, take things as they come.”

“There are far worse things in the world than falling in love, Aspen. No matter who it’s with.”

“I dare you to let me love you the way you deserve to be loved. Wholly. Completely. And out in the open, where the world can see.” My throat constricts around the words, but I continue to push them out anyway. “I love you. I’m so stupidly in love with you. And I dare you to love me too.”

“You’re the thing I can’t live without, and I’ll wait for, fight for, and chase you to the ends of the fucking Earth to prove it to you. So please, just tell me you’ll give me another chance. Please tell me I haven’t fucked up enough to lose the one person on this planet that was made for me, and me alone, to love.”

If I could craft the perfect person for me out of thin air, it’d be him. There’s no doubt in my mind about that anymore. Just like I know that choosing this—him—is what I should’ve done all along.

I’m not just wrecked for him; I’m completely destroyed. Decimated. So far past gone, it’s laughable.

I want the entire world to know I’m his the same way he’s mine. That he’s always been mine, even when I was too stupid or stubborn or blind to see it. It’s always been us. Ever since the beginning.

He’s my other half. My unexpected inevitable. My fucking everything.

Little does he know, I have the biggest dare of all to ask him later tonight. To let me love him, for the rest of our lives. Good thing, when it comes to dares, he always—always—says yes.