Lylah James - I Dare You

I DARE YOU (TRUTH AND DARE DUET, BOOK TWO)

Copyright 2020 by Lylah James

Editing and Proofreading by Becky at FAIREST REVIEWS EDITING SERVICES

Interior Formatting by Cat at TRC DESIGNS

Cover Design by Maria at STEAMY DESIGNS

Photographer: MICHAEL STOKES

Model: Attila Toth

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in or introduced into retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the author; except in the case of a brief quotation embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

To Rebecca/Becky ~

Thank you for always believing in me.

You made this book possible.

Enemies to best friends to lovers
Maddox Coulter.
Was my enemy. Now my best friend.
You know him...

Popular jock, rich enough to buy a town and a modern-day Casanova with a dirty smirk.
He's every girl's wet dream. But he wants me.
Maddox needs me.
One night of untamed passion has us dangling over the edge of something dangerous and it could forever break us.
Our hearts are on the line.
Maddox is keeping secrets.
I vowed to never give up on him but I'm not sure he's the same man I fell in love with anymore.
I'm scared he'd leave my heart bleeding at his feet.
But worst, what if we go back to...
... hating each other?

I fucked up.

I knew Id eventually mess up. I knew Id end up destroying the one good thing in my entire life. Lila.

Because that was the only thing I was capable of.

Destroying lives.

Ruining her.

Wrecking us.

I tried to protect her, since the day I made that stupid goddamn pinky swear for the first time. Ruthless in my endeavor to make sure she was always happy, always taken care of, by eliminating anything that would cause her painbut I forgot to protect her from myself .

My lungs seized in my chest, and my throat closed. A choked sound came from me as I held my head in my hands, feeling the burn in the back of my eyes.

Youre the best unplanned thing that has ever happened to me, Maddox. And I cant lose you. But youre doing everything to push me away from you, she whispered, her sweet voice breaking at the end. Youve been telling lies and keeping secrets from me. Since when have you started lying to me, Maddox?

My head snapped up at her words. I didnt have an answer. I fucking wished I did.

Lies, no matter how big or small, was the quickest way to ruin something beautiful us .

Lies and secrets

Everything Id ever done, every decision I made was to protect Lila.

But no band-aids would ever be enough to stop the open, festering wounds Ive left behind.

Im sorry, I choked.

The torment on her face decimated me. Is that all you have to say?

My vision blurred fuck I had to remind myself not to lose my shit. Im sorry.

A lone tear slid down her cheek. They said you were trouble. I didnt listen. I took a chance on you. And now I regret it.

Dont leave me. My hoarse voice cracked.

Lila took a step back. My wounded heart lurched, and bile crawled up the back of my throat, bitter and acidic.

Lila, I breathed her name. Please.

She slowly shook her head, another silent tear leaving a wet trail on her cheek. Maddox. She looked pained, and her lips wobbled. You broke your promises.

And now she was breaking hers .

Her feet took her another step back.

No, I pleaded. Lila, no .

My voice caught in my throat as she turned and walked away, taking my bleeding heart in the palm of her hand and leaving me empty.

I sunk to my knees, unable to stop myself, choking on the heavy taste of bitterness on my tongue. This couldnt be the end it couldnt .

The door closed, even as I called out her name. Pathetically. Because for her I was a fucking weak man.

Love made me weak.

Love destroyed lives.

Love ruined us.

She left.

My Lila left, as the pain piercing through my chest, became almost unbearable.

All my truths, all my lies collided together my future with Lila now cracked open, bleeding and sending the broken fissures all over, as I knelt in the wreckage of it all.

Once againalone.

Once again lost.

She lied too.

She broke her promises, too.

You wont lose me, ever.

Pinky promise?

Pinky promise.

Four months earlier

I couldnt remember the exact moment I realized what I felt for Lila was more than friendship.

Maybe it was the first time when Lila wrapped her little pinky around mine outside of her grandparents grocery store.

Or maybe it was the time I woke up from a nightmare and found her sleeping beside me, the night she took care of me, pulling me out of the freezing tub, and didnt leave my drunk ass behind the same night I realized what it felt like not to be alone.

It could have been any time from the first moment I laid eyes on her, any moment weve had in between, until our last moment together when I saw her with Lucien and I knew I was about to lose her forever.

I never could quite understand my own feelings. Lila wasnt a monochrome in my black and white world, she was a kaleidoscope of colors. She had made my life less dull.

I didnt know if I could call it love then.

Or if it was love now

What is love?

When I was seventeen years old, Lila sashayed into my life with all the fierceness of a dragon, sassy and stubborn. Like an R-Rated Snow White, with an ass that should have been illegal and a mouth that tempted me to shove my dick down her throat.

At twenty years old, I realized that when we first met, Lila and I were two teenagers who were too young to understand what love was until wed fallen too deeply into it.

Just friends was an easy way out, rather than accepting our growing feelings for each other.

It was around three in the morning when Lila fell asleep in my arms, breathless, sore and exhausted. She curled into me, pressing her soft, naked body against mine.

I watched her sleep, her pouty lips, her soft sighs and quiet snores.

Everyone has an addiction, mine just happened to be Lila Garcia.

My best friend

The same best friend I fucked last night.

There was no going back now; the line had been crossed, and now that Ive had a taste of her, there was no way I was letting her go.

Lila was my favorite type of drug, and she was so goddamn addictive.

Her smell, her smiles, her laughter.

The way she moved, the way her face lit up whenever she talked about something that made her happy.

I breathed her.

Lila was so deep under my skin, digging deeper under my flesh, mixed with my blood, and pumping through my veins.

There was nothing calm and easy about what I felt for her.

My feelings for Lila were maddening. Like a storm that opens up the sky, violent and raging all-consuming.

I couldnt let her go, not after tonight.

Id never forget the sound of her moans, her little whimpers as she begged me to fuck her harder, the sight of her pink pussy, glistening with need for me . Id never forget how she felt in my arms, naked and without restraint.