Текст книги "The Dare"

Автор книги: Rachel Van Dyken

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Chapter Thirty-three

"Did you send the reporters?" The agent rubbed his face and sighed.

"It's possible."

"So that's a yes."

Grandma picked at her sweater. "I'm elderly, memory's not what it used to be."

"And just how was ratting out the senator supposed to help the relationship? If anything, it made it worse."

"It didn't." Grandma smirked. "Because clearly the senator is still missing, and so is she."

Jace

The look on Beth's face devastated me, like a punch to the gut. I tried to catch my breath, but every inhale was filled with utter disgust and panic. I'd just told her to her face, for the third time that day, that she wasn't enough. But I'd done it to protect her – to give her time to decide what she felt about me. Instead, she'd walked away. Not me. Her.

Every insecurity she must have felt about herself was probably scratching to the surface, and it was all my fault. All because I was selfish careless bastard. Every instinct told me to run after her, but what would that do? She'd probably slap me and end up on the six o'clock news. So I stayed rooted to the ground and did my damn job – I smiled pretty for the cameras, and I smoothed things over. Never in my life had I had to work so hard to pretend like my world wasn't crashing down around me.

"Senator," another reporter shoved a microphone in my face, "Channel Five, can you tell us why you're visiting the islands?"

A flash went right off in my line of vision…

I heard screeching tires all over again, and then glass went everywhere. A flashlight was shined in my eyes. "Son, are you alright?"

I forced a tight smile. "Much needed vacation."

"But our sources say that—"

"Excuse me." I pushed away from the crowd to Jake and Char. They'd come as reinforcements to help convince Beth to stay.

The reporters followed me.

Char opened her mouth, but Jake covered it with his hand. "Not here."

We walked outside and got into a cab.

I was tense as hell.

"Why?" Char whispered.

"What did you want him to do, Char?" Jake jumped to my defense. "Call her out on national television? Say that they were together? Steal the last shred of privacy she may have had? The way I see it is he made it easier for her to run."

"She's not running!" Char fired back. "She's hurt!"

"So am I!" I yelled, realizing too late that I had given myself away.

Char grabbed my hand, but I couldn't feel it. I couldn't feel anything.

I'd told myself I wouldn't get attached, and look where that had gotten me. In the exact predicament I hadn't wanted to be in. I wasn't heartbroken. I was too angry with myself and angry with the situation to feel anything worthwhile.

The anger didn't dissipate. If anything, it intensified when we pulled up to the resort, and my parents were waiting in the lobby with Grandma in tow.

I expected lots of yelling and confusion. What I didn't expect was for my father to pull me in to a giant hug and pat my back, like he was still somehow proud of the ass his son had become.

My mom smiled sadly and squeezed my hand.

"Let's go have a nice morning chat." Dad led me toward one of the restaurants.

I ordered black coffee and stared mindlessly into it while he ordered breakfast for both of us.

"A month ago," Dad stirred some milk into his coffee, "I had a nice chat with Travis."

Not what I expected. Warning bells went off in my head.

"He was worried about you, said you'd been drinking more and acting careless. I immediately assumed it was all that Kerri-business coming back to haunt you. Then Travis said something interesting."

"I'm sure he did." Numb. I was so damn numb.

"He said, you'd drunkenly told him about the best night of your life."

Well, hell.

"And imagine my surprise when it wasn't the night of your election, but the night you took your cousin to prom."

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

"A girl with green eyes and dark hair had captured your attention, and for some reason, maybe it was the kiss, or maybe it was the way she fit perfectly into your arms, you fell."

I rose to get up.

"Sit down."

I sat.

"Funny," my father nodded, "because I remember the story a little differently."

I looked out at the crashing waves and waited.

"Your mother and I forced you to take your cousin to her senior prom. You fought us on it until I finally put my foot down. She didn't have a date, after all. A few hours later, you came back to the house in such a frenzy I thought something had happened."

Squinting, I looked up into his eyes. "I never came back to the house, Dad."

He sighed. "You did. The therapists said that telling you about what you didn't remember could cause emotional damage, so we kept it quiet. Never in my life did I think it would be so important."

"I don't understand." I scratched the back of my head, feeling the scar from the surgery.

"Of all the things to forget, you forgot the accident and things leading up to it, but you remembered that damn kiss you shared with that girl, and it wrecked you."

"You're telling me this now because?"

"Because it will help. I hope to God it helps, because I'm about at my wit's end with you." He smirked lovingly. "You ran into the house and said, 'Dad, I've met the girl I'm going to marry.'"

Suddenly, I was in my parents' living room again.

The memory hit me full force. I tried to stuff it back into my mind. I tried to ignore the pain in my chest as it sliced me completely in half.

"Dad!" I ran into the house. "I need the cell phone, and I'm going to take the car."

"You're back already?" He straightened his tie. "You sure are in a hurry, son."

"I met her," I said, grinning like an idiot. "You and mom were right. It happened just like you said it would. It was like… it was magic!"

"What was?"

"The kiss!"

"You kissed your cousin? Son, sit down…"

"No!" I yelled. "I kissed Beth. She goes to Macy's school and was there with some other guy and... I want to catch her in time!"

"And what's your plan, once you catch her?"

"I haven't thought it out," I admitted. "But it's going to involve kissing."

"Keep your pants on son." Dad laughed. "And be careful."

"I will!" I promised and ran out the door yelling, "Dad, I met the girl I'm going to marry!"

I was driving too fast, not caring that I was breaking so many laws that my license could get revoked. I accelerated through a yellow light. And that's when I heard the screeching metal of steel on steel.

My world went completely black.

I woke up three months later from a coma. And the first word that trickled out of my mouth was, "Beth."

But she had already gone, already left for school. She hadn't cared enough to look into how I was. Hell, she probably hadn't even known who I was or that I was the same guy she'd kissed. The same guy who had almost died trying to see her again.

I felt like I couldn't breathe. All this time I thought I'd walked away from her, but I'd gone back. I'd gone back to make the big gesture because those few minutes were enough to make me believe in something I'd always told myself wasn't real.

Dad placed his hand on mine. "Love at first sight."

"Doesn't exist." I snapped, jerking my hand back.

"That experience changed you." He shook his head sadly. "You poured everything into the next two years of high school and then graduated early from college. You lived and breathed your job."

"Because my job won't ever let me down. It's consistent. The one time I took a chance in my life, and I almost died."

"You afraid of a little coma, son?"

"My brain was swollen for three months, Dad. I could have been a vegetable the rest of my life, all because I was careless."

"With a car. Not with your heart."

"Are we done?"

"Don't disappoint me." I froze.

"How the hell is me walking away from Beth disappointing you?"

"Because, I know you, son. You wear your heart on your sleeve. You want to take that leap for her, but you're too chicken shit to do it. Tell her the truth. Tell her what happened."

"And if she rejects me? Like I deserve?"

"Think of it this way." My dad took a long sip of coffee. "What if the car would have made it to prom? What if you would have walked into that gym and seen Beth, with those pretty green eyes, staring at you."

"I would have kissed her," I croaked. "And probably made an ass out of myself."

"You would have told her you were going to marry her someday."

I didn't respond. I couldn't. My chest felt so heavy with emotion that I wasn't able to take deep breaths. I wheezed, coughed, and took a few steps away from my dad before stopping and turning.

"Were you in on it?"

"On this?" Dad spread the napkin across his lap. "Why, son, it was my idea."

He said it so calm that I thought he had to be joking.

He took another sip of coffee and smiled.

Holy shit.

"Grandma?"

"Offered her expertise. How else do you think I was able to plant the media outside the hotel? Grandma can't be in two places at once. She slipped something in your drinks, made sure you made it safely to the hotel, and I took care of all the rest of the details. Right down to sending media to the airport."

"But—"

"Grandma was with you the whole time," Dad laughed, "texting me details."

"But the resort we're staying at? She's a therapist here."

Dad looked at me like I was stupid. I hated being looked at like that. "Titus Enterprises owns several hotel chains. You're staying in one. How else do you think Grandma could infiltrate the staff so effectively?"

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"Good." Dad's eyebrows quirked. "At least you're finally feeling something."

"But…"

"Son... it's when you're at the end of your life that you start thinking about the beginning. Choices made, things you should have said, people you should have forgiven. I don't want that for you. I saw you going down a path that I knew would end in heartache. Travis and I went golfing soon after you confessed about second chances. That's when I put two and two together. It was easily done, and when I saw you at the wedding. I knew…"

"You mean when you drugged us at the wedding."

"My idea was to get you caught in a compromising situation on camera, not drug you, fly to you to Hawaii make you bleed your feelings all over a therapist, and get your first experience with Viagra."

I winced.

"But Grandma had a point. You two needed time to get to know one another, and she provided a safe media-free environment for exactly that to happen. My only question is… did it work?"

"Did what work?"

"Our plan?"

I was silent for a few seconds.

"Son, do you love her?"

"I do." I licked my lips, feeling like a thousand-pound weight had been lifted off my shoulders. "I really do."

"Then chase her."

"What if she doesn't want me back? How do I even know that she would have dated me had my car made it back to the gym?"

Dad smirked., "Son, that's why they call love a leap. It's a bit like faith. You know it exists, though you can't feel it."

"I have no faith in myself."

"That's okay," Dad nodded, his eye welling with tears, "because I have enough faith in you for the both of us."

Chapter Thirty-four

"Well," the agent scratched his chin, "you can keep a secret. I'll give you that."

"Thank you."

"But the senator is still missing, and by the looks of it," he checked his watch, "it's been over forty-eight hours."

"One more hour." Grandma smiled.

"One more?"

"And then I'll bring you the senator and his lovely wife."

"Wife?"

Grandma smiled. "Then again, I can't be in two places at once, or can I?"

"I may need more coffee."

"Trust me. The rest of the story is my favorite part."

Beth

Two weeks had gone by, and I hadn't heard anything from Jace. Though, lucky me, I kept getting really pathetic and sad looks from Jake and Char every single time I went over to their house.

We had dinner every Sunday.

They thought they were helping me get over my sadness by feeding me enormous amounts of wine and food. Jake, bless his heart, also felt the need every once in a while to pat my hand. You know, like I was a three year old. Other times, he'd just stare at me really hard as if by him staring and giving me one of those Aww–looks, I'd soldier on.

This Sunday I just wanted to forget everything that had happened. I expected to have a nice quiet meal, where Jake sent me concerned looks while filling my wine glass to the brim, and Char cursed men everywhere, except for her husband, who, since getting married, had earned saintdom in her eyes.

So when Grandma threw open the door to Jake's giant house on Lake Washington, I almost fell ass-backwards.

She pulled me in for a hug and squeezed so tight I think I felt a rib pop. "Oh, honey bug! How are you?"

"Great," I lied, forcing a smile. Emotionally I was feeling a bit wrecked, add that to the whole flu bug I'd somehow caught the day before last, and I was just one giant ball of fun.

I wasn't sure if it was the rib-popping squeeze or maybe just the emotional stress of seeing Grandma again, but I suddenly felt like I was going to puke. I pushed past her just in time to throw open the bathroom door and empty the contents of my stomach into the porcelain toilet that probably cost more than my rent.

"Beth?" Grandma knocked softly on the door. "Sweetie are you alright?"

I flushed the toilet, rinsed out my mouth with water, and opened the door. I hated puking. Nothing was worse. I hated the way it tasted, and I hated how it made my stomach clench so tight that I wanted to curl into a ball and die. Plus, puking always made me want to cry.

Why was Grandma smiling? My eyes narrowed.

"A touch of the flu?" Now her eyes were twinkling as she rubbed her hands together.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I've been queasy these past few days."

"Interesting." Grandma nodded, her smile growing by the second. "Positively… perfect."

"Perfect that I'm sick?" I asked, confused as my stomach clenched again.

"Oh honey, you just let me take care of you." She patted my hand then shouted so loud my eardrums nearly burst. "Jake! Grandma's staying a few weeks!"

"The hell you are!" Jake shouted back from somewhere in the house.

"He's teasing." Grandma winked "I'm ALWAYS WELCOME IN MY GRANDSON'S HOME!"

"YOU BELONG IN A HOME!"

"WHAT? YOU BOUGHT ME A HOME?"

Cursing followed, and then dishes banged together before Jake rounded the corner, his eyes narrowing in on Grandma and then me.

"You're pale."

"Jake thinks himself a doctor now." Grandma rolled her eyes.

"Why are you pale?" He reached out and grabbed my wrist and then felt my forehead. "You don't feel hot."

I shrugged. "I don't think I have a fever."

"She puked." Grandma felt the need to add

"I'm fine." I was going to lose my mind if they both kept staring at me like I was in a museum. Just let me be sick and feel sorry for myself, damn it!

"What's wrong with Beth?" Char ran down the stairs.

"She puked," Jake said at the exact same time that Grandma declared, "She's pregnant!"

"What!" we all said in unison while Grandma clapped her hands in glee.

"I'm not! No, I'm not." I started getting hysterical. "It's impossible."

"You've been having the ex." Grandma nodded.

"Grandma stop putting the in front of everything."

Char grabbed her husband's hand. "The Jake is right. It's getting weird. And Beth, do we need to have a little talk on how babies are made?"

"Oh, I have a chart for that!" Grandma held up her hand.

"I burned that chart last week," Jake shot her down.

"But they were color-coded," Grandma said dejectedly. "I spent hours on them."

"Listen," I held up my hands in innocence, "I don't need charts, and I don't need help. I'm not pregnant. I didn't have the sex with Jace, or at least I didn't while in…" My head suddenly started pounding. Would I be that stupid? Would Jace be that stupid? The night of the wedding? Holy crap, holy crap. I reached for something to hold onto and latched onto Jake like a leach. He looked panicked as I gripped the front of his shirt.

"Hello?" Grandma said.

I turned slowly to see her leopard cell phone attached to her ear.

"Yes, Jace."

"No!" I shouted, launching myself at Grandma.

She hung up and chuckled to herself. "Well, that was easy."

The doorbell rang.

Seriously. Was I hallucinating?

Grandma all but skipped to the door and threw it open.

Jace.

I opened my mouth to speak just as Grandma shouted, "Beth's with child!"

"What?" Jace roared, his face turning red. "Who the hell did you let touch you, Beth? I swear I'll kill him. I'll rip him apart with my bare hands! You hear that, bastard? I'm coming for you!"

"I'm not—"

"Aren't you a little late to be playing hero?" Jake said smugly. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"I came for my wife."

"You're married!" Char shouted, launching herself at Jace.

He held up his hands in panic. "Not yet!"

"You have a freaking fiancée!" I shouted, my voice carrying across the giant house like a firecracker.

"Oh, I feel faint. I do feel faint." Grandma patted her head.

Char swayed on her feet next to Grandma, turning an interesting shade of white before passing out in Jake's arms.

"Hospital!" he yelled.

"For the last time, I'm not pregnant!" I countered.

"BUT CHAR IS!" He all but screamed in my face.

"Yay!" Grandma did a little dance. "I knew those beads would work."

"A little help?" Jake motioned to Jace, who was already opening the door and grabbing flip flops for Char.

She was starting to come to. I was too worried to do anything but pray. Why hadn't Char told me? She could only be a few weeks along!

"I took a taxi," Jace said in clipped tones.

"Garage." With his free hand, Jake dialed the garage pad, and it opened.

If I hadn't been in such a panic, I probably would have passed out. He had more cars than a dealership, and they all looked expensive.

Which one were we supposed to take?

Jace ran to where the keys were hanging, grabbed a pair, and unlocked a new Mercedes SUV.

"Get in," he barked.

I got in the front while everyone else piled in the back.

Tears burned at the back of my throat. "Is she awake? Coherent?"

Jake's voice cracked, "Yeah, her eyes just opened. Baby, are you okay? Talk to me. Do you know where you are?"

Grandma reached up to the front seat and patted my shoulder. "She'll be alright, honeybug. This sometimes happens."

Jace pulled into the closest hospital in record time. I didn't even realize I was holding his hand until I tried to sit down and realized I'd have to sit on his lap with how close I was leaning against him. Abruptly, I let go and shook the familiarity of his touch away.

Wife? His wife?

The man was quick. Two weeks, and he was moving on?

Jake went back with Char, while Grandma left to call Travis and Kace.

"She'll be okay," Jace said confidently. "She's strong."

"Yeah."

"I don't have a wife," he added a few minutes later.

"I don't care."

"You do," he said confidently. "I meant you, by the way."

"What? We're secretly married?"

"Not yet," he said smoothly, "but we will be."

"What gives you that idea?"

"Well, first of all, I love you."

My breath caught in my throat.

"And second? I didn't walk away."

"I know, I know. I did. But you didn't give me a reason, and then you denied everything in front of the news! What was I supposed to do?"

"Stay." He turned in his chair and grabbed my hands. "You were supposed to stay."

"But—"

"I didn't walk away."

"So you keep saying." I tried to jerk free.

"Ten minutes. That's all I need. And then I will walk away. If I can't convince you in ten minutes, then…" his face fell, "then I'll go if you want me to."

"Is that why you're here? To plead your case?"

"I'm here because I wanted to make the big gesture. I wanted you to see that I wasn't going to run with my tail between my legs. But the minute I got back, I had some things to fix, some choices to make. I wanted to make sure I had those firmly in place before I talked with you. I wanted to be sure you knew that I was fully committed."

Okay, so as far as speeches went? His was pretty dang good.

"It was your white dress." He framed my face with his hands as we touched foreheads. "It fit you so perfectly. The way the lights danced across your body – hell, I thought I was seeing an angel. And then those eyes." He muttered a curse. "They were like a drug. I couldn't look away. I'd always believed in this silly little fantasy that when you found the one you wanted to spend the rest of your life with, you'd experience this incredible pull toward that person. You'd just know – things would just click. It was that way for my parents. And my mom, from the day I could understand her nonsense, convinced me it would be that way for me too. So when I saw you that night, I knew."

"Knew what?" I whispered.

"I knew I wanted you. I knew I wanted to marry you. I knew I wanted to spend my life watching that smile, gazing into those eyes. Then again, I was only sixteen and stupid, so I can't totally blame it on love at first sight. We'll just call it lust. I wanted to touch you so damn bad that my hands were shaking."

I shuddered as he moved his hand to my neck and rubbed softly. "I promised myself that I'd dance with you. I'd ask for your name and that would be that."

"But you kissed me."

"I couldn't help it," Jace whispered, brushing his lips across mine. "You tasted so good. I was hooked the minute my mouth met yours, and then I panicked. Again, I was sixteen, so let's give me a little credit. I didn't want to get the shit beat out of me by the other football team, so I left."

"You walked away." I sighed dejectedly.

"I came back," Jace argued. "But I never made it."

"What do you mean?"

Jace closed his eyes. "Remember when we jumped off the cliff?"

"Yes, I thought you were dying."

"And you almost did a belly flop."

"Jace…" I warned.

"Fine."

His warm chuckle made my stomach flip.

"When you kissed me, for some reason, it jolted a memory, one I'd forgotten until now. My dad, who, by the way, can give Grandma a run for her money any day, told me what really happened that night. I ran home, told him I'd found the girl I was going to marry, and quickly got into my car and drove headfirst into another vehicle after running a yellow light."

I gasped, putting my hands over my mouth as the tears welled in my eyes.

"You see…" e smiled sadly, "there was this pretty girl with bright green eyes that I really wanted to see again. I wanted to kiss her and tell her how gorgeous her dress was. I wanted to apologize for being an ass, and I wanted to tell her just how good we would be together, if she'd only give me a chance." He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Instead, I woke up three months later from a coma."

Warm tears slid down my cheek.

"So here's the thing, Beth. Your whole life has been based off thinking you didn't have a charge, assuming guys weren't into you, wrongly assuming I had walked away – when the very opposite was true. I almost died trying to get to you, and the truth?" His voice shook. "I would go through it all again, as long as I knew you'd still be waiting for me on the other side."

With a sob, I threw my arms around his neck, letting the tears spill over my cheeks. "You could have died!"

"But look," Jace squeezed me tight, "I'm right here. And I'm waiting."

"Waiting?"

Jace pulled away and, with a grin, took off his long black trench coat, revealing a tux. "For the last dance we should have shared. For the moment that was taken. I want a do over. Because, maybe, in this cold senator's chest, there's a heart hat believes in second chances, and quite possibly the fairytale."

"You're re-creating prom?"

"Kind of," Jace winked, "minus all the lusty teens with acne. I hadn't really planned on dancing with you in a hospital."

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I took his hand and started swaying with him.

"I'm sorry," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck, holding on for dear life. "I'm so sorry."

"You did nothing wrong. Hell, all you did was look pretty, and I was lost."

"And then I opened my mouth, and you wanted to smack me?" I teased.

"Nah," Jace's gaze turned serious, "you opened your mouth, and I fell in love."