Katie-Anne snorted. “That is what I’m trying to do, and you two are giving me hell for it.”
“No,” Shannon disagreed. “You are
trying
to take the easy way out.”
“There is no fucking easy way out of this situation,” Katie-Anne confessed furiously, picking up her drink and sucking down the rest of it as though it were the sweetest of wines.
“Nothing worth having in life is easy,” Shannon said as she patted Katie-Anne’s arm. “You know that.”
“No, I don’t. My life is easy,” Katie-Anne rebutted as she shook off their hands. She got up from the table and walked over to the sink. “I’m the spoiled, little rich girl with no job and no problems. My life is fucking perfect.” She rinsed out the milk in her cup before refilling it with water from the tap.
With a cough, Shannon muttered, “Bullshit.”
“If your life is so damn perfect, then why would you want to leave your friends and family?” Jaycee asked with a superior smile. “You like to tell us how we are full of shit. Well, baby, we have nothing on you.”
“I despise you,” Katie-Anne sneered.
“Sure you do,” Shannon replied.
“Well, you’re about to despise me more,” Jaycee stated ominously.
Fuck.
Katie-Anne’s heart picked up speed, and she nearly dropped the glass in her hand as it trembled.
The dare.
Placing her cup in the sink, Katie-Anne whirled around. “No, Jaycee,” she half begged. It was easy to see where this was going, and she had to stop it because if she stayed, she wouldn’t resist Shane and Landon. She couldn’t. “Please don’t do this to me.”
“Yes,” Jaycee nodded solemnly. “You’ll thank me later.”
“I will not,” Katie-Anne replied, her anger surging to the front of her mind. She stormed back across the room and sat down in her chair at the table. “I will never forgive you, Jaycee Elizabeth Blakemore.”
“I dare—”
The moment the word
dare
crossed her best friend’s lips, Katie-Anne knew what pure, unadulterated terror felt like. Ice settled into her veins, making breathing more like suffocating. Her muscles locked down as if preparing for her to run. But she didn’t. And it took everything in her to stay, to not hide.
Katie-Anne knew that either scenario
was
taking
the coward’s way out. Yet she couldn’t get her self-preservation instinct to dwindle as the last time she’d been dared to do something by her friends ran through her mind, every damned detail tormenting her until she thought she might go mad.
Ten years earlier…
Katie-Anne carefully swung open the heavy metal door to Dewey Black’s Auto Shop where the two objects of her affection worked. At sixteen, Shane and Landon had no interest in her, but she hoped that today would be the day they saw her as a woman, as a person they respected and, eventually, would love. Not the teenage daughter of the late William and Isabella Blakemore. Not the baby sister of their friend, Gray. All she wanted was them to really look at her, to see who and what she was.
The air conditioning whooshed out of the office as she stepped inside, stirring her hair up and sending it to hell and back. Although she didn’t mind since the cool breeze instantly blew across her overheated skin and caused a much-needed temperature drop.
Wiping the back of her hand across her sweaty forehead, Katie-Anne attempted to brush her hair aside so she could see beyond the strands of her hair. She took a long, fortifying breath, whispering a silent prayer for her dare to not blow up in her face as it had with Jaycee and Shannon.
So far, their fun-filled game of Truth or Dare had turned into a nightmare. Since it had been Katie-Anne’s idea, she felt duty-bound to follow through, despite her friends’ pleas to the contrary.
Inhaling a second time, Katie-Anne appreciated the metallic scent hanging in the air around her. After living in a spic-and-span house filled with too much potpourri and expensive perfume, she found the simplest smells appealing. Besides, it reminded her of Shane and Landon.
“Hey,” a deep male voice called out, startling her. With an
eep
, she whipped her head to the side and spotted Calhoun Parker, the office manager, standing only a foot away from her. Instantly, she felt uneasy, her stomach turning upside down.
Calhoun terrified her. He always had, but not for the obvious reasons. He didn’t scare her in the traditional way because he was a good man, not a bad one. But he saw too much. It was as though he saw directly into her soul, like he knew all of her secrets, thoughts, and dreams. That, alone, scared the shit out of her.
When she said nothing, the handsome twenty-eight-year-old touched her arm gently. “Can I help you with something, sweetheart?”
“N–n–n–no,” she stuttered, jerking her arm away from him so suddenly that she fell sideways. Calhoun stepped forward and caught her before she hit the ground. Blood flooded her face, embarrassing her further because she knew how awful she looked when she blushed. “I–I–I’m fine. I j–just came by to see Shane and Landon about s–something.”
Calhoun smiled at her with a genuine smile, blinding her with his pretty, white teeth. “I’m glad to hear that. They are out in the shop, working on Leila Schilling’s car.”
Katie-Anne nodded gratefully. “Thank you,” she managed to choke out. “I appreciate it.”
“No problem,” Calhoun responded as he brushed past her. “Just a word of warning, Leila is with them. You know how she can be.” He turned down the only hallway in the building, disappearing from sight.
Shit.
She did know about Leila and warning bells were going off in her head. Maybe she was in as deep as shit as her friends had been.
Katie-Anne took an unsteady breath before flinging open the back door to the office that led into the actual shop. As she crossed the threshold, the cool air disintegrated and the August heat stifled her once again, sucking the oxygen right out of her lungs.
She inhaled slowly, and the metallic scent amplified around her, drifting into her nostrils with each breath she took. When she moved further into the room, more smells assaulted her senses—oil, gasoline, exhaust, and even a whiff of male sweat.
Rotating her head to the side, she let her gaze drift over one bay after another until she saw Landon and Shane standing next to a car, chatting with her arch nemesis. Of course, Leila had to be here. Life sucked like that.
With her head held high and her shoulders back, Katie-Anne sauntered across the garage with every ounce of sex appeal she could muster. She pursed her lips, batted her eyes, and thrust out her small breasts. When she was within hearing distance of the three people, she called out, “Shane. Landon.”
Shane and Landon’s heads shot up and away from Leila, who scowled murderously at her. The taller of the two men, Landon, stared at her, dumbfounded, but that only lasted a second before anger seemed to settle into his features. The shorter, dark-headed man, Shane, barked, “Go,” to Leila. And she did, leaving them alone.
Uh-oh.
They know about our game.
“I hope you are not here to pull a stunt like your friends,” Shane clipped out when she moved to stand between her dream men. “Because I have no doubt that it will not be appreciated by us.”
Knowing that this wasn’t going to go well, Katie-Anne almost spun around and walked out. This scenario would be ugly, and she would end up hurt. But it was like a train wreck—you don’t want to look, but you can’t seem to take your eyes off it.
Tuning out all of the engine noises and metal clinks, she touched Shane’s jumpsuit and toyed with one of the buttons. “I don’t know what you are talking about, big guy. I’m only here to see the two bad boys of Serenity, Kansas.”
Shane eyed her cautiously, the distrust evident in his face. “So you’re slumming it, huh?” He flicked his gaze over her clothes with arctic eyes that made her feel dirty then glanced at Landon. “It would explain the outfit,” he remarked pompously.
My outfit?
She cringed internally, realizing that he’d gotten the wrong impression of her clothing choice. That morning, she’d snagged the dress that she’d been working on with her pen pal, Maddie Moore. They’d sent it back and forth in the mail for each step from concept until the finished project. It was one of her favorite dresses, but she’d never been gutsy enough to wear it in public. Her mother had dressed her until her death two years ago and, since then, Katie-Anne had not branched her look out.
That’s what I get for trying.
Katie-Anne forced herself to continue to stand proud, to pretend that it didn’t hurt her to know how little they thought of her. “I’m not slumming it,” she replied with a giant, pasted on smile. “Actually, I came by to discuss a mutually beneficial business proposal for you two.”
As usual, Landon was the voice of reason. He wiped away every emotion from his face and suggested, “Why don’t we go outside to discuss this?”
“No,” she shot back before thinking. “This venue is perfectly fine.”
Well, not really, but I’ll take it over being alone with you for this conversation.
“Fine,” Shane snapped. “Just get on with it. The working men don’t have time to play around with the little rich girl.”
Katie-Anne gulped as nervousness plagued her. If he was already acting so aggressive, she had no chance against him when she was done talking.
Screw it.
“I want to pay you for your services,” she blurted out.
“Excuse me?” Shane asked, obviously not comprehending what she meant. Landon didn’t seem much better. He didn’t speak, merely observed.
Damn it. Do I have to spell it out?
Apparently, she did. “I’m looking for a good time.”
Both of their eyebrows flew up as they seemed catch her drift. But they didn’t respond to her proposal, so she decided to lay it out on the table. “I want to pay the two of you to fuck me.”
“Oh, shit,” Calhoun muttered as he passed the three of them. He kept walking, speeding up as he went. “Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.”
Oh, shit
was right. The two men’s expressions morphed, one going hot and one going cold. Shane’s scorching stare singed her, causing her to flinch. But he didn’t seem to notice her response. Next to him, Landon’s frigid glare nearly froze her on the spot, and she felt like shivering. Yet she didn’t—thankfully.
Katie-Anne figured that the only reason she didn’t rise to the emotions ravaging her insides was the pain she’d started inflicting on herself as soon as she’d flinched away from Shane. Using the nails on her right hand, she pinched the tender skin between her thumb and index finger on her left. It wasn’t like the pain was new to her. She’d always pinched herself to keep her feelings in line and under control.
Unexpectedly, Shane grabbed one of her elbows while Landon grabbed the other, tugging her hands apart and causing her to scratch herself. She bit back a cry at the sting in her flesh as the sharp tips scraped across it. Warm blood oozed out of her wound, but she ignored the feel of it gradually exuding from her body.
Using their strong hold, they half dragged, half carried her out of the garage then out of the office. They didn’t stop and turn on her until they reached the farthest corner of the parking lot near her car.
As usual, Landon remained quiet, letting Shane take the lead. But, for some reason, she felt as though he was too angry to speak rather than allowing his friend to take control of the situation.
This is not boding well for me.
She couldn’t remember ever seeing either of these men so enraged, so dangerous. And that was saying something.
Towering over her, Shane’s black mood rolled out of him and over her. “Katie-Anne Blakemore, you are nothing but pure fluff. No man in his right mind would take you up on your offer—not even if you signed over your
entire fucking trust fund. Now go home before I lose my goddamn temper—”
“Back off,” Landon growled. “She’s not worth it, Shane. She’s just being the spoiled little girl she is. She thinks everyone and everything can be bought.”
“I don’t give a shit what she thinks,” Shane retorted to Landon without taking his fiery, dark eyes off of her. Getting so close to her she felt his breath against her face, he spoke directly to her. “I know all I need to know about rich kids like you. They’re bred to be the lowliest form of life. They think they own the whole fucking world. And, too damn bad for most regular people, they are quite right. They get what they want, when they want, and how they want. But I will never, I repeat
never,
get entangled with someone as vain and shallow and selfish as that. I want a real woman, not a child who only wants to use me as a goddamn boy-toy from across the tracks to get her rocks off.”
Katie-Anne gasped, swaying on her feet. She’d known that he didn’t think much of her, but she’d never suspected that it was as bad as this. Even Landon seemed a bit shocked by the venom in his friend’s voice. He looked first at her then at Shane. Shaking his head, he said, “Let’s go. This isn’t helping a damn thing.”
“You’re right, Landon” Shane replied curtly. Instead of walking away, he said one more thing to her. “I feel sorry for you.” With that final note, he walked away from her. And Landon followed right behind him.