Don’t You Dare
: Prologue

“Don’t you dare?”

I sigh and glance at Aspen next to me, raising a brow as if to ask, is there even a second option here?

The answer is no. Not unless I wanna be kicked out of the game. Something that’s never happened to me in the history of this altered version of Truth or Dare…where there’s no truth option.

“Do your worst,” I tell Ashton, the girl in charge of my fate.

Her smirk turns deadly. “I dare you to kiss Aspen.”

Well, I should’ve seen this coming a mile away, because Ashton loves to do anything she can to get under Aspen’s skin.

I glance between the two of them, wondering how I keep getting stuck in the middle of their feud, before my eyes settle on her. “There’s no use trying to measure cocks against Pen,” I tell her, Aspen’s nickname rolling off my lips. “He’s gonna win every time.”

Her smirk remains painted on. “Well, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”

I roll my eyes. “Funny, Ash.”

“I suck his dick better than you too,” Pen cuts in, and goddamnit, I can’t help laughing. He’s got some balls to say that shit with a straight face, considering he is straight and has never touched my cock in his life.

He raises his eyebrows and glances over at me, confirming my acceptance of the dare, to which I pucker my lips like a fish and start making kissing noises while I lean in toward him.

I think that’s enough of an answer.

He lets out a soft laugh, the tiny dimple below the left corner of his mouth making a rare public appearance. “Nah, man. Not gonna happen if you’re doing that shit. I have no problem with letting you drop out of the game early.”

I narrow my eyes on him. “You wouldn’t fucking dare.”

I actually know he wouldn’t. We’re the kind of best friends who would do anything for each other. Even kiss each other for a stupid dare.

“We don’t have all night,” Ashton singsongs from her seat across the sectional from us. “So, let’s get a move on.”

Sometimes I wonder how I dated this girl. This is one of those moments.

I meet Pen’s eyes again, muttering, “Ten seconds.”

He nods. “Stick your tongue in my mouth and I’ll bite it off.”

Chuckling, I decide to play into his earlier comment to ease the weird tension simmering between us. “That’s not what you said when I put my dic—”

I don’t get to finish, though, because his lips are already pressed against mine.

The first brush of contact is electric, coiling my intestines in knots. I’m surprised by how soft his lips are and how gently they move against mine. I wouldn’t think Aspen capable of being able to kiss like this. Sweet and sensual. Tender.

He’s handling me like I’m made of glass, capable of shattering in his hands, and right now, I think it’s very possible I could.

It’s the strangest feeling in the world.

It makes my heart leap into my throat and does something weird to my stomach. Makes it flip and somersault, but not with nerves or anxiousness. With something else entirely.

And it spurs me into action.

My hand reaches up, cupping the side of his jaw to tilt his head right where I want it. A tiny part of me has the urge to deepen the kiss, maybe slip my tongue out just to fuck with him, but I rein myself in enough to keep it a simple press of our lips.

But then, something happens.

His tongue brushes against my bottom lip, and my entire body lights up like an inferno. My pulse kicks up into overdrive, and that electric feeling from earlier intensifies. And as my cock twitches behind my zipper, starting to thicken, I realize what it is.

Lust. Desire.

For…Aspen.

It hits me like a brick wall, simultaneously scaring the shit out of me and sending a thrill rushing through me that’s nearly impossible to keep control over. My mind races to a thousand different places, seeing vivid scenarios playing out behind my closed lids.

Hot, naked skin brushing up against mine. Hard, smooth muscle beneath my palms.

Raven black hair anchored between my fingers.

Fantasies run rampant in my thoughts, and I don’t know how to stop them.

I don’t know if I even want to, because nothing’s ever felt like this.

All I know is, I want more of it. More of whatever addictive magic Pen’s lips possess.

I don’t even notice when the ten seconds are up until Aspen’s mouth leaves mine, and I try not to think about the small pang of sadness flashing through me at the loss of contact. Because it doesn’t make any sense for me to feel it. His cobalt eyes are cloudy and his breathing shallow when he meets my gaze, giving me a look I can’t place.

Fear washes through me, and I’m terrified it’s because he can read every filthy thought I just had running around in my brain written on my face, clear as day.

And more than that, I internally plead to whatever higher being that exists for me to not be hard enough for anyone to notice. Especially Pen.

I might never see most of these people again after tonight, but I have to live with Pen in a few months, once we head off to college. I don’t think I’d be able to look him straight in the face if he knew the type of visceral reaction I’m having from just kissing him.

He pants against my lips, still close enough that I could close the gap between us and take more. Thrust my tongue into his mouth and let it tangle with his the way I wanted to before he cut us off at the knees.

Someone—Cameron, I think—clears her throat, though, and it snaps my common sense back into place.

“Uh, is anyone else now pregnant because of that?” she asks with an awkward laugh.

I glance up in time to catch a couple other girls nodding. Even Ashton’s eyes are wide, lips parted in shock.

“Oh, fuck off,” Pen mutters, releasing me entirely as he clears his throat too. “It’s not like it meant anything. Just fulfilling another stupid dare.”

“Yeah.” I swallow. “Just a stupid dare.”

But the way my heart’s hammering against my ribs, far harder than it should be, tells me it was so much more than that.