Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)(50)

The car whips into reverse and the engine whines when it accelerates.

“What the f**k were you thinking, Beth?”

My eyes widen. Noah leans against the passenger door, one hand on the wheel. He doesn’t even wait for an answer. “Isaiah said you’d come back for your mom, but I thought maybe you’d have enough sense to stay away.

Jesus, at least you’re predictable. Did you think we wouldn’t remember that you’d check the damn bar before you checked out the apartment? Isaiah, remind me to pay Denny extra for calling us so damned fast.”

Denny. Traitorous ass**le. He told Noah and Isaiah I came for Mom.

“How did you get to Louisville?” Isaiah asks in an eerily calm voice.

“Fuck you.” He told me he loved me. A cold sweat breaks out on my skin and my body begins to tremble. My best friend told me he loved me. And my mom. He forced me to leave my mom.

“Did you convince that Ryan bastard who’s been messing with you to bring you?”

I glance at Isaiah and he swears. I yank at his hold on my wrist. “Get off of me.”

Anger blazes from Isaiah’s dark eyes and if the anger wasn’t coming from him, it would frighten me. He has the calm anger. The controlled anger. The type that breaks if pressed too hard for too long. “Not until I know you’re done thinking like an idiot and doing stupid things. You could have gotten yourself killed. Trent’s been bragging at the bar for weeks on how he’ll tear you limb from limb if he sees you again. He blames you for the cops coming to his apartment the week after you went to Groveton. He forgets, though, that he has enemies everywhere.”

I hear the snap inside my head and my entire body flinches. I’ve talked to Isaiah every night and he never mentioned this piece of local gossip. Gossip that would have led me to act faster. If Trent blames me, then he’ll blame Mom, and he already loves hitting her for no reason. Isaiah took me away from Mom and left her there with that ass**le.

Isaiah’s hand still holds my wrist and I don’t want a backstabbing Judas touching me.

Pulling my foot off the floorboard, I kick at him, again and again. “Let. Go. Of. Me!”

He releases my arm to shove my foot off him. “What is wrong with you?”

“You left her there to die!”

Isaiah punches the back of Noah’s chair and collapses into the seat. His head falls back and he places his thumb and forefinger over his closed eyes.

The flat and bitter notes of a Nine Inch Nails song play on the radio and I sink into my corner of the car, pulling my legs into my chest. My heart aches with the lyrics. It’s a phrase embedded in my soul, a lyric that talks about people you love and how in the end…they go away.

Isaiah took me away from Mom; he won’t help me save her….he told me that he loves me. What used to be my best, strongest relationship has become a leaf withering and dying on a decaying vine.

I guess everything in life really does end.

Ryan

TEN MINUTES AGO, I LEFT PRACTICE and found her gone. While I stood here losing my mind, deciding what to do, Beth was out having fun with her friends. I panicked, wondering if I should call Scott, the police, my dad. I imagined Scott’s grief and thought about how angry my father would be when he learned I lost the niece of our town hero.

Mostly, I worried about Beth. Terrified someone took her. Praying she wasn’t hurt or scared. Now I feel like a fool.

A few minutes ago, they pulled in and now Beth argues with the overrated tattooed punk I’ve seen before. I don’t dare move a muscle, because I’m terrified I’ll rip every single black hair out of Beth’s head. Planting myself firmly next to my Jeep, I watch as Beth and her punked-out friend continue their heated discussion.

Beth played me like I’ve never been played before. I made a terrible mistake. I tried to like her. Screw Beth. Let her tank her life. She agreed to go to the party with me Friday. I won the dare. Deal done.

Beth bolts from the shitty car.

“Beth!” Tattoo Guy snags her by her belt loop. “You’re not leaving. Not like this.”

I flinch, but force myself to stay still. She wants this guy. She left me to be with him.

“Then keep the promise you made to me, Isaiah. Take me. Tonight.” Her eyes search him and the desperation clawing at her face makes watching the scene uncomfortable. Whatever answer she’s looking for, he doesn’t have. He turns his head away with his eyes cast down.

The other guy closes his door to the car and slowly approaches them, yet keeps his distance.

Great, I’m back to the odds of two against one. That is, if I cared enough to step in.

Which I don’t.

Isaiah glances at the other guy. “You always said you wanted a home and now you’ve got one.”

Beth blinks. “Not this home.”

I straighten. The attitude that makes her larger than life evaporates. She’s small. Very small. Especially when standing in front of two menacing guys. Not only does she appear small, but she seems very…lost.

“Wait until you graduate. Just a couple more months. Noah and I talked and…”

With the name Noah, Beth’s head jerks and anger blazes from her blue eyes. “You promised.”

“Beth.” The other guy, who I’m guessing must be Noah, uses a calm tone that even I know will send her over the edge. “You belong in Groveton.”