Forfeit (Original Edit)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Xander married me for a dare.

I stared longingly at Marcus' real, with alcohol, wine. Xander married me for a dare. What had he done? What had we done? The camera flashed again and Tabitha's laugh tinkled next to me.

'We must be mental,' Marcus said, stretching out his recovering leg. 'I read my dare, and thought no way. But, you know, the idea kept eating at me, picking away 'til eventually I found a way to do it. I think that's the point of giving us a year. It's not the money, or the risk or even what's doable in a year. It sucks you in and you mull it over so much that eventually it's seems quite rational. A stunt driver taught me how to crash a car but I hadn't appreciated how old and unloved the MG was. The bloody brakes didn't work and I ended up crashing for real.' He smiled at Xander and me. 'Easy enough for you two though. It's only brought forward what you would've done anyway.'

Oh, you couldn't be more wrong, Marcus. This is the absolute end of Xander and me. He married me for a dare. I clamped my hands around my glass, to stop them shaking.

'I can't believe you've all done these ridiculous dares,' James said. 'What the hell were you all thinking?'

Well, Xander thought he could marry me for a dare and I thought it would be okay to get pregnant.

Tabitha downed the last mouthful of Marcus' wine. 'Oh, come on. It was a hoot. What did you do, James? What was your dare?'

'I didn't do it. I had no intention of doing it.'

'Darling, I thought you'd be more fun,' she said, teasing him. 'I can't believe you didn't do your ickle dare.'

James raised his head, glaring at her. 'Leave it, Tabitha.'

She pouted like a fourteen year-old. 'No. This was your silly game. We all did our dares.'

'No, you didn't,' he said, without any of his earlier affection, 'because trying to kill yourself was not your dare. You made that up.'

She blinked, trying hard to hide her surprise. 'No, it-'

'You don't think I'd turn up on New Year's Eve without reading all the dares in that bloody box, do you?' James asked, still glaring at her. 'There are only two different dares in Stage Three: get married and get pregnant. You wouldn't do either. What was your original dare? Why did you really take a truckload of pills?'

'Does it matter?' Tabitha put Marcus' empty glass down. 'Now, will someone get me a God-damned drink?'

James poured Tabitha a huge glass of red but, as she took it and he shook his head at her, she stared at the floor, reprimanded and defeated.

'This is what you meant at the wedding,' I said to James. 'I thought you meant I didn't deserve Xander, but really you didn't think I deserved to be treated like this. Thank you.'

'That was before you got knocked up for a dare.'

I nodded. It was a fair point. 'I was going to make up a new dare too but I couldn't lie about it anymore. I didn't get pregnant for the dare but it was on purpose and now... I need to be honest.' I looked at Xander but he was staring at the ceiling. What if he doesn't love me? What if he married me to win fifty grand? Was I no different to the Year Eleven girls? God, I'd give him sixty-six million if he'd love me again. Determined not to get defensive, I stabbed my nails into my palms and stayed calm.

'You switched my dare,' Marcus said.

James crossed his arms and nodded. 'I thought you'd be crazy enough to marry or knock up some random tart who'd ruin your life forever. But if I gave you a new dare, something no one would consider doing, then you'd say no.' James paused, glancing at his feet before taking a deep breath and facing his little brother. 'I'm sorry, really sorry.'