Kiss My Sass [Books 1 & 2]

[book 2] chapter twenty-two: truth or dare

"Truth or dare, Dani?" Amber said when I came back to the basement.

"Dare, I guess."

"I dare you to kiss anyone in the room."

"Pass," my brothers said at the same time, earning an eye roll from me. I knew exactly what Amber was doing. She was finding an excuse for me to kiss James so I could feel better about his and Leila's kiss, but that wasn't going to be enough. It was too late, I was already beyond jealous.

I walked up to James who was smirking at me, ready for a kiss, and I knelt down. At the last second, I grabbed Holden's face and kissed him. He was taken by surprise but eventually kissed me back, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist as he did. I had only meant for the kiss to last a few seconds, but the anger I felt from James and Leila kept me going. We finally stopped when I was yanked away from Holden.

"What the hell?" James demanded, clutching my arm.

I wiped my mouth as I gave him an innocent look. "What's wrong? It's just a dare."

He dropped my arm and stood up before storming upstairs. I didn't spare Holden a glance as I ran after James. I was looking for him all over the house and caught him standing in the backyard. I opened the glass door and was hit with cool wind and rain.

"Come inside," I yelled over the sound of the storm.

"Were you trying to hurt me?" James demanded.

"What?"

"I got dared to kiss Leila and I asked you before I did, so were you trying to piss me off?" he elaborated.

I stood outside and closed the door behind me, stepping into the rain. "No."

"Why can't you trust me?" he shouted, the sound of the rain overpowering his voice.

"I do," I insisted. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"Why would you do that?" he asked, sounding more hurt than angry.

"I got jealous, okay? Seeing you two kiss made me jealous, I'm sorry."

"Truth or dare?" James suddenly said.

"What?"

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare," I answered reluctantly, scared of what his question would be if I picked the former option.

"I dare you to pick truth."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, truth."

"Did that kiss mean anything?" he asked.

"It didn't," I said in a solemn voice.

"Are you sure?" he confirmed.

"Yes, I'm sure. I love you, okay?" I leaned in to kiss him, but James had another idea in mind. He shoved me into the pool and I fell inside, landing with a big splash.

"What the hell?" I screamed as I floated back up.

He laughed. "Alright, now I forgive you."

"I can't believe you," I said in disbelief. "Help me up."

James reached over, but I pulled him in with me. He fell in the pool and we both laughed. I then leaned in to kiss him, and he kissed me back, all of the tension between us disappearing as we deepened the kiss. As we were making out in the pool in the rain, my eyes locked with Holden's as he watched us through the window. Not giving him a chance to react, I closed my eyes and focused on James.

~*~

I let out a soft groan as I woke up, confused by my surroundings. Once my eyes had adjusted to the darkness I realized I was still in the basement and it was the middle of the night. Based on how dark it was, it was safe to assume the power had not yet returned. After my and James' pool incident we all stopped playing the game and opted for scary stories instead, and I guess we fell asleep in the basement. I felt the urge to use the bathroom so I slowly got up, feeling the weight of James' arm on my stomach. I quietly wriggled out of his grasp and tiptoed upstairs to the bathroom. As I finished washing my hands, I exited the bathroom and headed for the basement, not looking where I was going, and bumped into someone.