Chapter 58: Simon

“I pick truth.”

“Wow! Very shocking!” Greta laughed. “Simon, back in the day Violet would only do dares. We always thought she had some deep dark secrets that she never wanted to tell. So that’s why she always chose dare.”

“Oh my god, is that what you always thought? I only chose dare because I didn’t want to be boring like goody two shoes Lacy.”

“Oh man, I hated that bitch. Our parents always made us include her, but she wasn’t any fun. She would tattle on us if we didn’t follow every rule.” Greta rolled her eyes. “Do you remember we brought her out to the woods and abandoned her there?”

“I forgot about that. That was awful.” Violet laughed.

“Wait, you brought a little girl out to the woods and left her there?” I couldn’t believe my mate would be capable of something like that.

“It sounds way worse than it was. The woods were on our manor and had a complete brick wall going around the property. It’s not like she would get lost or anything, she would eventually find her way back.” Violet explained. “Plus, if she didn’t make it back by a certain time, Greta and I would go get her. We just didn’t want to play with her all day.”

“Wow.” Was all I could muster.

“What are you wowing about Si. We have done way worse things to our pack buddies than that.” Jared started to laugh. It seemed like he was relaxing a bit.

“Shut up.” I said, trying not to smile.

“Oh please, you have to tell me.” Violet leaned in and looked up at me with big eyes. “Please!”

“Another time.” I shook my head. “Jared, what’s the truth you want to hear from Violet.”

“There are so many things I want to ask. But I have to ask this one. What is one secret that Greta has shared with you from the past.”

“Don’t drag me into this!” Greta shouted.

Violet pulled her hands to her mouth to stifle the laughter. “Greta, I’m sorry but I have to say.”

“You will not! I will kill you if you say!”

Even though I knew she was kidding, a growl erupted from my throat. She looked at me in shock then averted her eyes to look down at the ground.

“I wouldn’t really kill her.” Greta said in a soft tone.

“What just happened?” Violet said, trying to understand. She looked at me then at Greta.

“Nothing.” I looked at her and gave her a weak smile. “What is this big secret.”

“The biggest I have doesn’t even matter now because he’s dead. But back when her family would visit, she had a crush on this boy in our coven named Geoffrey Townsend and one day she came running up to me after disappearing for a while and said she made out with him behind our shed. The reason why it’s such a big secret is he wasn’t the most attractive. He had cystic acne, greasy hair, and would breathe out of his mouth one hundred percent of the time. Which was so annoying. Why she had a crush on him I didn’t know.”

I could feel Jared tense as he heard this. Even though this was years ago, hearing about his mate kissing someone else set him on edge.

“Sorry.” Violet looked at Jared then at Greta.

“Don’t be sorry, it was the truth,” Greta said. “Come on babe, it was so long ago, and you are a bajillion times better than he was. He wasn’t even good. And you heard Violet, he’s dead so that’s another plus.”

“Yeah.” Was all that Jared could say.

“Your turn Violet.” I said as I grabbed her hand once again. I didn’t want to break the connection for even one second.

“Right. Greta, truth or dare?”

“Ooooo, I’m going to mix things up and choose dare.”

Violet’s face was lost in thought for no more than ten seconds and then it brightened with an idea. She smirked at Greta. “Since we are reminiscing, Greta, I dare you to climb to the top of the house and howl at the moon.”

“Ugh. Not this one again. I would think you would have gotten more creative since we last played this.” She stood up and dusted her butt off.

“I mean, I thought about you letting me launch you into the woods but didn’t want to hurt you. So, then this was a tried-and-true option.”

“I expected better from you Proctor.”

“Whatever, get to climbing.”

Greta jogged lightly to the house and started to climb up the vines that clung to the side of the house. In less than a minute Greta was walking up the steep roof to the highest location. She took a stance leaning forward and started to howl at the moon. In the distance, we could hear wolves starting to howl after her.

Violet started to laugh. “That’s never happened.”

“We are wolves, so it’s only natural.” I looked down at her. She was watching Greta walk down the steeple and hang off the ledge. She dropped from the ledge to the ground, without bothering to climb down.

“Done! That was easy.”

“You do have to remember the last time I told you to do this you almost fell off the roof and broke your arm.”

“Very true. But now it’s a piece of cake.” Greta took her seat and grabbed her glass of wine and took a gulp. “My turn! Si, truth or dare?”

“This isn’t going to be good no matter what I choose.” If I chose truth Greta could embarrass me but if I chose dare, she could dare me to do anything to Violet. What would be the lesser of two evils? “Dare.”

“Perfect! That’s what I wanted you to choose. I dare you to take a dip in the lake…. a skinny dip if you will.” She started to laugh. I looked around the group. Jared just smiled at me. Violet covered her mouth with her free hand.

“You can’t expect me to do that.”

“What are you chicken?”

“No, it’s just…ugh. Fine!” At least this wasn’t something that would make me look completely awful in front of Violet. Before stepping off of the blanket I untied my shoes and placed them on the edge of the blanket along with my socks. I stood and started to walk toward the lake. I took a quick glance over my shoulder and saw that Violet was watching my every move. I reserved not to look at her again until I was done. I pulled my shirt off over my head and tossed it behind me, I hoped that it landed near Violet. I started to undo my belt buckle and pants button. I stepped out of them and put them to the side. I was now only in my boxer briefs at the lake’s edge. This was the last article of clothing. I slowly pulled them down.

“Ow ow!” Greta screamed from behind me. I was sure by now Jared was covering her eyes so she couldn’t see the rest of the show. I set my briefs at the edge of the dock. I ran across the dock and dove into the water. The water hit me like a freight train. It was deep into fall, I knew the water was going to be cold, but didn’t know it was going to be this cold. I swam up to the surface and let out a scream.

“What’s wrong?” Violet yelled.

“It’s fucking freezing.”

“Si! Are you experiencing some shrinkage?” Jared yelled.

“Shut up!” I tread water for a moment before making my way back to the dock to pull myself up. I wanted to give Violet a show, whether she was watching or not. I slowly pulled myself up and threw my hair back. I strode across the dock and grabbed my briefs and threw them on. As I walked back to the blanket, I gathered my scattered clothes and sat down next to Violet. I didn’t look at her the entire time, but now I did. She was biting her lip hard; she tried not to smile. She liked what she saw.

“You’re all wet.” She said to me.

I wanted to say, so are you, but I knew better. “Does that mean you want a hug?”

“Oh my god no!” Violet squealed.

“Come on.” I leaned over and put my wet arms around her. Loving the feel of her electricity flowing through me. She struggled for a moment but then relaxed, taking in the hug. I felt Jared and Greta staring at us, not daring to speak and break up this moment between us.