Dare to be Different (Dare Brothers Book 5)

Chapter 1

Nothing quite like slugging my ass off in the cold, trying to get this plane loaded while Remy bitches about how busy we are. Like, fuck off, bud. We wanted to be this busy. We worked our asses off to be this busy, and neither of us has ever been afraid of a little hard work, so I don’t know why he’s wasting time complaining about it.

“Are you going to sit there and bitch for much longer?” I ask him, hauling crates to be stacked in the back of the seaplane. “This ain’t a marriage, Rem. And I sure as shit ain’t your bitch.”

“This is a marriage, and you are my bitch,” he laughs, getting up to help. “We need to hire someone. Or at least get Four working with us more. Think he’ll leave SR?” He passes me a crate and I load it.

I shake my head at his moaning and groaning. “He won’t leave SR.” Search and Rescue is Four’s calling, and there isn’t a chance in hell he’d leave it to fly bush planes.

We’ve been nonstop busy for months. So busy, we don’t even have time for our own lives. We work. We sleep. We sometimes fit in a hookup or a drink with my brothers, but otherwise, it’s work and repeat. We have two planes running pretty much full-time, plus a few jobs we contract out to other guys. It’s exhausting, so I understand his complaints, but I don’t know what to do about it. I haven’t had the time to think about it.

“There’s that Canadian company out of the Yukon looking to expand. We could join up with them,” Remy says, his ass hitting my hip to push me out of his way. “Wanna look into them?”

“I’m not joining a company without working with them first. We know nothing about them.” And I have weird trust issues when it comes to business. Me and Rem—that’s all it’s ever been. It freaks me out a little to bring someone else into our mix. I ass-check him this time, loading medical supplies we’re taking to a remote reservation up north.

“We’ve done small jobs with them before,” Remy says. “We gotta do something, man. We’re burning out. What if one of the planes goes down, or we need a day off?” He shakes his head and lights a smoke. There are still fifty damn crates that need to be loaded, but he’s stressed out.

Maybe we should look into hiring or converging with another flight company. A day off sounds kind of nice, but more than that, I don’t want the stress of this business to ruin our friendship.

“Are we having our first fight, baby?” I taunt him while he smokes like an asshole.

“Verbal fight, maybe. Pretty sure I’ve kicked your ass at least five times since the sixth grade.”

I scoff at that. “Yeah, okay.” I grin at him. We’ve been best buds since we were tots, and we started this business when we were nineteen and horny all the time. If we can get through that, we can get through anything. “Fine, set up the meeting with that company. I’ll ask Four if he can take a few more odd jobs to help us out until then.” I keep stacking. “And stop being a lazy ass.”

He doesn’t stop. He sits on his ass for another ten minutes, taking a break until only twenty crates are left.

I really am his bitch.

By the time I walk into Mom and Dad’s place in the middle of the night, I’m pretty much a zombie. That medical supply run took way longer than planned because the front propellers kept icing up. We had to cover and heat them just to get them running again, but what else is new?

Now I’m tired and wired, unsure if I want to sleep or go find trouble. I close the door behind me and toss my coat on the chair by the front door.

“Work or pleasure?” Laken asks, smirking at me from the kitchen chair. She’s making tea, looking like a hot mess. Still sexy as hell.

“Can’t it be both?” I walk over and lean against the counter. “Why you up?” I glance down the hallway, wondering if Gen and Four will be in there or if they stayed at Four’s place. I really need to find the time to move out of here, but there isn’t any spare time for that right now. I used to have a place of my own for a bit, but it was stupid to pay for it when I was away for work or staying here more than I stayed there.

“Freya had a mild panic attack about being a mom,” Lakes laughs. “She’s good now. Hardin distracted her.”

I have to laugh at that. Freya is all over the place with this pregnancy. She goes from excited to terrified, to pissed off that she’s knocked up, to overbearing mama mode. It’s probably normal, but what the hell do I know?

I pour myself a whiskey, because why not, and sit down at the table with Laken. “You wanna get your pilot’s license and come work with me and Remy?” I ask her. “You’re good at motorsports. It’s basically a big dirt bike.” I grin.

“Yeah, highly doubt that. Still crazy busy?”

“Yep. ‘Remy’s starting to bitch’ busy.”

“Why don’t you hire someone?” she asks, turning to face me and taking a swig from the bottle.

“I’m trying to recruit you. Come on, Lakes. Imagine all the overnight trips we’d get to spend together. You do think I’m beautiful, after all.” I smirk and pour myself another shot.

Laken laughs. “Don’t tempt me.”

Overnight trips with Laken and Remy sound fun, and my cock gets a bit over-imaginative about it, but that ship has sailed. I might be beautiful, but Kade and Jed aren’t letting another Dare in there. Probably for the best. Laken couldn’t handle me anyway.

“You’ll find someone. You and Rem always work shit out,” she says, her big turquoise eyes looking right at me. Is she begging me to fuck her, or am I more tired and delusional than I thought? Wow, I need to get laid. How long has it been since I’m now manifesting fuck-me eyes in the middle of the night?

“Yeah, we do. Remy’s smarter than me, so he’ll figure it out.”

“Morning!” Genevieve’s chipper as fuck, proper morning voice comes down the hallway, and when I see her, she’s smiling like it really is a beautiful morning.

“Jesus, Gen. What’re you doing up?” I check the stove, realizing it’s four in the morning.

“I have a shift at five, Zahnder,” she says, starting the kettle for tea.

No one else can call me that and make it sound so perfect. Little Miss South has all the charm and an abundance of class, and I love how my full name sounds coming from her pretty lips. As I watch Gen make tea and Laken sip my whiskey so early in the morning, I start wondering how the hell we’re all so alike but bring such different partners to the family.

Kade and Jed went for an outdoorsy badass with a massive heart. Dom went for a rugged Alaskan guy who fits in so well with our family. Bo went for a curvy, down-to-earth, yet dominant woman. Hardin finally claimed the fiery local beauty. And Four went for the polite rich girl who took charge of her own life. I don’t know what’s going on with Rydan, but it looks like he’s at least a little into an Alaskan girl we went to school with, so that’s promising.

But what about me? I’ve never given much thought to monogamy or settling down. Is there someone out there willing and eager to handle my shit? My tastes aren’t exactly singular, and at this point, I feel like I need someone with just a touch of a psychotic personality.

Four knows me, but I’m closest with Rydan and Hardin. They know me best. I think our bond works because the three of us are all so different when it comes to what we want in the bedroom. Sure, they’re Dare boys through and through, but I’m the Dare with something extra. Like I got more of my mom’s wildness than the rest of them. Sometimes, I’m downright wrong, but fucking hell does it feel right.

“Killin’ it, Gen. The whole doctor thing,” Laken says, smiling at Gen.

“Killing? I certainly hope not.” Gen smiles, and Laken looks at me. At first, you’d think she’s making a joke, but nope. Sweet Genevieve isn’t yet familiar with that turn of phrase, and damn my cock for getting hard over it.

“She means you’re doing awesome, Gen.” I laugh and finish my whiskey. “Killin’ it.”

“Oh. Of course.” Gen laughs. “Thank you, Laken.”

“Alright, ladies. Have a great day.” I get up and head to my bedroom, drained from the day.

Four groans when I open and close the door, but he doesn’t say shit, so I strip down and climb into bed, exhausted but uneasy about something. Maybe it’s just how busy we are or the way Remy looks burnt out and stressed about it. I need that boy to calm down, because when he gets stressed, I get stressed.

I try to stop my busy mind long enough to fall asleep, but I’m overthinking work and sex. Remy’s right when he says we need some help, and he’s also right when he says we have no lives. I haven’t even got up to any sexy fun in two weeks. That’s got to be some sort of record for me, and it’s not a winning streak I want to continue. But I can’t imagine doing this shit with anyone but Remy, and bringing someone else on as a pilot sounds weird as fuck to me.

I look across the room, debating asking Four to leave Search and Rescue right now, but he’ll just tell me to shut the hell up and handle my own shit. I must sigh or something because Four groans again.

“You’re pissing me off,” he says into his pillow. “Go sleep on the couch.”

“You go sleep on the couch.” I fondle my dick a bit, hoping he’ll leave so I can jerk it. Gen’s bright smile and Laken’s little smirk have me all hot and bothered, but Four will put a damper on my fun if I try to jerk off with him trying to sleep. You’d think he’d be used to tuning it out by now.

“Fuck it,” he groans a third time, heaving himself into a sitting position. “I’m driving her to work. Maybe she’ll give me a blowie on the way.” He throws on sweats and a hoodie. “At least wait until I close the door,” he laughs.

As soon as he’s out and the door latches shut, my hand goes down my boxers and I think filthy but unclear thoughts. Even my spank bank doesn’t know what we’re into right now. My tastes are too broad to settle on one particular fantasy.

Such fuckery.