The Briar U series comes to an end in serious style. Read on for an exclusive excerpt from The Dare and get ready for Conor and Taylor to steal your friggin’ heart.
Before reading The Chase, I really didn’t think that Elle would be able to compete with her already incredible Off Campus series, and the incredible heroes and heroines within, but the spinoff series, Briar U, has given me some of my favorite New Adult stories I’ve ever read. And while I’m really sad to see it end with The Dare, I am so grateful to have the hilarious and heartfelt series to revisit time and time again.
Fitz and Summer, Jake and Brenna, Hunter and Demi, and finally Conor and Taylor are one hell of a bunch. I didn’t know it to be possible, but I think they live louder and bolder than the Off Campus crew, and you know that’s saying something. Especially when the original series included the likes of Garrett Graham and Dean Di Laurentis. And you get just the right amount of all the previous Briar U couples in The Dare, including a moment or two with ones who started us all down this incredible NA hockey journey.
But we’ll get back to that in our review of The Dare when it goes live tomorrow. For now, let this little glimpse into Conor’s state of mind whet your whistle and get you pumped up for The Dare‘s grand entrance into the world!
Meet Conor Edwards in this exclusive ‘The Dare’ excerpt
The boys are getting absolutely ripped tonight. We’ve been at this sorority party all of twenty minutes and already Gavin and Alec have torn open their shirts with their bare hands and are strutting around the beer pong table like a couple of barbarians. Got to admit, though, after winning our playoff game, I’m feeling pretty primal myself. Two more victories and it’s on to the Frozen Four. While no one will say it out loud for fear of jinxing the team, I feel like this is our year.
“Con, get over here, asshole.” Hunter calls out to me from across the room, where he and some of the guys have lined up rows of shots. “Bring those two knuckleheads with you.”
We gather with our teammates, all red-faced and high on adrenaline. Each of us hold up a shot glass while our captain, Hunter Davenport, makes a speech. He doesn’t even have to shout, because the music stopped about ten minutes ago. I keep seeing panicky sorority girls darting to and from the speaker system in the living room.
Hunter’s gaze sweeps over everyone. “I just want to say I’m damn proud of all of us for how we’ve persevered as a team this season. We’ve had each other’s backs, and everyone has put in their maximum effort. We’ve got two more, boys. Two more and we’re in the hunt. So enjoy tonight. Let’s turn it up. And then it’s time to get your heads back in it for the final push.”
It still doesn’t feel real sometimes. My punk ass at an Ivy school, interloping among the well-bred sons and daughters of old money and founding fathers. Even with my boys, the closest thing I’ve ever had to family after my mom, I can’t help sometimes checking over my shoulder. Like any day now they’re going to figure me out.
After a shout of “Briar hockey!” we throw back our shots. Bucky swallows and releases a guttural war cry that startles everyone until we all bust out laughing.
“Easy there, killer. Save it for the ice,” I tell him.
Bucky doesn’t give a shit. He’s too stoked. Young, dumb, and full of bad intentions tonight. He’ll make some young lady very happy, I’m sure.
Speaking of ladies, it doesn’t take long for them to coalesce around the beer pong table once we get another game going. This time it’s Hunter and his girlfriend Demi against me and Foster. And Hunter’s girl plays dirty. She’s peeled off her zip-up hoodie and is now in just a thin white tank top over a black bra, which she’s using to strategic effect to push her tits up in our faces as a means of distraction. And it’s fucking working. Foster goes boob blind and misses the table completely with his shot.
“Fuck, Demi,” I grumble, “put those things away.”
“What, these?” She grabs two handfuls and lifts them practically up to her neck while making the worst attempt at looking innocent.
Hunter lands his shot in one of our cups easily.
Demi winks at me. “Sorry not sorry.”
“If your girlfriend wants to take her top off, I’ll forfeit right now,” Foster says, trying to get a rise out of Hunter.
He’s too easy. Caveman mode activated, Hunter yanks his T-shirt over his head and pulls it down over Demi so it looks like a baggy dress on her. “Eyes on the cups, dickhead.”
I swallow a laugh, deciding not to point out that Demi Davis would look hot even if she were wearing a burlap sack. There was a time I might have hit that, but even before Hunter knew it, we could see that our team captain was already stupid for that girl. Just took those two a little longer to catch on.
So far, my prospects tonight aren’t great. Gorgeous girls, sure. A brunette all but tries to climb me and plant a kiss on my neck when I sink the next shot into one of Hunter and Demi’s cups. But these chicks have a thirsty vibe about them and so far, no one’s doing it for me.
Truth be told, all the women are starting to blur together in my mind. I’ve slept with a lot of ’em since I transferred to Briar this past fall. Rocking a woman’s world, making her feel special, is a skill of mine. But—and I’d be mocked relentlessly if I admitted this to my boys—none of the chicks I hook up with bother to make me feel special. A few pretend they want to get to know me, but for the most part I’m a conquest to them, a shiny prize to wave in their friends’ envious faces. Half the time they don’t even attempt to make small talk. They just stick their tongues down my throat and their hands down my pants.
Buy a man flowers, at least. Or hell, lead off with a good joke. But it is what it is, I suppose.
It’s not too late to pre-order your copy! Place yours today and it will be ready and waiting for you bright and early tomorrow morning (or as soon as your mail carrier can get there). You absolutely won’t regret it!
Get your copy of The Dare from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository, or Apple, and don’t forget to add it on Goodreads, too!