Promise Me Always Read online

  Trying to hold back the tears, I filled her in. “I called Jared this morning after my portfolio class and asked him if he wanted to catch dinner after he got off work. He told me he was working late tonight on some new building contract and that he would be home around eleven. He told me to go ahead and eat without him and to just come over later and we would watch a movie. I thought it would be a nice surprise for him if I was waiting in his bed when he got home. I went over to his house around ten thirty with a bag full of candles and champagne.” I couldn’t help the tears—it was like a dam broke and they just started falling. I took a deep breath to try and control them. “When I unlocked the door, I heard talking and a high pitch giggling coming from his bedroom. I thought he had left the TV on again like he always does,” I paused, trying to find the stomach to say what happened next. “When I went in to turn it off, boy, did I get to see a show.”

  “Oh, Tess! I’m so sorry you walked in on them. Was it Pamela again?”

  “No! It was Monica, his assistant! I am so stupid. God knows how long this has been going on,” I cried. “Palmer, why would he do this to me again? Do you think he was ever faithful to me at all?”

  “I don’t know, doll, but who cares now if he was? He isn’t worth the tears,” she said, brushing the tears from my cheeks. “Does he know you were there?”

  “Yeah, he knows. After I walked in and saw them, the only thing I could think to do was chuck the bag of candles I was holding right at them.” I giggled at the memory of the candles hitting Jared in the head and then falling to hit Monica, as well.

  “Has he called you yet?” Palmer asked with concern. She looked at me with those big hazel eyes and I knew she was worried that I would take him back again.

  “Yes, but I didn’t answer. He sent me some text messages, too. I replied, telling him I was coming here and that if he stopped by—Cole would beat his ass. Pretty sure he won’t be calling me until tomorrow now.” Her face relaxed a bit when I said that, like she was relieved that I hadn’t let him talk me into forgiving him.

  Palmer started to laugh. “Well, Cole isn’t the only one that would beat his ass. All the guys are here tonight. They are all drunk and pissed as hell that he did this to you again. I almost had to chain them down to keep them from going and kicking the shit out of him.”

  “Who are all the guys?” I asked, confused.

  “You know the usual—Cole, Devin, Blake, Matt, Shane and some other people I don’t know. Lexi, Avery and a few other people should all be here soon, too. Apparently there is a party here tonight and, of course, I was the last to find out.” She put her arm around my shoulder and pulled me to her side. “Come on. The boys are all inside and there is a shot or two with your name on it.”

  The moment Palmer got off the phone with Tessa, something inside me snapped. I had known Tess for four years and that prick Jared did not deserve her. At all. It took everything I had not to get in my car and go find him when I heard what happened. It was probably a good thing I had already started drinking. Maybe it was the alcohol that had me so fired up…

  “I’ll kill that fucker!” I shouted, cracking my knuckles.

  “Blake, calm down. Can I please just talk to my sister before you and the rest of guys go all ape shit crazy on his ass?” Palmer barked back.

  “No! That douchebag should have had the shit kicked out of him the first time he did this to her! She took him back and now he has the nerve to do it again? What a fucking dumbass!” I was so pissed that I was pacing back and forth across the living room like a madman. What the hell is wrong with me?

  “Well, well, well—someone is getting a little upset over here,” Palmer teased. “If I didn’t know better, Blake, I would say you may have a little crush on my baby sis.”

  “Uh… I do not. I just never liked Jared and he crossed a line. You and Tess are like family and there is no way I am going to let him get away with this again.” Jared was a prick and I never did like him, even back in high school I knew he was a douchebag. His parents had lots of money and he thought he was better than everyone else because of it.

  Why am I getting so pissed? I felt like a jealous boyfriend. Tess and I had always been good friends, but that was it. We just always seemed to gravitate towards each other when we were all hanging out. She was easy to talk to and she never tried to get my attention like the other girls always did. Yeah, she flirted with me, but it wasn’t an in-your-face kind of flirting. She actually was a little smart ass with me most of the time. I always thought she was hot, but I knew she just saw me as a player and not boyfriend material.

  Tessa and I met our senior year in high school through Cole and Palmer. We always had a very flirtatious friendship, but neither of us has ever taken that extra step to turn it into something more. We always joked around and teased each other, just like two kids in middle school do when they have a crush on one another. We only crossed the lines of friendship one time.

  Even after that afternoon when we casually hooked up in my car after work, we still remained friends—but that’s it. That was a story any man would be bragging to his friends about. I never told anyone though, except for my older brother, Devin. I respected Tessa too much to brag about it. Plus, I was scared of what Palmer might do to me if she ever found out. She could be a feisty bitch when she wanted to be.

  We had just graduated from high school and we were both working at the mall that summer. I was going to the food court on my break when I saw her. She always stood out in a crowd and I spotted her immediately. She was wearing her usual work outfit—black pants that made her ass look incredible and a black, tight short sleeved shirt. That shirt did things to her chest that should be illegal. Her shoulder length brown hair was pulled up in a messy bun and her big honey brown eyes could make you stop dead in your tracks. I decided to mess with her and bring up our drunken conversation from the previous weekend.

  “Hey, Tessa! What are you doing after work?” I asked her, giving her my best panty dropping smile.

  “Uh… nothing, Blake. Why, what’s up?” she answered as she twirled her hair in her fingers. I was making her nervous.

  “Oh, nothing. I just downloaded that song we were talking about Friday night. Thought maybe you would like to take a ride after work and listen to it?” I laughed to myself as her cheeks turned bright red; I knew she remembered our conversation. I also knew there was no way she would say yes to my suggestion of going for a ride, considering the way that little chat went down.

  She had told me about a song that she had fallen in love with—”Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars. She was drunk and told me that she would give it up to any man that ever played her that song. I told her she was lying, that she would never give it up that easy. She promised me that any man that could be that romantic deserved to get laid. She had looked me right in the eye and told me she meant it. She was pretty drunk.

  When I got home that night, I immediately downloaded the song to my iPod. I told myself that I was doing it so I could torment her later on, but, down deep, I knew that wasn’t the only reason.

  I sat there, watching her beautiful face turn a deeper shade of red, waiting for her to tell me to go fuck off. As her cheeks continued to heat, I mentally patted myself on the back for remembering to download that song. I was so distracted by my little achievement that she totally caught me off guard when she said, “Actually, I think I’ll take you up on that, Blake. My car wouldn’t start this morning, so Palmer had to give me a ride to work. Think maybe you could take me home later? I get off at six.” She gave me the sexiest little smile I have ever seen. I instantly got hard.

  “Sure, I can give you a ride home. I get off at six thirty though. Think you can find something to do for thirty minutes until I get off?” I teased her.

  “I think I can manage,” she said, rolling her eyes at me. “I’ll just meet you at your car. Did you park in your usual spot?”

  “Sure did.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you later, Blake.” S
he gave me a wink before she turned to walk away. “Oh, and thanks again for giving me a ride home,” she said, turning back towards me. “Palmer will be happy she doesn’t have to come pick me up. She had dinner plans with Cole tonight.” She waved goodbye and all I could do was stand there, looking at her ass as she walked away. That girl knew exactly what she was doing and she was good at it.

  The rest of the day, I couldn’t focus. Was I really going to go through with this? Tess was beyond hot, but did I want to potentially ruin our friendship? I had ruined plenty of friendships through sex. Girls always wanted more afterwards and I was just not the guy to give it to them.

  When I opened the doors to the parking lot and walked out towards my car, she was the first thing I saw. She was leaning up against my truck with a huge grin on her face. I had to keep telling myself that she was just a friend that needed a ride home. She had changed out of her work clothes and had on a short denim mini skirt with a pink tank top. Damn, she looks hot. I wondered vaguely why she changed.

  “Hey, baby girl, you ready to go?” I asked as I walked up to the passenger side door and opened it up for her. Baby girl? Where the hell did that come from?

  “As a matter of fact, I am. And I’m looking forward to hearing that song.” She gave me a flirtatious wink and climbed in.

  Fuck! I was in trouble.

  When I got in the car, I pulled out my iPod and plugged it in. I tried to control my breathing while I found the Bruno Mars song and hit play. I let the song play for a bit while I stared at her beautiful brown eyes. Listening to the words for the first time, I realized that the song could’ve been written for her. I sang one line to her right before I started to drive. “You’re amazing…” I sang as I gave her a wink. “…just the way you are.” I gave her thigh a little squeeze and leaned over, whispering in her ear, “This song fits you perfectly, baby girl.”

  I heard her let out the breath that she must have been holding. As soon as I removed my hand from her leg, I threw the truck in drive and pulled out of the parking lot. She looked over at me and smiled that sexy smile and my dick twitched in my pants.

  The next ten minutes felt like an eternity. The silence in the car was enough to drive me crazy. I didn’t know if she was regretting what was happening or if she was just nervous. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I finally spoke. “You know I was only kidding earlier today about the song and everything. You know I was just giving you shit, right?”

  “Yeah. I know, dickhead,” she said, starting to laugh. “But…” she seemed to think about what she was about to say before continuing, “a promise is a promise, don’t you think?” She looked right at me and her eyes were filled with pure lust.

  “Are you serious?” I asked her in shock. “I really don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do. I was just kidding, honest. You know I would never think of you like that,” I lied. Being with her was starting to consume my every thought. She was hot and I would be a fool to turn her down, even if it was just a onetime thing.

  “Blake, I know you were kidding. But, seriously, I want to do this. I’m just scared that you’ll think I’m some kind of slut if we do. And I’m not—I never do this kind of thing,” she said, hurriedly. She took a deep breath and fixed her eyes on mine. “But something inside of me is just screaming yes right now.”

  I reached across the truck and put my hand in hers. “Tess, I would never think that about you. But I would be a liar if I said that I didn’t want to do it. I just don’t want this to mess us up. I like what we have going on. You are one of the only girls I know that I feel like I can be myself around.” I paused for a moment, thinking hard before I continued. “If you can promise me that after we do this nothing will change, I’ll pull this car over right now.”

  My heart was racing. What the hell was happening?! I looked over at her and she was watching me, her eyes practically begging me to stop the truck. Well, baby girl, if you think I’m going to tell you no—you’re out of your mind. I just needed her to assure me we would still be friends. I couldn’t handle her hating me afterwards.

  “I promise, Blake. Please, just do this for me,” she assured me, biting down on her lip. That was my undoing. I found the first deserted parking lot I could find that was off the main road and pulled into a parking spot in the far corner.

  I barely even had time to turn the truck off before she was straddling me. I laid down on the truck bench, pulling her with me, and, instantly, her lips were on mine. Fuck, she tasted good! I slid my hands under her shirt and lifted it up over her head. She ran her hands over my chest, dragging her nails down to my stomach. I pulled her bra down, exposing her breasts. I started sucking on one nipple while my fingers rolled and pulled on the other. She let out a moan that made my dick even harder than it already was.

  She started to lift herself off me so she could start undoing my pants. Once she had them down around my ankles, she started to lift her skirt. “I need you inside me, Blake. Now,” she insisted.

  She began to lower herself onto me and I stopped her. “Baby girl, wait,” it took every bit of self-restraint I didn’t know I had to stop her, but we had to be smart. “Let me get a condom,” I said breathlessly, reaching over to the glove box.

  “Blake, I’m on the pill. But I’ve never done it without one. As long as you look me in the eyes right now and tell me the same, I will believe you.”

  “I’ve never done it without one, Tess. I promise.” I would never lie to this girl. As soon as those words were out of my mouth, she lowered herself onto me. She was so fucking wet. I had never felt skin on skin and it felt fucking insane—I didn’t know how long I was going to last.

  She started rocking back and forth with her hands on my chest. She was digging her fingernails into my flesh and I had to try to think of something else beside how good she felt.

  “I don’t know how long I can last like this. You feel so damn good,” I muttered through clinched teeth.

  “Oh God, Blake!” she screamed. “You feel amazing!” She threw her head back and closed her eyes.

  She kept moving and I could feel myself getting closer and closer with each movement she made. I had never experienced anything like this before. I don’t know if it was the skin on skin contact or if it was just Tessa, but whatever it was, it was going to ruin me. Sex would never be the same after this.

  “Blake, I’m so close,” she groaned, grinding her hips into me. Knowing she was so close so fast sent me into overdrive.

  Sitting up, I pulled her into my chest and whispered in her ear, “Come with me, baby girl.” With that, we both climaxed together. I could feel her tighten around me as she cried out my name. I held her close to me as I spilled everything I had into her.

  I continued to hold her as our breathing returned to normal, both of us coming down from the high. Tess pulled back slightly and looked up at me, gazing into my eyes. She leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips. Something about that kiss seemed different. It was so desperate, almost like she was trying to tell me something, but fuck if I could figure out what it was.

  I wanted to stay like this forever and never let her go. She felt so amazing. I knew that it wasn’t going to happen though— we were just friends and she deserved someone better than me. Someone that wasn’t so fucked up. We slowly got dressed, both of us seemed to know that as soon as our clothes were back on—this was over. I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. My head was a mess. I knew I had to take her home before this got weird, before she got the wrong impression. At the same time, that was the last thing I wanted to fucking do. Wanting to hold on to this moment, one I had dreamed about but one I also knew had to end, I reached over and held her hand the whole way back to her house.

  When I pulled up in her parent’s driveway, she looked at me with that sexy smile and squeezed my hand. “Do you want to come in and meet my parents, Blake?” I’m pretty sure all the color drained from my face.

  Oh shit! Not good.

  She s
tarted to laugh. “I’m just kidding. Gosh, don’t have a heart attack.”

  “Don’t fucking scare me like that!” I said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Plus, I heard your dad is hardcore, so I think I will pass. Especially since we just… you know. I wouldn’t want him to get the wrong impression of me,” I said as I winked at her.

  “Thanks for the ride, Blake. I really appreciate it.”

  “You remember what you promised me, right, Tess?” I asked her, concern filling my voice. I really didn’t want to ruin our friendship over what had just happened.

  “Of course, douchebag, I remember,” she teased as she gave me a wink. “You going over to Cole’s tonight?”

  “I sure am, baby girl.”

  “Okay. Then I’ll see you there. Bye!”

  And just like that we were back to normal—like nothing had ever happened.

  That is how it had been for the past three years now—flirty friends. Nothing ever happened again between us; we were just friends. It killed me to just walk away after what we had done, but I didn’t deserve her. She deserved so much better than me.

  No wonder I was so pissed. I had wanted Tess ever since that day. She was special to me—she wasn’t just another girl and Jared, the jackass, went and screwed her over. Twice.

  I swore to myself that the next time I saw Jared I would beat the shit out of the fucker until he begged me to stop. He wasn’t worthy of her at all. Hell, I was better for her than him! At least I would never cheat on her. If I didn’t deserve her, neither did he.

  Palmer left to go meet Tess in the parking lot while I was having my little flash back. I actually was really excited to see her again. Ever since she got back together with the jackass, I hadn’t really seen her very much. He was keeping her away from her old friends and I couldn’t figure out why.