Promise Me Always (27 page)

“Holy shit, Tess! You need to call the cops!” she said. “I don’t want you going home until this is all figured out. You can stay here. I am not taking no for an answer, so don’t argue with me. We can all go to your house later so you can get some stuff,” she raised her eyebrows at me. “And tomorrow morning—you’re calling the cops.” She shook her finger in my face, just like our mother did when she was scolding us. I laughed a little at how much she reminded me of Mom. I knew there was no point in arguing with her, so I just said okay.

Palmer and I spent the night talking and gossiping just like we used to when we both lived with our parents. It felt good to just talk to someone.

We demolished two bottles of wine and a carton of ice cream as we talked about Blake and everything that had happened. I poured my soul out to her and it felt so good to get it everything off my chest, even though it was killing me inside to have to relive every moment. I was impressed with myself for opening up and telling her how I was feeling. She threatened to beat the shit out of Blake the next time she saw him and I made her promise not to touch him. It wouldn’t help anyway.

The next morning Palmer called in sick to work and we spent the whole day lounging by the pool. I didn’t hear anything from Jared and was starting to think that maybe this was just a freak incident and he was going to leave me alone. I talked Palmer out of making me call the cops and assured her that if anything else happened, I would call them and file a report.

I was excited for Friday because our old friend, Davis was finally home from his deployment and his welcome home party was on Friday. I couldn’t wait to see him and Morgan, his on again/off again girlfriend. They had an interesting relationship— when Davis left, he never expected Morgan to stay with to him. He would always leave by telling her he loved her, but didn’t want to tie her down while he was gone for a whole year. She never did anything with any other guy, though. She loved him too much and knew that he was the one. As soon as he returned, they would pick up exactly where they left off. I knew they would be married soon and we were all hoping that the homecoming party would be where he would propose. This group needed a happily-ever-after.

Davis and Blake were good friends and the party was being held at Shane’s house so, more than likely, Blake would be there. I didn’t know what would happen when we saw each other and I was scared and anxious to see him again. I knew exactly how my body would react when he was near because it was aching for his touch every day, but I had no idea how my heart would react.

I finally gave in to Devin’s persistent nagging and decided to join him and Matt at Shane’s house for Davis’ coming home party. Davis had joined the marines, following in his father’s footsteps, as soon as we graduated high school. He had been away for almost a year now and just got back a few days ago from his third deployment. There was always a massive party in his honor when he returned home and, being that he was one of my good friends, I decided it would be a bad idea to miss it. When Devin asked me again, I gave in and got dressed.

As we pulled up to Shane’s house, I got a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I started thinking of Tess immediately, wondering what she was doing and where she was. I was curious if she was over me yet. It has been almost a week and I figured she would have moved on by now. I wanted to call her to make sure she was okay, but decided against it. That would only make things worse if she was moving on. We got out of the truck and I tried to push away the uneasy feeling that I was having.

Once we got inside, I started to feel a little better… until I saw Palmer and Cole standing in the kitchen.
Fuck!
I knew if they were here, then Tess wasn’t very far behind them. I had completely forgotten that Tess and I shared a lot of the same friends and, now that Jared was out of the picture, she would be hanging around a lot more.

I don’t think I will be able to handle it if she shows up here tonight.

Just as I was about to ask Devin to take me home, I saw Palmer pushing her way through the crowd of people, heading my way. To make matters worse, she didn’t look to happy to see me.

She started yelling before she was even halfway across the room, “What the hell, Blake! Do you have any idea what kind of damage you’ve done to my sister? I outta beat the living shit out of you right now, but I promised Tess I wouldn’t.” When she finally made it over to me, she stopped about a foot away. She had her hands on her hips and anger was coming off of her in waves. She stared at me with fury in her eyes. “I love you, Blake, but seriously—you are the biggest dumbass. She loves you… did you know that?”

My heart broke into a million pieces.

I knew she loved me, but I loved her more. And that made it my responsibility to protect her, to stay away. I don’t think anyone would ever understand my reasoning behind what I was doing, but it made sense to me—so I was sticking with it.

“I know she does, Palmer, and that’s why I’m doing this. I’m no good for her. If I thought for one second I could be everything she deserves, I’d go to her. I’d fight the entire world to be with her. I fucking love her.” I looked straight into her eyes so she could see I was dead serious. “And that’s why I’m staying away.”

I stood my ground in front of Palmer but, inside, I was slowly dying all over again. There was no way Tess really loved me. She was just in love with love; it had nothing to do with me. At least that is what I had convinced myself of. I had relived this nightmare every day since I left her and I would continue to relive it for the rest of my life.

She watched me intently, her somber eyes never leaving mine. “Blake, when are you going to realize that you
are
everything she needs?” Her eyes softened and her head tilted with sympathy. “And she’s everything
you
need.”

Without a warning, she spun on her heel and walked away. I was completely taken back by what she said.
How could she possibly think I was what Tess needed after last weekend?
My head was starting to hurt and I needed a drink.

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. Downing the whole thing in one gulp, I grabbed another before I made my way outside. I needed to find Devin so I could get the fuck out of here. It was too much—seeing Palmer and talking about Tess crushed me. I wanted to go home and drink away my sorrows. I wasn’t ready to deal with any of this.

Finally, I spotted Devin. He was talking to Shane and Matt in the backyard. Just as I was walking up to them, I heard Shane’s phone start to ring and that uneasy feeling returned to my stomach. I watched him as he looked down to see who it was. A giant, smug smiled spread across his face and instantly, I knew it was Tess.

He looked right at me as he answered it. “Hey, doll, where are you?”

It took every ounce of control not to punch him in the fucking jaw. He was getting off on this shit. Tess didn’t mean anything to him, she was just a conquest. There was no way she would ever sleep with him and he knew that, so why the fuck was he still trying?

Just as I was about to grab the phone from him, Shane’s smile dropped from his face and I knew something was wrong. “What? Seriously? Okay, Tess, calm down. Just keep driving. Don’t pull into my driveway, just go right past the house and turn around in the cul-de-sac. We’ll be waiting for his ass when you get there.” My blood started to boil. I knew something was wrong—I had felt it as soon as we got here

“What the hell is going on?” Nothing mattered anymore. All my insecurities and doubt flew out the window—all that mattered in my world was her. I loathed the fact that she was in trouble and I wasn’t her first phone call—Shane was. And I felt like shit that I had no idea what was happening.

“It’s Jared,” he said. As soon as the name registered in my head, I was livid. “He’s following her again.”

Wait
…
what did he mean again?

I didn’t even have time to ask questions. Shane took off for the front of the house and Devin, Matt and I were right behind him. As we walked through the living room, I grabbed Cole and Palmer, filling them in as we made our way outside. Palmer was worried. She had a look of fear on her face as we approached the street and I knew this was serious.

“What’s going on you guys? Why the fuck is Jared following her?” I was getting really fucking pissed.
Someone better fill me in right fucking now!

“Jared’s been stalking Tess ever since she broke up with him. He’s been sending her texts and pictures of the two of you together and he’s been sitting outside her apartment at night. The other day he followed her to our place and even got out at a red light and pounded on her window,” Palmer said, her words all rushing together. “He’s lost his damn mind!”

My whole body shook as my rage consumed me. “Did she call the cops?”

“I tried to make her, but she said it wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m really worried about her. He was keeping his distance when you were around but, now that you’re not…” She trailed off when I snapped my head in her direction.

I was distracted from Palmer when I heard the purr of an engine make the turn onto Shane’s street and Tess’ red Honda Civic came speeding towards us. I could see Tess’ face when she drove past the house and she looked terrified. She had been crying and there were streaks of black mascara running down her cheeks. Palmer immediately took off after Tess’ car, as the rest of us waited for Jared’s car to pass. But it never did. I stepped into the street to see if I could see him. Just as I did, I saw a black beamer speed by the end of the street.

“That was him! The fucking pussy won’t even think of turning because he knows we’re all here.” I heard Shane say as he came up behind me.

I spun around and stared at him, every muscle in my body tight as I shook with fury. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me about this shit, Shane?”

He stared at me with annoyance. “First of all, I haven’t seen you all week. Second, it isn’t really any of your business anymore because you aren’t with her. And third, Tess didn’t want you to know. She made us all promise that we wouldn’t say a word to you.” My heart sank when he said the last part and my knees almost gave out from underneath me. If I didn’t have so much adrenaline coursing through me, I surely would have sunk down to the ground and never gotten up.
She didn’t want me to know?

Shane was right—we weren’t together, but that didn’t mean shit to me. I loved her and needed her to be safe. I would always have the urge to protect her and shit like this wasn’t supposed to be happening.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down, but then I heard her scared voice coming from the driveway. I hadn’t spotted her yet, but I knew it was her. I would be able to recognize her voice in the middle of a burning inferno, even if it was just a whisper.

“Why did you tell him, Palm? He doesn’t need to be involved in this. It doesn’t concern him anymore.” My eyes followed the sound of her voice and then I saw her. She was standing on the other side of Palmer’s Tahoe—crying into her hands while Palmer rubbed circles on her back. I slowly started making my way over to her. As I got closer, I made sure to stay out of sight. She didn’t want to see me yet and I didn’t blame her. Lucky for me, there was a huge tree in Shane’s front yard and I was easily hidden from their view.

“I didn’t really have a choice, Tess. He was freaking out and you were in danger. I’m sorry,” Palmer told her.

“I’m not ready to face him. I’m going home.” I heard the anxiety and hurt in her voice when she spoke and all I wanted to do was hold her and tell her how fucking sorry I was for leaving her.

I knew eavesdropping was a dick head thing to do, but I couldn’t help it. This was the closest I had been to her in almost a week and I missed her so fucking much. Slowly, my body started to take over—inching itself closer, like it was metal being pulled to a magnet. With only the Jeep between us, I was out in the open. All she’d have to do is turn around and I would be staring into her hypnotizing brown eyes through the window.

“Like hell you are! You’re not going anywhere alone. Just give me a second to find Cole. I’m going with you.” I watched Palmer turn around in search of Cole and, as her footsteps faded away, I felt this overpowering need to be next to Tess.

I never took my eyes off her as I made my way around the front of the Tahoe. She still hadn’t seen me and I took the opportunity to admire her perfection. She looked absolutely stunning as the sunlight beamed down on her caramel hair and her golden skin. She was picture perfect and I couldn’t believe she wasn’t mine anymore.
Who was I kidding—she would always be mine.

She kept taking in slow, deep breaths and I could tell she was trying to calm herself down. With one more step, I placed myself just a few feet away from where she was standing. I leaned against the hood of the Tahoe, making just the slightest noise as her eyes shot up and met mine. She looked scared, hurt, and nervous as her fingers found her hair, weaving sections of it around her fingers tightly.

“Are you okay?” It was all I could muster, as her gaze shifted to her feet.