Promise Me Always (3 page)

“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.” She 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.