Page 24 of The Pact

I don’t want to overthink this. What Cole and I have is new and although he sees this going somewhere, I haven’t had time to sift through my own feelings. There is something special between us and I want to explore that. But I need to make sure that I’m not getting ahead of myself.

I’ve let my emotions rule me before and it was disastrous. I can’t do that again. Even if all men are not the same. Even if Cole isn’t the same as Gavin.

9

WESLEY

I watch her leave with Cole and breath out in relief. Fuck Cole for not letting me know he’d have someone over. It’s not like him and I want to give him some grace. However, bringing Thea around means the inevitable is coming.

I’m not ready for it.

I can’t tell my brothers any of this—they won’t understand. They’ll tell me it’s been two years and I need to work through whatever shit I’m still holding onto. It isn’t that easy.

I catch Damian staring at me from the kitchen. “You good?”

What am I supposed to say? No? He isn’t any better. Both of us have certain emotions locked behind an airtight vault. “Yeah. All good.” I don’t hide that it’s a lie. We’ve known each other long enough that even if I tried, he’d pick up on it easily.

Staring down at my phone, I hope he gets the hint that I want to be left alone. This isn’t how I want to start my morning. I’m running my fingers through my hair when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Glancing up, I see Sutton.

“Trust me,” he says, squeezing. “This was the last thing in the world I was prepared for.”

He said they’ve known each other for years. It’s news to me. I’ve never heard him mention Thea’s name.

“How do you know her?”

Sutton pulls out a chair and sits down. “College.”

That tells me everything I need to know. Fuck me. “That’s her? That’s the girl you wouldn’t shut up about when you came back home?”

He nods and I feel guilty for wallowing in my feelings. He has it so much worse.

When Sutton moved back to Willow Hill after graduating, all we heard about was the girl he was too scared to make a move on for two years. She met some guy. He kept hoping it wouldn’t work out. He promised himself if they broke up, he wouldn’t let the opportunity pass him by again. But they didn’t break up, at least not while they were in college.

So we listened to him talk about her constantly. He’d tell us funny stories about the antics that young, stupid college kids get into. He’d tell us about this energy that seemed to connect them, all that woo-woo shit.

It was the other stuff that interested me the most.

They never hooked up, although he was pretty sure there was a mutual interest there before she started dating her ex. I don’t remember most of the shit he said. What I do remember is him talking about those sundresses she’d wear… Fuck, his words are still clear as day—to be fair, Sutton has always had a way with words and painting a picture with them.

He’d go on and on about how she’d wear them almost daily and that it was hard for him to keep his eyes off her lush thighs, his words not mine. They’d be watching a movie in his bed and she’d throw her leg over his, her dress pulling up higher. I’d get hard hearing him describe her curvy body, her bouncy tits, and full lips.

As good as he is with his words, she’s so much better in person. Cole’s clothes stretched out over her hips had me wanting to grab her by them, had me wanting to dig my fingers into her soft skin.

Jesus. My cock’s twitching just thinking about it.

As much as my body’s reacting to thinking about hers, it’s her eyes that are haunting me. I’ve only seen that shade of blue once before. Chills spread over my skin at the thought.

Pushing her from my mind, I sympathize with Sutton. “Sorry, bro.” I let some of my moodiness fall away.

I’ve always been protective of him, Damian too, but life hardened Damian and he toughened up quickly. Sutton took more time. Both were easy targets for bullies when they were younger. Sutton was a grade below us and scrawny. His reading problems didn’t help matters.

While Damian focused on getting physically stronger to become less appealing to his bullies, Sutton focused on overcoming his academic weakness, which only put more of a target on his back. He went from the kid who couldn’t read to the bookworm. It was only when he hit high school that he figured out a way to counteract his “nerdiness” as he’d call it.

His parents bought him his first motorcycle in his senior year when he turned eighteen. That’s all it took for the ladies to notice him and for that teacher’s pet reputation to fall away. Damian and I had graduated by then, but we talked every day. He’d tell us about the parties he’d get invited to and his latest girlfriend, all while secretly maintaining perfect grades.

I thought after high school the motorcycle thing would subside. It did for a while in college when his bike broke down, although as soon as Damian offered to buy him one, he jumped at the opportunity. The tattoos and piercings came next. I’m not completely used to this version of him. I still see him as that scrawny little kid I need to protect. However, this is one thing I can’t protect him or any of us from.

“Looks like this one is going to be trouble for all of us,” I finally say.

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