Page 19 of The Pact

Cole points to each dish on the stove. Herb crusted chicken, garlic parmesan broccoli, and rice. My mouth waters as I take it all in.

“Hey.” He looks down at me and I hook my finger into the neckline of his shirt, gently pulling him down to meet my lips. I let him know with that kiss that he still has all of my attention. His arms pull me close against him.

Pulling away a little, he whispers in my ear. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you look in my clothes, love?”

“I do now,” I answer as I stare into his hazel eyes. I kiss him once more. “What can I help with?”

Cole gives me some plates and silverware, while he brings the food to the table. I purposefully choose the seat next to him.

My earlier feeling that there is some history between all of them that is adding to the tension at the table returns. I’m curious to know more.

SUTTON

I never thought I’d see her again.

My heart is still pounding as I watch her kiss my brother. That’s why she’s here. She’s dating Cole. He didn’t mention it. Damian is probably pissed, however, I don’t care about that right now.

The moment she threw her arms around me, the countless memories of late nights and early mornings came rushing back. It took me too long to get Thea out of my head. Now, here, she is undoing it all.

She’s still unbelievably beautiful. Her hair’s longer, yet everything else is the same. That sparkle in her eyes when she gets excited is still there. I saw it when she realized who she was looking at. Damn, she looks real fucking good in those sweatpants and that tight shirt.

I remind myself that those are Cole’s clothes and that Thea is here with him.

I move my helmet off of the table as she comes over to set it. As she walks by, I get a whiff of her freshly shampooed hair—coconut and vanilla. I want to wrap my arms around her and sit by the fire all night, catching up. But I restrain myself.

Instead, I watch from a distance as she places the plates down, thinking back to the last time I saw her.

The memory isn’t especially pleasant. We spent the first two years at the University of Georgia joined at the hip. Those are my favorite memories. The last two years were much different.

Thea met Gavin in our Junior year. Young love and all that. She wrapped her whole life up in him. I was jealous that I never told her how I felt. There were so many chances when I thought she was feeling the same as me. I was too much of a pussy—scared of rejection. So I watched as she found someone who had no problem taking what they wanted.

At first, we still spent a lot of time together. Then, Gavin got jealous. He’d call repeatedly whenever we hung out. She started seeing me less and less. I know it hurt her just as much as it hurt me. We’d see each other on campus and she’d give me a pained smile. I’d return it.

The last time I saw her was at graduation. She was standing there after the ceremony with her parents, Gavin, and who I assume were his parents. They were all talking and laughing, but Thea wasn’t. She was standing there as if she didn’t belong.

I wanted to run to her, grab her hand, and take her away. I didn’t. I chickened out again and I’ve lived with the consequences of it for over a decade.

She is the one that got away and now here she is, although under very different circumstances that I don’t think even she understands.

8

THEA

“… and we had to run across campus barefoot to get my assignment in on time,” I say, hardly able to get the words out through the laughter. Sutton chuckles at the memory.

He adds, “If Stattenguard could have seen you in a full sprint, you might’ve gotten an A.” I roll my eyes, remembering that I barely squeaked by with a C.

I pop a piece of chicken in my mouth and another memory surfaces. “What about that one night we stayed up until like two in the morning studying and forgot to eat, so we walked to Bucko’s because it was the only thing open?”

“You mean when you said it was only half a mile away, and I told you it was definitely farther?” I level a knowing gaze at Sutton. Both of our phones died. We were going off of pure memory, which was dangerous combined with a lack of sleep and hunger pains. “And I wanted to prove I was right, so I let you lead the way.”

“We walked for over an hour and never even made it. We had to settle for those disgusting gas station hotdogs. I was sick the whole next day.”

His head drops and he peers up through his dark lashes, smiling nostalgically. “I brought you soup and Buckos the next day…”

“And you let me pick all of my favorite movies until I fell asleep.” My hand reaches instinctively across the table and grasps his. The realization of the familiarity that I felt on my date with Cole when I saw his ring hits me. I had seen it before, Sutton wore it all those years ago. My eyes flick up and he’s still staring at me.

We’ve both changed so much and not at all in some ways.

---