Page 19 of The Promise

It’s Callie’s turn to act non the wiser now, lifting an innocent shoulder and dropping it. “What?”

Kyle's hand tightens around my middle. “You guys…talk about, that… stuff?” His face is pale, usually bright blue eyes now a stormy grey colour as his gaze bounces between Sean and me.

“Oh yeah, we talk about everything.” I throw Callie a wink and she giggles mischievously. “And I mean everything.”

Kyle and Sean groan in unison, Sean jumping up from the sofa and skidding nervously across the laminate towards the kitchen, abandoning his half empty beer on the side.

“Right,” he swallows hard, “that’s our cue to leave, come on baby, I need to get out of this fucking madhouse.”

“I’ll come with you, I need to get home, it’s way too late for a school night.” I drop a kiss to Kyle's cheek and climb off him, but his hand quickly circles my wrist.

“Don’t you want to stay here tonight?” He half whispers, eyes bouncing over his shoulder to where Sean and Callie stand watching. The thing is, I do want to stay over. I’d love nothing more than to spend another night squashed against Kyle’s six-foot-two, godlike frame, but I have training early tomorrow and I can’t afford any distractions. So I do what I have to do, even though I don’t want to.

I shake my head, apologetic frown in place. “Sorry, I can’t tonight. I have training early, but I’ll text you, ok?”

Kyle looks down at his lap and with feigned indifference mutters, “Ok, make sure you do.”

I pick his pinky up with mine — now our signature handshake or something — linking them together and whispering, “I promise,” before pressing another lingering kiss to his warm cheek.

It’s only been two days since Kyle and I topped the record for best sex ever, second time in a row. I must personally be on some kind of roll because I smashed my speed record straight out of the park this afternoon too, meaning Mike has agreed to let me have tomorrow off. He almost threw me in the air when my legs propelled me over the finish line, 0.9 seconds faster than ever before. I of course was on the receiving end of a thunderous scowl from Courtney — who was nipping at my heels the entire way around the track — and a much too long and groping hug from Elliot, who continues to make my skin crawl most days. The guy wants me, he’s made that abundantly clear, but there’s not a chance in hell of me ever touching him with a ten foot pole, let alone giving him an all access pass to my magic kingdom. I might set Kyle on him like a guard dog if he touches me again…that would be fun to watch. Speaking of the pussy whisperer himself, he texted me this morning, practically begging me to meet him at the rink tonight so we could go back to his place and do more biology study together. That’s why I'm here, out of the freezing wind and into the…well, even more freezing place they call an ice rink. The guys are just finishing up when I get there, so I perch myself on a bench on the far side of the echoing arena, watching Kyle spray water on his neck and face. The droplets dripping from his tight jaw have no business being as sexy as they are and when he spins around I see him wave, but not to me, he hasn’t even seen me yet. Instead, he makes his way off the ice and into the company of a petite brunette who stands at the edge of the rink, fluttering her false eyelashes at him. The sickening bubble that expands in my stomach is what’s making my leg bounce anxiously right now as I watch him from a distance. I can’t hear a fucking word he’s saying to her, but her mouth widens into a grin, then a giggle slips out and I want to choke. I almost do as she saunters away and Kyle turns back around, a flirty smile still lingering on his lips. Why do I feel betrayed right now? The ache in my chest is tightening everything around it, crushing my rib cage. I stomp over there, ears burning, fists clenched at my sides and Kyle’s blinding smile when he sees me makes me all the more furious at him. I was at least expecting a nervous shuffle or a scratch of his jaw, as is his usual style. But no, the man is so fucking brazen that he tries to step into me for a kiss, his arms fisting my jacket as he hauls me to his chest. I immediately shove at him as hard as I can, which takes him aback, but barely does anything to actually budge him from the spot he’s standing on. What can I say? I’m five-foot-five and he’s six-foot-two, I'm not moving him, he could benchpress me into next year if he wanted to.

“What the fuck was that Kyle?” I fist my hip, eyes wide and accusing. Finally Kyle reads the room and his fingers twist around each other nervously. “I wasn’t doing anything, just getting her a little excited.” My eyes almost pop out of my head. “We have a deal Davis, or had you forgotten about that?”

“What? No,” his flickering eyes capture mine and the ache in my chest eases a little. “I wasn’t going to do anything with her, really I—I.” I hold my finger up to his mouth, silencing him and sending daggers straight through his heart with my burning gaze. “If this is going to be too hard for you then I’d rather you tell me now, so we can end this. I don’t need it to all come crashing down in a week or two because you can’t keep your dick in your pants.”

“No Molly, I didn’t, I don’t…ahhh.” He runs an exasperated hand down his rugged face and inhales deeply before meeting my eyes again. “I don’t want to have sex with her, or anyone else. I want you, that’s why I agreed to your rules.” His hands land on my waist and I feel the fire sizzle out of me gradually the longer he holds me, running a thumb along the slit of bare skin where the hem of my t-shirt ends. I don’t want to be jealous or possessive, I’ve never been a jealous person, but with him…I don’t know, it’s weird, I just want other girls to know he’s taken right now. That’s where the spark of my next idea comes from.

“I want to give you a hickey,” I spout and Kyle's bright eyes narrow. “Why?”

“So girls know you’re taken.”

“Taken? Thought you and me were just casual?”

I nod, rising on my tiptoes and brushing my lips over his. “We are, but for now at least, I'm not sharing you.” I press a smack of a kiss against his mouth and he pulls me back for more, pinning a hand to my back and another on my jaw. He hums into my mouth before drawing back and running his eyes all over my face, letting me go.

“Come here then head boy, let me suck your neck.” I lean into his throat as it bobs, but before I can attach my lips to it, he pulls his face back. Squinty, confused eyes look back at me. “Head boy?”

“Oh come on,” I tease, “you were definitely head boy at school.” He shrugs and drops his hands from my waist. “I barely went to school, my mum had to drive me there and most of the time she was too wasted to walk straight, let alone get behind the wheel of a car.” There’s a sadness in his eyes as he speaks and my instinct is to lace my fingers through his as a comfort.

I try to tread carefully, honestly I do, but I’ve never been good at controlling my tongue. “She’s a drinker?” Is what comes out of my mouth and I cringe internally, hoping I didn’t overstep.

Kyle’s gaze drops and he sighs heavily. “No, drugs…mostly crack and heroine.”

“Jesus, that’s…intense.” I breathe, dragging a hand over my face. “Yeah, luckily she only had me, otherwise I’d have been a substitute father my entire life too. My own dad was too useless to stay around after the second line appeared on the pregnancy test, he dipped almost immediately.” He shrugs and give his head a brief shake. “Never met the guy, not that I want to, I already know he’s a waste of oxygen.”

I take his other hand in mine too, cradling them like he’s a child. “My biological parents were drug addicts too, that’s why they gave me up.” His softened eyes find me, dragging me deep into our common grief and then he kisses me, long and slow and I feel like I'm floating. When our lips part, both on a sigh, Kyle smiles down at me, a glint of playfulness in his sparkly blue eyes.

“Anyway, enough of all this deep stuff. Hickey me up baby.”

Chapter 15

Kyle

“Out Kyle!” Molly’s nails dig into my bare back as she shoves me down the hallway of her dorm room. “Get out and stay out.”

I spin around and try to lift her over my shoulder, but she’s too quick and proceeds to duck away from my grip on her bare thighs. She’s wearing nothing but a matching set of bright pink, lacy lingerie, her braided hair wild from rolling around in bed with me for the last half an hour. That was until I teased her and wouldn’t let her come, that’s why she’s kicking me out of her dorm right now with a glare permanently etched on her beautiful face. The tiny sprinkling of honey freckles makes her all the more cute though, when she’s trying so hard to be mad. I’m lucky I get to be close enough to her face to be able to see them. I plant a kiss against the apple of her cheek before she can push me out of the dorm and slam the door in my face. I pull my t-shirt over my head to cover my stomach, pulling it down and pressing an ear to the door for a moment when I hear Callie’s questioning tone. Her and Anais both just watched that very weird interaction between Molly and I and I'm sure they are both totally confused as to why the fuck she just threw me out, topless and with a huge tent in my trousers.

I hear Molly sigh. “He wouldn’t let me come, so if you’ll excuse me while I take care of myself.”

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