Page 2 of The Promise

I’m so sick of guys doing this to me, agreeing to just sex and then flipping the switch a few months down the line. The irony isn’t lost on me either, men are usually the ones accusing women of always asking, ‘what are we?’ after sex. But my track record is the total opposite, the guys I sleep with always seem to let their feelings take over and ruin the carefree, no strings attached fun that we have. I should have known the same would happen with Ollie at some point.

I want to slam the door in his face, rip my hair out of my head or something to express the depth of my frustration at his persistent nagging. But I don’t want to hurt his feelings, so instead, I simply let out a heavy sigh and Ollie takes the hint, dropping his hazel eyes to the ground again and leaving with his tail between his legs. Maybe I should feel bad, guilty even, but I don’t. I make it clearer than a blue sky when I first have sex with a guy, what this thing between us is and that it will never lead to more. If they decide to still fall in love with me, then that’s their problem.

Chapter 2

Kyle

“Would you move your obnoxious grin out of my face, so I can actually see the puck before it smacks me square in the mouth?” I hiss at Sean, as he purposefully blocks my view of the rink.

We’ve been running drills since 8am this morning and my legs are turning to jelly. Sean’s enjoying pissing me off way too much today and I'm ready to take him out with my skates in nought point two-seconds, if he doesn’t quit. He’s my best friend, has been since he joined the university over a year ago, but my god is he an annoying fuckwit sometimes.

Sean snickers. “You still coming bowling tonight, before the party at Mac’s?”

“Seriously? You’re asking me about that right now?” I grunt, as the puck glides smoothly through the air, almost taking my left ear with it. “You fucking prick.” I slam a fisted glove against Sean’s chest as he skates away, with that cocky smile still plastered across his face. He’s a master in the art of distraction, that’s what makes him such a great player, that and a million other things. He’s easily the star of our team, taking our reputation from the ground to the sky when he joined us last year, scoring more goals than any of the other guys combined in the first season. Of course, I wouldn’t know much about scoring, I have my position in goal where I stay and that’s how I like it. I always knew I wanted to be a goalie, I love the adrenaline of watching the puck make it’s way across the ice towards me, the hairs on my neck standing up and my heart pumping in my ears the closer it gets. Also the complete and utter thrill of saving a goal is unmatched, knowing I was the backbone of my team during a tough game is the highlight of every game night. I don’t get up to much else to be honest, I enjoy the shared parties we have with the gymnastics team most weekends, but other than that, I'm not the most sociable. Except for tonight of course, considering I’ve been roped into a game of bowling with Nick and Sean. They’ve invited some of the girls from the gymnastics team to play with us. And don’t get me wrong, I love watching a hot girl do her thing any day of the week, but I won’t be getting any from the girls who are coming tonight. Callie will be there — Sean’s girlfriend, so she’s out of the running. Lois will be there too — Sean’s little sister, so I'm sure you can guess, she’s out of the running too. The only other girl who will be coming is Anais, and although she’s pretty attractive — auburn hair sitting against her shoulders and one of the sharpest jawlines I’ve ever seen — she’s not really my type. More important than getting my dick wet though, is that I can’t be bothered to force a fake smile tonight, pretending I want to be there when I'd rather be almost anywhere else. I guess you could say I'm kind of shy, but not in a wet flannel type of way. I know how to win girls over and get them to go home with me, when I'm in the mood for a blowjob and a short burst of endorphins. But when it comes to social gatherings and events, I mostly rely on alcohol to get me through the night. It numbs the self conscious buzz that’s a constant in my head.

“Come on, you fucking baby,” Nick jabs me in the ribs, “you don’t need to be scared, even though the girls will probably completely railroad us tonight.”

“I’ll be railing Callie tonight, that’s for sure, whether she wins or not.” Sean mutters with a smile from the other side of the locker rooms, where he removes his shirt.

“Ok, whatever you two fucktards say.” I sigh, ruffling the jungle of blonde that resides on my head and peeling the sweaty shirt off my torso. “Jeez man, you need to get laid, you’re a grumpy shit recently.” Nick mutters, bumping his shoulder into mine.

I know he’s right, I haven’t had sex with a girl for a while, but that’s been my choice. I don’t have sex with girls just for the sake of it, I have to be really attracted to them before I’ll put my dick between their lips. Nick would never understand that though, he'll pretty much fuck any girl with a pulse.

“Sorry I'm not a total man whore like you two.” I huff, throwing a damp towel at Sean’s face, as he emerges from behind his open locker. He holds a sarcastic hand to his chest, eyes wide. “Hey, I’ll have you know I have a girlfriend who rocks my fucking world, I'm no man whore.” He gestures to Nick, who’s clamping his lips together to hold back his snicker. “Him on the other hand, total slag.”

“You used to be worse than Nick, before you met Callie.” I say, a smile tugging my lips.

“Yeah well,” Sean says sheepishly, his eyes flickering against the laminate floor. “We don’t talk about that.”

Sean used to be the biggest fuck boy on the team, taking home a new girl most nights of the week and fucking them all night long, making our shared house sound like the site of a porn studio. But when he met Callie last year, he totally turned it around, flipping the narrative he’d created for himself on it’s head and becoming the most dedicated man I’ve ever seen. I’m proud of him, but don’t tell him that, the guy doesn’t need an ego boost. “Anyway,” I say, as we make our way into our separate shower cubicles. “I am coming tonight, I already told you the other hundred times you asked me this week.” I lather the soap in my hands and run it all over my body, watching the sweat laced water circle down the drain below me. Nick is right though, I do need sex, I need to loosen up and let myself enjoy the attention from women the way I used to. It’s the heavy stress that’s been weighing on me over the last few months, that’s had me retreating into my own little snail shell and not wanting any unnecessary interaction with other humans. My mum is the source of almost all of that stress, when she’s good, she’s great, texting me frequently and checking in on me, actually pretending to care about her only son and what he’s doing with his life. But when she’s shooting herself up on crack or heroine — whichever she can get her hands on the most easily — she’s like a storm cloud on a sunny day, ruining everyone’s happiness and soaking the people around her in her depression. It gets to me, I hate to admit that, but it does. Her presence in my life has always been fleeting, my grandad having raised me for most of my childhood and funding my place here, before he died just over a year ago. For some reason though, my mum's current state is really bothering me, causing my anxiety to skyrocket and make me want to curl up in my bed and stay well away from anyone who wants any sort of interaction from me. It drains me to say the least and when I'm worrying about her, I can’t focus on anything else. She’s miles away in London and still managing to steal the light from inside me.

I clamber out of my BMW M3, giving her a little pat on the bonnet as I take in her sleek, effortless beauty. When my grandad died, he left me all of his inheritance and it was a hearty sum to say the least, just under a million pounds to be exact. I went from being a broke university student with a crackhead mother, to suddenly rolling around campus in a brand new BMW and earning myself more head swivels than ever before.

“You know man, I swear that car of yours gets sexier each time I see her, I'm thinking about taking her on a date.” Nick drawls, as he swings a heavy arm over my shoulder.

“Sorry,” I chuckle, “she’s taken.”

Nick gives my ribs a playful jab. “Taken? You’ve never fucked a chick more than once Davis, so I'm sure you’re good at sharing. Now give me your keys, so I can take her for the spin of her life.”

“Fuck off,” I laugh, letting Nick drag me along behind Sean towards the entrance of the bowling alley.

To be clear, I have slept with a girl more than once, quite a few girls have been for a ride on my dick more than once actually. There have been a few girls over the years who I’ve liked for more than just a quick round of hide the pickle. So I’ve taken them out on a couple of casual dates and then usually cut ties the moment they start declaring their undying love for me. That’s where my boundary firmly lies, I don't mind spending time with a girl if I really like her, but love? That makes me sweat. The only person who has ever loved me was my grandad and he’s gone, so now I'm roaming this earth like a detached balloon, no ties or feelings holding me down. But you know what? I kind of like it.

Sean plows through the double doors, into the bowling alley like the hurricane he is and throws his money onto the reception desk. The small girl behind the desk gulps loudly as she looks up at Sean, who leans over her, totally unaware of how intimidating he looks right now.

I nudge him to the side. “There’s three of us and we have three more coming.” I smile softly at her, hoping to bring down the fear that’s mounting in her eyes as she looks up at Sean over the rim of her thick glasses. When she catches my smile, her face softens a little and she quickly nods, rummaging in the till and lightly placing Sean’s change back onto the counter. Sean is totally fucking oblivious to the fact this girl probably has a puddle of piss between her legs, from the way he loomed over her.

“Thank you,” he chimes, smiling widely at her and striding off towards our assigned lane, whilst we wait for the girls to show up. The guy may look huge and scary at times, but if you know him like I do, you’d know he’s actually just a huge teddy bear. Don’t get me wrong, you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him, but when I see him with Callie I'm reminded just how mushy he really is inside.

My point is proven the second Callie walks casually into our lane and Sean almost combusts as he rakes his eyes up and down her body, like this is the first time they’ve met. In reality, they probably spent the whole of last night naked and rolling around together as usual.

He shakes his head, eyes lingering on the slit of skin that’s exposing her bare torso. “You look hot as hell.”

“I know,” Callie smirks, flicking her dark curls over one shoulder. Sean hauls her into his chest and plants a possessive kiss against her lips, a handful of her ass in his hand.

Anais moves around them, followed by a blonde who I’ve most definitely never seen before. She gives Callie’s ass a playful pat as she passes by and Sean unclamps his lips from his girlfriend’s, to point a warning finger at the blonde.

“I’ve told you before Crawford, don’t touch that ass, it belongs to me.” His eyebrows are high on his head, before a slow grin takes over. The blonde flicks her braid and huffs a laugh. “I’ve been tapping that much longer than you have Taylor.” She takes a seat beside Anais on the sofa chair that cocoons our lane and pulls her thick platinum braid over one shoulder. She’s beautiful, like drop dead, fall at her feet beautiful. She twists a loose lock of bright hair around her pinky finger, as my eyes explore her. Her irises are blue, but not that stereotypical blue like the ocean, not like mine. They’re like a stormy blue, piercing, but there’s also a depth to them that I think I'd like to drown in. Her tits are perky and her taut nipples are clear through the thin material of her white t-shirt. My eyes quickly moving down and land on the tiny blue gem, that sits snuggly in her bellybutton. Jesus, she’s so hot and her hips are so fucking grab able, I want to wrap my fingers around them when I fu—

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