Page 36 of The Promise

She inhales an almost silent gasp, before blinking away the moment between us. “Well, keep your eyes on the prize, your guys are fighting for their lives out there.”

She sits back against the chair, sipping at her jumbo sized Pepsi and then handing it over to Callie who sits beside her, munching away at a tub of popcorn. She’s way off the mark with that last comment though, my eyes are laser focused on the prize. The girl who I get to take home every night and fuck until neither of us can walk the next day, the girl who ran to me when I was hurt and the girl who takes up more space in my brain than anyone ever has. She’s the best prize I’ll ever win and as the months tick by my anxiety grows about this arrangement between us coming to an end, when I can no longer hold back my feelings and they come spilling off my tongue like word vomit. I know when that day comes she’ll leave me, I know she doesn’t feel the same and that’s ok, but it doesn’t stop the splintering cracks in my heart from forming when I think about it. That day certainly isn’t far away either and I know it. It’s getting more and more difficult to deny the way I feel about Molly, how deep the love I have for her buries itself into every fibre of my being. I’m not sure how much longer I can contain it before it bursts at the seams and sends her running from me.

The game ended pretty poorly, Redwood losing with a nail biting score of five-six. As the three of us make our way out of the packed arena, like sardines trying to escape our tin, Callie strides ahead, straight into Sean's waiting arms. They both throw us a quick wave, before ducking out into the sweltering heat of the summer that waits outside the bitter cold arena. Molly walks behind me, her fingers threading through mine as I lead her towards the exit. But when I squeeze through a gap in the crowd, Molly’s hand whips out of mine and she bends to the ground, retrieving something. She extends a hand towards me, my wallet resting in her palm. It must have fallen out of my jeans pocket without me noticing and when it falls open, revealing a polaroid photo of her in the centre window, she freezes. She yanks it out, holding it lightly between her fingers and pushing me out of the crowd towards the exit, as she turns it in her hand.

“What is this?” She mumbles quietly, when we finally burst out of the crowd into the warmth of the sun. The beams bounce off her face, making her platinum hair shine like a moonbeam and her eyes look so light it’s like looking up at a totally clear sky.

I smile, taking her wrist in my hand as she continues studying the photo. “It’s you baby,”

Her eyes peer up at me. “Why do you have a photo of me in your wallet?” “I like to be able to look at you when we’re apart. Plus, you’re my lucky charm.”

Molly stares at me in disbelief for a long moment, before letting her head droop with a groan. “Why? Why do you have to do that to me Kyle?” “What?” I snicker, taking her waist between my hands and bringing her flush with my chest.

“Be so damn sweet like that,” her cheeks lift into a smile. “That’s literally the cutest thing I’ve ever heard and you’re definitely getting a blowjob for that later.”

My eyes gape a little, dick already aching for her lips to wrap around it. But I swallow the thought for a moment, focusing on the sunshine that warms her face.

I drop my forehead to her’s, breathing in her pineapple scent. “You’re my best friend Mol,” I whisper, pressing a soft kiss to her perfectly bowed lips. She sighs, content in this moment with me. “You’re my best friend too Ky,” she twists her fingers into the blonde hair at the nape of my neck. “But don’t tell Callie, she’ll murder us both.”

My lips part on a laugh, which she steals from me, tiptoeing up and pressing a tight kiss to my mouth. She breathes a moan when I sweep a tongue across her bottom lip before she graciously lets me in to explore. The kiss is kind of different to usual, like we both have something to say, but have no idea how to find the words.

So instead, we get totally lost in each other.

My hands sink into her tapered waist, running up her warm back and trying so desperately to mould her body to mine. Molly’s hands start on my neck, tangled in my hair, then move down to my shoulders before quickly circling my neck as she lifts her legs to wrap around my waist. I grip her ass and press her back against the wall, not giving a shit that we’re in public right now or that people are likely staring at us. I’m drunk on her, as always and I can’t bear to pull away to even check if a crowd has gathered. Not that I’d stop if they had, everyone can watch. I want everyone to know that Molly Crawford is mine and I intend to do anything I need to do to be able to keep her.

Chapter 26

Kyle

I've never been a massive gamer, but I’ll play occasionally when Nick or Lewis beg me for long enough. Usually they only need me to make up their team on whatever shit game they’re battling on at the time. Today it’s Call of duty, which is kind of annoying because it’s a split screen game when you use the two player feature. This is annoying because I always end up looking at the wrong side of the screen, meaning my player is walking into walls and shit. This almost always results in us loosing and Nick proceeding to blame for it. The blame game lasts at least five business days, where he grumbles something under his breath every time he passes me in the kitchen. I say he needs to get a fucking life.

We’ve been playing for less than five minutes when Nick starts pacing around the room, yelling instructions at me that I barely comprehend. So when there’s a light tap on the door, I'm practically skidding across the living room floor to answer it.

“Fucking hell Ky, you can’t bail mid game, you’re going to leave me vulnerable.” Nick shrieks from the couch, one hand waving through the air as he batters his remote with the other.

I frisbee my own remote across the room to land softly beside him on the sofa, earning me another flap of his hands, before he ends the game early and goes back to playing alone. Callie and Sean stand murmuring secrets to each other in the kitchen, probably planning their next escapade to the park tonight to fuck in the bushes or something. They have some sort of new obsession with sex in public places, I swear the pair of them are like cavemen sometimes.

I swing the front door open and a flash of dark curls ducks under my arm before I can blink. “Hi Lo, nice to see you too.” I laugh, but she’s already across the kitchen.

Molly grins at me from the now open doorway, an extra large punnet of strawberries tucked under her arm. “She’s been extra hyper the whole car ride here, she even moaned when I said I wanted to stop off and get some of Callie’s favourite strawberries on the way.” She pecks a kiss to my lips and moves past me, arms outstretched for Callie. She gives her best friend a quick squeeze, before Lois bursts into flames beside her, eager to press her ear to Callie’s ever growing bump.

“Hey Lo,” Sean sings, reaching out to his little sister for a hug, “come to visit your big brother?”

Lois’ expression twists in disgust as she bat his hands away. “Ew, no, I've come to see my niece.” She grabs Callie’s belly gently, pressing a kiss to the centre and giving it a little pat-pat.

Callie and Sean found out they were having a girl yesterday. I’ve never seen Sean’s face flush so white and I could see the anxiety clouding his eyes the entire evening after they found out the news. He’s going to be a great dad, but I know little girls aren’t really his territory. If he was honest with himself, he’d have to admit just how fucking terrified he is to have a baby girl to look after. It’s all insecurity with him though, and once Callie talked him down from the ledge, convinced him how amazing it will be to have a girl and how much she's going to love him, he was like a love sick puppy over it. All the man does is hold Callie’s belly constantly, dropping kisses and whispering to his daughter any chance he gets. It’s cute, I have to admit, especially since he’s so fucking massive and dominating on the ice. Watching him totally melt over Callie and now his mini version of her is heart-warming to see.

“Oh my god Lo,” Callie gasps, hand flying to her stomach, “do that again.” Lois pulls her eyebrows together. “What? This?” She pats Callie’s round belly and Callie’s eyes sparkle, jaw open wide.

“OH MY GOD!” She squeals, fists shaking with excitement. “She just kicked!”

Suddenly everyone is gathered around Callie, all of us pressing our hands to her stomach and waiting to feel a tiny hand or foot prod at us. Sean quickly shoves at us all, moving through the gathering. “Move!” He falls to his knees and holds both huge palms flat against Callie’s stomach, cradling it and pressing this cheek into her skin. “Come on, kick for Daddy.” He waits a moment, all of us watching, but nothing happens. Sean lets out a groan, peering up at Callie with sad eyes. “Why won’t she kick for me?”

“She doesn’t like you,” Lois taunts, her voice dry and unwavering. Sean’s panicked gaze lifts back to Callie, who strokes his cheek and says, “She’s joking babe.”

Lois scoffs from where she leans back against the island, “I'm not,” which earns her a warning glare from the mother to be, along with a sneaky jab to the ribs.

Sean sighs and gets to his feet. “What if she actually doesn’t like me? What if she cries every time I hold her, or what if—?”

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