Page 15 of My Vows Are Sealed

My chest tightened and my breathing came in short gasps as I watched Ethan storm out of the children’s room. I couldn’t explain why, but something about his tone of voice and the look on his face scared the hell out of me. It was like he wanted to hit me where it hurt, no matter what he had to do.

“Hey,” Naomi murmured, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I jumped a little at the unexpected touch and my heart rate kicked up a few notches. But then I turned to face her and saw her wearing a sad smile, like she understood exactly what was going through my mind right now.

Then again, she probably would have understood better than almost anyone else in this church. Her family was from South Korea, and she was the first generation to be born here in the States, so she was kept on a pretty tight leash too, although her mom was way more easygoing than my parents were. Her parents owned a small Asian market here in town, and pretty much any time she wasn’t at church or at school, she was there at the market “working.” Not officially, of course, because she was my age, so she couldn’t legally have a job yet. But she got an allowance for helping out there, so it wasn’t like it was slave labor.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I guess,” I said, trying to force a smile.

I was anything but okay. I knew that if my dad found out about my new friends, I’d never hear the end of it. And I’d probably have a huge goose egg on my head by the time he was done “teaching me a lesson,” as he called it.

“I’ve never seen Brendan like that before,” she chuckled. “I think someone’s got a crush.”

My cheeks heated in embarrassment. I couldn’t even begin to let myself go down that road. Even if I’d been allowed to date – which I knew would only happen over my father’s dead body – the fact remained that I was a freshman and Brendan was a junior. Besides, we’d known each other for pretty much our whole lives. I knew he loved me, but like a sister. Not the same way I loved him.

“No. He just didn’t like Ethan talking like that in front of Nate,” I countered.

“Sure, keep telling yourself that,” she snickered. “Is it true? About your friends?”

I sighed. “Kate and Ashton are both bisexual, and Ashton’s…I don’t really know how to describe them. They’d say they don’t identify as either male or female, and they go by ‘they’ instead of ‘he.’ And the two of them were pretty much the only ones other than Heather and Brendan who were actually nice to me on the first day of school, so I honestly don’t care how they identify. They’re good people, and that’s all that matters to me.”

Naomi smiled. “I wish more people were like that. Accepting.”

The door opened, and Brendan walked back into the room, followed by Heather. Naomi’s face lit up for a second, and then she quickly turned away as her cheeks darkened.

Oh, my gosh. I was completely blind. I’d known her for years. How had I never realized she was crushing on Brendan too?

Then again, it seemed like every girl in the youth group had a crush on Brendan. But as far as I knew, he’d never dated anyone, and he would have had his pick of half a dozen different girls in our youth group if he’d been so inclined. Obviously, he wasn’t interested in anyone here.

“You okay, Dar?” he asked as he sat down next to me.

Why did I like hearing him call me that so much? Ihatedanyone else calling me “Dar,” but somehow when he said it, it was different. Almost like a term of endearment.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said quickly. “Not like Ethan being a jerk is anything new.”

“I think that might be my fault,” he mumbled. “He’s in my Team Sports class and he started pulling the same crap with me on the first day of school. I tried to tell him to back off of you and your friends, but I could tell all I accomplished was pissing him off even more. I’m sorry.”

My lips curved up in a smile. I couldn’t help it. Hearing that he’d stood up for me and my friends when he didn’t have to, and when we weren’t there to see it, gave me butterflies in my stomach. It was no wonder I had it so bad for him. He wasn’t just good-looking; he was a genuinely good person and he had a huge heart.

Darn it. I had to screw my head back on straight. He saw me as a kid sister, not as girlfriend material.

Well, actually, it wasn’t screwing my head on straight that was the issue. It was getting my heart to get the memo.

“It’s not your fault. Your heart was in the right place,” I told him.

“Yeah, but all it did was make things worse,” he countered.

“I’m more worried for Ash. I don’t think Ethan would actually do anything to hurt me because I’m a girl. But Ash is…” I trailed off.

“I know,” he sighed, pulling me into a hug. “I wish I could do more to make sure Ethan doesn’t mess with them, but I don’t know how.”

“I don’t either,” I admitted, allowing myself to lean further into his embrace even though I knew nothing good would come of it.

“Darla Esther Jones!” my father’s voice boomed, making me jump as my stomach dropped to the floor.

Brendan’s arms tightened around me for just a second before I backed up. When I turned to look at my father, his glare pierced right through me like a thousand daggers. My chest tightened, and the feeling I’d had before of not being able to breathe returned tenfold.

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