Page 96 of Promise Me Not

The girls I’ve met on campus this semester, they meant nothing, and going back, I know I won’t even be able to entertain the noise. Not now.

Not after the last few weeks.

Last few months?

When is the last time I hooked up with someone? A couple weeks into the semester, maybe? A dumb drunken night that I hardly remember.

I remember every moment I’ve ever had with Payton, and I haven’t even kissed the girl yet.

I’m fucking going to.

The girls are still talking, but I’ve managed to tune them out, moving to Noah with an outstretched hand. “Riley.” I lift a dark brow. “Looks like my sister’s still in one piece. This shit serious now or what?”

“It’s whatever she wants it to be.”

“Good fucking answer, my man.” I chuckle, turning to Payton. “Payton, Noah. Noah, Payton.”

Noah smiles, giving a little wave. “Hi, Payton.”

A teeny tiny pink hue begins to creep up her neck, and I narrow my eyes, taking a half step before I realize it, as if to block his Prince Charming–looking ass from her view, but her eyes are already on him.

“Hey,” she says in greeting.

“Okay, intros are over.” I frown. “Inside. It’s getting cold as fuck out here.” I turn, raising a brow at her as I pass her on my way into the house.

I swear she thinks it’s funny, and I’m right when she teases, “Ari, did you know your brother is the bossiest person on the planet?”

Her words are purely for my benefit. Kind of like that part, though.

“Yeah, you get used to it.” My sister sighs dramatically, and I pretend to groan, flipping her off over my head.

My boys come in, both giving me that unsure, pitying look, but when I only grin, they wipe it away in an instant, coming in for a hug.

“Good to see you, my boy.” Brady slaps my good shoulder. “This motherfucker won’t shut up about you at practice.” He pretends to complain about Chase, but we all know it’s his way of letting me know they’ve had my back. As if I had any doubt.

“Oh yeah?” I grin at Chase. “Miss me, fucker?”

“Nah, just wanted to make sure the other dude trying to show off didn’t forget he was nothing but a stand-in.”

“My man.”

Chase smirks, moving over to say hi to Payton.

I watch as she beams up at him, laughing as he whispers something in her ear. Brady catches my eye, a brow raised, and I wink at the fucker.

“Whoa, whoa—” he starts, jumping out to grip my arm, fully intent on grilling me over what his perceptive ass is picking up on, but I dodge him, quickly whirling around the island.

I kiss Cameron’s temple, and she kisses the air in return, already digging into the fridge for something sweet, and I take a moment to look across my friends, all doting on the pregnant girl who’s glowing from the inside out.

I can’t help the images that flash across my mind of all of us in the future, in this same spot, plus a little blond-haired boy running around.

He’d run up to me and?—

A harsh exhale I’d recognize in a room of a hundred catches my attention, my head snapping to the right.

Payton is slowly climbing to her feet, but she only just sat down. Worry slices through me when her hand shoots to her back, the other pushing out to grip the table, and I’m already moving.

Snagging the water she set down, I quickly drag the larger chair with the doubled-up cushions we fixed up for her a few days ago closer.

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