Page 58 of Pinkie Promise

I smile and prepare my body for the jump. “On one, two–”

Chapter 16

Hunter

I click thesubmitbutton for my final graded essay of the fall semester and let out a deep exhale, closing the browser and then shutting the lid of my laptop. Caden, sat to my left, does the same, followed by Tanner to my right, who then rears back to grab a beer from the counter. He smacks the top of the bottle against the side of the table, popping the lid, and then takes a long pull. Caden and Tanner both have one more assignment to turn in before the end of term but the fact that we just destroyed our opposing team at our penultimate fall away game, added on top of almost finishing this term’s workload, is enough cause for a weekend of letting go.

Caden scrapes back his chair from the kitchen table and casts a disgruntled glance out of the balcony window. His jaw ticks hard as he scopes out the weather.

“Fuck it,” he grunts. “I’m goin’ now.”

I follow his eye-line and shove my hand through my hair. Caden’s been jack-hammering his leg up and down for the past twenty minutes knowing that his girlfriend from home is meant to be flying into the Carter Ridge airport in the next half-hour. One look at the hail hitting hard against the window and the cords in his neck are about to bust, anxious to make sure that she’ll be arriving safely. He heaves up off his chair and grabs a set of car keys from the wall hook.

“When’s her plane arriving?” I ask as he pockets the keys and pulls on a hoodie.

“Fifteen minutes. Add on the check-in shit and maybe it’ll be twenty-five.” He re-ties the string at the front of his gym shorts as he shakes his head. “I ain’t having her travel in this weather ever again. She’s just gonna have to stay here during term time.”

Tanner rolls his eyes. “I’m so glad that we had this thorough discussion about our new roommate before any decisions were finalised,” he says dryly.

Caden smirks and grabs a travel mug. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t be doing the same if that Irish chick would let you anywhere near her.”

“Her family has been in the States for three generations. She’s more American than you.”

Even I smirk at that one because Caden’s family runs half of Kentucky.

“Dude, no-one’s more American than him,” I tell Tanner, and I catch a pleased look on Caden’s face as he pours his drink.

Tanner narrows his eyes on the travel mug. “For a guy with a thigh tattoo, I wouldn’t have expected you to be so crazy about hot cocoa.”

Caden screws on the lid and begins kicking on his sneakers. “It’s not for me, asshole. Some guys do more for their chicks than just layin’ pipe.”

Tanner’s chair scrapes hard against the floor but I shove my foot against the leg of it so that he doesn’t actually murder our roommate.

“Cade,” I say warningly, shooting him a look as Tanner’s eyes begin to flare.

He looks at me for a moment and then begrudgingly flashes his eyes over to Tanner. He’s only a sophomore so I don’t want Tanner pulverising him but he still has to learn when to shut his damn mouth.

“Sorry,” Caden mutters. “I’m just stressin’. I gotta head.”

Tanner watches him carefully and then finally nods and exhales. “Yeah, it’s fine. Get your chick.”

When the front door to our floor of the house shuts behind Caden, Tanner shakes his head and grumbles, “Lucky prick.”

I pull my phone from the pocket in my joggers and decide that it’s time to do some stressin’ of my own. I’m supposed to be meeting Fallon to continue her balance training – no word of a lie, one-fucking-thousand percent my favourite part of my week – but after looking out of the window I’m hoping that this time she actually bails on me. No way do I want her heading to the sports building in this weather – not when the ground is already getting blanketed in snow, a thin icy layer that will only get worse as the afternoon progresses.

I pull up our texts and send her a quick one:tell me that you’re staying at the condo today.

I shove my elbows on the table in front of me and stare at the rectangular screen, silently begging for her to tell me that she’s gonna do the sensible thing and stay at home, even though my awareness of her dedication is warning me how unlikely that possibility is. The message changes from ‘delivered’ to ‘read’ and now my knee is bouncing up and down, waiting for her to land the blow to my abs.

Tanner kicks my foot and I shoot him a glare across the table.

“The fuck’s up with all the bouncing? Y’all are making me anxious as hell.”

I turn the screen so that he can read it and he lets out a grunt of understanding. “She wouldn’t go out in this,” Tanner says confidently, shrugging.

We both hear the notification sound and his eyes drop down to read her message.

“Uh, well, actually,” he begins, scratching nervously at the back of his head.

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