Page 25 of My Promise To Keep

We climbed the steps up to the apartment, and the door opened before we reached the top.

‘Boys.’

I looked up to see a smiling Bree in her uniform, which I hadn’t seen yet, welcoming us inside.

‘Shrimp. Damn, girl, look at you.’

I grinned and leaned in to kiss her cheek, and she tapped my arm.

‘That’s chief shrimp to you, sugar.’

I laughed. ‘You look good, Bree.’

‘Thank you, Leo. Now come on inside, or this will take hours.’

As we stepped into the apartment, I looked around. I couldn’t see Zoe, but all her stuff was around. It was different. She had redecorated, and it was more, I don’t know, feminine. Like she’d accepted that she was no longer sharing this space with a man and bought a fuck ton of candles and plants.

‘Oh, hey.’

Her voice stopped me in my tracks, and I turned to see her coming out of her bedroom toward us. Her hair was shorter than I’d ever seen it, cut to her jawline and shaved above her ear on one side, and it was blue, various beautiful shades of blue. She was perfect, always fucking perfect.

‘Zo, thanks for this,’ Doug said as Bree came to her twin’s side, and I didn’t miss the way she held her hand. She knew.

‘Hey, Zoe,’ I finally said, as she blinked and offered me a small smile, then turned to Doug.

‘Not a problem.’

Doug led the way to the guest room, and realizing I wasn’t getting any more than that, I followed. This was going to be exactly as awkward as I thought.

Zoe

‘You okay?’ Bree asked,squeezing my hand a little.

‘Yeah.’

‘He looks good.’

I shook my head, letting go of her hand and heading for the door to get some more boxes from Doug’s truck. Of course he looked good. He always looked good.

When I arrived at Bree’s house after that night, driving straight there from Leo’s place, she was worried. I had cried the whole way home, and by the time I got to her, I was a mess. She was ready to murder whoever had hurt me.

‘What the fuck happened, Zoe? I thought you were home with a migraine?’

‘I lied.’ I sobbed. ‘I was with Leo.’

‘Okay, so why are you upset?’ I saw the confusion. Leo would never hurt me — everyone knew that. I paced into her kitchen and helped myself to a glass of water, drinking the whole thing down without taking a breath. ‘Zoe,’ Bree encouraged impatiently.

‘We had sex.’

I stared at my sister, watching her put together the pieces in her mind until her mouth fell open and her eyes widened.

‘You and Leo?’

I nodded, and though I expected her to show concern or be mad at me, she grinned, clapped her hands together, and bounced on the spot.

‘Oh my god, yes. About damn time. Wait, why are you crying?’

‘Why are you excited?’

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