Page 38 of My Promise To Keep

‘Okay, ladies,’ Missy said as we sat at a table in a little cocktail bar we were hitting before heading to the club. ‘What are we lookin’ for?’

‘I just want to people-watch,’ Cara answered first in her sweet Scottish accent, and Missy groaned in protest.

‘No, you need to have some fun. You don’t have to do anything with anybody, but you have to at least dance.’

‘People watching sounds good, though,’ I admitted, and my twin turned her attention to me, a knowing look in her eyes.

‘You done lookin’?’ She smiled her genuine, beautiful smile, and I heard the question that she wasn’t asking:Are you ready to go to him?But I just shrugged.

‘I think I’m going to take a break from men.’ I heard Missy’s gasp and laughed at the shock on her face. ‘What? I’ve been hitting the dating pool hard and haven’t caught anything yet.’

‘Thank god for condoms,’ my newest friend sassed, and I rolled my eyes.

‘No, idiot,’ I laughed. ‘I mean, I haven’t met anyone. It’s becoming a chore.’

‘I think a break will do you good,’ Cara said, her kind eyes meeting mine, and I smiled.

‘I just want you to be happy.’ Bree took my hand, and I turned to look at my twin.

‘I am happy, Bree.’ I smiled. ‘I am so happy right now. In fact,’ I stood, ‘I’m so happy, I’m ready to dance. What do you say we find us a dancefloor, ladies?’

Leo

When your best friendwalks into your tattoo shop without an appointment and asks you to hit a club with him for the first time in forever, the answer is a hell yes. When he mentions who will be there, that becomes ahell fuckin’ yes.

The club was packed and not my usual scene, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to see her. I didn’t know how it was going to go down, but I missed her so fuckin’ much, and I just needed to get her to talk to me.

I could see that Doug was tense, so I tried to take charge of the situation. He was in love — really, truly in love with Cara, and the idea of her out in a club was driving him crazy. I got us some drinks and then started to help him scan the crowd.

I’d never met his girl, so I didn’t bother trying to look for her. I was looking for Zoe, and when I spotted her, my heart stopped.

Dancing on a table in a short, tight dress and stiletto heels was the woman of my dreams. I was frozen in place for a minute, taking in the way she moved and the smile on her face. She was clearly buzzed, but I hadn’t seen her look so happy in so long. Goddam, she was beautiful.

‘Is that Zoe?’ I asked, realizing Doug was still looking and getting more tightly wound by the second, and he followed the neck of my beer bottle to his sister.

Once we found Zoe, we found Cara. She was walking with Bree, and she was stunning, but she had nothing on munch. I just wanted to get to Zoe, pull her into my arms, make her forgive me, and let me back in, but I also didn’t want a kick in the balls for ruining their girl time.

When I tried to stop Doug from rushing in like a bat out of hell, he glared at me like he wanted to kill me, so I moved in front of him, putting myself in the firing line instead of him, and turned on my charm.

‘Evening, ladies, can I get y’all a drink?’

‘Leo?’

There it was, that look in her eyes, the surprise in her voice, the way her bottom lip caught in her teeth before she smiled softly for just a second, then schooled her features. She was happy tosee me, but then she remembered I was just her brother’s best friend these days.

I was fighting the urge to pull her to me and show her how sorry I was when Doug kissed Cara and dropped the bomb that they’d been secretly dating, and Zoe pretty much lost her shit.

‘You okay?’ I asked as I stood next to her at the bar.

‘Yep.’

‘Munch,’ my voice was soft, pleading, and she turned, facing me and placing her hand on my arm.

‘Leo, I said we were done, and I meant it.’ She pressed her lips together, and her expression was pained. ‘In front of them, when we’re around our family, I will play nice, but I can’t do this dance with you anymore.’

And without another word, she walked away, and I realized I had more work to do. I had to get her back in my life, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

Suck It Up, Zo

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