Page 8 of My Promise To Keep

Leo:Say yes, and I’ll quit bothering you. Say no or nothing at all, and I’ll text and call you all day.

I shook my head and growled as I typed my reply.

Me:Fine. You suck. You’re buying my drinks.

I didn’t want to do this. I hadn’t been in a club since before Luke died, but it was Leo’s birthday, and he wasn’t giving me a choice.

Leo:I’ll buy you drinks, and I’ll give you my jacket when we leave. You can even take my bed, and I’ll make you breakfast!

I laughed and slid my phone into my back pocket. He was an idiot, but I knew he’d make sure I was okay — more than that, he’d make sure we had a great time.

I’d only been to a club with Leo a couple of times. He turned twenty-one just a few months before Luke got diagnosed, so we didn’t have a lot of time to go crazy together.

Doug and Bree were coming too, so it would be nice. I just needed to remind myself why I was doing this: for Leo and for Luke.

Leo was family. He’d lived three houses away from us for as long as I could remember and had been my brother’s best friend since they could barely walk. He’s the reason I had Luke.

Luke was the same age as me and Bree, and when he came to live with Leo and his dad when he was thirteen, Leo brought him over to our house, and that was pretty much that. I just knew.

He’d been a troubled kid. City life wasn’t working out for him, and he was heading down the wrong path. Before it got out of hand, his mom sent him to live with her brother in Forest Falls; the small town I loved wouldn’t stand for his bratty bullshit.

And it didn’t. Luke fitted in like he was always meant to be there. He loved it, and once we kissed at fifteen, it was all over. He was my soulmate.

‘Damn, girl, you looklike the best kind of trouble.’

Leo never had a problem complimenting me, and his enthusiastic catcall as I climbed out of my car outside his house made me laugh, even as heat raced up my neck to my cheeks.

‘Quit it.’ I smacked his chest as he hugged me.

‘Good to see you, munch. Thank you for coming.’

‘Get off my sister, jackass.’ Doug’s deep voice came from behind Leo as he let me go, grinning the whole time, and my brother wrapped me up in his arms, kissing the top of my head. ‘Hey, I’m glad you came,’ he added softly, and I squeezed him a little tighter before letting him go.

‘Where’s Bree?’

My twin had been staying with Doug in the city while she was on a training course for work. She was in the process of setting up Forest Falls’ first ever, very own police department, and it was taking up all her time. She was too young to be in chargeof a whole town, according to basically every old white man she talked to about it, but she was doing it anyway.

‘I’m here, I’m here.’ She rushed out of the front door and ran straight to me. We weren’t used to spending this much time apart. ‘Our asshole brother kicked me out, so I was dropping off my stuff upstairs.’

‘You kicked her out?’ I glared at him, and he shrugged.

‘Zo, I need to get laid. I’m backing up.’

‘Too much information, dickhead.’ I punched his arm, and he clutched at it as Leo and Bree laughed. ‘What about you? We’re not cramping your style tonight?’ I directed at Leo, and he grinned.

‘I’m going to have not one but two beautiful women in my bed tonight. I can’t complain.’

‘You’re not going to be in the bed with them, asshole,’ Doug snapped as Leo put his arms around mine and Bree’s shoulders, and we started to walk away. ‘Hey, you’re not in the bed with them! Keep it in your pants. That’s my sisters you’re talking about.’

We laughed, all of us knowing Leo would be on the couch but also loving how it made Doug sweat.

‘Dance.’ Leo shouted overthe loud music as he held out his hands for mine. He hadn’t left my side all night. That didn’t surprise me. I knew he still felt this obligation to take care of me, but I didn’t want to cramp his style. He was young and gorgeous. He should be out there meeting people.

‘I don’t want to dance,’ I called back, and he pulled me up and into his arms.

‘Bullshit,’ he was able to say quieter now I was closer. ‘You love to dance. Come on.’

Bree and Doug were at the bar doing shots with a couple he knew, so it was just me and Leo, and I couldn’t keep saying no.

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