Page 85 of Promises We Meant to Keep

At least one of them should walk out of this unscathed. Elia took another step, putting even more space between her and Kamryn. She didn’t want anyone to have even an inkling that they were attending this together as dates. Nope, she had to snuff out any and all of those thoughts immediately.

“Ah, there’s Garrett.” Simone smiled, and Elia followed her line of sight. Garrett was young, and he looked everythingthe perfect groom should. His hair was coiffed, his suit was impeccable, and he had his horde of merry men surrounding him.

“I’ve never met him,” Elia commented.

“He and Andra met a few years ago when we were trying axe throwing for the first time. Which the ax throwing was a disaster, but the result… not so much.” Kamryn smiled sweetly, no doubt reliving the memory of it. “I haven’t spent much time with him, but what little time I have, I’ve liked him. He’s very sweet.”

“He can be,” Simone replied.

Something in her tone put Elia’s back up. As if there was a lie in there somewhere, but Elia couldn’t figure out exactly what it was.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to play the part.”

Don’t we all?Elia thought, but thank God she kept her mouth shut. The last thing she needed was that getting out. She turned to Kamryn, who looked a few shades paler than she normally did.

“I can’t—” Elia started.

“I know,” Kamryn finished. “This was an unexpected hiccup.”

“Unexpected in the very least.” Elia folded her hands in front of her, trying to make sure that she wasn’t tempted to hold Kamryn’s hand or touch her unexpectedly. She’d gotten too good at lowering her defenses and forgetting to watch herself when she wasn’t at the school, and she was around Kamryn. It would be far too easy for her to accidentally do something that would send out signals that they were together.

“Do you need to leave?” The worried wobble in Kamryn’s voice would be obvious to anyone in the vicinity. But the sound was only meant for Elia’s ears.

“I’m not sure. If it’s just Simone, I might be fine if we keep our distance. But I’m worried about what your friends will say.”

Kamryn hummed her acknowledgement. “I guess it comes out today that all of this was fake.”

Was it?

Elia didn’t want to believe that. There’d been so much that was real between them, so much that she had come to rely on in the last few months. She wasn’t ready to let all of that go, to shatter the dreams that they had built together, even if they were on a false premise.

“Kam…” She was about to say something when she stopped, her eyes locking on the back of Susy Butkis’s head. “Susy’s here.”

“What?” Kamryn flung around, frantically searching for Susy. “No. No, no no no no. Just no.” Kamryn rolled her eyes, tears filling them. “I’m so sorry. I promised—”

“You made a promise you couldn’t keep.” Elia frowned deeply. “I need to leave.”

“I don’t want you to.” Kamryn looked like she was so close to crying.

“I need to.” Elia hated doing this. She hated being the one to walk away, but it had to be her. She was the one causing all of this turmoil. Not just the pain from her past, but the trouble now, standing in the center of a wedding that should have been fun and easy. “I’d appreciate it if you’d tell your friends, so that maybe we can do some damage control.”

“Yeah. I’ll uh…figure it out.”

Elia turned slightly, a woman who looked very similar to Kamryn walking up to them with a huge grin on her face. Her hair was pulled up and out of her face, loose strands hanging around her cheeks. Her smile faltered when her gaze settled on the two of them.

“I was going to say nice to meet you, but I feel like I should be saying goodbye.”

Elia furrowed her brow in confusion. Who was this?

“Greer,” Kamryn said, supplying the answer without saying anything else.

Thiswas Kamryn’s best friend. This was the one person in her entire friend group who could know that all of this had been a lie, and she was the one that Elia was going to have to trust to help Kamryn set this right.

Kamryn stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Greer’s shoulders, tugging her in tightly. Elia wished she could be in that embrace. That she could be standing there with Kamryn instead of Greer. She wanted to be that support, that shoulder to cry on. Instead, she was the one causing the tears.

“You must be Elia.” Greer stepped back and held out her hand.

“Yes. Itisgood to meet you.” Elia glanced at Susy to see if she’d noticed them yet. “But I’m sorry, I have to leave.”

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