Page 57 of Promise Not To Fall

“They’re fine,” Jake tells her, even less interested in the conversation with her than she is with him. Family functions must be a real hoot with these two. “You should go see them sometime. They’d appreciate it.”

“You never told me you had a sister,” I whisper when Alicia turns to talk to a guy who approaches her.

“Oops. Must’ve forgot.” Grabbing her by her shoulders, he pushes the tiny girl toward me. “Meet Alicia. My sister.”

Naturally, Alicia scowls at me. “Enjoying your trip, I see.” She glances back at Jake. “Another city girl?”

Say what?

Jake doesn’t reply. Instead, he turns and walks toward the bar, leaving me standing there with his sister, who evidently still hates me. I’m actually kind of annoyed about it too. I barely know this girl. No way do I want to be talking to her.

We don’t say a goddamn thing to one another. Five minutes later, Jake returns with two drinks for us, and I remind him of how I know his sister. “She’s the bitchy one from my hotel. The one who refused to give me towels and ratted me out to the front desk about the headboard.”

He smiles, bringing the shot of tequila to his lips. “I’m not surprised. She’s a bitch.”

“You don’t get along?”

Jake shakes his head quickly. “Never have and never will. I’m positive we have different parents.”

Without so much as a goodbye, Alicia walks away.

“See.” Jake leans down, letting his lips touch my bare shoulder. “She’s a bitch.”

“How come you didn’t tell me she worked at the hotel?”

“I didn’t know.” He shrugs. “We’re not close, Kendall. She basically ran away from home at sixteen, and I don’t know anything about her. She lives about three miles from me, and this is the first time I’ve seen her in like six months.”

I guess maybe Island Boy and I have pretty similar pasts. Only his is his sister and my mystery relative is my mother. And I chose that situation.

Smoke mists the air, creating a heavy and stuffy atmosphere. My chest feels tight as I try to breathe, not just because of the smoke, but also the amount of alcohol I have once again ingested. I’m gonna need to do a liver cleanse when I get home. Needing some fresh air, I step outside for a minute when Jake goes to the bathroom. That’s when his sister finds me.

I don’t like her because, well, she doesn’t like me, and she doesn’t even know me. “You know you’re just the city girl of the month, right?”

Hearing that from her rubs me the wrong way. It wakes me up to exactly what I’ve been doing here with him, thinking this was something special. “And you’rejusta maid.” It’s rude of me to say, because in my mind, nobody is “just” anything. There’s more to everyone than what meets the eye. But if she’s going to be blind, thinking I’m just city girl and only that, well, so am I.

Alicia tosses her cigarette to the ground and walks past me down the dark alley, with Amara following her. Damn it, I had a feeling those two were friends.

“Who was that girl?” I ask when Jake pulls me back inside.

“What girl?” His lips are on my skin again as we sway to a slower song and he holds me close to his chest.

“Amara,” I say. “Was she your girlfriend?”

He smirks, not admitting or denying it, but then he surprises me. “Ex-girlfriend. She cheated on me about a year ago.” Then he laughs, shaking his head. “So if you were hoping to find a well-adjusted man, I’m not him.”

My heart twists, and a wave of guilt rolls over me, prickling my skin like a heat rash. I want to literally kick my own ass for getting involved with him.

It’s nearing one in the morning, and I’m just about to ask Jake if we can go when he whispers in my ear, “I got a surprise for you, City Girl.”

“What’s that?”

He kisses my cheek, the sensation lingering long after he pulls away. “You’ll see.”

Letting go of me completely, Jake nods to the DJ, and then reaches around the side of the stage and grabs a guitar. As he makes his way on stage, whistles and shouts break out in the crowd.

Is he going to play? Oh my God, he’s going to play. Holy shit.

With a smirk only Island Boy can deliver, he begins strumming the guitar and immediately follows with the lyrics to “I Love A Rainy Night.”

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