Page 10 of Keeping Promises

“Who was that?” Lindsey asks as I lead her away from the bar once we have our drinks and head back toward the table where my brother and his friends are.

“That was just no one.” Lie.

“Sure didn’t seem like no one,” she points out, and she would be one hundred percent correct.

Hadley Kincaid.

The best friend of my future sister-in-law.

The only woman to ever have turned me down.

The starring role in my mind when my hand wraps around my cock.

“It was just one of my brother’s fiancée’s friends. Just drop it.” My tone comes out a little harsher than I thought, but as we reach the table, Lindsey has dropped the subject.

“Everyone, this is Lindsey. Lindsey, this is my brother, Ben, his fiancée, Lexi, and their friends Brynn and Cal.”

Where did Hadley go? Maybe she’s just in the restroom. This is the first time I’ve seen her since the engagement party.

I pull out a chair for myself and take a seat, completely ignoring my date.

“Here, this seat is empty. Hadley had to leave,” Lexi says, extending her arm out to the open seat next to her for Lindsey.

Well, I guess that answers that question. Had she always planned to leave? She said that we were cool, but was she lying? I’m pretty sure she was lying when she said it was nothing that she wanted to talk about.

“I hope she’s okay,” my brother says, extending his arm over the back of Lexi’s chair.

“She’s a big girl. I’m sure she’s fine.” I speak before my brain has even caught up with my mouth. Why did I say that?

“Don’t be a dick, Asher,” Lexi scolds, narrowing her eyes at me.

She spoke the truth—I am a dick. My actions with Hadley only prove it.

Was it a dick move to kiss Lindsey like that in front of Hadley? Yes, but my cock was reacting to her touch, completely forgetting that I was here with someone else, and I needed to shut that shit down to remind myself that it was just sex with Hadley. I needed to bring myself back to reality with a figurative bucket of ice water like that trending internet challenge a few years ago.

Was it also a dick move to escape her apartment before she woke up? Of course it was, but what was there to say?Hey, thanks for the fantastic fuck, see you later at family dinner?We both knew what it was—just sex.

Throughout the evening, I catch Lexi and Brynn both staring at me. Their dirty looks and daggered stares are nothing new, but there is something different about this time.

The gang is very accepting of Lindsey, and conversation flows smoothly for her and the girls. I couldn’t tell you a single thing about what they have been talking about, though, because my mind has been elsewhere—Hadley.

One night together was all it took to knock me off my axis, and it was not enough.

Before, it was more of a challenge; I was addicted to the chase. It’s like when someone tells you don’t look down, so of course, the first thing you do is look down. That was what it was like from the moment Hadley and I met outside Eiffel Park.

My brother and Lexi had broken up, which was partially my fault, and Hadley had dragged Lexi to the club for a change of scenery. I was planning to go out that night like usual, but I was with Ben when Hadley called him in a panic, and something in my gut told me not to leave my brother’s side.

That night changed everything for not only Ben and Lexi but for me, too. The moment I locked eyes on the beautiful blonde walking out of the club behind my brother, who was carrying a passed-out Lexi, I was happy to have been leaning against my brother’s BMW already because I may have fallen over.

I have no problem being around beautiful women; in fact, I prefer to only surround myself with them—case in point, Lindsey is smoking hot—but there was something about her that just kept drawing me back toher. Even though I let her walk away that night, she had already left her brand on me.

I don’t chase women; they chase me. But Hadley was like fire, bright and hot, and I knew I shouldn’t touch it, but I wanted to be burned. To say I was shocked as hell when she lured me into the corner of the rooftop bar my brother rented for his engagement party would be the understatement of the year.

I’m pulled from my thoughts as Lindsey places her hand on my leg under the table and starts rubbing back and forth. With each stroke of her fingers, they get closer and closer to the tip of my cock. Did she know I was thinking of another woman beside her and her instinct was to prove that she does it for me—that she can get me hard?

What the fuck am I talking about?

Her fingers creep over the hardening erection in my jeans, and I try to act normal. I grab her wrist in a warning of what’s to come if she continues that. The last thing I need is to be full mast sitting at a table with these people.

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