Page 71 of Keeping Promises

Idon’t know how long I stared at the closed door, my tears streaming down my face and my fingers clinging to my stomach. How did I expect Asher to walk back inside when I practically forced him out the door? What was I thinking? When I thought to run after him, my feet wouldn’t move.

I responded to both Brynn and Lexi’s texts, filling them in on what happened and saying that I just wanted to be alone right now. It’s nothing more than a miracle that neither had shown up on my doorstep, but then again, I was a bitch to them. I lay down in bed, a bed I’d shared so many nights with Asher in, and cried myself to sleep—emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted.

It was a restless sleep, though, if you can even call it that. It’s bad enough that I struggle to get comfortable these days, but now add in my broken heart—yeah, it’s a recipe for being an anxious mess. Every time I managed to close my eyes, my chest tightened, and I reached for Asher, and of course, his side of the bed was empty and cold.

There is a heavy knock on the door. I don’t have the strength to deal with anyone right now. Our argument is swirling in my head, and the longer I thought about it, the longer I wondered what to believe anymore. Maybe time would be good for us.

I throw the covers off me and shuffle to the front door. The pounding continues. Maybe Asher is back for round two. If it’s the girls, they wouldn’t knock; they both have keys, whereas I took Asher’s from him. The faster I can get rid of him, the sooner I can get back into bed.

“I’m coming,” I shout.

I whip the door open. “Asher, I said I needed time. That didn’t mean—” Only, I’m not prepared to see Zoe standing there, her hand still raised from knocking.

I begin to close the door slightly when her hand shoots out, her palm making a soft thud when she hits the wood. “Please don’t slam the door in my face. I need to apologize.”

I thought facing Asher was hard, but now standing face-to-face with Zoe, I have to tell myself that she was an innocent bystander, right? I don’t know what to believe anymore, honestly. Maybe Asher was right and I couldn’t see past the picture I already had painted in my mind. Zoe is like a little sister to me. I’d like to believe that she’d never do anything willingly to hurt me.

“It’s not a good time, Zoe. You should go.”

“Please,” she pleads, looking distraught. “I’ve been so upset since I left the hotel this morning. I overheard the guys talking about what was going on after throwing up in the bathroom, and I just really needed to talk to you.”

“There’s nothing to say.” I begin to close the door again.

“Please, Hadley. Even if you don’t have anything to say, I do.”

I sigh, realizing that she won’t leave unless I hear her out. I step back. “Fine, come in.”

“Can we sit down?” I nod and lead her over to the couch.

Zoe has always had an innocent look to her; maybe that’s what drew Asher to her. The thought sends a shooting pain to my chest, but now seeing her here, fidgeting with her hands twisting back and forth, she looks so young, so small.

“Did Asher send you here?”

“No, I haven’t seen him since I left the hotel this morning. I came here on my own.” My stomach churns at the mention of leaving the hotel. My mind tries to play a story in my mind that I have no clue is even real. The thought of Asher with someone else literally rips me apart.

After a few moments, she pushes her shoulders back and pulls me from my thoughts. “I should have come straight here this morning instead of going back to the dorms, but I needed to clear my head. I think I may have still been drunk at the time. I also had to figure out exactly what to say because then I was still putting the pieces together, but my head was mostly clear. I’m sorry if I caused any problems with you and Asher. I want to explain what happened in hopes that I can repair whatever damage I may have caused.”

Her voice begins to tremble, and she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, I assume to keep from getting upset. It’s not my place to comfort her, but my motherly instinct tells me I should. I place my hand on top of hers.

“It’s not your fault, Zoe.”

She shakes her head, and tears begin to fall down her cheeks. “Yes, it is. It’s all my fault. Asher was just looking out for me.”

I narrow my eyes at her. Was he really telling the truth?

“What do you mean?”

“See, it was my roommate’s birthday, and we all went out to celebrate. Somehow we ended up at the same bar as Asher and the guys. I had way more to drink than I should have, and when I saw Asher, I walked over to him. Your friend Cal invited me to stay to have another drink, and one drink led to another. Well, you know I’m not the most coordinated person and even less so when I’m drunk, so I stumbled, and well, Asher caught me as I fell into his lap when I went to get up to leave. It was only for a moment, which I guess is all the camera needed to capture it. But he quickly righted me, I promise.”

“So that explains why you were in his lap in the video, but it doesn’t explain how you answered the phone when I called his hotel room.”

She hangs her head in her hands.

“Well, my friends saw me talking to him and didn’t know who he or Ben or Cal was. They made assumptions, too, that I bumped into a single guy and accepted an invitation to have a drink. Not the truth that I was helping my friend’s boyfriend carry drinks after I spilled my drink all over his phone and crashing a bachelor party.” That seems to be the theme of the day—making assumptions and jumping to conclusions without facts. “They assumed that I was going to hook up with him, so the longer I stayed chatting with him, the more they assumed that I was going home with him, so they left me there.”

My eyes widen, unsure how to respond to that. Lexi and Brynn would never do something like that. How did her friends know that he wasn’t a serial killer or something? It sure sounds like she needs a better set of friends. My mind goes back to the memory of when Ben and Lexi met. I watched her meet a guy, and when she made up some lame-ass excuse of not feeling well after they hooked up in the bathroom—of course, I didn’t know that then—I went after her. That’s what real friends do—they look out for each other. The back of my mind is screaming to me,Just like Asher did last night, but I push those thoughts aside and continue to listen to Zoe.

“I know what you’re thinking, but I just got out of a relationship, and they had been telling me all night to find someone to help me get over Jared, and so they thought I was.”

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