Page 72 of Pinky Promises

Chapter 29

Callum

Justdon’tgiveupon me. Don’t give us on us.Those eleven words hold my fate hostage.

Waking up to find her gone, I had started to panic. She just up and left without even saying a word, but then I remembered the conversation I had with Ben and Asher last night where the girls would give Brynn that night, but that was it. I’m glad she has them for moments like this—not that I fuck up often. And if given the opportunity, I won’t ever again.

I didn’t hear back from Brynn after that message, nor did she ever come home, and I was beginning to lose my mind at the apartment. She asked for time, so I decided it was best to give it to her, which is why I showed up at Ben’s house not long ago with a duffel bag of stuff in hand. He wasn’t all that shocked to find me here.

“Here you go, man.” I look up from my phone to see Ben holding out a beer in front of me.

I place my phone down and accept it. “Thanks.”

Ben nods before taking a seat opposite Asher.

I take a large swig before resting the beer on top of my thigh. I scrape the label on the bottle with my thumb while waiting for the interrogation to begin. I know it’s coming.

I look up to find two pairs of Harringtons’ eyes staring at me.

“You guys just going to stare at me all night, or is someone going to say anything.” I adjust the collar of my T-shirt; it suddenly feels tight under their scrutiny.

“That was some shindig your father put on,” Ben says calmly, taking a sip from his beverage.

“Really?” I draw my head back quickly. “That’s what you’re going to go with?”

"Well, yeah, it’s the truth,” Asher says. “I left a hundred bucks richer, which you still owe me, by the way.” He points his finger at his brother, which I’m not sure what that means. “But I could understand why you didn’t enjoy yourself.”Thanks, Captain Obvious.

“It seems you and Brynn have been keeping secrets from the rest of us,” Ben acknowledges the elephant in the room.

“Let the record show that I fucking knew something was going on.” Asher slams his hand on the coffee table before pointing to me dramatically. “I said something was different, especially after my birthday. Anytime I brought it up to Hadley, she got this weird expression and would find ways to distract me.” He smirks and makes the motion of a blow job with his hand and tongue.

Not expecting that, I choke on my sip of beer and have to bring my hand to my mouth to recover.

“Dude,” Ben scolds. “I thought we talked about keeping the details of your love life to yourself.”

Asher shrugs. “What? We’re sitting here talking about his.” He points to me.

“That’s different. Cal’s not sharing details of them together or what she does to him.”

Asher turns to face me, but Ben slaps his hand over his brother’s mouth before words come out of his open mouth.

“Don’t even think about finishing that statement. We’re not here to scrutinize your life. We’re here to help our friend. Got it?”

Asher nods, and Ben releases his hand.

“So, how long has this been going on,” Ben asks curiously.

“Since the night you got married.”

“No shit. Are you guys like dating?”

“Things were never officially defined. Brynn had all these rules that she put into place, and we were slowly breaking through them, and I thought we were finally at a point in our lives where I could broach saying fuck the rules and be together, but then my father went and fucked it up.”

Well, that’s not entirely true—it wasn’t just him. I fucked it up, too, keeping things from her.Fuck, why hadn’t I just been honest from the beginning?

By the time I finished spilling the details of what has been going on with us from the moment we took the so-called plunge to what happened last night after they dropped her off at the apartment, I’m fucking exhausted.

“Holy shit, that’s a lot to take in all at once.” Asher leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

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