Page 48 of Every Broken Promise
“Nah, I got what I was looking for.
Surely he didn’t mean me—right?
Not letting myself think too much on it, I walked out without looking back. My heart started to beat faster once I heard steps behind me.
“Why are you following me, Kane brother number three?”
He scoffed.
“Haven’t had time to look at your little dictionary? I got a few words I could let you borrow.”
“That’s okay. I think I can manage on my own,” I said as I raised my fist.
“Backstabber, coward, traitor, asshole, and no longer my friend.”
By the time I finished, all my fingers were up.
“For fuck’s sake, Astrid,” he spat out, clearly annoyed with me. His hand wrapped around my arm, and he turned me around right in front of the witchy shop.
“Let. Me. Go,” I spat.
“We are fixing this…fixing us.”
My throat constricted at his words.
“There is no us.”
My words sounded sad to my own ears.
Before he could reply, I turned to look at the movement I saw by the window. The owner looked at Tyler and then at me and waved to us as she put on the display for the day.
“No,” I gasped.
“What?” Ty said, sounding concerned.
Not bothering to explain, I just took off running toward my car.
The card was upside down, but even I knew nothing good could come from theLoverscard.
NINETEEN
14 years old
At the beginningof last year, my father had a talk with me. It was not necessary because Adam and Ezekiel had already given me a more in-depth talk that I was sure my father wouldn’t agree with.
“Through the years, I always wished it would have been me instead of your mother. You boys all need your momma more than you need your dad. A mother’s love is unlike any other.”
It made me sad to hear my father speak of himself in that way. The ache my mom left was still there, but my father was the only parent I knew, and I couldn’t imagine my life without him.
“Dad,” I said.
He gave me a sad smile.
“I can’t imagine your momma havingthe talkwith you boys. Maybe that’s why God left me instead of her.”
Fuck. He sounded so sad as he spoke. This was a glimpse into the man I remembered when I was little but was too young to even comprehend the pain he was in. The pain he still lived with. It’s been eight years, and my dad hasn’t bothered to look at another woman again.
Needless to say, my dad told me all about sex and respect. That hormones would start to get the best of me if they weren’t already, and he then gave me a look. Was it that obvious that I thought about kissing Astrid?
