Page 34 of Every Broken Promise
Ty’s eyes were on mine, and as much as I wanted to look away, I couldn’t. They had been there since we were little. It started as something innocent and pure—the need to want to bethere for one another. As we got older, those feelings morphed, and in my end they got complicated.
Falling in love with Tyler Kane was the first crack in our friendship. The fact that he did not feel the same way made it shatter.
I needed to get out of here ASAP. I broke eye contact with Tyler and was ready to tell Rachel that I wanted to go home.
Adam seemed to sense that I was ready to flee because the arm he had draped around me tightened. As if that wasn’t enough, he pulled me down from the stool I had been sitting on and started to drag me across the bar.
Oh, fuck no.
“Rach,” I managed to screech at her, but she took one glance at the scene and gave me an apologetic look.
I couldn’t blame her.
Adam started to push past the crowd, and I let myself be dragged because making a scene was not my style. Once he stopped moving, that’s when I would make a run for it.
Seemed like a great plan.
Except Adam did not stop, and it became clear he wouldn’t do so until we stood before Ty. Not grabbing the bull by its horns always bit you in the ass because I had been avoiding everyone, and because of that I now had to face them all at once.
I was not deluding myself that my conflict with my graduating class had been resolved in the last four years, not by the emails sitting in my work account. What I needed to do was brace myself for how they would react.
Shit.
I hid my face the best I could in Adam’s chest.
“Adam,” Ty’s voice rang out through the crowd.
“Happy Birthday, little brother,” he said, and I could hear the smugness in his tone. The arm draped against me loosened, but Iwas pushed forward before I could even think about making my getaway. “I win the best present.”
My mouth opened, but no words came out. The gasp that was threatening to come out got caught in someone else’s chest. My hands instinctively held on to Tyler’s arms to try and steady myself.
“What the fuck, Adam?” Ty growled at his brother.
The whole time, I was thinking about myself and how mortifying it was that I never stopped to consider that he might be angry that I crashed his party.
Forget not making a scene. I needed to get out of here ASAP.
Chills spread down my back when Ty wrapped his arm around my waist. He didn’t move me aside or push me back. If anything, he seemed to have pulled me in closer toward him. I could feel his fingers digging into my hip bone, and I knew I would have fingertips on me come tomorrow.
Was he aware of how close he was holding on to me?
I slowly craned my head up, bracing myself before I saw him. Tyler had the same idea as I did because he had dipped his head, and now we were close enough that I could feel his breath on my face. We had been close before—but never like this.
“Are you okay, Astrid?”
I watched his lips move, and the thought of him kissing me returned in full force. It made my knees buckle with the same intensity as it did the first time that thought ever crossed my mind. The weight it carried was for ending perfectly good friendships.
The light in the bar was dim, but not enough that I couldn’t make out the way those green eyes stared at me. Even though they were slightly glazed, probably due to the alcohol, they were still intense.
“Yeah,” I whispered.
He seemed to relax at my words, but the hold he had on my waist didn’t waver.
Now would be a good time to wish him a happy birthday, right?It wasn’t like I was a total bitch.
“Ty-Ty, who’s your friend?”
The sweet, sticky voice came from my left. It was the type of sweet that you just knew it was laced with poison. I stiffened, knowing that our bubble was about to burst.
