Page 1 of His Temptation
Chapter 1
Cason
“Congrats to the graduating class!”
Cheers erupted in the gymnasium as we threw our caps in the air. I was the first person in my family to graduate, and not only graduate but to do so with honors. Wanting to stop the cycle of dropouts, I had worked my ass off in school, receiving straight A’s even while taking advanced placement courses. The hard work had paid off.
My heart soared like the caps above me.
And even when gravity brought them back down, I continued to fly.
“Remember the party at my place tonight,” my buddy Trevor said, slapping the backs of other football guys. “Spread the word. Ken and his college buddies hooked us up good.”
“Dude, we’re totally going,” Ryan said to me, flashing a perfectly white smile. He was my best friend. My partner in crime, as some people liked to call him. Not that we ever got in trouble, though, unless you counted being the class clowns a crime. But even then, we’d still gotten our work done.
Families left the stands and swarmed the gym floor, moms pulling their kids into bear hugs and crying while dads stood by with pride-filled expressions. Children ran around, music played over the speakers, and everyone’s voices meshed together, some rising above others. Excitement connected all of us together.
I studied the clusters of people, searching for my mom. She’d told me she’d be there, and even though she had constantly let me down in the past—missing football games, showing up late for the athletic banquet, and never once coming to one of my baseball games—I stupidly held on to hope this time would be different.
I tried not to let my disappointment show, but it was damn hard. One of the biggest days of my life and she couldn’t even bother making an appearance.
“There’s my mom,” Ryan said, waving his arm to get her attention. “Ah, fuck. She has her new boyfriend with her. That guy is a tool. Hey, Mom!”
“Congrats, Ry!” Amber said, throwing her arms around Ryan. She then smiled at me and patted my shoulder. “I’m so proud of you boys.”
Amber was petite, brunette, and had big brown eyes. Ryan didn’t look much like her. No, he took after his dad in that department.
“Congrats, guys,” Dustin, the new boyfriend aka thetool,said, shaking both of our hands. He seemed like a nice guy, kind of country and extremely well-mannered. I wasn’t sure why Ryan had a problem with him. Maybe he thought no man was good enough for his mom.
“Where’s Dad?” Ryan asked, furrowing his brow.
For some reason, my heart skipped a beat at the mention of Emery Cross. I’d never understood it, but I got weird around the guy. I was far from shy, but around him, I turned into an introverted tangle of nerves.
“He just left,” Amber answered, clearly not pleased. “You know how he is in large crowds. He said to meet him at his place afterward.”
Ryan lived with his mom and only stayed with his dad every other weekend. When we hung out, it was usually at his mom’s house too. The thought of going over to Emery’s house that night did strange things to my stomach.
“Whatever,” Ryan mumbled, his earlier upbeat mood now crashing. He then gave his mom another hug. “Guess we’ll head out. See you tomorrow.”
“Have a good night,” Amber said. “Love you.”
On our way out, we were stopped by some of our buddies asking if we were going to the party. We told them we’d head over to Trev’s in a bit. Ryan had ridden with me, so we found my car in the lot and hopped inside.
“We’re free, bitches!” Ryan shouted from the passenger-side window as the car pushed seventy on the freeway.
“Sit your ass down before a cop gives me a ticket,” I snapped, reaching over to grab him by the shirt and pull his dumb ass back inside.
“You’re such a killjoy, Cas.” Ryan rolled his eyes as he planted his ass back in the seat and buckled his seat belt. “Better?”
I nodded and focused on the road. The letdown of not seeing my mom at the ceremony had dampened my mood, but I didn’t want it to ruin my night.
“Sorry about your mom,” Ryan said.
“You noticed that, huh?”
“It’s hard not to,” he answered, tilting his head back on the seat and peering over at me. He reached over and pinched my cheek. “Come on, Cassy-Wassy. Smile for me.”
I swatted his hand away and laughed.
