Page 52 of Secret Baby With My Brother's Best Friend

My mind flashed back to that afternoon. Caleb and I had been friends since the days of summer camp in the fifth grade. We had grown up together, and he was like a brother that I never had. One particular day, we spent the entire afternoon immersed in video games, laughing and competing against each other in his room. As the evening rolled in, Caleb and I headed downstairs so I could head home.

We walked past the kitchen, and his mom, Cecilia, stopped us and insisted I stay for dinner, an invitation I happily accepted—his family was like my second family, so why not. We sat in the backyard for an hour chatting and awaiting dinner when Harper came to call us for dinner. She was sixteen at the time. My interactions with Harper was always minimal as she was always at her friends’ houses when I would spend most of my days with Caleb. Even during the summers she would go away to summer camp at a different location. This was the first time I actually noticed her, and it seemed that she had blossomed overnight.

"Hi, Logan," she smiled sweetly as she walked towards us, wearing a pink bum short that showed her skinny legs and a white fitted singlet with her hair tied in a pigtail.

"Hey, kiddo," I responded casually, and she blushed.

"What's up, little one?" her brother asked beside me.

"Mom said to tell you, guys, that dinner is served," she informed, darting her eyes at me and glaring. Back then, I knew that Harper had a crush on me, but it wasn't anything serious, but I guess it was something to Caleb.

"We will be right there," Caleb said, and Harper took her time before she left us alone.

I don't know exactly what happened or what went through Caleb's mind then, but the minute she left. Caleb looked at me and said out of the blue without any context. "I need you to promise me something."

"Okay. What's that?" I asked casually. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was certainly not the words he uttered next.

Surprising, Caleb said. "Promise me that you'd never hook up with my sister, and even if she likes you, you'd never cross that line."

It felt pretty normal to me, he was being protective, and I didn't think much of it.

Even though I had to admit that as innocent as I found Harper to be, she did catch my fancy, and I liked how quick-witted she was, but it was nothing much to me—she was still a kid in my eyes. I never thought that would change or could even change.

"Sure. I know the drill," I chuckled casually.

"I know you do, still…just promise me."

"I promise."

"If you break that promise, Logan. I won't forgive you…" he was dead serious, and I wasn't at the time.

"Okay, dude. That will never happen. Let's go," I told him, and we had dinner. I went home and forgot all about that conversation. I never for once thought about it again, even after I unconsciously fell for her. I never even knew how much I had fallen for her until that night when shit went down between us at my party.

It was then that shit got real, and the promise became real at the time. The consequences dawned on me, and I tried to put some distance between myself and Harper—I tried to erase my fuck up, but it didn't matter—everything would never return to normal. A few weeks later, Caleb found out about what went down. I don't know how he found out about that night. I knew for a certainty that it wasn't from Harper, but somehow he did learn about it, and it wasn't pretty.

I remember that morning like it was only yesterday. Caleb came to my house early in the morning, looking upset and unwilling to talk or listen to anything. Without saying a word to me or asking any questions, he thrashed me on my porch. I didn't fight back or defend myself. I just let him beat me to a pulp because I felt pretty guilty, and let's be honest—I deserved it for breaking the promise I made.

After beating me up, he said, "You know the term of breaking the promise. I don't wanna see you near her again- and stay the hell away from me as well!”

Honestly, I had hoped there would be a way around it. Some sort of forgiveness, maybe, but Caleb never answered any of my calls or replied to my texts until I sent him a picture of my plane tickets and went over to his place to tell him that I was leaving. It was the most challenging decision that I ever had to make, but I put aside my feelings and went through with it to keep the promise I made to Caleb out of respect for our friendship.

"What promise?" Harper repeated, pulling me out of my head. Her voice rang with a note of urgency, and I could tell she was growing impatient by the minute. "What did you promise, Caleb?" She demanded, persistent as ever. She wouldn't stop until I told her, and honestly, I was tired of keeping it a secret. Six years had gone by already. I had respected Caleb's wishes enough.

"I promised him I'd never get involved with you. If I did get involved with you, he told me that he would never forgive me, and demanded that I stay away." I confessed with a sigh, leaning against the headboard and hearing the wood complain.

Harper's eyes widened. "What?" her voice dropped to a whisper. "Why would he do that?"

"Obviously, to protect you."

"From what?" She raised a brow, and I didn't respond. "From you?" She added, staring into my eyes when I didn't respond.

I lowered my gaze. Caleb had his reasons, and I'm sure he did what he did because he had her best interest at heart. "I'm sure he meant no harm."

"Don't defend him. It was selfish of him to make that decision, and it was selfish of you, too, to follow it through."

"I made a promise—"

"So what!" she yelled, cutting the rest of my words off. "What about me? Didn't you care about how I'd feel when you decided to leave?" she asked, tears glistening in her eyes

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