Page 8 of Break Me Like a Promise (Oak Valley)

“I didn’t realize you came to these things, Colt.” Her hand stayed on his arm, and he tried to catch any of his friends’ eyes. When he couldn’t, he looked down at Cara, blue eyes smiling up at him. Her gold hair was perfectly styled, draping over her black coat in perfect waves. Her straight teeth were bleach-white, her skin flawlessly tan. If she was taller than 5’3”, she could’ve stood in for Barbie.

“Yeah, I love this stuff.” He shrugged, hoping it would push her hand off.

It didn’t.

“Me, too! But my god, it’s cold.” She wrapped her arm under his, huddling her tiny frame against his body.

“Uh, yeah, we were actually gonna head out.” He pulled away gently, not wanting to make a scene.

She pouted but let go, putting her hands in her pockets. “I get that. We were thinking of heading to Cheers to warm up. Maybe…” She looked between Katie and June, Dragan and Colton. “You guys want to join?”

Cheers and Beers was the only bar local to Oak Valley, so it was usually teeming with everyone Colton tried to avoid, including Cara and her crew.

“Oh, thanks for the invite,” Katie chimed in. “I think we were gonna go our separate ways, though. Maybe next time?”

Colton knew his sister was just saving face since they lived in such a small town — there would never be a next time. Katie adored Ruby and despite being four years younger, knew all the shit that had gone down in high school. Cara being at the center of it.

Cara shrugged. “Okay, then. Hope you guys have fun. See you around, Colt.”

He cringed at her use of his nickname, the way she batted her eyelashes and ran her fingers across his back as she walked away.

“Damn, she just doesn’t quit,” Dragan said, once Cara was out of earshot.

“No, no she doesn’t.” Katie watched the crowd part for Cara and her posse like the Red Sea. She turned back to Colton. “Why don’t you ever just, I dunno, put her in her place? Just outright say you’re not interested?”

“It would certainly be your easiest option,” June said.

“After ten years, she should know it’s not gonna happen,” Colton said. “Otherwise it would’ve already.”

“I hate to break it to you, but that’s not usually how women work. They either walk away cold turkey or go for what they want until you say something,” June said. “I think we all know which one Cara is.”

Colton cocked his head, looking at his best friend’s crush. He clenched his jaw, biting his tongue from asking which one she was. How she had no room to talk. She kept playing the friend card when it came to Dragan, even though it was clear as day he would give anything to be with her in a romantic capacity. Colton didn’t oppose their being together; he just wish she was honest.

Before he could respond, Dragan jumped in. “I think if she doesn’t stop and you don’t want her advances, just fucking shut her down, man. It’s cold, can we get going? We could do pizza at mine?”

Dragan started making his way to the street, heads above everyone else. His large body didn’t need to press through; they parted easily, taking multiple steps away to let him by. Colton sighed and followed, Katie and June far enough behind that he couldn’t make out what they were saying over the din of the crowd.

The same crowd he couldn’t stop himself from scanning, desperate for one last look at the mirage from his past.

9

Ruby exited the highway, anxiously navigating the New Jersey streets for some academy that held her bus.

Her bus.

After the doctor’s office, she rummaged through her mom’s manifesting books and gleaned what she needed. Lo and behold, manifesting and searching brought her to a Craigslist listing for a 54-passenger school bus in New Jersey. The private academy decided last minute they didn’t have use for it, despite putting in new batteries and a full tank of gas. They needed the sale, so the price was a steal.

New year, new you.

Ruby chuckled to herself, giddy with this next chapter. She was on her way to pay cash and have the bus towed back upstate. She should’ve asked Olive or Penelope — some of her only friends left in Oak Valley — to accompany her. There was still a part of her that didn’t believe this was happening. It didn’t help that Craigslist was known for being a little sketchy, and who sold a school bus in great condition for less than two grand?

Some things were too good to be true.

Shit.She accidentally passed the left turn to the school, so she made a U-y and entered the empty parking lot. It was a freakin’ yellow bus, why couldn’t she see it? She slowly made her way around the school, scanning for a bright hunk of metal against the grey day. The front and side lot brought up nothing, so Ruby made her way to the back.

And there, slightly hidden by a back entrance and a tree in a median, was her Bluebird bus.

Of course busses are big, but this was bigger than she’d expected.

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