Page 49 of The Promises We Were Never Meant To Keep

I continue explaining, “I was peeing when she came into the bathroom. She was sobbing, Mom. The kind of sobs—” I frown into my tea. “I thought someone died.”

“Someone kind of did die, honey,” Mom says softly. “She lost a best friend today.”

It has nothing to do with the guy. Not really.

Mom gets it.

“Yeah. She did.”

“So,” Mom instantly finds the piece she’s looking for in the sea of pieces. She pops it into place and asks, “What did you do?”

“Hugged her?” I shrug. I don’t know why I make it sound like a question. “Then I offered to go with her to Cherry’s.”

“That’s a good place for heartbreak.” Yeah, Mom gets it.

“That’s what I thought.”

Mom watches me for a long moment. “I’m proud of you, kiddo. But next time, call me and let me know you’re not going to be in class, okay?” She points a long finger at me and warns, “And don’t make a habit of skipping class.”

I sip my tea and promise, “I won’t.”

Maybe I can do something with biology one day. Holt wants to move us to the ocean, so perhaps marine biology?

From the corner of my eye, my bedroom door swings open to reveal Holt. Instantly, every thought of textbook biology disintegrates in favor of a much more intimate kind of biology. He steps inside my room and softly closes the door behind him.

My heart quickens in my chest. I’m not allowed to close the door and Holt knows it.

“She’s really into that puzzle.” Holt moves across the room to where I lay on my belly on my bed. His hand finds my hip as he claims the space beside me on his side, his head propped up on the pillow of his arm.

My bed is a single bed, and that means it’s narrow. That means that me and Holt are tucked in close. Really close.

Heat stirs in my belly. The flush of it spreads far too quickly to other parts of me.

I clear my throat. “How was practice?”

“Interesting.”

“Oh?”

“Elijah punched Kevin.” My eyes pop wide. Holt grins wickedly. “And I hear you and Shyanne skipped class today.”

“Yeah, uh, we did.”

“That’d be why I couldn’t find you after class. I thought you got sick and went home.”

I shrug. “Sorry I didn’t text you. She was really upset.”

“After the way she’s treated you, I’m just surprised you went anywhere with her.”

I push my textbook away with a groan, marking my page with my pen in the spine as I let it fall closed with a heavy thud. “Her best friend kissed her boyfriend. It’s not like she had anyone else to go to and I didn’t want her to be alone.”

“You’re way too nice.” His dark eyes search my face, only calling more heat from the deep of my belly to climb up the length of me.

“Is that why Elijah punched Kevin? Because he kissed Jenna?”

Holt shrugs. “Not sure what started it between them two. Coach split it up, but he was pissed.”

“I hope he wasn’t too pissed.”