The Promise (42 page)

“Hurry the hell up!
Drake has been back for like twenty minutes!” she complains but Sophie laughs quietly as we dress as fast as we possibly can. I lean down and give her a quick kiss before we head over and open the door, before making our way through to the living room.

As
we open up the bedroom door that leads through to the main room, we’re surprised to find JT standing in front of us with irritation covering his features. Then I see Drake smirking behind him, with his hands neatly folded against his chest.

“What were you doing in there?” JT asks Sophie
with narrowed eyes.

“Yes, please tell us what you were doing,” Drake
adds, his smirk growing even more pronounced over his face.

“Uh
…”I begin guiltily, just as Sophie bends down to meet JT’s face.

“I’m sorry, Baby. I wanted to get ready
so I can spend the whole day with my most favorite boy in the world, so I had to go in there for a few minutes, but I’m back now,” she answers with a smile. He glances over at me curiously before returning his gaze back to Sophie.

“Was he helping you with something?” Drake asks and
with that, I glare at him. I can tell that he’s about to piss himself laughing, with JT still waiting patiently for Sophie to answer him.

“Was he, Aunt Sophie?”

“Yes! Are you hungry, Sweet Pea?” She asks quickly and when he nods, she stands up and I see the deep red blush that’s now covering her entire face. “Go on into the kitchen, Baby. I’ll be right there, okay?” He runs ahead of her and as soon as he goes out of earshot, Sophie turns back around and glares at Drake. “Don’t make a sound!” She threatens as confusion begins to spread across his features.

“What
…?” he tries to ask what’s going on but doesn’t get the chance as she kicks him in the shin …
hard
. He begins to yelp but as she glares at him again, he quickly becomes quiet.

“What
was that noise, Aunt Sophie?” JT calls through to her

“Nothing
, Baby!” she calls back sweetly and then stands onto her tiptoes to kiss me goodbye, resting her palm against my stomach. “Have a good day at work, Baby. Be safe.” She whispers, which makes me grin when I see the slight sparkle within her eyes. “Thanks for the coffee, Drake.”

“I’ll see you tonight, Babe,” I kiss her again
before walking over to the door with my bag.

Drake and Ana say their goodbyes
, with Drake climbing into the truck a few seconds after me. I take one look at him and shake my head, still amused at his and Sophie’s exchange, “Dumbass!” I laugh as I back the truck out of the parking lot.

***

The rest of the day passes by slowly, but considering we were over an hour late for work and Sophie and I text each other throughout the day most days, it’s not so bad.

I drive straight
over to her apartment from the site, pulling into the parking lot at about six o’clock. We decided on having supper together tonight, but haven’t really had time to talk about our plans for the rest of the weekend. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing, but I know we’ll be spending it together. That thought alone makes me take the stairs two at a time. 

“Baby, it’s me!” I call out
, opening the door making my way through the apartment to find her. Right before I see her, I hear her answer me.

“We’re in the kitchen
!” she answers and I walk over to the sound of her voice.

“Hey
, Baby,” I say, leaning down as I give her a chaste kiss on the lips.

“Hey,” she answers
me with a smile before going back to stirring the sauce that she’s been working on.

“That smells really good,” I say
while kissing her neck. As I turn around, I see JT sitting at the table and doing some coloring. “Hey man!” I say to him, and when he looks up, I make a goofy face at him causing him to let out a small chuckle.

“Hi,” he
answers before focusing his attention back on his coloring book.

I sit my bag on the floor by Sophie’s door and pull my boots off
, “Do I have time to shower?” I ask, looking up just in time to catch Sophie grinning mischievously at me.

“Yeah, we have about ten minutes,” she
answers with a wink. I grin widely back at her before hurrying through towards the shower.

***

As
Chase reappears from out of the bedroom, he kisses me on the cheek, grabbing himself some water from the fridge before sitting down at the table with JT.

“Do you need any help, Baby?” he asks
but I shake my head. He turns his attention over to JT, who I notice is already looking at him. “Did you and Aunt Sophie have a fun day today?” he asks as he takes the seat beside him, with JT nodding his reply. “What did you guys do?”

“We went to the park and
then swimming,” he answers. Chase leans forward in his seat, listening to him intently. Watching him with JT is adorable. “Aunt Sophie took me on the swings and the swides.” Hearing the way he mispronounces the word ‘slides’ makes me smile to myself.

“That sounds
like you had a pretty awesome day,” Chase says as JT nods before continuing to color. “What are you coloring?”

“A funny goose for my Aunt Sophie,” he
answers. Chase looks over the picture as JT proudly holds it up to show him.

“Wow, she’s gonna love that
!”

“Yep,” he answers confidently, making me laugh. “You wanna color one for her too? She’ll probably
wet you put it on the fridge if you ask her.” He tells Chase, and a wide smile spreads over his face from JT’s words.

“Sure,” he answers before moving over to sit closer
. He works on the page that’s next to the one JT is working on. As I finish up the pasta, I glance over at the two of them as they color quietly together, not being able to help the smile that’s now spreading right over my face.

“Okay boys, supper’s about ready. Go wash up and clean the table so we can eat,” I announce as I make JT’s plate
up so it can cool a little before he tucks in. JT looks over at Chase with a shrug.

“Guess we
’ll have to finish this later,” JT says as he turns to face Chase.

“Yeah, I guess so. I’ll meet ya back here after supper, Dude,”
Chase answers him as they both stand.

“You’re funny,” JT chuckles before running
through to the other room to put his book and crayons away.

“Wash your hands!” I yell
through, loud enough so he can hear me.

“Okay!” he yells back. Chase walks
over to the sink and washes his hands as I look over at him with a smile.

“You know, he’s right. You are pretty funny,” I
say. He turns to face me while drying his hands, before throwing the towel over his shoulder. I walk over to him, wrapping my arms firmly around his waist.

“Oh yeah?”

“You’re pretty cute too,” I tell him, watching as his smile grows wider over his face.

“Hmm,
well, you’re pretty cute yourself,” he says, leaning down and kissing me sweetly on the lips. His hands find my waist as he pulls me closer to him, biting down gently on lip which makes me let out a small moan of pleasure. “You like that, Baby?” He whispers seductively. I nod as he continues to kiss me, before biting my lip again. “Hmm, wait till you see the picture I’m coloring for you. You’re gonna lose your shit!” he tells me and I laugh at him, pulling away as soon as I hear JT coming back into the room.

Once we finished up with supper
, I put JT in the bath while Chase helped to clean up the kitchen.

With the table now clear,
they both sit back down at the table and finish their pictures.

As soon as
JT’s done, he helps Chase finish his before they proudly present them to me so I can hang them on the fridge.

I
can’t stop myself from laughing at Chase’s cheesy grin. He’s standing behind JT and holding his picture up for me to hang from the magnet JT picked out for him. When they’re done, we go through and watch TV for a little while together before JT’s bedtime.

Chase high-fives him goodnight
, before I get JT settled into bed, singing to him until he falls asleep before making my way back into the living room.

I smile
when I see Chase stretching out on the couch, wearing his gym shorts and t-shirt and still watching JT’s cartoons intently. When he notices me approaching him, he smiles at me and lifts his arm out for me to go and sit with him.

“You’re just in time, Baby. I think
Squidward is finally gonna go off on SpongeBob and Patrick,” he says, which makes me giggle a little as I take a seat on his lap. He leans down to kiss me and I hold his face to mine, deepening the kiss. He pushes me back onto the couch, hovering over me as he continues to assault my lips. “Hmm, is it eight thirty?” he asks through his smile. I nod immediately before we devour one another.

***

This morning has started out much quieter than yesterday morning.

I wake up
to find myself lying across Chase on the couch, with JT sitting quietly on the other side of the sectional and watching cartoons. I look over at him and smile at how completely consumed he is by Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I attempt to sit up slowly, slowly enough to not disturb Chase, who is still sleeping soundly beneath me.

As
I make it about halfway up, I feel his hands pulling me back down to him and wrapping his arms tightly around my waist as he kisses me on the top of the head.

“Good morning, Baby,” he whispers
to me with a smile.

“Good morning,” I answer a
s I kiss him back, sitting back up despite his protests. I quickly glance over to JT, so that he understands, before JT looks over at us.

“Hi
, Aunt Sophie,” he says before averting his eyes over on Chase. “Hi, Chase.”

“Good morning, Sweet Pea.” I say at the same time Chase
also greets him.

“Hey
, man.”

Drake makes his way out
from the kitchen with a cup of coffee and I notice that he’s still wearing his pajamas, so I figure it’s still early. “Good morning,” he smiles over at the three of us.

“Good morning. Is Ana up
yet?” I ask, my question being answered as he shakes his head.

“She had to close
up last night so she didn’t get home until about three o’clock. While I was making some coffee, JT woke up so we’ve been hanging out together,” he says, looking down at JT with a smile. “Right, buddy?” JT nods before he continues to stare at the screen that’s directly in front of him. “There’s coffee in there if you want some,” he says, leaning back on the couch next to JT.

“Thanks,” I say. “You could’ve gotten me up, Drake.”

“I already woke you up yesterday and after that, well, never again!” he jokes, making Chase laugh. “Let’s just call it a small peace offering.”  

“Have y’all eaten yet?” I ask as Chase and I make our way
through to the kitchen.

“No, we’ve only been up about an hour or so,” Drake answers
me.

“Aunt Sophie
, I’m hungry!” JT bellows from the living room.

“Okay,” I call back as I take the proffered coffee from Chase. “I’ll make you some breakfast,
Sweetie.” I pull some eggs, fruit and ingredients for French toast out from the fridge and get started.

“What do you want to do today, Baby?” Chase asks me
as he begins to chop the fruit up.

I shrug as I finish the batter for the French toast
, before dipping the bread in as I stifle a yawn. “I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought about it much. Do you have any ideas?”

“We could go to the aquarium or something
. Have you been there yet?” he asks and I shake my head to answer him. “Well, why don’t we do that? You’ve never been and I bet JT would love it.”

“Sounds good to me,” I s
ay while leaning up to kiss his jaw. “Thanks for thinking of him.”

“Of course, Baby. Open,” he says
before placing a strawberry in my mouth and kissing me on the side of the head.

Once we’re all seated and breakfast is served up, Drake reaches for his fork but hesitates when JT throws him an exasperated look.

“We have to say our prayers first,” JT tells him, and I see Drake setting his fork back down beside his plate of food.

“Of course, I’m
so sorry,” he says. We all smile and bow our heads as JT recites his prayer.

“Good job
, Baby,” I say, winking at him as he begins to dig into his breakfast. “JT would you like it if we went to the aquarium today with Chase?”

“What’s that?” he asks
, his question making me smile.

“An aquarium is a place where they have great big fish tanks
and they’re filled with all kinds of pretty fish, turtles, dolphins and pretty flowers,” I tell him, noticing JT’s eyes widening as I explain what he’ll see there if he decides he wants to go.

“Will SpongeBob be there?”
he asks excitedly.

“He can’t man,” Chase answers seriously between bites. “He lives in a pineapple under the sea.”

JT looks at him in understanding while shaking his head. “Oh man,” he starts. “I forgot about that.”

“Yeah, man. Tough break,” Chase says a
s he looks back over at JT. “But you know what they do have there?” JT looks at him and waits patiently for his answer. “They have turtles just like on Finding Nemo.”

“What?” JT
asks, excitement present within his voice again which makes the rest of us laugh.

“Yeah man
, they’re pretty cool. They have stingrays too. Sound like fun to you?” Chase asks and JT nods at him with pure enthusiasm. “Alright, then let’s do it!”

JT digs back into his food,
seemingly excited for the day ahead of us. I look over to Chase and see him throwing a wink over at me as he takes the last bite of his eggs.

“Y’all should stay at the house this weekend,” Drake says
, his words making Chase immediately look over to me for my reaction.

“You want to, Baby?” he asks
.

“What are you talking about?” 
I ask, throwing them both a look of curiosity.

“Sorry, I
’d forgotten that you’ve never been out there before. I have a beach house in Corpus. It’s not far from the aquarium, so you’re more than welcome to stay there if you want to. Ana and I are actually planning on going out there tonight, once she’s done at work. We were planning on spending the whole day down on the beach tomorrow,” Drake explains.

“That’s nice of you to offer, but if you and Ana are going to out there tomorrow
then I’m sure you’ll want some privacy.”

“Sophie, there’s plenty of room. Honestly, I think I went a little crazy when I bought the place because it was obviously built for a lot of people
. You’re welcome to spend as much time there as you’d like. It’s not far from the office either if y’all ever want to stay longer than just the weekend. Chase, you know that. What’s mine is yours man,” Drake offers.

“Okay, thank you, Drake. That sounds like fun. Are you done with your breakfast sugar pie?” I ask
as I turn back to face JT. “Okay go get cleaned up. Do you need my help?” I ask but he shakes his head at me before making his way into the bathroom. I finish my coffee and walk over to the sink, where Chase takes the mug from out of my hands.

“
You go and get ready, I’ll do this. We’ll have to stop by my place so I can grab a couple things, but it won’t take long and it’s still pretty early,” he says. I nod and smile, kissing him quickly on the cheek before I go to check on JT.

Once I’ve got
him changed and packed our things up, Chase watches him while I go and take a quick shower and get myself ready.

In less than an hour, we’re walking out the door.

***