The Promise (8 page)

“The evening’s song choices,” Drake lie
s smoothly as he takes a pull from his beer and looks over at me with a discreet wink. “We’re trying to guess what you and Ana have up your sleeves to entertain us with tonight.”

“Well, don’t get too comfortable over there ‘cuz. I picked something for u
s to sing together,” Chase chuckles.

“Oh no! What did you do?” Drake laugh
s nervously.

“Guess you’ll hav
e to wait and see!” Chase teases with a hint of mischief in his eyes.

The rest
of the night is fun and drama free. Nobody pressure me into singing, just as Ana had promised. As an added bonus I was able to enjoy a very entertaining rendition of Beastie Boys’ ‘Brass Monkey’ by the guys while Ana chose ‘So What’ by Pink.  Overall, the evening is a lot of fun and I’m glad I went. Not to mention Drake’s given me a lot to think about.

We leave
the bar at closing time and as usual, Chase walks me out to the truck. As we walk, he asks me if I had fun with them tonight and we talk about some of the more colorful performers.

“I had no idea you were such a Beastie Boys fan, Chase,” I tease playfully.

“Of course I am! They’re the best! How could you not be a fan?” he said, returning my smile as he glances down at me.

“I am a fan
. I didn’t say I wasn’t, just that I’m surprised, that’s all.” I laugh, putting my hands up in mock surrender. He chuckles as I unlock my door, still looking down at me.

“I’m glad you came wi
th us tonight, Sophie,” he says as he reaches down to push a piece of my blonde hair behind my ear before continuing. “I really hope I get to see you again soon,” His hand is still in the spot between my shoulder and neck. He’s so warm that my breathing has suddenly become shallow.

“Uh…Yeah, I’m sure I’
ll see you around sometime,” I laugh nervously. He smiles a little, with his eyes still locked on mine.

“Goodn
ight, Sophie,” he whispers, leaning down and planting a gentle kiss on my cheek.

“Night,” I breathe,
climbing quickly into the truck. As I pull away, I see Chase still standing there watching me as he places his hands in his pockets. Before I make out of the parking lot, the tears begin to fall down my cheeks.

***

Chase

As I watch
her drive away, my mind is still reeling. I’m not sure what had made me kiss her cheek, I knew better
.
I’ve been thinking about kissing her for a week, I just hadn’t planned it that way. I hadn’t planned it at all really, but when I looked down at her and saw how beautiful she looked I couldn’t help myself. I’ve never seen her with makeup on before and even though she’s just as gorgeous without it, that lip gloss made me want to taste her lips even more. Her eyes stood out in the most amazing way, but I don’t think that’s what did it.

The thing that sent me into overdrive was her smile. I’d looked down when she was teasing me about my song ch
oice and heard her laughing. When I looked down at her, her whole face was animated. She’s absolutely breathtaking. She has those cute little dimples in her cheeks that were just begging for me to kiss them in that moment. I couldn’t stop myself, and so I kissed her. Maybe it was a bad idea, maybe it wasn’t, but either way I can’t bring myself to regret it. Her soft skin on my lips is something I can never regret and by the way her breathing caught when I did it, I don’t think she regretted it right then, either. I hope not anyway. I’ve wanted many things in my life but I’ve ever wanted anything as much as I want her.

***

Waking up, I hear Drake traveling from my living room. It sounds like he’s on the phone.

Does
he
ever
sleep?

Last night he called me right after I
’d left and said he thought he’d had too much to drink to make the drive back to Corpus and asked if he could crash on my couch. He doesn’t have to ask, but he always does anyway.

I make my way into the kitchen and
see that he’s already made coffee for which I’m grateful. I pour myself a black cup of coffee before walking back into the living room. Drake is already dressed in jeans and a red t-shirt. He looks like he’s making plans for the day. Meanwhile, I still have no idea what time it was.

“Okay, B
aby, sounds good. We’ll see you in a little while,” he’s grinning like an idiot and using pet names so he must be talking to Ana. “Goodbye, Analise.” Bingo. He hangs up and looks up at my ensemble and disheveled morning hair with a smirk. “Good morning, Beautiful.”

“Mornin’
, Gorgeous. What’s up?” I ask dryly, sleep still marring my voice, as I took a big sip out of my mug. He’s way too happy for … wait, what time is it? Seven thirty? Wow! I haven’t been up this early on a Sunday in a while.

“Go shower and get dressed, you’re coming with me,” he inform
s me.

“And where is it you thi
nk I’m going exactly?” I laugh at his assumption.

“Sophie will be there,
” he crosses his arms in front of him, a big shit eating grin crossing his face.

Damn, he’s got me there. Nobody kno
ws me better than Drake, so there’s no point in trying to argue my way out of it or deny anything. Not that I would and he knows that, too, the bastard. I shake my head at him and try to hide my smile anyway.

“Give me fifteen minutes,” I say, leaving
the room and his laughter behind me.

I
get out of the shower and start getting ready, realizing my excitement. I haven’t been this excited about seeing a girl since Lauren and I had been together. It’s been a little over a year since I called it quits. We’d been together for two years and I was just about to propose when I found out she’d been cheating on me with half of Rockport.

I remember how dumb I felt when I realized how man
y other people knew about it. I thought it was pretty messed up that even though she knew how close I was with Drake, she still tried to deny it when he’d told me he’d seen her with another guy. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised though. If she didn’t have the decency to take her other men further from our job sites, I shouldn’t have expected her honesty once she’d been caught.

I sha
ke the unpleasant memory from my brain and finish getting ready. I don’t know what we’re doing today, but I figure a pair of jeans and a t-shirt will work well enough. I always keep a change of clothes in my truck in case I have to crash at Drake’s place. If I have to, I can just change later. When I walk out to meet Drake, he’s waiting for me on the couch watching TV.

“So what are we doing today anyway?” I ask.

“Analise decided that she wanted to try out her new barbecue pit so we’re going over there for a cookout and maybe a swim. Make sure you bring some shorts for the pool,” he says, barely taking his eyes from the set.

“Okay, you need a pair of shorts?” I ask
.

“Yeah thanks,” he answers
. I grab us each a set of shorts for the pool and walk back into the living room. He sitting in the same spot still engrossed in the show he’s been watching.

“Did you want to go, dude?”

“What …? Yeah, yeah, sorry,” he says grabbing his wallet and phone while I shut the TV off.

“What were you watching anyway
? A cooking show?”

“What
’s wrong with a cooking show?” he asks.

“Are y
ou trying to learn how to grill so you can impress Ana?” I laugh at him.

“I know how to grill, Chase! S
hut up and lock the door,” he’s busted and he knows it.

On our way over to
the girls’ apartment, Drake thought it would be a good idea to stop by the grocery store to grab a few things to contribute to the cookout. While we are here, I realize that Sophie will probably be waking up soon, so I run next door to the coffee place and pick her up a coffee. When Drake sees me his eyes glance back and forth between the coffee and my face before he smirks.

“Since when do you drink
that?” he asks looking down at Sophie’s girly frozen coffee. When I keep walking without giving him an answer he begins to laugh. “Oh! You don’t drink that. That’s not for you is it? Wow! You’re pulling out all the stops with this one huh? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you try so hard to woo a girl, cousin.”

“Shut up!
I’m just being nice,” I say. “And don’t say the word ‘
woo
’ to me ever again.”

“Calm down I’m just busting your balls. I think she’s great
. I get it. I’m also glad you’re not still hung up on Lauren.”

“Definitely not,” I answer him
.

“Good. By the way I think sh
e’s into you, too. You should ask her out,” Drake suggests.

“Yeah
? Maybe I will.”

When we knock on the door, Ana
opens it and immediately jumps into Drake’s arms. Man, they definitely aren’t taking things slow. She pulls him in and is already yanking him back to her room before I’ve even taken a step into the apartment.

“Hey Chase!” she calls
back over her shoulder.

“Hey Ana
. How are you?”

“Good, Sophie’s in the s
hower, she’ll be out in a sec. Make yourself at home!”

I walk in and place
the two bags I’ve been carrying in the kitchen. I grab a couple things out of them to put in the fridge, leaving everything else in the bags on the counter. I know she said make myself at home but I don’t want to overstep any boundaries.

I could’ve sworn I just
heard singing coming from Sophie’s room, but brush it off as the radio since she’d told me it wasn’t her thing last night at karaoke. When I hear a door opening, I turn around and see Sophie coming out of her room, towel drying her hair. She’s already dressed and wearing a simple but very pretty white sundress that accentuates her soft curves and shows off her tanned legs.

“Good morning,” I greet her with a smile. I hope this isn’t awkward since I kissed her last night. It was just a peck on the cheek but I get the feeling I need to be very careful with Sophie.

I don’t know what happened to her before she came to Rockport but I can tell she is still pretty shaken by whatever it is. The last thing I want is to scare her off. The surprised look on her face tells me I’m not off to a great start, but luckily it doesn’t disrupt her features for long.

“Good morning, Chase,” she greets me
quietly, giving me a small smile. I hold out her coffee and watch her smile grow noticing those kissable dimples again. She is stunning. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that but it’s sweet, not to mention it’s much needed. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“How com
e?”

“Just didn’t,” she bit
es her lip and walks past me to the laundry room where she tosses her towel in the hamper before turning back to face me. She takes a sip from her coffee and makes a cute little noise of satisfaction that makes me chuckle. “So did you want to sit on the balcony? It’s a bit early for me, so I was going to watch some TV for a few minutes to wake up a bit. You’re welcome to join me in here or we can sit outside on the balcony.”

“The couch
actually sounds great. I’m usually a pretty early riser but I like to have a few minutes to wake up. Drake wakes up ready to take on the world,” I laugh.

“That’s how Ana is, too
. I can’t wrap my head around it. She’s already been up for a few hours, washed her laundry, cleaned the house, gone to the grocery store, and started lunch. Whereas I have managed to shower and have this conversation,” she says making us both laugh.

After a few minutes, we decide on something to watch and slip into a comfortable silence that ha
s me smiling a little to myself. I think that’s one of the hardest things to find in another person, the ability to hold a comfortable silence and still feel connected to them. It seems like everything about Sophie is exactly what I want I just wish I knew how she felt about me.

I’ve been thinking a lot
about Drake’s suggestion to ask Sophie out and decide I will. Not right now, but soon. Very soon.

The rest of the day
is easy and enjoyable. Before lunch, Sophie and I decide to join Ana and Drake for a swim at the pool. Seeing Sophie layout in her turquoise bikini is almost my undoing. She isn’t even doing anything, just lying there reading, but it’s all I can do to stay in the pool and not assault the poor girl. Feeling my eyes on her, she smiles warmly at me.

I
consider joining her but judging from the massive erection caused by Sophie in her tiny bikini, getting out of the pool is definitely
not
a good idea.

What is this girl doing to me?