Promise Me Always Read Free Page A

are like family and there is no way I am going to let him get away with this again.” Jared was a prick and I never did like him, even back in high school I knew he was a douchebag. His parents had lots of money and he thought he was better than everyone else because of it.
    Why am I getting so pissed? I felt like a jealous boyfriend. Tess and I had always been good friends, but that was it. We just always seemed to gravitate towards each other when we were all hanging out. She was easy to talk to and she never tried to get my attention like the other girls always did. Yeah, she flirted with me, but it wasn’t an in-your-face kind of flirting. She actually was a little smart ass with me most of the time. I always thought she was hot, but I knew she just saw me as a player and not boyfriend material.
    Tessa and I met our senior year in high school through Cole and Palmer. We always had a very flirtatious friendship, but neither of us has ever taken that extra step to turn it into something more. We always joked around and teased each other, just like two kids in middle school do when they have a crush on one another. We only crossed the lines of friendship one time.
    Even after that afternoon when we casually hooked up in my car after work, we still remained friends—but that’s it. That was a story any man would be bragging to his friends about. I never told anyone though, except for my older brother, Devin. I respected Tessa too much to brag about it. Plus, I was scared of what Palmer might do to me if she ever found out. She could be a feisty bitch when she wanted to be.

    We had just graduated from high school and we were both working at the mall that summer. I was going to the food court on my break when I saw her. She always stood out in a crowd and I spotted her immediately. She was wearing her usual work outfit—black pants that made her ass look incredible and a black, tight short sleeved shirt. That shirt did things to her chest that should be illegal. Her shoulder length brown hair was pulled up in a messy bun and her big honey brown eyes could make you stop dead in your tracks. I decided to mess with her and bring up our drunken conversation from the previous weekend.
    “Hey, Tessa! What are you doing after work?” I asked her, giving her my best panty dropping smile.
    “Uh … nothing, Blake. Why, what’s up?” she answered as she twirled her hair in her fingers. I was making her nervous.
    “Oh, nothing. I just downloaded that song we were talking about Friday night. Thought maybe you would like to take a ride after work and listen to it?” I laughed to myself as her cheeks turned bright red; I knew she remembered our conversation. I also knew there was no way she would say yes to my suggestion of going for a ride, considering the way that little chat went down.
    She had told me about a song that she had fallen in love with—”Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars. She was drunk and told me that she would give it up to any man that ever played her that song. I told her she was lying, that she would never give it up that easy. She promised me that any man that could be that romantic deserved to get laid. She had looked me right in the eye and told me she meant it. She was pretty drunk.
    When I got home that night, I immediately downloaded the song to my iPod. I told myself that I was doing it so I could torment her later on, but, down deep, I knew that wasn’t the only reason.
    I sat there, watching her beautiful face turn a deeper shade of red, waiting for her to tell me to go fuck off. As her cheeks continued to heat, I mentally patted myself on the back for remembering to download that song. I was so distracted by my little achievement that she totally caught me off guard when she said, “Actually, I think I’ll take you up on that, Blake. My car wouldn’t start this morning, so Palmer had to give me a ride to work. Think maybe you could take me home later? I get off at six.” She gave me the