The Promise (53 page)

“Woohoo!” I say,
which makes him chuckle again. “Well in that case, I’ll nix the nap for today.”

“No
, Baby, it’s cool. Go take a nap,” he insists. “I’ll wake you up when I get home.”

“Are you sur
e? You know I’m a pain in the ass to wake up,”

“Oh
, I’m sure, Baby,” he laughs wickedly. “I’d love nothing more than to give you a wake-up call as soon as I get home.” My cheeks flush red instantly, although I can’t explain why.  I let out a girlish giggle and hear the smile within his voice again. “Go get some rest, Sweetheart. My friend Nick is in town with his wife, Trina. I thought that we could maybe meet them for drinks and it might turn out to be a late night.

“Okay
, Sugar Buns, sounds good to me. Drive safe. I love you,” I answer him.

“I love you too,
Baby.”

The thought of meeting Chase’s friends is a little nerve wracking
, but I’m simply too tired to give it much more thought at the moment.

Once we end
ed our call, I headed into the room and think that I fell asleep before my head even managed to hit the pillow.

T
he next thing I know, Chase’s lips are running tenderly up my neck. He’s silent as he lifts my shirt over my head, before pulling my panties slowly down my legs.

H
e gently begins to rub his hands over my body and in all the right places. As he pushes his length inside me, I let out a gasp of satisfaction as his familiar, sexy growl rumbles against my neck.

W
rapping my legs around his waist tightly, I ride the waves of pleasure he’s able to send through me as he thrusts deeper inside me. He leans down, licking the tear that escapes from my eye before seeking shelter in my hairline.

Entwining our fingers, he gently raises my arms above my head
, holding me there as we begin to reach our climax simultaneously. We’re both panting hard.

“Sophie,” he whispers into my neck sweetly,
while emptying into me as I feel myself pulsing around him. My answering whimper is the best I can manage, but it seems to be enough for him. He squeezes my hands into his gently, before running his lips against my neck again while we come down from our high slowly. I gently bite him on the shoulder, before immediately kissing the assaulted spot as he hums into my ear.

Our eyes
finally meet and I see him smiling down at me, “Hey, Baby.”

“Hey
, Lover,” I answer with a smile, raising my head up to kiss him softly on the lips. Eventually, he lifts me off of the bed as we shower together, talking about how we spent our time while we were apart.

I can tell
from the way he’s acting that he wants to ask me about moving in again, but he doesn’t. I promised him an answer by the end of the week and since today is Friday, I guess I should give him an answer pretty soon. He’s an extremely patient man, much more patient than I deserve, so he doesn’t bring the conversation up.

Once we’re clean and out of the shower, I watch him mov
ing around the bedroom while running a brush through my damp strands.

“I
’ve got something for you,” he says and after stopping at the dresser, he walks over and sits himself beside me on the bed. He places the small box in my hand and sits patiently, as though he’s gauging my reaction.

“What is it?” I ask, running my hand over the box slowly. He chuckles quietly to himself
before placing a kiss on my left cheek.

“Well
you could just open it and find out, silly girl,” he answers with a smile. As I push the top of the box open, I look down to find a small cuff bracelet made of gold. When worn, it resembles an arrow that wraps around the wrist. It’s very delicate and unique. Although I love it immediately, I’m at a loss for words. “We had a bid at a shop this morning and when I saw it, I instantly thought of you,” he tells me in a whisper. “Do you like it?” He asks as I continue to stare at it. I raise my head to meet his eyes with a teary smile.

“I love it,” I
answer him quietly. “Thank you, Baby.” I whisper as I lean up to kiss him on the lips.

“You’re welcome, my Sweetheart,” he says
as he takes it from me, slipping it onto my wrist. It fits perfectly. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” I say, leaning up to kiss him again. Before we can fully enjoy our kiss however, Chase’s phone erupts loudly
, cutting the moment short. He lets out a frustrated breath which makes me laugh at him. “It’s okay. Go and get your phone. I need to get ready anyway,” I tell him as he smiles down at me. “Thank you again. It’s perfect, Honeybee.”

He smiles and gives me another chaste kiss on the lips before standing to go and grab
his phone. I notice his grin widening over his face as he walks away.

I finish getting ready in the bathroom
and can hear Chase in the background, speaking on his cell phone with Nick. I’m beginning to feel a little nervous about meeting his friends again, but figure that I shouldn’t worry so much. We’re only going for drinks after all, I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?

Famous last words.

***

The ride to the bar is
a typical one for us. I sit in the middle of the seat and lean against Chase’s side as we listen to the radio and make idle chitchat.

We’re going to a bar
that I’m not familiar with. Chase told me that it’s on the other side of town. I begin to feel a little more comfortable about spending time in the company of Nick and is wife, Trina, when Chase tells me a little bit about them.

He
informs me that their ten year high school reunion is taking place this weekend and although he said he doesn’t want to go to the reunion itself, he still wants to catch up with some of his friends while they’re staying in town.

“I just got another text from Nick.
A couple more people are going to be joining us. Is that okay, Baby?” Chase asks me as we pull up in the bars parking lot. I instantly feel butterflies forming in my lower abdomen. “Are you nervous?” He asks with a grin, as though reading my mind.

“A little,” I admit, blushing. “I haven’t really met any of your friends before.”

“Well, that’s only because most of them don’t live here anymore and I don’t really want to share you with the ones that do,” he says, kissing me on the forehead. “Don’t be nervous, Baby. They’re all really cool guys and the girls they’re with are mostly nice,” he winks. As we walk into the bar, Chase places my hand into his and kisses me briefly on the cheek. “You look really hot, by the way.”

I feel the blood seeping into my cheeks a
s I look down at my outfit with a smile. I take in the simple outfit I chose to wear for the evening, wondering again if it’s appropriate but then decide that seeing as though Chase seems pleased, then so am I.

I decide
d that after seeing Chase’s blue button up with the trademark rolled sleeves, fitted jeans and black boots, that something nice but at the same time casual, would do fine.

I settled
for my fitted, black button up top with short black dress shorts and matching sandals with a heel on them. I’ve made my makeup smoky and have left my hair down. The bracelet Chase gave me is shining in the light, instantly putting a smile on my face whenever I see it on my wrist.

“Thanks,” I respond
, taking him in again. “So do you, Love Monkey.”

“Thank you
, Baby,” he chuckles and kisses me on the lips one more time before pulling the door of the bar open for me.

Holy crap.

A few extra people has ended up being more than twenty by the time we arrive inside.

As Chase walks me around
, introducing me to all of them, to say that I feel overwhelmed by it all is putting it a little mildly.

According to most of the people here, more are on their way and after a solid hour of making the rounds
, we still haven’t managed to talk to everyone in here.

We finally make our way over to Nick and Trina and after introducing me
to them, Chase pulls a stool over for me before making his way over to the bar to grab our drinks. The line is long and I know he’ll be gone for a few minutes, so I make myself comfortable and begin talking with Trina.

“So how long have you and Chase been seeing each other?”
she asks me with a smile. I look up at her pretty, round freckled face and smile back at her. Trina is petite and has shoulder length red hair, green eyes and a warm, genuine smile. I instantly like her.

“A little over four months,” I
answer her question with another smile. “What about you and Nick? How long have you been married?”

“We’ve been married for almost five years,” she
begins. “We were high school sweethearts and after we graduated, we ended up studying at different schools. The long distance thing didn’t really work out, but we still managed to keep in touch. We got back together after college and were married a year later.”

“So you both went to high school with Chase then?” 

“Yeah,” she laughs. “He and Nick were always getting into trouble together. I’m actually still good friends with Chase’s sister, Emily. Have you met her yet?”

“No,” I admit. “I
’ve spoken with her on the phone and over Facebook, but that’s really it. She’s invited me to go with Chase to the wedding. She seems great, though. I can’t wait to meet her.”

“Oh you’ll be at the wedding?” Trina
asks with a little surprise showing within her eyes. “Wow, y’all must be pretty serious if Em invited you! She’s been a real Bridezilla!” she laughs with an exaggerated eye roll. “You’ll love her, though. She’s hilarious and very friendly.”

Before I can respond, we’re interrupted.

“Hey Trina!” I hear the familiar, grating voice blurt from beside us. Judging from the groan that comes from beside me, Trina isn’t overjoyed by this person’s presence either.

When I turn my head, my fears are confirmed.

Lauren is standing at the edge of our table and dripping with false sweetness as her eyes lock onto me. She’s obviously spent extra time getting ready to come out here, wearing a particularly tight dress which would be far more suitable for a pole and her makeup looks as though she’s been gangbanged by Crayola. “Hey, Sophie,” she says.

“Oh good, Lauren came
,” I say sarcastically, making Trina chuckle under her breath. “And here I was, worrying that you’d miss the party!”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” she answers. “It’s not every day we get to see all of our old pals, right
, Trina?” Trina’s eyes dart nervously between me and Lauren. I notice her nodding silently while Lauren’s eyes come to rest on mine again. “Oh, I’m being rude! Have you met everyone? I keep forgetting that these people are all friends with me and our boy, not you.” Her voice drips with venom beneath her saccharine tone. I notice that more than a couple of people are watching our exchange now.

“Lauren,” Trina starts
but I smile over at her, stopping her.

“Trina, it’s fine,” I say
, turning back to face the she-devil with a smile. “Lauren’s just bummed because she knows an upgrade when she sees one. I’m sure that’s got to be hard for her to deal with.”

While Trina holds back a stifled laugh, Nick doesn’t bother keeping his chuckle quiet. If I
wasn’t so mad, I think that I would have liked him better instantly for it.

Lauren’s fake happiness is instantly wiped away
by my remark and I can see the offense reaching her face immediately. “Oh, and while we’re on the subject, there is no ‘our boy’, Lauren. My boy dumped your sorry ass so why don’t you get the hell over it and back off before you further embarrass yourself. The little notes, the looks, the bathroom confessions you think I don’t know about … It’s really getting a little pathetic, don’t you think?”

She takes a step back and the stunned look that
’s crossing over her face is priceless.

“Oh I love her!” I hear Trina confess to Nick behind me.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Lauren starts as I stand to face her.

“I’m the girl who isn’t going to bow down and take your shit, Lauren. You’ll do well to remember that. Chase invited me here and that’s all you need to know,” I say
, coming nose to nose with her in the middle of what is becoming a small crowd. “You need to show a little more respect and back off. You’re causing a scene and making an ass out of the both of us, so why don’t you sit your sorry ass back down because I’m done playing your games!”

“You might be done with me,” Lauren starts. “But maybe
you should ask yourself if Chase really is?”

“Oh shit!” Nick whispers to Trina as he sees the fury spread
ing over my face. “Go get Chase.”

“What’s going on?” I hear Chase
asks as he pushes his way through the spectators to reach us. I turn to face him and that’s when I hear her spitting out her final insult under her breath.