The Pledge (40 page)

“Those must have been some pretty strong painkillers because I certainly don’t remember you visiting.”

I clenched my teeth. “I was there. So was Jon, Coach, and all your friends. Your father wouldn’t let us into your room to see you. But you would know that if you checked your damn phone or email,” I spat out. “I called you at least a dozen times a day since you’ve been gone! Were you ignoring me to hurt me? If so, it worked.”

“My phone was dead, too,” he retaliated.

We glowered at each other. We were both hurting. The knowledge that our trust was broken made my heart ache.

Alec closed his eyes. “I think I should go.”

“You’re just going to leave? Things get hard, so you’re just going to give up?”

He looked down at the ground and shook his head. “Isn’t that what you did at the obstacle course? Things got tough, and you left me. I don’t know if I can trust myself right now.” He looked up and took a shaky breath. “I haven’t seen you for a week. All I know is that what I saw between you and Pickles on Frat Row broke me.” He looked past me, his jaw clenched as he spoke. “You didn’t come to the show. You didn’t send me a message to let me know you were okay. I was so worried about you that I couldn’t focus. My distraction hurt someone else and ruined an entire show.” He directed his gaze back on me and swallowed loudly. “I know it’s not fair to want you to give up something you love for me, but I hate that frat parties and guys like Pickles matter so much to you. Can’t you see how destructive we are to one another?”

That shattering? That was my heart. No words had ever hurt as much as the ones Alec had just said. Some of what he’d said was true. I did mess up. I did let him down. What I needed him to understand was that nothing in my whole life mattered more than him.

“Miss Taren?” William’s kind voice almost made me sob out loud.

I jerked my head away from Alec, and I wiped away my angry tears before either of them could see.

“Hey, Willy. You’re early.” The words shook as they left my mouth. I pressed my lips together and took in a deep breath. My stomach was filled with lead, and my chest hurt. For the first time, I worried that my relationship with Alec was irreparable. Even if I thought we were worth the effort, it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t think we were, too.

Alec stared at William, and I was glad to see it wasn’t with pity or discomfort. I didn’t think my heart could handle it if Alec mistreated my friend. “How do you know Lee?” he asked, hooking his thumb toward William.

I looked at Alec in confusion. “This is my friend, Willy.”

“His name isn’t Willy.” Alec looked angry and frustrated.

William chuckled and approached me to give me a hug. “Hi, Miss Taren. Good to see you.” I accepted William’s hug and pulled him tightly to me. It was nice to see a friendly face.

“Lee? Taren? My head’s fucking killing me. Can one of you tell me what’s going on?” Alec rubbed his forehead and then grimaced, clutching his ribs. His breath hissed through his teeth, and he clenched his eyes shut. As upset as I was with him, I felt awful that my anger had made me forget how badly he was hurt just a week ago.

“I’m not sure who Lee is.” I arched an eyebrow at William in question. “But Willy started out as my assigned buddy through the Good Buddies program here at the university. Now he’s my friend.”

Alec’s eyes widened in surprise before he carefully gestured toward William. “Lee’s my cousin. I told you about him. He’s pretty much the best part of my family. Remember?”

I laughed. “Willy is your cousin? Wow.” I squeezed William’s arm and smiled up at him before facing Alec. “As different as we are, at least we have one good thing in common.”

Alec tipped his head as if considering my words, and then looked away again.

“Willy, can we meet another day? It looks like you guys have some catching up to do. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?” I went to pat William’s hand, but he gently clasped mine in his own.

“Wait, Miss Taren. Please.” William smiled, and my heart warmed. I couldn’t say no to him. Not when he had always been so good and understanding with me.

“Sure, Willy.”

He pulled me closer to him and grabbed Alec’s hand too.

“Guess I have some explaining to do, huh? Yup, yup.” He laughed to himself, and I couldn’t help but grin. Looking over at Alec, he had a small smile on his face as well. “See, when I heard that Miss Taren was my buddy, I remembered right away that she was the girl that stole my cousin’s scholarship.”

My jaw dropped, and I looked over at Alec. He was stunned.

“Alec and I talk a lot.” William grinned at his cousin. “I also remembered he had hurt you in high school when you asked him to go to the dance, Miss Taren. He was not nice to you.” William’s face sobered, and he frowned at his cousin. “He felt bad about that. He was a jerk. Did he tell you?”

I shook my head.

“Then he got in trouble for that party, and he thought it was your fault. So he was not super happy to go to the same college as you, you know that?” William dipped his chin down, watching my reaction.

I nodded, catching my bottom lip between my teeth. I knew that much was true.

“Oh, but then he told me he saw you around campus. He said you changed. You were not so...how did you say that, Alec? She did not have anything up her rear end anymore?”

Alec groaned and closed his eyes as I huffed out an angry laugh. “Nice, Alec.” I let go of William’s hand and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Now do not get upset, Miss Taren. He liked you. He used to watch you, and it made him feel good that you were having fun in college. Even if...what did you say Alec? A lot of the time it sucked for you?”

William and I looked at Alec, but he turned away, studying the fountain.

“This year, when we became buddies, he was talking about you again because you had a class together. He even used to stare at the back of your head during class. How funny is that?” William snorted, and I bit my lip to keep from smiling.

“Geez, Lee. I thought you knew how to keep a secret. Why not tell her all my embarrassing stories from when we were kids?”

William ignored Alec. He was clearly on a mission.

“I knew you and Alec did not get along in school, but when I met you, you were like sunshine. I knew my cousin needed that kind of a bright light girl in his life.” William leaned over to whisper loudly in my ear, “His daddy is not very nice, you know.”

My eyes welled up again with tears, and I hurried to brush them away.

“You talked to me during our visits about a boy you liked and when you called him Alec, I thought my heart would explode. You both liked each other! How funny is that? You both just needed a little help.”

“Wait a minute, Lee,” Alec addressed his cousin. “This whole year when I talked to you about Taren, you knew she was your buddy and you never said anything?”

William nodded, a big-ass smile all over his face.

“Why did you lie? I thought we told each other everything.”

William frowned. “I did not lie. I just listened. Listening is the most important.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out the red ribbon I had given him weeks ago.

I held my breath. This was so embarrassing. Alec would probably recognize it and know I had kept it all these years.
Way to look like a weirdo, Taren.

Alec looked at the ribbon, and then his eyes met mine. He obviously remembered. He remembered everything.

William took one end of the ribbon and tied it onto my wrist. “Miss Taren gave me this. She told me the story of how you fixed her backpack with this ribbon, and she wore it in her hair when she asked you to the dance. She saved it and when she hurt my feelings one time, she gave it to me. She told me the story about the red string of fate and that she and I were connected.”

William took the other end of the ribbon and tied it to Alec’s wrist.

“Now I am part of your string of fate. I listen and I help. You two were always connected, you just need a good buddy to make sure you stayed that way. Yup, yup.”

“Jesus.” Alec swore quietly as he stared at the ribbon that connected us. I couldn’t tell what that one word meant.

“Willy, you’re very sweet, but just because you want us to be together, doesn’t mean we can be. We’re so different from each other. We hurt each other too much.”

William ignored me and turned to Alec. “Do you love her?”

Alec was silent as he raised his gaze to mine. My heart ached. I loved him, but I still hurt him without meaning to, and he had done the same to me.

Alec took a deep breath and then blew it out. “Yes. Of course I do. You know I do, Lee. I already told you that.”

My breath caught in my throat and I pressed the palm of my hand to my mouth. My heart raced as my brain processed the words I had been dreaming of hearing. Did Alec just admit he
loved
me?

He reached for my hand and took it in his. His thumb rubbed over the back of my hand. “I think I’ve loved you for a long time, Taren.”

“And what about you, Miss Taren? Do you love him?” William searched my face for my answer, but I couldn’t stop staring at Alec.

“So much I can barely breathe,” I admitted softly.

“Well,” William dropped the ribbon from his hands and stepped away from us. “Well, okay then. Happiness and love. You are tied by fate. Always have been. Yup, yup.”

William turned and walked away.

“Wait! Willy!” I was about to chase after him before I remembered I was tethered to Alec. A subtle one, that William was.

“Yes, Miss Taren?” Only William’s head turned back toward me.

So many questions swirled around in my brain. Some were for William, some were for Alec, and some were for myself. Only one came to mind at that moment. “If your name is Lee, why do you go by William, and Will, and Billy, and Willy?”

“My name is William, but my family always called me Lee since the day I was born. Never liked it. After I met you, I thought I would try a few others on for size. See how they fit, but I know for sure what my name is now.”

He walked away again, and I called out, “What did you decide?”

William turned fully around and laughed. “William. Yup, yup.” We both watched as William walked away. He didn’t look back. He kept his head up high as if he knew we didn’t need his help anymore.

Alec laughed softly and linked our fingers together. “What the hell just happened? I know I got hit in the head pretty hard, but I’m pretty sure we just got completely played by my cousin.”

“Someone needed to talk some sense into us. Remind us that we’re all in. Right?” I leaned in and kissed him lightly, still a little unsure.

When I tried to pull away, Alec reached up and slid his fingers around the back of my head bringing my lips back to his. I opened up for him and let him kiss me more deeply, and he groaned.

“You really love me?” he asked.

I held his gaze. “Completely.” I leaned in to kiss him again.

“I missed you,” he whispered against my lips. “You have no idea.”

“I missed you, too. It was killing me that I couldn’t find you. I even drove out to your parents’ house and knocked on their door.”

Alec pulled back so he could look at me. “You did? I didn’t think…”

“I was so worried about you. I wanted to fix things.”

Alec kissed each corner of my mouth. “My dad took me to Deep Creek. They thought it would be good for me to recover there at our cabin. No phone. No computer. No you.” He kissed me square on the lips. “No fun.”

“I thought you were avoiding me because you were mad. Your dad said you didn’t want to see me.” The relief I felt at knowing he didn’t purposely ignore my messages made me feel lighter than I had in a long time.

“My fucking father… Look, I was hurt. But I would have talked to you if I could. I thought about you the entire time.” He pressed his lips against mine again, and I loved the way his kisses wrapped possessively around my mouth. I wanted him to remind us both just how much we belonged to one another.

“I think William’s right. We’re tied by fate. We’ll always find our way back to one another.”

Alec grinned. “So, you’re sticking with me?”

I held up our joined hands with our wrists tied by the ribbon that had changed, and continued to change, my life. “You don’t have a choice. We’re bound for good. I love you, Alec.”

He lifted up our hands and kissed the inside of my wrist where the ribbon was tied. “I love you, Taren.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

ALEC

I pulled the car into the parking lot, and although she didn’t say anything, Taren looked at me like I’d lost my mind. Tonight was supposed to be a special date—our last weekend of freedom before we started classes at UMD as juniors. I was sure she was wondering why I’d brought her to our old high school at night. Our car was the only one in the parking lot.

Perfect. That’s what I’d been hoping.

“Ready?” I asked her.

An easy smile swept across her mouth. “Sure.”

I retrieved my duffle bag out of the back seat and met her in front of the car, taking her hand in mine. Taren was wearing a sundress that made me want to toss her back in the car. I wanted to christen the back seat with her in a mass of sweaty limbs and sweet kisses. Those cowboy boots weren’t helping matters any. I could almost imagine them wrapped around my waist while...