Promised Gifts by Elena Aitken

Author:Elena Aitken
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ink Blot Communications

Chapter Eight

Nick managed to calm her down enough that she no longer looked as though she was going to spit nails at him, but it still wasn’t enough.

Or maybe it was.

“I can’t do this, Nick.”

His heart sank because he knew what she was saying. Without her even having to speak the words out loud, he knew what she meant. But then she clarified.

“Eight years ago, I was in love with you.” Her words hit him so hard his heart fluttered. “I thought you loved me too.”

Desperately, every part of him wanted to tell her how much he had loved her. How much he still loved her. Had never stopped loving her. He opened his mouth but closed it again when he couldn’t find the words.

“I took a chance, Nick.” She looked so vulnerable in front of him, pouring her heart out and opening herself to what had to be the most sensitive part of her, but still, he was frozen, unable to appropriately respond. “And you laughed. You actually laughed.”

The word was like daggers in his gut. He flinched, although it was doubtful she noticed. He should have said a million things. He could have come up with a million ways to defend or explain his actions of that night eight years ago, but he couldn’t. It was his chance to tell her why he’d turned her away. Why he’d pushed her away that night. How it saved both of them and the family they both loved.

But he couldn’t.

He was a coward.

Nick’s mouth opened and closed and still, no words came out. Not the ones that mattered, anyway. The only thing he could say was, “I don’t remember that.”

It was a lie. An ugly, hurtful lie and judging by the look on her face, it was a lie that cut her to the quick. It hurt him physically to watch the pain it caused her to digest that lie. Because the truth was, he remembered that night in vivid Technicolor.

Of course he did.

He remembered the way she’d come to him. Heady and excited on the high of graduating high school, with her whole life in front of her.

She’d looked amazing.

And she walked right up to him, told him how much she loved him, and kissed him. Just like that.

It was the single best kiss of his life.

Hands down.

Until last night.

But instead of doing what he should have done—instead of wrapping his arms around her and holding her close while he pressed his lips to hers the way he’d wanted to for at least over a year—he’d pushed her away. And then he’d laughed.

It was the only thing he knew to do because eight years ago, Jake had taken Nick aside and told him how much he valued their relationship. How much their brotherhood meant to him. Maybe he knew what Nick was thinking when it came to his sister. Maybe he didn’t. But either way, Jake had hugged him and told him how nothing could ever come between them. Not even a girl.

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