Promised (The Promised Series)

bad for bringing her in to this, and maybe tomorrow I will, but tonight, I don’t care about hurting this random girl. I guess I could be taking out my pain on the first girl I saw since I can’t take it out on Wyn, not that I’d do that anyway. Even in my drunken state, I don’t want to hurt her; I just want her.
    Fuck!
    I take another swig. Nate pulls the bottle from my hand and sets it on the island behind him. “Pull it together. Damn, I should’ve let you stay home.”
    “I’m guessing I won’t be invited to the next party.” I say, moving around him to grab the bottle of Jack. “I better make this one count.” I take another big gulp, and then I smile at Nate and wink at the redhead before I walk out of the kitchen and into the back yard. The guy throwing the party lives in the more expensive part of town in a huge house that’s perfect for these kinds of parties. The back yard isn’t really a back yard, but a pool area complete with a hot tub and swim up bar.
    The area is empty except for me; no one else wants to battle the cold of a January night to hang out by the pool. Lucky for me, the liquor I already have in my system has warmed me enough that I’m barely feeling the biting cold. I take a seat on one of the lounge chairs and lay back to admire the stars and enjoy my new bottle of Jack. I don’t know how long I’ve been lying here enjoying the stars. But when I hear the back door open, I hold up my bottle and see I’ve already made it half way through my new bottle. Figuring it’s Nate, I say. “I’m not giving you the bottle. So save your breath.”
    “You can keep the bottle if I can have your keys.” The soft voice that replies is the last one I thought I’d hear tonight and it causes me to turn my head in her direction to see if she’s really there or if I’ve moved on to the hallucinating point of the night.
    “Wyn?” I ask, shocked to see her standing mere feet away from me.
    “Nate texted me.” She explains, and it pisses me off and pleases me at the same time. What the hell was he thinking?
    “Why the hell did he do that?” I say, putting words to my thoughts.
    “He was worried about you.” She says as she eyes the bottle of Jack in my hand.
    “I’m fine.” I grumble, bringing the bottle to my mouth for another drink. Her eyes follow the bottle’s path and I notice they linger on my mouth even after I take the bottle away.
    Damn! She shouldn’t look at me that way unless she’s ready for me to kiss her. I really look at her for the first time since she showed up. Her hair is pulled up in a messy knot on top of her head. She has her normal coat on, but I spy a purple tank top underneath. She’s wearing purple and pink stripped pajama pants that are way too thin for this weather and a pair of running shoes. She was ready for bed, or already asleep, when Nate texted her and she still came. But how did she get here? She doesn’t drive.
    “You look it, but I’d still prefer you give me your keys so I can drive you home.” She says, taking her eyes away from my mouth and sticking out her hand, waiting on me to hand over my keys. Why do they all think it’s as easy as them demanding and me giving? They both know me better than that.
    “How’d you get here?”
    “Dani, I was staying with her tonight.” She explains, sighing and keeping her hand stuck out.
    “You don’t have a license.” I point out a big reason why I won’t hand my car keys to her.
    Digging in her coat pocket, she pulls out a small rectangle card and holds it up for me to see. “I got it Tuesday.”
    “Why?” I ask shocked again.
    “I decided even if it was a limited freedom, I wanted it.” I sit up and stare at her for several minutes. Neither of us says anything. We both know this was a huge step for her. And if she can take that step, there’s hope she can take another step with me. I finally break the silence by pulling out the keys to the Challenger and tossing them to her.
    “You can drive me home.”

Chapter 18 – Wyn
    ~Options~
    For someone who’s working on his second bottle of Jack, Linc seems rather unaffected. He stumbled a couple times on the way to the Challenger, but he isn’t slurring his words. He’s not hiding his emotions very well, but like I said, he’s had almost two full bottles of Jack so it had to hit him somehow. I get him in the passenger seat and then before getting in myself, I go to Dani’s car to let her know what’s going on.
    “I’m