Promises Promises

Chapter 2

How does one survive without half of themselves?

I wasn't sure I'd ever know.

"What did he not want you to worry about?"

When a familiar voice arrived over my shoulder, I jumped a little and set my phone face down on the patio table. Swiping at my eyes, I inhaled a short breath and shook my head. "Nothing."

"That didn't look like nothing," Spencer said as he sat in the chair beside me. The warm scent of cinnamon meandered in my direction from his chewing gum, alongside a brush of sandalwood and summer memories. I loved and hated that he still smelled the same as he always had.

Feeling his eyes on me, I put mine back on the hammock, studying its demise.

Without the other maple to keep it up, the blue linen and dreamcatcher tassels made a home at the base of the surviving trunk, deteriorating more with every year that passed.

"Davina," Spence's voice sneaked back into my ear. If I wasn't careful, the softness would be my undoing.

He was usually so assertive and bold, but he'd switched on the tenderness that day, just for me. It was doing strange things to my stomach, so when he reached for my hand, I pushed him away, despite the deep need for his touch and reassurance.

If he felt wounded, he didn't show it. "How can I help?" he asked instead.

"You can't help with anything," I said to him, keeping my gaze forward and my hands to myself. "You know that as well as I do."

Considering his father, the former chief of police in Fairhaven, was as crooked as my brothers always said he was, Spencer knew all too well how things worked around here.

The department was on Amato's payroll, helping him execute his side business here and there, keeping the law out of his hair. They still conducted business as usual around town, but they had a lane to stay in, and there were people who made sure they did so.

Spence didn't have to be a cop to know that, but he was. After graduation, he became one, just like his dad and his grandad and all the other old men before him.

"I'm not talking about police business," he said, reaching for my hand again. I let him have it this time. I liked the tingle of electricity that thrummed in my veins when his fingertips ran along my skin. "I'm talking about you. What do you need from me?"

I blinked back the tears his words brought in, escalated by the gentleness in his touch. It never seemed fair that the one person I felt so much for was the same person I had to keep at a distance. But at the harsh root of it, I didn't truly know him. I didn't know anyone in that town, not really.

There were double-dealings hidden around every corner, and lies were passed down from family to family. Spencer's was no different. Neither was mine. No one in Fairhaven was a safe place to land.

"Can I come over?" he asked next. The question confused me and thrilled me at the same time, but the hurt in his tone made my chest ache.

Dalton had been one of Spence's closest friends since we were all kids. Ours was a shared grief, and spending time together in our usual way probably wasn't a good idea. No matter how badly I wanted to indulge in the comfort of his presence.

"No." I shook my head and stood up. I needed to get out of there before he found out how weak I truly was. "I'm not really in the mood tonight."

"For fuck's sake, Davina." Spencer was on his feet like lightning, his hands finding my waist. "Not for that," he clarified softly with a frown. "I just...I know you miss him and I miss him too. Maybe we can miss him together."