Page 15 of Every Broken Promise
“Why does he have a patch?”
“Because he is a pirate. He protects me from all the evil dreams,” she said, matter-of-fact.
Astrid was the bravest and smartest person I knew, so I believed her.
Once we lay in bed, I turned to face Astrid. She smiled at me and took my hand. “You’re my friend, Tyler, and I will always be there for you. That’s what friends do.”
The sadness was still there, but Astrid’s hand in mine comforted me. True to her word, she held on to my hand the whole night.
SEVEN
A few weeks later
My head has beena mess since Astrid came back into town. I felt like shit. I was regretting the cowardice of my seventeen-year-old self. In what world did I think Astrid would come back to town and everything would be okay?
Fuck.
I couldn’t stop thinking about her. The worst part was that every single corner of this town held a memory.
When she left, the desperate feeling clawed at me. Day and night, I felt that dread in the pit of my stomach. I told myself I would make it better, but then it was too late. Astrid left, and in doing so, she proved she didn’t need me—not like I needed her.
My hands were making a mess of my hair. I heard footsteps behind me but ignored them. I didn’t have the mental energy to deal with it. My family knew about Astrid and the frosty way she was treating me.
Adam had a big mouth and was getting a kick out of my misery.
“Ty, you good to hold down the fort for an hour? I need to go make a pickup, and Pops said he’s running late,” Ezekiel asked me.
Working with him was like working with a ghost. Well, more like a ghost who haunted your ass. He was quiet, and you heard the occasional tool drop, causing you to jump scared because you forgot he was there in the first place.
“Yeah,” I replied without even bothering to look at him.
“Are you pining?” he asked me in his gruff voice.
I looked up at my brother, and the fucker looked amused. This was a miracle all on its own because, for years now, my brother had lost his sense of personality.
“What did you say?”
“I asked if you were pining,” he repeated himself.
“Don’t start with me,” I warned him. I had enough of Adam taunting me, but if EZ was going to start too it would be hell.
Brothers were assholes.
It would have been nice to have a sister right about now. Then, I almost winced as the thought filtered through my head. I had someone I once regarded as a sister, and look how well that turned out.
Every time I replayed our last conversation in my head, I wanted to punch myself for calling her a bitch.
“Brother, you’ve been a mess since Astrid came back into town.”
No shit.
“She’s my best friend, and she’s not talking to me,” I barked.
The frustration was starting to get to me.
“Is she really your best friend if she hasn’t spoken to your dumb ass in years?”
My blood was beginning to boil. He didn’t have to point out the obvious. “We are going through a hard patch. We’ll figure it out. We always have.”
