Beautiful Broken Promises(72)

His hand curled around the length of my hair and gave it a gentle tug so I was forced to look straight up into his eyes. “Of course I know,” he grumbled onto my lips. My heart beat wildly in my chest, not only because this was our first show of affection in front of the kids, but in front of his friends as well.

Finally, I couldn’t hold it in any longer and I burst out laughing. He looked so uncomfortable with everyone talking about him in front of me and now the way he was squirming around, it was hilarious. I just couldn’t hold back. The laugh was loud and deep and cleansing. Why did I care who Lane liked or who he usually went after? I had never been that kind of girl. So I laughed off the stress that I had placed on myself.

“I like her,” Cole said with humor in his voice.

“I do too,” Jaxon added.

“Of course you like her,” Quinn said. “She’s practically the brunette version of Em.”

Em and I stared at one another and finally just started laughing together. Yeah, this group was fun.

“Finally, someone I can share clothes with,” Em cheered.

“Well, sorry I won’t be much fun. The only clothes I own can fit into a small duffel bag.” I shrugged.

“We’ll fix that!” Quinn announced excitedly.

“Shit,” Lane whispered, and I elbowed him for his language.

“Say goodbye to your credit cards now, man,” Jace laughed.

I instantly sobered. “Oh no, I wouldn’t use his money.”

“Alright,” Lane interrupted. “This has been fun, but I’m hungry, they’re hungry, and we’re going home before anyone else shows up.”

“Everything’s ready for you guys,” Audrey said, smiling widely.

“Thanks, doll. We’ll see you guys around.”



LANE -

“Lane, your house is huge!” Raegan smiled widely at me from the passenger seat.

I laughed because my house wasn’t even close to huge. “You’re just used to New York City apartments. You saw Jace, Jaxon, and Cole’s places, right?” I never really cared about how much money I didn’t make. It was always enough to do what I wanted and still pay my bills. But when compared to those guys with their families’ trust funds, I was sorely lacking.

“Oh, pfft.” She waved her hand at me. “Don’t get me started on their houses. Beautiful? Yes. Completely unnecessary? Absolutely. They don’t need those gigantic things. This house though, it’s perfect.”

I’d rented out a small, one-story red brick home with three bedrooms that were definitely excessive; at least they were when I’d put down the deposit. Now they’ll be useful. The only reason I chose this one was because it had a big backyard for the dog I hoped to have one day, and it was literally five minutes away from everyone else.

I pulled into the driveway and shifted into park, then glanced back at Kate and Braden in my tiny backseat. Now that I looking at carting around kids, it was probably stupid of me to buy this car.

“Man, I think I’ll need to trade this car back in.”

“Why? It’s nice,” Raegan said, running her hand across the leather seats.

“It seems ridiculous now that they’re sitting in the back.”

“It’s a hot car and they fit.” She shrugged her shoulders as if it were as simple as that.

I actually used to drive an old black SUV in California that would have been perfect, but then I moved to Texas and got a new job. I felt like I needed to splurge a little on my new two-door Challenger and hell, I’d be the first to admit it helped me pick up women… fast. But now there were two booster seats latched in the backseat and it just seemed absurd.

“We’ll figure it out later. Besides, we have to get you a car too. Everyone drives here,” I told her.

“No, no. I can’t drive. No car-buying for me,” she announced nervously.

“Babe, you can’t drive?”

“I lived in New York, why would I need to know how to drive?” she asked.

I smirked at her and replied, “This’ll be fun. I’ll teach you. Not in this car though. You can learn on an automatic first.”

She rolled her eyes and stepped out, but not before I could check out her tight ass. Even better, she turned around to pull the seat forward so she could help Braden from the back, and I got a full-on show of her tits in that V-neck shirt. My jaw may have dropped, but I would never get enough of those.