Promise Me Not

by Meagan Brandy

He’s right. I am avoiding him, and he did come here three times this summer. According to the messages I left on read, the only reason he came…was for me. My eyes fall to Deaton, who plays happily in the warm water, and I know that’s not right. Mason didn’t come home for me. He came for us.

“Just so you know,” he begins. “It’s okay not to be okay…even if it’s not for the reason everyone thinks.”

“You know what’s not fair?” I rasp, my head rolling to the opposite side, lids too heavy to keep open. “What you said and what you’re doing. You’re killing me.” I breathe, forcing my lids to open and meet the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen. “I’m fucking dying here, baby.”

“You can do whatever you want to me, Pretty Little. Anything. Always.”

“I fucking miss you.” Her whole body quakes. “Can I hold you?” She sucks in a choppy breath, those blue eyes on me. “Please, Pretty Little…” My eyes start to close, my words more slurred than the last ones. “I need to hold you.”

“I want you to have to kiss me because you can’t stand the thought of not,” he rasps. “I want it to be desperate and urgent and necessary.” He swallows, whispering, “But I want it to be mine and only mine.”

“I’m dead serious. I can’t compete with a ghost, so I won’t,” I promise. “He can keep your heart for all eternity. Just let me hold you for all of mine.”

“You’re not competing,” she seethes, tears rolling rapidly down her beautiful face. “There is no competition, Mason. There’s no competition, and that is the problem.”