"Promise," they said together.
Luca held out his pinky. Jaxon did the same. I linked mine with both of theirs, the three of us connected.
"Friends forever," I said.
"Forever," Luca agreed.
"Nothing's gonna change that," Jaxon said, fierce and certain. "Not ever."
I believed them.
We all believed it.
I woke up crying.
The tears were hot on my cheeks, my throat tight with emotion I'd been suppressing for twelve years. The dream, no, the memory, was so vivid I could still smell the ice rink. Could still feel their pinky fingers linked with mine.
Friends forever.
Nothing's gonna change that.
Except everything had changed. I'd changed it when I let my mother drag me away. When I disappeared without a word. When I broke every promise we'd ever made to each other.
My phone was vibrating on the coffee table.
I reached for it with shaking hands, expecting Shayla. Expecting work.
It was a text from an unknown number.
Your scent is all over this city, Pretty Girl. You can't hide from us anymore.
My heart stopped.
Then a second text, from a different unknown number.
I can smell you from here. Whatever's happening, we're coming up. Don't try to run.
Luca and Jaxon had both some how gotten my number. Of course they had. They were professional athletes with resources I couldn't imagine.
And they were coming.
Both of them.
I looked down at the laptop still open beside me. The photos I was supposed to be editing. Luca and Jaxon, captured through my lens, twelve years after that Pee Wee championship game.
They'd kept their promise.
They were in the NIHL. Both of them. Playing at the highest level.
And I'd kept mine too, in a way. I was taking their pictures.
Just not the way any of us had imagined.
My phone vibrated again. A third text from Jaxon.
We’re
They were both coming.
