Wicked Promises Read online

  First eBook Edition

  Copyright © L A Cotton 2019

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes only.

  If you are reading a copy of this book that has not been purchased from a licensed retailer, please destroy it. Thank you for your support.

  Edited by Andrea M Long

  Cover Designed by Lianne Cotton

  Images licensed from Adobe Stock and Shutterstock

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Wicked Promises (Wicked Bay, #7)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Epilogue

  Playlist

  Author’s Note

  Sign up for L. A. Cotton's Mailing List

  Further Reading: The Trouble With You

  For Jade

  Note: I have taken some creative liberties with the NCAA football regulations

  Chapter 1

  Summer

  I stared at my boyfriend Nick, my mouth agape, my eyes wide, sure I’d misheard him. Positive I had because there was no way I could have heard right. His lips were still moving but I couldn’t hear him. I couldn’t hear anything except the crash of my heart in my chest, the pound of blood between my ears. His words from seconds earlier running on a loop in my head.

  I slept with her.

  I slept with her.

  I slept with her.

  “Say something,” he pleaded, finally breaking through my thoughts.

  “Say something? I...” What did you possibly say to someone when they had just ruined everything? When they had punched their fist into your chest and ripped out your heart, holding it bloody and broken in their hand.

  “Summer, I’m so fucking sorry.” Tears pooled in the corner of his eyes. Eyes I’d known since we were just kids. Eyes I’d stared into when he’d taken my virginity. When he’d held me when I felt sick. Eyes that had only ever reflected the future I dreamed of.

  Until now.

  Now they were swimming with regret and panic and a hundred other things I didn’t understand. Things I didn’t want to understand.

  “It was a mistake.” His face paled. “I never—”

  “Stop,” I said, surprised by the resolve in my voice.

  Nick let out a shaky breath, reaching for me, but I jerked back as if he’d slapped me. “Don’t touch me.”

  Those hands had held me when I was upset, traced letters of love on my skin, been inside places of me no other hands ever had.

  And now they’d also touched her.

  The idea of them ever touching me again made me want to vomit.

  “Sum, come on. This is you and me. We can get through this, we can—”

  “I need to go.” Bile rushed up my throat and I slapped a hand over my mouth, running away from Nick. I couldn’t think. Couldn’t see straight for the tears.

  “Summer,” he yelled, his footsteps heavy behind me as he gave chase. But I didn’t want him to chase me. I didn’t want to hear all about how he’d accidentally had sex with some girl from his dad’s company. I didn’t want to hear any of it.

  Nick was supposed to be my person. My future.

  My forever.

  Another wave of nausea overpowered me, churning my stomach, as I stumbled down the sidewalk.

  “Hey, Miss, are you okay?” A man asked. “You don’t look so—”

  I doubled over, emptying the contents of my stomach all over his expensive polished shoes.

  “Summer, wait—”

  “Please, get me away from him. Get me—” My world began to spin as I clutched my stomach, a strange sensation taking over me. I reached for the unsuspecting man, clawing at his arm as my body hurtled toward the ground.

  “Summer!” The desperation in Nick’s voice was brutal, but it was nothing compared to the pain I felt as my world went black.

  MY EYES FLICKERED OPEN to the steady bleeping sound. A stiff white sheet was pulled up around my body, matching the color of the sterile walls.

  “Summer? Oh, thank God, sweetheart. You gave us quite a scare.”

  “Mom?” I frowned; my brows pinched. “Wh- what happened?”

  “You fainted, sweetheart. You had us all worried, baby. You were out for longer than usual, so the medics brought you to the hospital.”

  Fainted?

  But that didn’t make any—

  Everything came rushing back at once. The look on Nick’s face as he told me the truth about Deanna from work. Me trying to run from him. Puking all over the nice man’s shoes.

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to stop the tears, but it did little to disguise the ugly sob that tore from my throat. “He cheated on me, Mom. Nick cheated.”

  “Oh, baby, shh, it’ll be okay, everything will be okay.” Her delicate fingers smoothed the hair from my face as she gave me a warm smile. “He’s a fool, Summer. But right now, I don’t care about him, I only care about you. What happened back there? The nice gentleman who called 9-1-1 said you were sick.”

  “I- I don’t know,” I admitted, my voice small. “Nick told me about... her and I just had to get away from him, Mom. I ran but then this wave of nausea hit me, and I couldn’t stop myself.”

  “But you fainted, sweetheart. You lost consciousness.”

  Was it so inconceivable? My heart wasn’t just broken; it had been obliterated. Nick wasn’t just my high school sweetheart, he was everything. My best friend. My plans for college. My future.

  My happily-ever-after.

  “Oh God, college. How can I—” Sobs wracked my body as Mom held me close. I looped my arms around her, noticing the pinch of the IV running into my hand. It stung. But it was nothing compared to the pain I felt right where my heart was.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in, baby. But you need to calm down. The doctor—”

  “Is right here.” A kind-faced man entered the room. “I’m Doctor Nafaris. How are you feeling, Summer?”

  Mom sat back in the chair, giving me some space. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, suddenly feeling embarrassed by this whole situation. “I, uh, I’m okay I guess.” I sniffled.

  “Do you want to tell me what happened?” He approached the end of the bed, picking up my chart and studying the pages.

  “I found out my boyfriend cheated on me, threw up on a stranger’s shoes, and then fainted.” It sounded even more ridiculous aloud than it did in my head.

  “I’m sorry to hear that. It sounds like you had quite the morning.” His eyes crinkled, but not with amusement, with compassion. “Had you been feeling unwell before that?”

  “Hmm, no, I’ve been fine.”

  “Do you eat regularly, exercise?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you and your boyfriend sexually active?”
/>
  Embarrassment flamed my cheeks as Mom shuffled uncomfortably in her chair beside me. “I... uh... we...”

  “Summer, it’s fine.” Her hand covered mine.

  “Yes,” I croaked out. “But we’re always safe.” After a pregnancy scare when I was fifteen, I’d taken my birth control religiously.

  “Condoms?”

  Mortification washed over me. “I’m on birth control,” I spluttered.

  “I know this is uncomfortable, but given your boyfriend’s recent... indiscretion,” he cleared his throat. “I’d like to run some bloods....” He kept talking, but I was too lost in my own head to hear him.

  Nick had cheated, and we hadn’t used condoms for a long time. Which meant if he didn’t use a condom with... her, and he’d been with me since then, there was a chance—

  “Bowl,” I murmured, clapping a hand over my mouth to keep the vomit down. Mom leaped up thrusting the paper bowl in front of me, just in time.

  “I’ll get a nurse.” The doctor slipped out of the room as I emptied my heart and soul into the bowl, wondering how my life had gone from perfect to disaster in the space of a morning.

  When I was done, Mom cleaned me up. A nurse breezed into the room a couple minutes later, introducing herself as Mandy. “There’s a cute boy out there, asking after you.”

  Nick was here?

  Of course he was. He might have made a terrible mistake, but he wasn’t a bad person.

  I burst into tears again and Mom squeezed my hand.

  “Oh doll,” Nurse Mandy said. “No boy, cute or otherwise, deserves your tears.”

  I wanted to agree with her, but I was finding it hard. Even though he’d cheated, even though Nick had looked me in the eye and admitted to having sex with Deanna from work, I still couldn’t align his actions with the Nick I knew. The Nick I’d fallen in love with at the tender age of fourteen. He wasn’t like most guys at our school, Wicked Bay High. Like my brothers Maverick Prince and Kyle Stone, who in their day had ruled supreme. He was kind and honest and sweet. After the first time we’d had sex, we both knew it was too soon. We were too young, too emotionally immature and Nick had accepted it without question. He stuck by me despite my family’s constant drama, and my brothers’ over-protectiveness. He didn’t bail when things got hard. And when he’d asked me to apply to USC with him, because the idea of not being wherever I was hurt him, I hadn’t hesitated. Because Nick was it for me.

  He was my forever guy.

  Or so I’d thought.

  The blare of Mom’s cell phone cut through the room and she stood up. “It’s your father, I should take this. You’ll be okay?”

  I nodded, too exhausted to talk. Mom left the room while Nurse Mandy continued taking my vitals, before fluffing my pillows and bringing me a fresh jug of water. “Shall I tell the young man in the waiting area to stay or—”

  “I don’t want to see him,” I whispered, my voice cracking with fresh tears. “Not yet.”

  She patted my hand. “Okay. Now try to get some rest. The doctor will be back soon.” Nurse Mandy went to leave.

  “Does he think something is wrong with me?” The words spilled out before I could stop them, and she stopped, turning to fix her big eyes right on me.

  “I’m sure everything is fine, doll. But better to be safe than sorry.”

  Everything was fine. I had no doubt. So the fact I’d asked the question surprised me. I wasn’t sick; I was just heartbroken. Overcome by Nick’s confession. I’d thought he wanted to meet at our usual breakfast place to discuss final plans for our move to USC next week. We were due to leave in eight days.

  Eight days.

  And now I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to see him again.

  God, I was so confused.

  “Your father sends his love.” Mom slipped back into the room. “He wanted to come straight here, but I told him everything is fine.” Her eyes clouded over with doubt.

  “Thanks, Mom. I don’t think I’m ready for anyone else to see me like this.”

  “It’s okay to hurt, baby.” She grabbed my hand in hers again. “Do you want to talk about it?” Pressing my lips together, I gave her a little shake of my head. “Okay, but when you’re ready, I’m here. Okay?”

  “Did you... is he out there still?” My eyes flicked to the door.

  “He is. Just because he hurt you doesn’t mean he still doesn’t love you.”

  “I know.” But it didn’t change the fact he’d ruined what we had. This wasn’t something you could just slap a Band-Aid on and get on with it. Nick had hurt me in a way I wasn’t sure I would recover from.

  “I’m tired, Mom.”

  “Sleep, baby, I’m right here.”

  I closed my eyes and drifted off into a restless sleep.

  SOMETIME LATER, A KNOCK startled me awake. “Hello, Summer. It’s Doctor Nafaris and Nurse Mandy, may we come in?”

  “Sure.” My eyes flicked to the empty chair.

  “Your mom is right outside getting a coffee. But I wanted to talk to you in private.”

  “You did?” Dread slithered up my spine.

  Nurse Mandy offered me a sad smile, making the hairs along the back of my neck electrify.

  “We got the results of your bloodwork back and everything looks fine there. Your blood pressure is a little lower than we’d like to see.”

  I flinched. “So, I’m fine?”

  Nurse Mandy moved closer to the bed, something in her expression making my pulse race.

  “There was something, Summer...” Doctor Nafaris said.

  “What are you saying, Doctor?” I snapped, my eyes flaring with impatience.

  “You’re pregnant.”

  “Pregnant?” The word came out strangled. “I’m not pregnant. I’m on birth control. We’re safe. You must have made a mistake.” Because it wasn’t possible.

  But they were both looking at me now, sympathy and pity glittering in their eyes. And I hated it. It burned through me like poison. The truth of what he was telling me right there painted on his grim expression.

  “Sometimes it happens,” he said, his voice softer now. “Perhaps you were sick or had forgot to—”

  “I didn’t forget... No,” I gasped. “A few weeks ago. I had food poisoning, but I didn’t think...”

  “It’s not as uncommon as you think, doll.”

  “But... I can’t be.” I just couldn’t.

  I didn’t even realize Nurse Mandy was squeezing my hand until my eyes dropped to the bed and I saw her big hand wrapped around my slim fingers.

  “I know this a lot to process, Summer.” That was Doctor Nafaris. “We’ll need to organize an ultrasound to determine how far along you are, and then we’ll have a better—”

  “My mom,” I rushed out. “Does she know?”

  “You’re eighteen, Summer; an adult. That is a decision you need to make.”

  “So, you won’t tell her?”

  “Not if you don’t want us to, no.”

  “I... I think I need some time to process this first. To figure out what I’m going to do.”

  “Of course.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.”

  He gave me a small nod. “I’ll arrange the ultrasound and we can go from there.”

  “So, I can’t go home yet?” The room felt like it was closing in around me.

  “Not until we know exactly what we’re dealing with, no. There’s every chance your episode today was a symptom of your pregnancy.”

  “Oh, I see.” My body sank back into the hospital-issue pillows.

  Nurse Mandy patted my hand before releasing it and I instinctively rubbed my stomach. I didn’t feel pregnant. There was no hint of a bump and my breasts hadn’t grown any. But thinking about it, I had been more tired than usual. I’d just figured it was the excitement and nerves of moving to college.

  “I know this is a lot to digest, doll.” Nurse Mandy stayed after the doctor left. “But God only sends us trials he knows we’re strong enough to handle.”


  She thought I was strong?

  I didn’t feel very strong. Not when all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and shut it all out. To pretend none of this was happening.

  “I’ll let you be now. Holler if you need anything.” She left and I was truly alone.

  Except as my gaze dropped to my stomach I realized; I wasn’t anymore.

  Not really.

  I just didn’t know how to feel about that.

  Chapter 2

  Summer

  “Are you sure you’re okay, baby?” Mom brushed my forehead. “You look a little pale.”

  “I’m fine, I promise.” I wasn’t, but she didn’t need to know that. “I’ll just be glad when I can leave this place.”

  “What did Doctor Nafaris say?”

  “He said he’s just waiting on some of the blood work.” The lie soured on my tongue. “It’s okay, Mom, you don’t have to stay. I think I’m just going to sleep. It hurts too much when I’m awake.”

  “Oh, baby, I wish I could take it all away from you. I know how much you love Nick; we love him too. Maybe when you’re ready to talk to him, you can—”

  “He cheated, Mom. There’s no coming back from that.” He’d destroyed whatever trust we had.

  “No,” she gave me a sad smile. “I don’t suppose there is. But you’re young, baby, you have your whole life ahead of you. Are you sure you’ll be okay if I pop to the office? I can call Jenny and ask her to—”

  “Go, I’ll be fine. By the time you’re done, I’ll be done too hopefully.”

  She leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Okay, but if you need anything, call me.”

  “I will.”

  Indecision clouded her eyes but then Nurse Mandy appeared around the door. “How are we looking in here?”

  “Mom’s just leaving.” My eyes widened a fraction.

  “Oh, well that’s not a problem.” The nurse smiled. “I’ll take good care of her, Mrs. Stone-Prince.”

  “That would make me feel a lot better if you could keep checking in on her. I shouldn’t be too long.”

  “Of course.” Nurse Mandy started to shoo my mom out of the room. “We can handle it from here on out.”

  “Bye, baby,” Mom mouthed at me before the door closed behind her. A couple of seconds later, Nurse Mandy reappeared.