Broken Promise (Men of Severn #1)

Chapter One

Karmen Jones

“Will you stop staring and just do something?” my best friend Lenor says with a glare.

“I’m not staring,” I counter, taking a sip of my beer. “I’m people-watching.”

“I’ve known you since I was six years old, Karmen. You can lie to everyone else, but you can’t pull the wool over my eyes.”

I roll my eyes. She isn’t wrong but I won’t be admitting to anything out loud. I do divert my gaze from the object of my obsession—Wesley Blake, the oldest of the Blake brothers, and my brother’s best friend.

It started out as an infatuation before I even knew what that was, but with time it has warped into a full-on obsession. I can honestly say I am unequivocally in love with him. I don’t even see any other men. The problem is, he still treats me like the little girl that followed them around town. He doesn’t see me as a woman, and it is driving me nuts.

Laughter draws my gaze back to the booth where Wesley is seated with his brother Adam. The bane of my existence, Charlotte Wilson, is standing beside him, her hand on his shoulder while she laughs. I want to launch myself from the barstool I am sitting on, but Lenor places her hand on my thigh, holding me back.

“Sit.”

“I’m sitting,” I grit out through clenched teeth.

“You can’t say or do a damn thing about it until you pull up your big-girl panties and tell him how you feel,” she says. “Until then, he is fair game.”

I hate the words that fall from her lips, but I know they are true. It doesn’t make it any easier to hear, though. Maybe it would be easier to see him with someone else, anyone else, just not Charlotte the harlot.

Since we were in kindergarten that girl has pushed my buttons, taking what isn’t hers and looking down on people around her. Just because her daddy is the richest man in the county doesn’t mean she is better than the rest of us. It just means her clothes are better.

She is vapid and vain and a total bitch. And one of these days I am going to lay hands on her, and no amount of money will stop me.

“He’ll never feel the same way I do,” I murmur, flagging down the bartender instead.

“Tequila,” Lenor says once he reaches us.

She knows me well enough to know why I called him.

“Can we please just enjoy the night?” she asks after we both shoot our shots and finish with salt and lemon slices. “I know you don’t want to go anywhere else, but I won’t let this crush ruin our night.”

“I’m sorry,” I say softly.

“I love you, girl, but this crush is taking over your life. It’s your birthday, for heaven’s sake. Let’s dance and get drunk. The same problems you have today will still be there tomorrow.”

I stare at her as she implores me with her gaze. “You’re right. Let’s have some fun.”

Lenor makes a loud whooping noise before ordering another round of shots. The bar is filling up with people ready to end the week on a high note with a couple of beers and some friends.

The local band starts setting up for their regular Friday night gig and soon the loud music flows over us, the lead singer’s voice the perfect blend of twang and smoke. Already, I can’t help but shimmy in my seat, enjoying the song. The alcohol is flowing through my veins and soon I don’t care about the people around me or even where Wesley is or who he is talking to.

“Hello, sexy ladies,” Jacob Wilson says as he finds a spot beside me at the bar. “Why are you looking so fine tonight?”

“Not for you,” Lenor says with a glare. “Move along.”

“You wound me,” he says placing his hand on his chest. I can’t help but smile at his theatrics. “You know I’m a lover and not a fighter.”

“We are well aware that you love every woman that gives you the opportunity,” she snaps.

“Okay, that’s enough,” I cut in.

I know they are going to start fighting in the next five minutes and then our night will be shot to hell. Lenor and Jacob used to date until he cheated, and now she can’t be near him without flaying strips from his skin with her sharp tongue.

“For tonight, for me, can we all please get along?” I ask, batting my eyelashes at first one then the other.

Lenor sighs before her tense shoulders relax. “Only because I love you.”

Jacob smiles with his hands held in the air.

It sucks that they are at odds. I miss the days when the three of us used to ride our bikes together and life was simple. But kids grow up and things get complicated. Now, I try to keep them as far away from each other as possible except for special occasions.

“Let’s celebrate your birthday,” he says with a smile.

****

Wesley Blake

I may be sitting with my brother having a beer, but my focus is at the bar. I watch her full, jean-clad ass sway to the song the band is playing. I know I shouldn’t be focused on her, that I’m being a fucking bastard, but I can’t help myself.

Karmen Jones has grown to be a stunning young woman. I want to walk over there and wish her a happy birthday, but I know what will happen. She will look at me with those green eyes and I will have to fight every instinct I have to keep from kissing her where everyone can see us.

Charlotte says something from beside me where she slid in—uninvited—twenty minutes ago, but I ignore her. She knows I’m not interested, I have made it more than clear, but she insists on hitting on me every chance she gets. My attention is locked on her man-whore little brother.

Severn is a small town, with a population of less than two thousand people and an hour from the nearest city. That means if you fart too loudly it makes front page news in the local paper, and everyone knows Jacob Wilson is a prick who can’t keep his dick in his pants. He screws any woman who gives him the time of day before moving on to the next.

And he has his arm around the woman I am obsessed with, pouring a shot down her throat, literally. What the fuck is going on with her tonight? She rarely drinks anything harder than beer and I know that is her fifth shot in the last hour.

I swear to Christ if he tries to take advantage of her, I’ll kick his ass.

Adam waves his hand in front of my face, drawing my attention. Charlotte has left and I didn’t even realize it until now.

“He’s going to spontaneously combust if you glare at him any longer,” my brother jokes.

“Fuck off.”

“I will not!” he gasps. “You invited me here and you clearly need an intervention.”

“Huh?”

“Stop mooning over Karmen. Man the fuck up and tell her you like her already,” he says, pointing his beer bottle at me. “You’re like a bear with a sore paw and it’s driving everyone insane.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” I lie, looking him right in the eye. “I’m protective. I promised Tommy I would take care of her. It’s the last thing I said to my dying best friend.” I emphasize the last sentence, making sure he hears every word.

Adam shakes his head. “It’s been six years, Wes. Are you going to wait until she finds another man before you realize you’re fucking up? There is a line of guys around the block waiting to take her out and eventually she is going to say yes.”

I glare at him. The idea of her with anyone else is enough to have my vision swimming as rage pumps through my system.

“Not that it’s any of your damn business,” I say leaning forward into his space, my anger dictating my actions. “But there is nothing between the two of us. There never has been and never will be.” The lies fall from my lips, tasting like poison but I can’t tell anyone the truth. “Karmen Jones is the little sister I never had. Thinking of her as anything else is disgusting.”

I hear the gasp of shock behind me, and I know I have fucked up. Slowly, I turn my head to see the woman in question standing there with tears swimming in her eyes.

“Karmen,” I start but she cuts me off with a wave of her hand.

“Save it, Wesley.” She clears her throat while rapidly blinking back the unshed tears. “I wanted to ask you and Adam to join us to celebrate my birthday, but you can consider yourself uninvited.”

“What about me?” Adam asks with a frown.

“I don’t know,” she says with a final glare in my direction before she focuses on my brother. “Do you think I’m disgusting?”

“Fuck, no! I think you’re hot.” He chuckles when she smiles, knowing full well he is pushing all my buttons even if I won’t admit it.

I growl at him, clenching my fist on the table.

“Then you can join us. I’ll need your fake compliments to make me feel better after your asshole big brother stepped all over my ego.”

“Karmen, you know I didn’t mean it like that,” I try to explain.

“How else could you have meant it, Wesley?” she asks, tilting her head and examining me. “Never mind. I see your date is on her way back.”

She spins on the heel of her cowboy boots and walks her fine ass across the dance floor. Charlotte glares at her as they pass each other, and I know this situation is going to get worse before it gets better. If it ever does.

“Way to put your foot in it,” Adam says as he slides out of the booth.

“You could have warned me she was coming,” I complain, allowing my head to hit the polished wooden top of the table.

“You told me it wasn’t my business.”

I spear him with a glare that makes him chuckle once more as he walks away. Moments later he joins Karmen and her friends at the bar before smirking in my direction.

Charlotte slides into the booth beside me once more and I want to push her out. I can’t stand the idea that Karmen thinks I’m on a date with this girl.

“I know you were friends with Tommy,” she says, staring at her manicured fingernails. “But you’re not responsible for his bratty little sister. You’re a man and you need a woman in your life, not some tagalong.”

“Charlotte.” I wait until her focus is on me. “I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I am not interested in you.” I enunciate each word hoping to drive them into her thick skull. “And you can believe any man would be lucky to have Karmen in their life.”

She glares at me, her eyes narrowed to slits, before she huffs out of the booth and disappears into the weekend crowd. My gaze immediately seeks Karmen out at the bar where she has her head thrown back in laughter at something Adam said. I rub at the center of my chest, hoping to alleviate some of the pressure that has settled there.