Page 2 of Promised Secret (Promises, Promises #3)

The kid pulled back, finally steady on his feet as he stared wide-eyed at me. His eyes flicked back and forth from my lips to my eyes, terror written on his face. His gaze finally landed on my lips as I felt liquid slide down them.

He kept muttering apologies as I swept my tongue over my bottom lip and tasted blood. But what’s worse, one of my bottom teeth was missing.

There was yet another ugly hole in my mouth now.

Clay

Fifteen years old

I found my best friend studying when I entered the clinic. Dan was always studying, which was probably why he was so smart. Even though he was a year younger than me—a fact he’d loathed when he first found out—he was the one tutoring me through school.

Mom was worried when I was held back in the fifth grade, but I secretly thought it was one of the best things that had happened to me.

It meant I was in the same grade and class—since there was only one class per grade here in Kither Springs—as Dan.

I got to hang out with my best friend even during the boring school day.

We only started high school this year, but he already told me that in our sophomore year, he’d be spending half the day at the college in the city since he was doing something called dual enrollment.

Dan had his entire life laid out. Said he was going to get his AA when he graduated high school so he could get into medical school sooner. He was determined to be a doctor and take over his dad’s clinic.

It’d surprised me when he told me that last year, since before that he was adamant about joining the police force with me.

When I’d asked about it, his reply was, “You’ll do the ass-kicking, and I’ll sit back, wait for you, and patch you up.

If you really think about it, doesn’t that mean I’m the hero to the hero? ”

I didn’t really understand, but I liked that he still thought of us as a unit. It was us against the bad guys and the world. I liked it even more when he said he was going to wait for me.

The adults around us often told me how cute it was that we were so close and to cherish it, since things would change once we got into college.

If I were being completely honest, it’d worried me.

Dan was going to be so busy with med school and his goal of becoming a doctor that he wouldn’t have time for me anymore.

I didn’t want us to grow apart. He was my best friend.

But hearing him say he would wait was comforting.

Like no matter how far ahead he went, he wouldn’t leave me behind.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to go to college. It was expensive, and I wasn’t exactly book smart. I figured I’d work for a couple years before joining the police academy, but Dan’s lao-ba had encouraged me to continue my studies and at least get my degree.

Lao-ba.

It was what Dan called his dad, and when I asked him what it meant, he answered that it literally translated to “old dad,” but it was an affectionate thing to call your dad in Mandarin.

I secretly tested the word in my mind.

Any affection I could have had with my sperm donor died the first time I witnessed him raise his hands toward my mom. She stayed even when her body was bruised purple, saying she didn’t want me to grow up without a father.

She took me and left him the first time she caught him hitting me. It wasn’t the first time that motherfucker had laid hands on me, but I’d kept it hidden because I thought keeping the family together had been important to her.

We both thought we knew what the other wanted when, in reality, I just wanted my mom to be safe and happy, and she wanted the same.

So yeah…I never knew the affection Dan shared with his dad, but I craved it. Sometimes I imagined Dan’s lao-ba as mine as well. It was so easy to picture when the man treated me better than my sperm donor ever did.

Plus, it was hard not to consider him a father figure when he’d been there for me ever since my mom and I moved to Kither Springs. He’d always welcomed me at the clinic when I came to play with Dan and gave me the same sage advice he gave his own son.

He wasn’t the most obviously affectionate person—which was fine for me since I didn’t like being touched much—but he showed his care by being there and always making sure I was fed.

I knew he treated me so well because I was Dan’s best friend, but sometimes I wondered if there was another reason for it, too.

Mom and I ate dinner with them more often than not these days.

Dan’s dad invited me to stay one day after playing in the clinic and had extended the invitation to my mom as well, then they made the excuse that it was easier to feed two bottomless teen boys if they teamed up to make dinner together, which meant we were at the Yao house most days.

I knew Mom and Victor—Dan’s dad—were friends, but sometimes I wondered if there was something more between them.

Mom had stopped smiling by the time we’d moved to Kither Springs, but her smiles had returned recently.

She smiled a lot when Victor was around, and not the forced kind I knew she did to keep up appearances with the nosy townsfolk.

It was the genuine kind, like she was truly happy, like Victor made her happy.

Sometimes, I fantasized about them dating and getting married. Victor would become my lao-ba, and best of all, Dan and I would be family. We’d never have to worry about our friendship potentially fading because we’d be brothers.

“Where’s your mom?” Dan asked when I sat on the stool beside him.

“Stuck at work. Said she’ll head over after,” I replied.

He made a noise of acknowledgement, then gestured for me to scoot closer so that he could lean his head against my shoulder.

In our sitting position, his head was mostly pressed against my arm than anything else.

He was currently a head shorter than me—another fact he loathed—but given how tall his lao-ba was, I had a feeling Dan would reach my height after his growth spurt.

We stayed like that, with him leaning against me while reading his latest medical book, and me mostly studying him as I watched him read. He always had his nose buried in a book despite his grumblings, saying he’d rather be playing outside. Dan never half-assed anything, that’s for sure.

People had always surrounded Dan. He was charismatic and had an air about him that’d naturally lured them in. The other kids from our class called it the “Dan effect,” and I was one of his victims.

Ever since the first time I’d met him in the clinic when I was ten and he was nine, he’d captivated me under some kind of spell that had me longing to exist in his orbit.

“Why are you staring at me?” he asked without even looking up from what he was reading.

How he even knew was beyond me, but this wasn’t the first time he’d caught me staring without even looking in my direction. Maybe he had eyes on the back of his head?

When I didn’t answer, he straightened in his seat and looked at me. His eyes trailed down from mine to my lips before he flicked his gaze away with a scowl.

Was he still pissed off about the time I bumped into his lips with mine and knocked out his baby tooth?

When we first learned we were in the same class in school, he gave me weird looks and avoided me for an entire month.

He was never mean to me, but it’d still stung, feeling like he’d rejected me.

Especially since I thought he looked so cool talking about police officers and protecting the people we loved, then actually saving me when I tripped.

I wanted to be his friend, but the idea quickly faded when I realized he was still upset about the incident. Which was why I’d been shocked when he came up to me one day during recess and asked to play with me.

We’d been inseparable ever since.

“Stop staring at me,” Dan muttered, eyes still avoiding me and a frown on his face.

I smiled at how much he looked like a disgruntled puppy and at how happy I was that he was showing me something other than his usual charming smile. Dan acted like the happy dude who’d never had a single worry in his life, but I knew he kept his true feelings close to his heart.

To others, he never showed how much he worried about making his dad proud or how he’d agonize over a single decision until he’d make himself sick from the stress. I considered myself lucky that he revealed those sides of himself to me. It meant we were close.

“Have you ever imagined us being brothers?” I found myself asking.

His frown deepened, the area between his eyebrows scrunching up so much that his two brows became one. “You want us to be brothers?”

I shrugged, lowered my gaze, and kicked the air with my feet. Seeing how disgusted he was with the idea made me feel stupid for asking the question.

“Right. Why would you want a brother like me?” I mumbled.

“Don’t talk about yourself like you’re not enough. You know that’s not what I meant. You’re one of the best people I know. Clay, I—”

I looked up when he didn’t continue. Dan nibbled on his bottom lip. He never did that, which meant I found myself staring at them. Had they always looked that plump? I’d never noticed how red they were, either.

Dan caught me staring, which had both of us avoiding eye contact from the embarrassment. He cleared his throat, his eyes darting around the room before landing back on mine.

“You’re one of the best people I know, Clay. You’re patient, so protective of the people you care about, and just so freaking amazing.”

He was so serious in his compliments that heat rose to my cheeks.

“I’m not that great,” I replied shyly. I wasn’t used to anyone saying such nice things about me. It wasn’t like Mom never complimented me, but she was my mom. Hearing all these nice things said about me from someone other than her made something inside my chest tickle.

Dan took my hand in his and forced me to look at him.

“You are. I wish you could see yourself the way I do. I…I really like you,” he said. This time, he was the one acting shy.