Broken Promises
Burning Mistakes Book One
Aimee Noalane
Broken Promises, Burning Mistakes Book One
Copyright © 2019 Aimee Noalane
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author of this book, except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The author acknowledges the trademarked/licensed status and trademark/license owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks/license is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark/license owners.
Cover image © belchonock and Slava_14
Used under licensed from Deposit Photos
Editing services by Ellie McLove at My Brother’s Editor
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-9953482-6-4
Redemption starts when you forgive yourself for your own mistakes.
Contents
Prologue
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Broken Promises Playlist
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Aimee Noalane
Prologue
No matter the tragedy; from the second they get the call up until the moment they make it to the scene, all firefighters are praying for is that everyone has made it out safe and sound. More times than most, by the time they do roll onto the scene, the flames are already blazing through the walls and windows, destroying everything in their path.
From the eye of an outsider, they look like chickens running around with their heads cut off, trying to figure out what they’re supposed to do next.
Hopping out of their trucks dressed in their gear, they unload, prep, and establish security perimeters as they try to assess the situation that’s rapidly deteriorating before our eyes.
Deep down, they are just like us; worried and scared.
Within an instant, the structure of their unit settles in and they’re ready to face the burning beast. What spectators see as chaos, they see as a calling. They get in and get out as fast as they can.
They save lives.
They are our heroes.
But sometimes… sometimes things don’t go as planned.
Sometimes fire has a mind of its own.
That night, fire destroyed so much more than someone’s home.
It destroyed my faith in life.
It destroyed me.
CHAPTER ONE
Aubrey
Three Years Ago
“What’s this place called again?” I ask my brother as he parks in between a trail of motorcycles and pick-up trucks. I won’t say it out loud, but his modified Lancer looks ridiculous parked next to them.
“The Devil’s Gate.” There’s a hint of irritation in his tone when we step out of his car.
Slipknot is blasting through the doors, growing louder each time they open and close. I hate how awkward and out of place I’m feeling right now. When Vince told me we’d be going out in Saratoga, I assumed we’d be hitting the clubs downtown. What I wasn’t expecting was to drive up a secluded road to some old place that compared more to an old tavern than a bar.
I slowly take in my surroundings, and when I pause on my brother, my brows dip. The rugged look he has going on is so different from who he used to be. Ripped jeans, steeled toed boots, the faded hoodie. A little over a year ago, Vince would spend twenty minutes in front of a mirror to make sure he had that sexy morning hairdo done just right. He was the sporty guy who wore our school’s jersey, the basketball player who would always swoop in to save the game, the student teachers hated to love. Girls would line up just to get him to look twice at them….
Funny how things have changed in such a short period of time.
“What?” he berates.
I study the sign at the door before answering and suppress the urge to laugh. A flaming skull. The Devil’s Gate might be a fitting name, but somehow, I feel like The Pits of Hell would have suited it a lot better.
Muffling a snicker, I shake my head. “Nothing.”
“Really? ’Cause you might want to tell that to your face.”
I roll my eyes in response because I know Vince knows exactly what I’m thinking. We are twins after all. He just won’t come out and say it because he knows I’m right.
“Whatever, Aubrey. I didn’t twist your arm and force you to come with me. I would have been perfectly fine with the idea of you staying home with Mom and Dad.”
Courtesy of my dad, my mother and brother weren’t aware I was coming home for the weekend. I’ve been living in New York for nine months now. The last time I made the six-hour drive home was for Christmas, and the only reason why I came back was because I didn’t have a choice. I’ve been avoiding Grady-Falls, our small town outside Saratoga because that’s what it is: a small town; a place where everyone makes it a point of knowing everyone else’s business without actually going to the source. It’s annoying, especially when you’re the source of the gossip.
Every now and then, over the past school year, I’d tell my family I’d be making the trip home, but when the time came, I’d make up an excuse and back out at the last minute, disappointing them each and every time. So, when I told my father I was coming home this week, he asked me not to tell anyone.
Vince was the one who answered when I knocked on the door of our childhood home. I knew he’d be there because our dad said they would be sitting down for their monthly dinner by the time I arrived at the house. He opened and froze. It was almost as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. I gave Vince a small apologetic shrug hoping he’d forgive me for my prolonged absence, and he did. He dropped his hand from the knob, and with teary eyes, he pulled me into his arms and exhaled a sigh of relief in the crook of my neck.
I missed him.
I missed my parents too, but being away from Vince felt like I was missing the better half of me. Phone calls and text messages are great, but it’s nothing compared to the comfort of his embrace.
“Vince, quit it. I told you a hundred times already: I want to hang out with you tonight. I have to go back on Sunday morning and this is the only chance we’ll get to hang out this weekend.” I slam the door to his precious car and earn myself a scalding glare.
Well… at least that hasn’t changed.
The Devil’s Gate was the small kink in my short visit home. Vince had plans with his college friends after dinner, and me tagging along wasn’t part of the plan. He insisted I wouldn’t like it, I told him he was wrong and insisted he could throw anything my way. So here we are.
My gaze narrows, imitating his. “Why do I have a feeling you don’t want me here?”
“I never said I didn’t want you here.”
“No offense, dude, but we’ve shared our mother’s womb and the
same bedroom for seven years, we’ve been in the same classes and had the same friends throughout elementary and high school. I can tell when you’re lying to me, little brother.”
Something in his mood shifts and he flashes me his traditional grin. An unexpected yelp squeals out of me when he grabs my arms, wrapping them around his broad shoulders to carry me on his back like he used to do when we were younger. “I’d like to remind you that I’m taller than you by two inches. If anyone here is to be called little; it should be you. What have you been eating anyway? You’ve shrunk.”
“I’ve been eating just fine,” I shoot back with an eye roll. Vince has no idea what it’s like to live in a town where it’s quicker for a person to reach their destination by using their feet instead of driving. And to be fair, he never will because according to the Bankes men, cars are and always will be: everything. “I’m just walking. A lot. What about you? What’s with all the muscles?”
A proud grin sprawls on his handsome face.
When it comes to our physical appearance, my twin takes after my mother a lot more than I do. We have the same eyes, an odd shade of blueish-green, but where my skin is porcelain white, his is tanned just like hers. His hair is also darker than my red mahogany, and now he’s a lot buffer than I remembered him to be.
“Just so we’re clear, it’s not that I don’t want you with me. I just think that you shouldn’t be hanging out in a place like this.”
“If you ask me, you shouldn’t be hanging out in a place like this either,” I mumble to myself.
Vince pinches the sensitive skin behind my knees and I yelp again. “It’s a bar, Aub. Not a drug trafficking building.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“You know, for someone who lives in New York City, you’re pretty judgmental,” he accuses. “We’re here because Micah wanted to celebrate his birthday somewhere that felt like home.”
I’ve yet had the chance of meeting the infamous Micah Lambert, but I can tell that my brother thinks very highly of him. And I get where he’s coming from. I spent my last birthday away from the people I love, and even though it was my choice, it sucked, big time. “So, if it isn’t as bad as it seems, why shouldn’t I be here?”
“Because my friends are dicks, and I don’t trust them around my little sister.”
I click my tongue. “I highly doubt all your friends are assholes, Vincent. Be honest, you just don’t want a repeat of Ryan Jamieson.”
“Fucking right, I don’t,” he mutters.
RJ. My high school boyfriend. My forever after. And of course, one of my brother’s closest friends. We grew up together. Fell in love. Kept it a secret for far too long and just like every other love story, mine pitfalled; transforming my fairy-tale into a nightmare.
“How is he?” The urge to ask is stronger than it should be. The asshole stomped on my eighteen-year-old heart, cheating on me with Pennsylvania’s beauty queen, Alexia Lexington, three days after I left for college. I shouldn’t care, yet for some damn unexplainable reason, I do.
“Dead to me.” His answer is laced with bitterness and I can’t help feeling a little responsible. Although RJ cheating on me wasn’t my fault, choosing to date my brother’s childhood friend was, and we all suffered a loss when it was over.
“So, Micah…” I hope changing the subject will lighten the mood. “You’ve never mentioned him before today. What’s he like?”
“I can’t believe you bought him a gift,” he snorts.
“You told me it was his birthday. What kind of sister would I be if I didn’t buy a gift for my twin brother’s friend?”
“How about a normal one?” he answers, slowing down the pace.
I cling to his back, enjoying our time alone. I don’t think I’ve realized just how much I’ve missed my twin until now, and by the way he’s holding onto me, I know Vince feels the same way.
“So?” I wonder.
“So what?”
I shoot him another eye roll I know he can’t see. “Well… what’s he like?”
“I don’t know, Aub, what do you want me to say? His name is Micah. We worked together on a project at the beginning of our first semester, realized we had a bunch of shit in common and have been inseparable ever since.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Like shit—cars and shit.” Oh, how I’ve missed the sound of my brother’s grumbling when I’m purposely pissing him off. “Why are you so interested in my friends anyway?”
“I’m not,” I retort, giggling. “I just really missed the shit out of getting on your nerves.”
I can feel his dimples raise against my cheek. “You’re a pain, you know that, right?”
“Yeah, but you missed me, little bro, so it’s all good.”
“Hey, Vincent!” A gorgeous blonde girl with space-buns dressed in a pair of stiletto boots, tight ripped jeans, and a royal blue tank top, pops out from inside the bar with a group of friends. Colorful ink designs cover her arms, and from what I can see parts of her stomach, shoulders, and back. Vince always had a thing for girls who stood out from the crowd and she definitely fits the bill.
He beams back, and her flashy red painted lips curl into an even bigger smile.
“New conquest?” I whisper to him as she sashays toward us.
He guiltily scratches his five o’clock shadow.
“Oh my fucking god, Vince!” I hop off his back. “You’re dating her?”
“Maybe?”
“You are!” My eyes grow wide, both happy and a little hurt that he’s never mentioned her to me before now. “What’s up with all the secrets?”
“I wanted to make sure it was serious.”
“Dude! I’m your sister. Your TWIN sister. How dare you keep shit like this from me? How long have you two been together?”
“Three months.”
“Three months?” My shrieking voice sounds a lot louder than I had intended it to.
“Could you be any louder?”
“Yes. Would you like me to show you?” I bite back. The glare he darts my way could kill a moose. “I’ll do it, you know I will.”
“It’s not like you’ve been all forthcoming and telling me what’s going on in your life, Aub.”
“Because there’s nothing to tell. Well, you know, aside from the few casual fucks of course.”
“Argh.” He grimaces. “I didn’t want to know that.”
My head falls from one side to another. “Well, you did kind of ask.”
“Okay, fine. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” he grouses. “Just… shut up about your sex life. Please.”
I suppress my giggle and pretend to pout. “Apology not accepted… and trust me, aside from me hooking up with one of your dick friends tonight, nothing interesting is going on in my life.”
Vince crosses his arms over his chest and scowls at me. “You’re not hooking up with anyone, Aubrey.”
“Wanna bet?”
“Sure.”
“Twenty bucks if I win.”
“One visit home every other week until the end of the semester if you lose.” He sticks his hand out for me to shake.
“Deal.”
“It’ll be fun to watch you screwing this up from the sidelines.”
“Clearly you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, little bro.”
He throws me an evil smile. “So, out of curiosity and of course for the hell of planning shit out, enlighten me, Aubrey: after being seduced by you and disfigured by me, where do you think you’ll be taking your casual fuck? Mom and Dad’s house?”
Well shit, why didn’t I think about that? “Maybe I will.”
He puffs out a snort. “Right. Well, good luck with that. Knowing Dad, he’ll be waiting for you in his rocking chair until you set foot through the front door.”
Fuck. The annoying secret keeper has a point.
Vince crosses his arms over his chest and raises a brow, celebrating his success a little too soon for my liking.
I
smirk.
“What?”
“I was just thinking how generous it is of you to offer me that extra room at your place.”
“Fine with me,” he retorts. “Fair warning, though, I tend to walk around naked in my own apartment and I won’t be changing my habits because you suddenly decided you want payback and crash at my place.”
I gag.
“What?” My brother roars in laughter at the wry expression on my face. “How can you not appreciate the image of me naked? This body is a work of art, Aub.”
“God, you’re disgusting. I think I just puked in my mouth.”
“Hey, Bankes.” We both turn our heads. Fuck me, she’s even more gorgeous from up close.
“Please be nice,” he whispers. “I really like her.”
He has a glint in his eye and a stupid look on his face as he watches her walking in our direction. I’ve never seen Vince prowl a girl the way he does with her.
“You’ve got some drool dripping from your mouth right there,” I tease. But I can tell he’s really got it bad for her. The girl not only caught his eye, she’s crawled her way into his heart.
He slaps my fingers when I reach for the corner of his lips. “I hate you.”
My head falls back in a fit of laughter.
“Mom should have swallowed you.”
I snort. “I feel this desperate need to remind you that if she had, she would have swallowed you too.”
“You’re disgusting,” he replies, closing his eyes and sticking out his tongue.
I burst out laughing. “You just pictured it, didn’t you?”
“You’re disgusting,” he repeats. “And I hate you.”
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