I promised you. | Austin Butler

Part 22

He'd changed out of his clothes he was wearing for the long journey home and was now supporting black jeans and a white tee, always one of my favourite things on him. His simplicity yet ability to look the best dressed in the room was always something I admired. And there was a swift smell of whiskey in the air. 

"I thought you were going for a drink?" I say, shocked by his sudden appearance but silently grateful. My voice sounded hoarse from the tears I'd just cried into my best friends shoulders. He smiles, but only briefly, before diverting his eyes to Brad who had resumed his position leaning against the kitchen island, eyeing us both with a small smile of his face. 

"I did. But ... What's happened?" 

He doesn't continue his sentence before he's in front of me, my face cupped in his hands and he's tilting my head up to look at me. His eyes. His soft skin against my face. My heart pounding in my chest so hard I know full well he can feel it even from here. He's searching my face for any sign of telling. 

"Did you tell him?" he asks, and I can tell theres a small hint of hope in his voice and his eyes, and that only pains me more. Whatever happens, someone is going to get hurt. I can't muster up the words as I shake my head and I can't unsee the disappointment that washes over his face, but he soon gathers himself. 

"Then what, Leanne?" 

I can't speak. I don't know why. I'm so shaken and feel so numb. I know it sounds ridiculous, this was all my own doing and I wasn't blaming anyone else but myself, but I can't ignore the feeling thats been in my chest since the second I saw him again at Danielle and Brads wedding. The smile he gave me after I caught the flowers. The drink he bought me when I took Andrew to bed. The dance we shared. The phone call when I was sick. The constant touching during the meal we had as a four. I was painfully in love with this man and none of it seemed real. 

Danielle answers for me. 

"He knows Austin. He knows." 

His eyes shot straight across to her and linger on her for a second before he looks back at me.

"Did he see me drop you off?"

I shake my head. 

"Did he find the ring?" 

I shake my head. 

"You gave her a RING?" Brad voice comes from behind us and Austin looks at him with a glare, one of those looks that every pair of best friends had that would always mean something different, but each of them knew. I heard Brad mutter something to himself before Austin looked back at me, awaiting my answer. 

I shake my head again, hard to do so with Austin holding my cheeks so tight with his hands, but he feels the motion and looks at me even deeper. I close my eyes, breathe, and then look at him again. Those beautiful eyes of his looking at me like I was the most precious thing in the world and I sigh, pushing his hands off my face and holding his hands whilst I lean my head forward and rest my forehead onto his chest. His head slumps down to mine instantly and he plants a soft kiss onto my hair, his soft motions making my heart ache. 

There was a moment of silence before I hear my best friend speak, her stool scraping across the marble floor. 

"Whiskey?" she says, and Austin utters a thank you. 

I move my head now and hold Austins hands by his sides and he pulls me closer to him, forcing my arms around his waist as he puts his around my neck, and I smile. I genuinely smile. Because I know this is a mess, and I know this doesn't end here, but there was no feeling like being wrapped in his arms again. 

"I'm getting you a new aftershave for Christmas." I say, and his face screws up in frustration and then looks up into the kitchen as he hears Danielle let out a laugh at my words. I hear her clink ice into a glass and then Austin looks at me again, searching, until he finally understands.