His gaze shifts from the curl he was just holding to my eyes, lingering there only momentarily, then down to my mouth. I’m vaguely aware of his fingers tangling themselves in my hair. Evan’s lips part only slightly while he guides me toward him. With very little space between us, the instant right before my heart ceases to beat, he pauses. My eyes search his for the reason why. However, they give nothing away. Not one small bit of information. Just when the anxiety of his hesitation almost destroys me, Evan whispers, “See what you’d be missing if I let you walk away?” Without waiting for my reply, he pulls me in, locking us together.
As always, Evan is slow, meticulous, and exactly what I need. He forces me to feel. For most of my life, I’ve done everything in my power not to. That’s how I’ve survived this long. Being with him will not compare to anything either one of us has ever had. We’ll just have to see what happens. For now, I’m going to take it one day at a time. One moment at a time. Part of me is afraid of being crushed, but it’s not enough to make me run. I want this. I want him. I’m just not ready to admit it to anyone else.
Evan’s fingers are loosening from my hair and he kisses my lips one last time. My heart starts functioning somewhat normally again. I can feel his hand trailing from my neck, all the way down my back. He smiles when I jump because his light touch tickles me. My head falls to his shoulder. Almost instinctively, his arms wrap around me.
“I’m sorry I ran out last night,” I say.
“Don’t be sorry.” He turns to kiss my hair. “Just don’t do it again. If Meg was around, I would have been at your doorstep.”
“I wouldn’t have let you in. I was being a little stubborn last night.”
I feel him shake with laughter. “I wouldn’t have given you a choice, and you were being more than a little stubborn. That shit might work with Jade and Jake, but not with me. I’ll have to make sure Joe is instructed to prevent you, by any means necessary, from leaving without my permission.”
My head pops off of his shoulder. “He would never,” I say, stunned Evan would even say something like that.
“If he wants his paycheck, he will.”
“You have control issues,” I pout and cross my arms.
He smiles again. “Want to know who has more control issues than I do?”
“Who?”
“Meg, so go get dressed. Maybe I’ll make it back to the party before she notices I’m gone.”
I shake my head. “I’m not going.”
“Kacie, go get dressed, or I’ll throw your ass in my truck the way you are.” I narrow my eyes at him, and he raises his eyebrows. “Try me,” he warns.
“You are such a pain in my ass,” I mumble, getting off of his lap. There’s no way I’ll be seen in these old clothes. He stands up behind me and I hear keys hit the cement below the swing. Evan bends over to pick them up and I catch a glimpse of my college insignia. “That son of a bitch!” I snap.
“Who?” he questions, suddenly concerned.
“Give me those!” I hold my hand out for the keys. Why didn’t I even wonder how Evan was able to get into my yard? My house is locked up tight. There’s a huge privacy fence covered in hedges on all sides of the yard. The only ways to get in are a gate, which is also locked, the passageway to Jade’s yard, and the opening along the back of the property where the dock is.
“No,” he protests and tries to shove the keys in his pocket. I’m quicker than he anticipated because I grab them from him.
“Wait until I get my hands on that no-good-ex-friend of mine!” I stomp toward the house.
“How did you know?” Evan chuckles as he catches up to me. I hold up the bottle opener keychain. “And?” he probes.
Evan almost walks right into me when I stop mid-step and swing around. “Jake took it from my apartment the first time he came to visit me at school. I thought I had misplaced it until I saw him again a few months later.” Evan’s face falls, making my anger give way to worry. “What is it?”
“I know nothing between us is official or anything, but I have to ask…”
“Ask me whatever you want.”
“You and Jake…?”
“Have only ever been friends,” I assure him. He still doesn’t look convinced. “Jake is more of a big brother to me than my own ever was. He sort of adopted me since I was always with Jade. There was never anything more.”
“Sometimes it seems like more.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I get defensive.
“Not you,” he says. I relax when he pulls me to his chest. “Some of the shit he says and how he looks at you when you aren’t paying attention just seems more than big brother-like.”
“Evan,” I say. “Jake knows we’re just friends. Trust me.”
“Okay.” I reach up to kiss his cheek.
“Besides, I’m going to kill him now anyway, so you have nothing to worry about.”
His handsome smile has returned. “You should cut him some slack. After all, it is because of him that you’re in my arms right now.”
“True,” I sigh. “Maybe I’ll just break his leg, then.”
Evan shakes his head. “You’re tough.”
“You have no idea. Come on, before you get in trouble.”
Chapter Fifteen
Evan
Driving up to my aunt and uncle’s house for the second time today, I’m feeling much better than earlier this afternoon. Having Kacie here next to me sure does make a huge difference. Of course, I was too chicken to admit to her about this whole “just friends” shit not working for me, but she’s clearly not ready to hear it. She wouldn’t have come with me if I brought the subject up, so I convinced her not to push me away by telling her nothing had to change. Hopefully, it doesn’t backfire on me. I have to take what I can get because I won’t be able to handle her turning her back on me.
Before we left her house, I told Kacie everyone would probably be in the pool and how I had a room at the house for her to shower in if she wanted to bring a bathing suit. Big mistake! She took me up on it and threw a damn bikini on! She put a light, white dress on over it, but every guy here is going to have a fucking field day the second she takes that shit off and I won’t be able to say a damn thing about it. There’s no way I’ll even be able to enjoy the view myself since I’ll be worrying about who’s looking. She would have flipped out if I had asked her to change, so I’ll just have to deal with it. If she was mine, this wouldn’t be a big deal. I would know who was taking her home.
“Wow,” Kacie says, looking up at the house. “And I thought Gram’s house was big.” I’ve noticed that she never calls it her house. I wonder why.
“Meg has a whole damn wing upstairs. She’ll never move out on her own.”
I laugh. “I don’t blame her. How come you moved out if they have all of this room?”
I don’t want to answer her question truthfully, but it would be wrong if I didn’t. “Would you go home with a guy who lived with his aunt and uncle?”
Surprisingly, Kacie chuckles. Man, I love that sound. Listening to it never gets old and I highly doubt it ever will. “That explains it,” she says, keeping her head turned away from me. When I park outside of the garage that stores my car, I think how I should probably tell her about the races. I wish I had thought to ask Jake why he hasn’t told her. Maybe there’s a very good reason she doesn’t know. “Are we just going to sit here or are we going in?” she asks when I don’t move to get out.
“Guess we should go in. Although, I’d like to keep you out here where I don’t have to share you with everyone.”
Kacie leans over the center console and kisses my cheek. “Don’t worry. No one else will want me,” she whispers and hops out of my truck. Damn her and her sexy short legs!
“Yeah, right,” I mumble after she closes the door. “Wait until they see you in that stupid bathing suit.” She’s waiting for me outside and can’t hear a damn thing I’m saying. I really hope she isn’t doing this shit to me on purpose because if
she is, she’ll make it as painful as she possibly can. After pulling my key from the ignition, I grudgingly get out, grumble shit to myself about how this day might still end up sucking, and meet her in front of the truck.
Once we are through the front door, I start to walk her up the steps to show her where my room is so she can put her bag down. Before we make it half-way up, my cousin catches me. “Evan, where the hell have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you for the last hour!”
“I had to run out and pick up Kacie,” I say, turning around. “I tried to find you to tell you, but couldn’t.” A little white lie never hurt anyone.
When Meg sees Kacie standing in front of me, she immediately lightens up. “Kacie,” she smiles, but it disappears quickly. “I heard about what happened with Connor last night. I’m so sorry he was an ass to you.”
Kacie walks back down a few steps. “You have nothing to apologize for, but I am sorry that I didn’t warn you about him. Had I known you were seeing him, I would have. I hope he didn’t do anything to hurt you. He’s no good and I really hope you know that you deserve much better than him.” How the hell does Kacie know that?
“I know that now. Thank you. Are you okay?” Kacie nods. “Did you really slap him across the face?” Meg’s eyes sparkle as she smiles.
“I did. If I knew about you and him, I would have left a bigger mark.” Kacie smiles back.
Meg laughs. “I like you, Kacie. Why the hell didn’t Jake introduce us before you went away to college? We could have been friends this whole time.”
Kacie shrugs. “He tries to keep me locked away from everyone. He says I’m too much trouble.”
“All the more reason we should have already met.”
“I’m showing Kacie my room to put her stuff down. We’ll be out in a few minutes,” I interrupt.
“Okay,” my cousin smirks. “There’s plenty of food, so make sure you eat when you’re, um…done.” I grab Kacie’s hand and lead her up the rest of the stairs.
“Was she implying what I think she was implying?” she asks when we reach the top.
“Probably,” I tell her. The impish grin on my cousin’s face suggested just that, but Kacie doesn’t need to hear it.
“So you didn’t tell her about the whole begging thing, huh?” She’s biting her lip, trying not to laugh.
“Shut the hell up about the begging before you find yourself on your hands and knees.” Kacie can’t contain her laughter anymore. I can’t even be irritated because seeing her this way makes me happy as shit.
It doesn’t take long for us to put Kacie’s bag in my room and for me to show her around before we are walking outside with our plates of food. Jade spots us the second we close the door and comes running over. “I knew you’d come!” she says excitedly. Then she turns to me. “Thank you for going to get her.” I smile, but keep the fact that I didn’t go for Jade to myself.
“Where’s Jake?” Kacie asks.
“Um, not sure…,” Jade tries to answer, but Kacie shoves her plate into Jade’s hands and walks past her. “What’s going on?”
Jake is walking across the deck towards us and Kacie is heading right for him. His facial expression drops the second she almost collides into him. I can’t hear what she’s saying but, in a way, I’m kind of glad. She reaches down for his hand and drops his keys in his palm. When she closes his fingers around them, she doesn’t let go of him. Whatever she had to say, she must be done because I can see her body relax. He says something back to her, making me wish I could read lips. Eventually, he smiles and Kacie gives him a hug. Jake only hugs her back with one arm, but then kisses her on the cheek. I see him saying something else to her and their private conversation ends. They both start to come back to where I’m standing with Jade. Now that he put his lips on her, I’m all for breaking his leg like Kacie had suggested a little while ago.
“Is everything okay?” Jade asks, grinning when they reach us. I’d bet anything she knew that was going to happen.
“Perfect,” Kacie tells her. “Thanks for holding my plate.” Jade hands it back to her
“We’re sitting over here.” Jade directs her to the rectangular table under the huge green patio umbrella.
When I glance up at Jake, he tilts his beer bottle to me. I wait until the girls make it to the table ahead of us before I say something to him. “You okay?”
“I am now that Kacie feels good enough to tear me a new asshole,” he says. “Jade and I appreciate you going over there. We don’t like seeing her like that and not being able to fix it. I’m really glad she found you.”
He goes to walk away, but I stop him. “Hey, Jake?” He twists back around to face me. “What happened with her and Connor? She was chatting with Meg a few minutes ago and she made it seem like there was something.” I could have just asked Kacie, but didn’t want to make her deal with anything else today.
“He’s always been a prick to her. They were in the same graduating class. One time, while she was dating Nate, Kacie went to a party with some friends and Connor relentlessly hit on her,” Jake explains. “Apparently, he was pretty fucked up on something. When it looked like he was getting out of control, one of the girls ended up calling Nate and he showed up with a bunch of his friends. Needless to say, Connor needed help getting home by the time they were done with him. I’m surprised he actually went near Kacie at the club because he hadn’t spoken to her since. I’ve heard he still gets messed up quite often and disappears for days at a time.” He shrugs his shoulders. That would explain why Meg would complain about not hearing from him for so long. “I wasn’t all that worried about it last night. Kacie would have taken him out if he pushed her too far. She’s a tough cookie when it comes to that stuff.” Connor better not have gotten my cousin mixed up in any of his shit because I’ll fucking kill him myself.
“This shit you’ve heard has nothing to do with Meg, does it?” I ask cautiously.
“I would have told you the second after finding out, if that was the case,” Jake assures me. I know damn well he’s a decent guy. It’s just his feelings for Kacie that are making me second-guess him.
“Thanks, man,” I say. “I didn’t mean for Kacie to find your keys. They fell out of my pocket and she saw them before I could pick them up. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it. She would have figured it out eventually.” He grins. “Was I right? Was she in the garden?”
“Yeah.”
Jake shakes his head. “If you ever can’t find her, look there first. She doesn’t take her phone out there, either. I’ve seen her sit on that swing in a thunderstorm.” He looks saddened by the memory.
“Hey,” Jade says, coming up to stand next to her brother. “You two better get over there. Kacie is worrying about what you’re talking about. No more bullshit today, please.” She looks at the two of us in warning. “I’m grabbing her a beer. You guys need one?” We both nod and she goes on her way.
I head over to the table and sit down next to Kacie. She glances up at me and, just because I can’t seem to help myself, I lean over to kiss her. “You and Jake okay?” she whispers.
“Why wouldn’t we be?” I wink at her, which makes her smile.
We all sit around bullshitting for a while. Kacie seems to be doing much better than she was, which makes everyone else feel better, as well. I find myself staring at her. Admiring her. When she catches me, her eyes start to shimmer and she places her hand on top of mine or nudges me with her shoulder. I fucking love it! Of course, I keep doing it. She doesn’t appear to get annoyed, either. Thank goodness because I don’t think I can stop.
Out of nowhere, somebody else joins our table. “You know, I’ve been hearing rumors over the last couple of weeks that Kacie Foster is back in town. I kept telling the bastards they were wrong because there’s no way in hell my favorite girl would come home and not visit me,” Danny says from beside me.
“Danny!” Kacie says, jumping out of her seat. She walks out from behind me and falls into
his outstretched arms, making his smile bigger than when he talks about my car.
“Hey, babe!” He kisses her cheek, the same way Jake did. What the fuck? I’m seriously going to have to grow the balls needed to talk to her about ending this friends shit between us. At least that would give me the right to tell him to fuck off. “Now that I see you hanging out with this schmuck,” he tilts his head toward me, “I understand why you haven’t been to see me. Is it the car? Because I’ll have you know…” Jake chokes on his beer and I start shaking my head vigorously, trying to get his attention behind her back. Just before he slips about the Scirocco, he catches a glimpse of me. “I helped him pick out that huge ass truck he drives around in,” he attempts to cover up.
“Really?” Kacie giggles, oblivious of his mistake. “I have my own theory about Evan’s truck.”
“Kacie, don’t you dare say one more word about your theories and my truck,” I blurt out. She looks over her shoulder at me and winks. I’ll never forget the day she told me she thought that I was making up for something by having a big truck. This girl still manages to render me speechless sometimes and I’m always expecting crazy shit from her.
“I’m sure they would love to hear it,” she says.
“Go ahead and tell them, watch what happens to you,” I threaten. All that does is make her laugh even more.
“Anyway.” She turns back to Danny. “I was actually planning on stopping by the shop soon. I need a favor.”
“Name it.”
She clears her throat. “The last time Gram’s car was out of the garage was when I borrowed it back in December during my winter break. I was wondering if you’d take a look at it and make sure it’s okay. The thing is, I haven’t been able to go into the garage since I’ve been home.” She’s close enough to me that I can reach her, so I put my hand on her hip to comfort her. It’s clear she’s getting upset talking about her grandmother. “Do you think that you could swing by one day and grab it? I’ll even come pick you up.”
Left Behind: Left Behind Series #1 Page 19
