Traevyn fought to maintain his composure, but he was crying freely now. He was just trying not to go hysterical. “After the funeral, I begged Amy to come back to me. I humiliated myself in front of her. I didn’t want to lose her too. I loved her so much… She looked me right in the eye with no emotion except malice and said in the coldest voice I have ever heard, ‘you deserve to be alone. It’s because of you Leanna is dead. I hope you die miserable and alone.’ I didn’t hear from her after that except on the anniversary of Leanna’s death when she called to remind me it was my fault. She called me both years. This year, too, the night we were painting. I wouldn’t have picked up the phone, but I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t look at the number.” He let out a muffled sob and his heart twisted in agony as he remembered Amy‘s cold, heartless tone and vicious words. He shook his head. “Why would someone say that, Evie? How could someone be so cruel? It wasn’t my fault… It was just an accident…” He repeated it over and over like a mantra, trying to convince himself, trying to believe.
Evie moved to Traevyn and caressed her hand across his shoulders. “No, it wasn’t your fault. It was just a terrible, tragic accident. Traevyn, I’m so sorry.” She understood now why he didn’t want to let anyone close. He had lost the three people he loved most all in the same day.
“So I moved here to Big Sur,” he said. “Built my house and my barrier, shut out the world in an attempt to shut out pain, but it always finds me. It lives in me.” He drew in another shuddering breath and hung his head in exhaustion. “And that’s my story.”
Evie’s heart bled for him, it wept. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. It was all she could say and it sounded so inadequate.
Traevyn turned to her suddenly, meeting her eyes with force. “I’m so sorry about what I said to you last night,” he blurted. “I didn’t mean it. I was angry. I was terrified.”
She touched his cheek and shook her head. “Traevyn, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay. I was horrid. You were right. I am a coward.”
She continued to caress his face in an effort to get him to stop. She couldn’t stand to see him groveling. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am,” he insisted. “I am a coward and I am pathetic.”
She shook her head. “Traevyn, no. Shhh.”
“It’s just that—”
She acted without thinking. All she knew was that she couldn’t listen to one more word out of his mouth. She couldn’t take his unbearable sorrow for one more second. She lunged forward and planted her lips boldly to his.
Traevyn froze and his eyes drifted closed as the warmth of her lips touched his. It seemed to make some sort of difference, like her touch stayed with him even after she pulled away. It stopped his tirade and seemed to bring him back to the present.
Realization at her own actions slammed Evie. “Oh!” she cried in horror. She sat back and put her hands over her mouth. “I’m so sorry!”
He opened his eyes and let his breath out in a slow sigh. “It’s all right,” he whispered.
“No it’s not! I’m humiliated!”
He gave a small smile. “Don’t be humiliated.”
“I am!” she cried. “I am humiliated! I took advantage of you in a weakened state! I should be shot!” He closed his eyes and laughed softly, as if he was unable to contain it. She stared at him, stunned. “Have you lost it completely?”
He took her face in his hands and stared into her eyes. “Evie.” His voice was a sinful whisper. “You are so beautiful.”
She blinked. “Wh—What?” she squeaked. Beautiful? That was not something she was used to hearing.
“You’re killing me,” he breathed. “Killing me slowly with your gentleness. How is it that you are always bringing me laughter and light?” He shook his head. “What I just told you no one else knows aside from my parents and my brothers.”
“And why did you tell me?”
“Because you are my friend,” he said. “And you do mean something to me even though I tried to tell myself otherwise. For some reason, you can see straight through me and I don’t like it. It terrifies me, but it’s true all the same.”
She sighed. “It doesn’t hurt to confide in someone. We all need someone. No one should have to be so alone.”
He stared into her eyes for a long moment, then gave her a soft smile. There was something in his eyes… When she had first seen him, she’d noticed the sorrow and loneliness reflected in them, but now, it looked as if some small part of him felt relief, at peace.
He leaned back against the seat. “The fog isn’t letting up.”
Evie looked out at the milky whiteness. “No, it isn’t.”
“There are some blankets in the back seat,” he said. “I use them sometimes to sit on when I go down to the beach to draw. Let’s just stay here until morning when we can see again.”
She nodded and grabbed the blankets from the back. She handed one to Traevyn and spread the other one across herself. She reclined her seat and stared up at the roof for a long time, re-hashing all of what Traevyn had just told her. She looked out the window and sighed. Everything was so silent. It felt like she was floating in a cloud, surreal and eerie. She glanced at Traevyn, who was also reclined and staring out the driver’s side window. Her heart ached in her chest as she thought of the horrible pain he had endured. His left arm was draped across his stomach and she turned on her side, reaching her right hand over to touch his fingers lightly.
He turned his head and looked down at her. She blushed, but didn’t pull away. After a moment, he raised his fingers to hers, brushing across them with a soft caress. He pressed his palm to hers and grinned when his hand dwarfed her small one and his long fingers stuck up about an inch more than hers. Evie smiled as well.
He slowly curled his fingers to twine with hers and closed his eyes as if he was savoring something. “Thank you, Evie,” he whispered.
“For what?”
“For listening. For being here. For being you.”
She gave him a small smile. “I’ll always be here, Traevyn. That’s what friends do.” She frowned. “And…I’m sorry about the kiss.”
He grinned. “That’s all right. I needed it. I couldn’t seem to shut myself up.”
She smiled wider and her heart jumped when he let go of her hand and reached up to caress her cheek.
“Goodnight, Evie.”
“Goodnight, Traevyn.” He reached for her hand again and she scooted as close to him as she could get without being on the arm rest and the stick shift. She lay there for a long while, just enjoying the feel of his hand on hers. She frowned. Something had changed in her, something she couldn’t quite place, but she knew after this night, she would never be able to feel the same way toward Traevyn again. She closed her eyes and let sleep over take her, her last conscious thought being that his presence there beside her felt so right it was unnerving.
Chapter Twelve
It was the soft rays of sunlight breaking through the fog that first woke Traevyn. His fingers were still clasped with Evie’s, and she was proportioned so that the upper part of her body was lying across the arm rest while her head was resting against his shoulder. He smiled, wondering how she had managed to situate herself that way. He studied her face for a moment, then slowly pulled his hand away from hers and tried to push her gently back into her seat. She turned and curled herself toward the window almost instantly.
He pushed his seat up and winced at the stiffness in his neck and the pain in his back. Not to mention his legs felt completely numb. He glanced out the window at the fog, which was just as thick, but slightly less menacing now that it was daylight. He smiled and pulled the blanket off of his lap. He wrapped it around Evie, whose breath was coming out in white puffs. He opened the car door and was blasted by icy dampness. He got out quickly and shut the door so cold air wouldn’t flood the car.
Once outside, he took a deep breath and smiled. He relished the cold fog. He stepped out into the white mist
and let it swallow him.
* * * *
Evie awoke disoriented and aware of a great pain in her lower back. Her eyes fluttered open and it took her a minute to remember where she was. Then, everything came flooding back to her like a tidal wave. She immediately looked over for Traevyn, but he was gone. She frowned and glanced at her watch as she rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes. Six A.M. Where in the heck could he be at six A.M. trapped in a fog bank? She pushed her seat up and opened the door, but almost screamed aloud as the icy morning air attacked her. She grasped one of the blankets and wrapped it around her like an Indian.
“Traevyn?” she called as she stepped out of the car. The fog rolled by, touching her skin and lips with the salty spray of the ocean. She walked around the car. “Traevyn?” she called again. Tentatively, she ran across the road to the other side. “Traevyn, where are you?” She took a few steps forward, then decided she was too cold and turned to head back. She blinked as she realized that the fog had swallowed the car. She spun in alarm, but everything looked the same. “Traevyn!” she shouted. She let out a deep sigh as no reply came. “Great,” she muttered.
Suddenly, her eyes caught something moving up ahead of her, parting the mist and emerging like he was stepping through time. Tall and elegant with his spectacular mane of raven black hair falling around his shoulders and down past his waist, the ocean air tugging on it ever so gently. Evie couldn’t breathe. The breath she would have taken caught in her throat and all she could do was stare. He was so beautiful… He strode up to her, a small smile on his provocative and arousing mouth. The breath that she was trying so desperately to take turned into a soft gasp as he towered over her.
“Evie, what are you doing out here?” he asked.
She didn’t speak. She just stared up at him, into his alluring green eyes.
He frowned. “Are you all right? Evie?”
She gave herself a mental shake and her heart remembered it was supposed to be beating. She snapped back to the present. “Uh… Y—yes, I’m fine.” She averted her eyes, trying to keep from blushing.
“What are you doing out here?” he repeated.
“What are you doing out here?” she asked.
“Walking.”
She frowned. “Walking where? To the nearest 7-11? How can you even see?”
He smiled. “I don’t need to see.” He closed his eyes. “I just feel where I am going.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any weirder…”
He grinned and reached for her hand. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
She let him guide her through the fog, wondering if he’d completely lost his mind. In a few short minutes he stopped and Evie looked up, keeping her blanket clutched tight around her with her free hand. Her eyes widened. They were on top of a high cliff. She could see the ocean below, spraying water up into the air as the waves pounded against the cliff base. The slowly abating fog shrouded everything, making it all seem like she had stepped into a dream.
“This is my world,” Traevyn said. “This is what inspires me.” He closed his eyes as he listened to the sound of the powerful waves. “It’s music.”
Evie glanced up at him and smiled at the blissful look on his face. She looked down at their entwined fingers and she tightened her grip just slightly, studying how his fingers felt. She had never held hands with a man before. Seth didn’t count. He was her brother. And he definitely wasn’t a man. Besides, even Seth didn’t hold her hand unless they were at a funeral, or one of them was really scared.
“This is me, Evie,” Traevyn continued. “My heart is that ocean, my passion like those crashing waves. Intense, dangerous, forever flowing. My mind fills with so many images when I’m staring out at the violent beauty of the sea. I want to paint everything.” He sighed and looked down at her. She gave him a gentle smile and his eyes, usually so distant and sad, filled with a tender warmth. “What inspires you, Evie?”
At that precise moment, her stomach made a very audible growling sound. “Breakfast,” she joked.
He arched an eyebrow. “Breakfast?”
She grinned and nodded.
He chuckled and looked back out at the sea.
She studied his profile. He inspired her. He was a living work of art. There was so much to see when she looked at Traevyn. Such depth, such wicked, dark beauty. “You,” she whispered. He looked down at her with a curious frown and she felt her face turn hot. Had she just said that out loud? Fantastic. She tried to lighten the moment by laughing, but the sound was nervous and awkward. “But mostly, breakfast.”
He gave her a half-smile and turned to face her. “I shared with you the darkest shadows of my soul last night,” he said, his eyes gazing intently into hers. “You have a part of me now.”
Evie again seemed to decide that staring was the best course of action. How did stuff like that just roll off of his tongue? She let out a slow breath and shook her head. “Oh geez,” she muttered.
“What’s wrong?”
She took a deep breath and met his eyes. “All my life I’ve loved Gothic novels. The dark classics like Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, Jane Eyre. I always loved the dark, brooding characters because they had so much substance. They were intriguing and possessed a depth that people like my brother, for instance, lack.” She let her eyes travel over his gorgeous face one more. “Traevyn, you leave them all behind.” At his thoughtful frown she went on. “Your soul is deeper than that ocean.” She pointed out towards the sea. “I imagine it would take someone a lifetime to find the bottom.”
He gazed down at her, obviously touched by her words. “No one’s ever tried,” he said.
“Someone should,” she murmured. “I imagine the journey would be unforgettably beautiful.”
For several heartbeats all they did was stare at one another. The fog floated listlessly by and everything was complete silence save the thunderous crashing of the waves below them. Then, Traevyn took Evie’s hand in his own and brought it to his lips. He pressed a slow kiss to her knuckles and curled her fingers around his own, holding their interlocking hands over his heart.
Evie’s heartbeat was sluggish and she felt lightheaded. She was also really embarrassed. Why couldn’t she just keep her mouth shut? She was always spewing ridiculous words out of her mouth. Words that she would much rather keep to herself. Did she possess no self control at all?
“Come on,” Traevyn said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go get some breakfast. Should we get something for your brother also?”
She sighed. “I guess. Hopefully he hasn’t burnt your house down.”
He smiled and guided them back to the car. The fog had lifted enough so they could see and he warmed the engine up while she flung the blankets in the back seat. Doing this caused the end of one blanket to hit her in the face, and managed to send her glasses flying to the floor under Traevyn’s seat. She reached for them on instinct, as did he, and they smacked their heads together. “Ow!” Evie cried, rubbing her forehead. He winced and rubbed at his as well. “Here, I’ll get them,” she volunteered. She leaned forward to reach for them, but it was difficult with Traevyn’s long legs in the way. She felt around under the seat until she realized that she was practically lying on Traevyn’s lap with the side of her face pressed up against a rather private area. Her face flushed horribly and she sat up. “Maybe… uh…you should get them.” She cleared her throat.
He glanced at her slyly and smirked. “Oh by all means, don’t let me rush you.”
She was positive that she turned more shades of red than a crayon box had in it. She put her hands over her face.
Traevyn chuckled and retrieved her glasses. “Here.”
She grabbed them and shoved them on, not able to look at him out of sheer humiliation.
He cast her a sidelong glance and smiled. “You should wear red more often, Evie,” he teased. “It suits you.”
She heaved an exasperated sigh. “I’m always
wearing red around you, Traevyn,” she grumbled.
He grinned and pulled onto the road.
* * * *
Evie had decided that she wanted to make breakfast rather than just raid a McDonald’s so she and Traevyn hit a grocery store. When they arrived back at the house, they were laughing about something and Evie was taken aback as her brother flew down the staircase and stopped to stand in front of them. He looked more annoyed than she had seen him look since their mother had first informed him that he would have to spend the summer with Evie.
“Where were you guys?” he cried.
Evie blinked in surprise. “We got caught in some bad fog and had to pull over and wait it out for the night,” she explained.
“And you didn’t have the decency to at least call me?” he shouted. “I thought you were dead somewhere!”
Evie raised her eyebrows. She couldn’t pretend that she wasn’t completely caught off guard by Seth’s concern. She’d imagined he would have slept through everything and barely even noticed that they were late.
“What’s this for?” He held up his cell phone. “Come on, Evie! You say I’m irresponsible? At least I would have called you! You might have thought of that too considering you’re, like, thirty and used to be a father!” He stabbed an accusing finger at Traevyn.
Traevyn adopted the same surprised expression as Evie.
Seth snorted and threw his cell phone down onto the couch. “You know, whatever.” He strode out of the room and back up the stairs.
Evie blinked in bewilderment and looked up at Traevyn. “Geez, I didn’t even think he cared.”
He smiled. “He is your brother. You’ve been stuck together for the past month. He probably feels closer to you now than he ever has.”
She sighed. “Well I’d better start cooking. Apology food should do the job.”
“I’ll help you,” he volunteered.
She cast him a suspicious look as they made their way into the kitchen. “Do you cook better than Seth?”
Dark Masterpiece (Serendipity Series 3) Page 11
