Left Behind: Left Behind Series #1 (17 page)

What
the fuck just happened?

The
rest of the night leaves me with a bunch of unanswered texts. She didn’t pick
up any of the three times I tried to call her, either. What happened?
Everything was fine. I flirted with her, but nothing more than she did in
return. She didn’t object when I kissed her. No, I’m pretty sure she was fine
with it given that her tongue was halfway down my throat and her hands were
quite comfortable touching me. There’s no fucking way she could seriously be
that angry over me getting involved with Connor. She would have flipped out at
me right there, not bottled it up. “Fuck!” I yell to my empty bedroom. I stare
at the ceiling until sunrise, when exhaustion finally consumes me.

Sometime
later in the morning, the sound of a phone ringing pulls me from a sound sleep.
It rings a few more times while I decide whether or not to open my eyes and
answer it. Don’t people understand it’s rude to make phone calls so early?
Eventually, it stops. I tug the pillow laying on the bed next to me over my
head. Before I can doze back off, the damn thing starts again. Without moving
the pillow, my hand blindly searches for the source of the offensive sound.

“What?”
I answer.

“You
better not still be in bed!” my cousin’s voice shrieks.

“I
fucking worked last night. I’m tired.”

“It’s
almost two o’clock in the afternoon. People are going to be showing up to hang
out by the pool within the hour. You promised you’d pick up the beer and help
me set all of this shit up!”

“Why
the fuck would I promise something like that?” I sigh.

“Evan!”

“Alright.
Alright. Chill the hell out. I’m getting up now.” My eyes are still closed as I
force myself to sit up. Then all of the memories from the previous night come flooding
back. The ones about Kacie will need to wait until I’m conscious. “Meg, I need
to talk to you about something.”

“What?”
she snaps, very annoyed.

“Connor
was at Skyline last night.” There’s nothing but silence from the other end. May
as well get this over with now. “I had to kick his ass out. He won’t be allowed
back in. I also told him to stay away from you.”

“What
happened?”

“I
don’t know how it all started, but he was giving Kacie and Jade a bunch of shit
while they were dancing. He kept at it, despite them telling him to fuck off.
When Kacie tried to walk away from him, he grabbed her. I may or may not have
gone a tad ape shit.” I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees and my head
on my hand. “Jake had to hold me back. Connor wouldn’t stop talking shit about
you, Meg. I couldn’t take it. No one who is that disrespectful deserves you.”

“Is
Kacie okay?” she asks quietly. I really hope I didn’t ruin my cousin’s day.

“I
don’t know. She took off shortly afterwards and hasn’t returned my phone calls
or any of the texts I sent. My guess is that she probably won’t be at the
party.”

“Are
you supposed to pick her up?”

“No.
She had plans to come with Jade.”

“She’ll
be here,” Meg tries to reassure me. “Just out of curiosity, what did she do
when Connor grabbed her?”

“She
slapped him across the face.”

 My
cousin lets out a small laugh. “I like her.”

“Me,
too,” I say quietly. “I’ll be there soon. Sorry I’m late.”

“Sorry
you had to deal with Connor. Thanks for sticking up for me.”

“You’re
lucky I love you,” I tease.

“I
know. See you in a little bit.” She hangs up.

Before
I stand up, the phone rings again. Chris’ name flashes on my phone. “Didn’t
think I’d be hearing from you until September,” I say.

“I
was asked if you’d be interested in a rematch.”

“Rematch?
Who wants that?”

“Two
of the new guys. They want you and Jake.”

“When?”

“Wednesday.”

“I’m
in if Jake is.” Why not? I’ve been itching to bring out the Scirocco again
anyway.

“I’ll
set it up,” he says, then the line goes dead.

After
a quick shower, I throw on some clothes that were laying over the chair in my
room. Hopefully they’re clean. Doing laundry really needs to be added to my
shit-that-needed-to-be-done-yesterday list. It takes me no time at all to swing
by the club and grab the cases of beer I had stashed in the refrigerator. By
the time I make it to Meg’s, there are already enough cars to fill one side of
the long U-shaped driveway. There’s just enough room for my truck to squeeze
past them so I can park right outside of the garage. The whole ride over here,
I was thinking about how if I would have gotten up earlier, there would have
been time to drive by Kacie’s. Her neighborhood is so far from here that Meg
would seriously be pissed. I’ll just have to wait and see if she shows up.

By
the time it takes me to get the bar area set up outside on the deck and help
the DJ carry his shit to his designated area, the outside of my aunt and
uncle’s huge ass house has filled up. Meg hasn’t really come to torture me
because she’s busy bossing the caterers around, so I take the free time to look
for Kacie.  Since it’s so damn hot today, most people are lounging by the
pool. If she’s here, I’m sure that’s where she’ll be. I stroll over to the
railing of the deck and scan the people below. It stings when I can’t find her.
My forearms rest on the railing while I try to figure out what went wrong.

“You
shouldn’t pout. It messes up your handsome face,” Jade says as she leans her
back against the railing.

“Is
she with you?” I ask.

She
sighs. “No.”

“Then
what are you doing here? Thought you two were a package deal?” I knew the
second I heard Jade’s voice that Kacie wasn’t here.

“She
threatened Kyle to get me out of her house. She can be awfully scary when she
wants to be.”

“She’s
all of, what? Four feet? How fucking scary can she be?” I take a large gulp of
the beer I am holding.

“She’s
five four, just like me. Watch it!”

“Whatever,”
I say. I should have never gotten the fuck out of bed.

“I
swear, you two are so ridiculous! You’re being a dick, and she made me promise
not to say her name or talk about last night. I hate both of you right now!”

She
pushes off of the railing and starts to walk away, but I grab her arm. “Why
aren’t you allowed to talk about last night?”

Jade
sighs again. “Look, whatever you’re thinking happened last night, you’re wrong.
Kac…I mean, my friend,” she corrects herself, “is being stupid and letting her
parents run her damn life.”

“What
does that even mean? She keeps using them as an excuse for everything.”

“Kacie
is afraid her parents are going to take her grandmother’s house away from her,”
Jake says.

“Jake!”
Jade snaps.

“
You
promised to keep your mouth shut.
I
didn’t,” Jake justifies.

Jade
smiles at her brother. “You’re right, but you realize that she’ll still be mad at
you, right?”

“She’ll
get glad again. She always does. At least she does with me anyway,” he smirks.

“What’s
the deal with the house?” I interrupt them.

“Her
grandmother left it to her. Her parents are threatening to take it away if she
doesn’t live up to their expectations. Their latest thing is that they want her
to date this doctor her dad knows. Jade said he’s a real douche bag. I haven’t
had the pleasure of meeting him. Kacie’s afraid that if she’s seen with you,
someone will report back to them.”

“The
guy who was at Skyline the night I met her?” I ask Jade. She looks to Jake for
help. Man, she takes this promise thing pretty seriously.

“Yes,”
Jake answers. Jade smiles again, happy she hasn’t betrayed her friend.

“That
night after Kacie left, he was talking about how he thought he’d get some
promotion if he was with her,” I remember.

“Kacie
assumed it was something like that. She’s not an idiot.”

“Back
to the house. If it was left to Kacie, why the hell do her parents think they
can get their hands on it?”

“We
don’t know. The lawyer in charge is Jade’s boss, but she’s been tight-lipped
about the whole thing. She just keeps saying not to worry and that she’ll take
care of it if they try anything. That’s not enough to relax Kacie, though. If
she loses the house, Kacie loses the only thing connecting her to her
grandmother. She’ll be crushed,” Jake pauses, looking out over the yard. “I
don’t think she’ll ever recover from it.”

“Never,”
Jade agrees.

“So,
what about last night. Why did she leave the club?”

“I
don’t know that part of the gossip.” Jake looks to Jade.

“I
promised,” she reminds him.

“She
didn’t say you couldn’t tell me.” I’m not sure why Jake is doing this, but I
owe him.

“I’m
sure telling you right in front of Evan falls under the ‘telling him directly’
category.”

“Details,”
Jake jokes. Jade crosses her arms. She’s not going to budge on this. “Fine.
You’re such a wuss. All I know is she likes you and whatever happened last
night freaked her out. I don’t know if it was Connor or what. She asked me to
take her home, so I did. That’s my job.”

“You’re
going to be on her shit list forever.” Jade shakes her head.

“Where
is she now?”

“She
was home when we left,” she tells me. “I don’t think she was going anywhere.”
Do I go? Do I give her space? Man, I fucking suck at this shit! Jade must be
able to read the conflict on my face. “You know you want to,” she smiles. “Good
luck, Evan.” Looking at her brother, she laughs. “I’d wish you luck, too, but
you deserve the ass whooping she’ll give you.” I watch Jade cross the deck and
slide into the chair next to Kyle over by the bar.

“Here.”
Jake is holding out a set of keys.

“What?”

“If
Kacie doesn’t answer the door, cut through my house. She’ll be in the swing in
her garden.” I take them from him.

“What
if she’s not?” I ask doubtfully.

“She
will be. That’s where she goes when she feels lost.” There’s no denying the
anguish in his tone.

“Why
are you doing this?”

“Because
you’re the only one who can make her feel better. I fucking hate seeing her
like this.”

“What
if she gets pissed at you like Jade said?”

“As
long as she’s happy, it’ll be worth it,” he mumbles. “Please, just make her
stop crying.”

I
should be interrogating Jake about his obvious feelings for Kacie, but that’s
not what’s happening. I’m running toward my truck. Running toward the girl who
has somehow managed to turn my world upside down.

Kacie

Staring
up at the twinkling stars in the clear night sky used to make me feel better.
Although Gram was here then, so it’s very possible it never had anything to do
with the stars. Dealing with all of this bullshit wasn’t what I had in mind
when I decided to come home. My parents are one thing, but Evan was completely
unexpected. He came out of nowhere. Never in my life have I wanted anyone this
badly. Not even Nate. Why the fuck do I have to fall for someone at the worst
time? And with Evan, of all people? When we’re together, he makes me feel like
the only girl he’s ever wanted. When he touches me, it’s almost as if he takes
control of my soul. For some reason, I always do exactly what he wants or
expects of me without conscious effort. How does that happen with someone I
only recently met?

Sitting
out here isn’t helping, so I decide it’s best to head inside and get ready for
bed. Before I manage to collect myself enough to get up off of the chair, I
notice a shadowy figure coming from the yard next door. This is just icing on
the fucking cake. What makes him think now is a good time for company? Without
saying a word, Jake flops into the empty lounge beside me and holds out a beer.

“Smart
move,” I say, taking it from him. “I was just about to send your ass home.”

He
chuckles. “Please don’t. Jade and Kyle just went upstairs. I really don’t want
to be around for their first time.”

Leave
it to Jake to make me laugh when I have no desire to. “Yuck.”

“Seriously,”
he agrees. Jake leans back in the chair, crosses his legs at his ankles, and
sips on his beer. “So, you want to tell me what Evan did wrong tonight to make
you bolt out of the club?”

Why
can’t he just sit there and shut the hell up? “He didn’t do anything wrong.
That’s the problem,” I respond.

“What?”

For
a few moments, I don’t answer. “He spent time with me tonight even though he
was working. He was ready to kill Ava when she tried to start shit. Then the
whole thing with Connor.” I shake my head. “The look on Evan’s face when he saw
how upset I was…”

“Then
why did you want to leave so badly?” he asks, not waiting for me to finish. “Why
are you so upset?”

“Because,”
I sigh.

“I’m
not a mind reader. Care to elaborate on that?”

“I’m
getting too close. I need to take a step back.”

“You
need to take a step back? What the hell does that even mean?” Jake wonders.

“I
like him more than I should. If I don’t distance myself now, it will only hurt
more later on,” I admit, more to myself than to my friend.

Jake
swings his legs over the side of the chair to face me. He sets his beer down on
the ground between us and grabs onto the side of my chair. “Kacie, if you like
him, why don’t you want to be with him?”

Suddenly,
I’m thankful for the darkness because Jake isn’t able to make out the look on
my face or see the tears escaping down my cheeks. For some reason, it’s weird
talking to him about Evan this way. “There’s no way I can bring anyone else
into this fucked up reality of my life. It’s bad enough you and Jade are stuck
in it. I can’t give my parents any more people to lash out at when they get
angry with me. Don’t even get me started on that jackass doctor my mother
thinks I should be dating. In her sick and twisted head, she already has me
married to the son of a bitch. And you already know the part about the house.”

“First
of all, Jade and I aren’t stuck in your life. We’re here because we want to be.
We’ll always be here, just like you are for us. Second, fuck your parents. I’m
sick of them making you feel like you don’t get to make your own choices.
You’re an adult now and there’s nothing they can do to you, Kacie. Third, this
house is yours. Even if they pull some ridiculous shit, we won’t let them touch
it. Neither will Mary.” He pauses momentarily to take a breath. “She was in the
office when I stopped by the other day to drop off Jade’s lunch. I pulled her
aside and she assured me everything was fine. You have to trust her. She’s
always been on your side. As for Evan, tell him what’s going on. Let him decide
if he wants to hang around or not. You shouldn’t make this choice for him, the
same way your parents shouldn’t do it to you.”

“I
thought you were on my side,” I say, irritated.

“I
am and always will be.”

“Why
are you ‘Team Evan’, anyway?” I want to know. If Jade was right about her
brother still having feelings for me, why would he be pushing me to be with his
friend?

Jake
lets go of my chair to pick up his beer. “Because he’s who you want.”

“Unfortunately,
we don’t always get what we want. I can’t date him, Jake.” My head falls back
to rest against the chair. “I’m sure he’ll forget all about me in a few days.”
After running out of Skyline, I turned off my phone, with no plans of switching
it back on or answering the door. Yup, I will just hide out until he’s moved
on. Sounds like a plan to me. 

“Damn
you, Kacie!” he snaps. “You’re the most infuriating female on this planet!”

“Only
the planet?” I whisper, barely loud enough for him to hear. “I must be
slipping.”

“You’re
not funny,” he growls.

“I’m
not trying to be.”

“You
realize you could be making the biggest mistake of your life all because of
your parents, right? The same parents who have only ever cared about
themselves?” Frustration has gotten the best of him. He doesn’t usually talk to
me like this.

“Wouldn’t
you do anything you could to keep someone you cared about away from your worst
demons?” I stand up next to him and lean over to kiss his cheek. “I’m going to
bed. It’s been a long day. Good night, Jake.”

“Want
me to come in?” he softly asks.

“I
need to be alone.” I know telling him no will more than likely hurt his
feelings, but it’s the truth. Hearing him try to talk me out of what I feel is
necessary will only tear me apart more.

“Call
if you need anything,” he says, getting up from the chair. Jake walks away, but
I don’t watch him go. Who needs that much heartbreak in one night?

***

Morning
took its old sweet time getting here. Every second that I laid in bed unable to
close my eyes felt like an eternity. The couple of times I was able to get them
to lower weren’t any better. The inside of my eyelids acted as a movie screen,
replaying tidbits of the times Evan and I spent together. It was much easier to
stare at the plain, white ceiling where I couldn’t see those crystal clear,
blue eyes glaring back at me. The moment daylight streamed in my room, I jumped
out of bed and began my eleven mile run. It was tempting to stretch out my
normal summertime route a little, but I really try not to do that when the
temperature is expected to climb so early in the day. Dying of heat exhaustion
just seems like a lousy way to go. The run, followed by a nice long shower,
proved to be just what I needed. After a quick breakfast, I was able to fall
sound asleep for a few hours without a particular handsome boy popping in and
out of my head.

My
peace and quiet disappears all too soon. A tornado, better known as my best
friend, comes blowing through the front door. “Kacie!” she shouts repeatedly as
she makes her way through the foyer and into the living room. I should consider
changing the locks and not giving anyone a new key. Jade only stops screaming
when she finds me curled up on the sofa. “Why haven’t you answered your phone?”
she demands.

“I
turned it off. It will probably stay that way for a few days,” I mumble, my
head still on the fluffy throw pillow.

My
friend sighs, obviously disappointed with my response. “Well, let’s go. Jake’s
driving and he wants to make a quick stop before we go to Meg’s.”

“I’m
not going,” I inform her. When I slide up to a sitting position, I see Kyle
came in with her. Since when does Jade need reinforcements?

“Stop
fooling around, Kacie. Go get dressed. Kyle, can you please run out and tell
Jake we’ll be there in a minute? Actually, just tell him Kacie’s being
difficult. He’ll understand.”

“I’m
serious, Jade. I’m not going. Kyle, take her with you,” I say, lying back down.

“Kacie
Foster, get your ass up right this minute! I’m not going to stand here and let
you do this!”

Kyle
doesn’t know whether he should stay or go. “Don’t forget you promised that you
wouldn’t say my name in front of Evan, and what I told you last night stays
between us,” I remind her. I suppose Jake didn’t tell her that he and I spoke
last night because she doesn’t call me out on it. “Kyle, I don’t care if you
have to carry her. Get her out of here or, I swear, I’ll hurt you.”

“You’re
being ridiculous!” Jade declares, throwing her arms into the air.

“Have
fun at the party,” I say, ignoring her.

“We
don’t have to go to Meg’s. We can go somewhere else. I’m sure Jake won’t mind,”
she pleads.

“Jade,
I don’t feel like it. We’ll do something tomorrow, okay?”

“No!
It’s not okay but, apparently, I don’t have a choice!” my friend yells. She
doesn’t say goodbye before she takes Kyle by the hand and leaves, slamming the
front door on her way out. That went a hell of a lot better than I thought it
would.

Over
the next hour, I clean my room and bathroom. Once that’s done, I strip the beds
in the guest rooms from when the girls spent the night. After they are remade
and the washer is running, I grab the book Jade has been bugging me to read for
the last few months and go outside. The lounges are more comfortable, but I
feel like being in the garden. Being surrounded by the flowers Gram and I
planted relaxes me. Before I sit down, I check around to see if any of the
flowers need water. They rarely do since the sprinkler system runs every
morning, but it gets so hot this time of year that the soil sometimes dries out
quickly. The gardener Jade hired while I was away at college still comes to mow
the lawn and to tend to the gardens. I figured once school starts, I won’t have
time to do it myself so it would make sense to keep him around. Plus, Jade was
right. He
is
nice to look at.

When
I finally sit down on the swing, thoughts of Evan pop back into my head. Will
he be happy or disappointed when I don’t show up at his cousin’s party? How
long will it take him to forget about me? Will I ever be able to forget about
him? Something tells me Evan Pierce will be on my mind for a very, very long
time. Maybe someday, we’ll meet again and the timing will be better. Or maybe
not. With my shitty luck, he’ll be in love with someone else and not even
remember me. As I stare out over the wildflowers, another tear runs down my
cheek.

“Is
it wrong that I’m desperately hoping you’re thinking about me?” The unexpected
sound of Evan’s voice scares the shit out of me. My ass practically leaps off
of the wooden swing as my hand tries to shove my erratically beating heart back
into place.

“Jesus
Christ, Evan!” I eventually get out. “Are you trying to kill me?”

He
smiles, but it’s not his normal sexy smirk. Knowing I’m the reason for that
hurts. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to scare you.” He bends down, picks a daisy, and
slowly strolls along the paved walkway until he’s standing in front of me. I
move the book to make room for him to sit down. “I wasn’t even trying to be
quiet,” he says, handing me the flower. I can only offer a small smile. Evan
starts to rock us, so I pull my legs up onto the swing. “So,
were
you
thinking about me?” He doesn’t look at me which hurts even more.

“You’re
all I seem to be able to think about lately,” I confess. My plan to ignore him
is much easier to carry out when he’s not sitting right next to me. “Evan, you
need to go. You need to get away from me.” It would be so much easier if he
just left.

“No,”
he replies with a degree of certainty I almost believe.

“You
have to. It’s not right to ask you to hang around and deal with the bullshit
from my family.”

“Maybe
you should ask me and see what I say.” Evan takes my hand and holds it in his.
“But, the truth is, you don’t have to because I’m not leaving.”

“You
don’t understand…”

“No,
Kacie.
You
don’t understand. From the moment we met, it was obvious
there was something different about you. Something I had never seen before. It
took me a little bit to figure out exactly what it was. As odd as it sounds,
it’s how you make me different.” He realizes I’m not sure what he’s trying to
say. “You allow me to be myself,” he clarifies. “The real kick in the ass is,
over the last six years, I’ve forgotten who that was. I’ve been hiding behind
this version of myself that I created when Ethan died. I became the tough guy
who didn’t care about anyone except himself. I shut everyone out.” Evan
casually raises my hand to his lips, kisses it softly, and gently lowers it
back down to his lap. He has no idea how much those small things melt my heart.
“If it means that I have to deal with the pain again, so be it, but I don’t
want to be that person anymore.”