Left Behind: Left Behind Series #1 (18 page)

“Why
are you telling me this?” I whisper.

“Because
I want you to know that you’re important to me and I don’t let important things
go without a fight. On my way over here, I started thinking. My theory is that
deep down, you feel the same way.” I turn to face him and he smiles. “Don’t
give me that look,” he laughs lightly. “There’s no way you didn’t feel anything
when you were kissing me last night. Even if it was brief, there was a moment
when you and I were the only two people in the club. You forgot about everyone
around us.” Then he softly says, “It was just you and me.”

One
by one, stupid tears glide effortlessly over my smooth skin. “It was longer
than a moment,” I whisper.

He
sighs, but smiles at me. “I get that you have to be cautious about the things
you do because of your parents. You don’t have to tell me the details until
you’re ready. I’m not asking to change how things are between us, Kacie. I like
this.” He squeezes my hand encouragingly or hopefully. I’m not sure which.
“Hanging out. Having lunch. That’s all fine with me. No one else has to know
that you have turned my world upside down. For now, we can just make it our
little secret. But what I won’t do is let you walk away from whatever this is.
Not unless you can honestly tell me you don’t want it. All you have to do is
look me in the eye and say you don’t want whatever is happening here.” With the
hand that’s holding mine, he reaches up to turn my chin toward him. He appears
unsure of what I’ll say. “Now’s your chance. Go ahead and tell me you don’t
want this.”

“I
turn your world upside down?”

“You
do.” Evan rests his forehead on mine. “Don’t distract me with questions you
already know the answers to.” I can’t think straight when he’s this close to
me. A million things are running through my head. Things like how I should lie
to keep him safe from the insanity, how much I really do want this, how my
lungs feel like they’re having difficulty filling with air, how the look in his
eyes is making me want to tell him what he wants to hear. “You…you realize I’m
waiting for you to…to actually answer me, right?” he stumbles over the words.

I
take in a deep breath to steady my nerves, then slowly release it. “But you
told me to tell you if I didn’t want this. You never said to answer either
way.”

Evan
squeezes his eyes closed tightly and smiles. “I guess you’re right,” he says,
opening them again. “Smart ass.”

“I
still think you should walk away. If my parents came after you to hurt me…”

“Shh,”
he interrupts. “I can take care of myself, Kacie. Besides, they can’t do
anything to me.”

“But
you don’t even know them. They’re heartless people who step on anyone to get
what they want. Even if they don’t do anything to you directly, they can still
hurt you. Everyone who cares about me feels the pain when they start their
shit. One time, Jade was visiting me at my parents’ house while they were out.
My dad walked in the kitchen at the same time I accidentally dropped a glass.
He screamed in my face for ten minutes about how I’ll never amount to anything.
Then, before he walked out of the room, he blamed my incompetence on being
friends with Jade. She had nightmares about my father for months after that.”

“First
of all, I’d never let the son of a bitch raise his voice to you. And second,
there’s nothing he could say about me that I’d even lose a wink of sleep over.”

“Jade
wasn’t bothered by what he said about her. It was how upset he made me that
tore her apart.”

“Please
don’t worry about this shit.” He kisses my head, then whispers, “We’ll deal
with them if or when something happens, but for now, just let me try to figure
out why I can’t stop thinking about you.”

“That’s
easy,” I say. Really, I have no idea, but hearing him admit to thinking about
me has feelings of excitement, nervousness, and terror streaming through me.
“It’s because I’m awesome.”

My
cockiness makes him laugh. “You think that’s it, huh?” Evan scoops me up off of
the swing and places me on his lap. Again, I don’t try to stop him or get away.
I let him do whatever he wants. It’s quite possible that I always will. “You
might be right. I’ll let you know when it comes to me.”

“Okay.
If you want to waste your time, go right ahead,” I say.

“Kacie?”

“Hmm?”

“Shut
up,” he tells me. I’d respond with some sort of quirky remark, but the gleam in
his eyes lets me know what he’s going to do. It’s the same sparkle he had last
night at the club and the other morning after he unexpectedly spent the night.
Slowly, his head tilts to mine and, automatically, mine leans in, as well. He
takes his time by bringing his hand up to brush along my cheek, then he tucks a
stray curl behind my ear. I won’t rush him. Not this time. Not any time. If
there’s one thing I’ve learned about Evan Pierce, it’s that the man will make
my heart stop the moment his lips meet mine. The few seconds before that…well,
the only word capable of coming close to describing the feeling is magical.

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.”

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.”

“Don’t
worry about it. I’ll have Mikey drop me off. We’ll make sure it’s running right.
Are you keeping it or selling it?”