Left Behind: Left Behind Series #1 (16 page)

“I
don’t believe her,” she states. “And you have nothing to apologize for, so drop
it, okay?”

“But
she just came out of nowhere, yelling all of that shit in front of all of these
people. Aren’t you pissed?” I honestly feel terrible Kacie had to see that.

“Evan.”
She places her hand on the side of my face and calm automatically falls over
me. “I told you yesterday that I believed you. There’s no reason to let some
bimbo seeking revenge make either one of us upset. As far as I’m concerned,
it’s done.”

“I
don’t understand. Any other girl would be flipping the fuck out right now.”

She
tugs on her lower lip with her teeth, then says, “I’m not any other girl.”

“No,
you are not,” I agree. In that moment, I don’t give a shit about how we’re
supposed to only be friends, or that half of the people in the club are still
watching. I pull her up against me and kiss her. It’s not just a simple kiss by
any means. It exposes the passion and possessiveness I feel for her. Neither
one of those are feelings I thought I had in me. Most importantly, it’s real.
Every kiss shared with Kacie brings my dormant soul to life.

All
too soon, she ends our kiss and turns to look at something or someone over my
shoulder. “I think someone needs you,” she whispers.

Irritation
rolls through me at whoever it is. “Unless that person is you, I don’t really
want to hear about it,” I say. Kacie gives me a small, understanding smile,
then tilts her head in the direction of the intruder. When I see Ashley
standing there fidgeting, my frustration quickly turns to sympathy. The poor
girl had enough trouble last night and now she feels uncomfortable. I did tell
her to come get me, regardless of what I was doing, if she needed anything.
“Ashley,” I acknowledge her while still tightly holding onto Kacie. “Is
everything alright?”

“Um…,”
she starts. Kacie must also feel bad for her because she takes a step back,
forcing space between us to make Ashley feel less anxious. “I’m sorry to
interrupt, but…”

“It’s
fine,” I assure her. “What can I do for you?”

“The
ladies at table twenty-two are asking for you to come over. I tried to ask what
the problem was, but they wouldn’t tell me anything. Their order was right and
I brought it out as soon as it was ready from the bar…”

I
take a step toward her and say, “Relax. People ask for me all the time around
here. Don’t worry. Thank you for letting me know. I’ll be sure to check it out
in a minute.” She nods and heads back toward her section. “Don’t leave,” I tell
Kacie. “I have to see who it is and I’ll come right back.”

“Don’t
worry about me. You’re working.”

“It’s
about freakin’ time! Now we can dance!” Jade shouts, already on her feet and
grabbing her friend by the arm.

“Wait.
I thought you didn’t dance,” Kyle says to Kacie. The girls laugh as if they
know something no one else does.

“Yeah,
about that…,” Kacie begins.

“She
lied so you’d dance with me instead,” Jade finishes bluntly.

“I
don’t get it. I asked you out plenty of times and you constantly turned me
down. What made you change your mind?”

Jade
sighs. “You have me now, so does it really matter?”

Kyle
softens up at the way Jade is looking at him. “No, I suppose it doesn’t.” Even
with heels on, she has to stretch in order to kiss him on the cheek.

“Get
back to work,” Kacie says. “See you in a little bit.”

“‘Bye,
Evan,” Jade calls, dragging Kacie away from me. I stand there watching them
until they make it to the dance floor. Jake switches stools so his back is no
longer facing them.

“About
yesterday…” Jake says, his eyes glued on the girls.

“We
discussed this. Don’t apologize for looking out for her. Just know that you
don’t have to worry about me. I won’t hurt her.”

“Fair
enough,” he says.

“I’ll
catch up with you guys later,” I tell them and go to see who thinks they are
important enough to summon me.

As I
make my way over to Ashley’s section, my eyes keep drifting over to Kacie and
Jade. It’s almost like they’ve been trained. They both stay where Jake can keep
an eye on them. Lucky bastard. Just before getting to my intended destination,
I notice Kacie abruptly stop dancing and turn to face someone behind her. Jade
does the same thing. A glance at Jake shows him holding his beer mid-air, but
not moving from the stool. When I find Kacie, her and Jade are dancing once
again with no indication anything just happened. Jake set the bottle down, but
is still focused solely on them.

Now
a little unsettled, it’s hard to concentrate on why I came over here in the
first place. Then someone calls my name. The two ladies who sent for me are
probably the most obnoxious people to have ever walked through the front doors.
They are both well over forty and married with kids, but every fucking time
they come here, they ask for me. It’s like they get off on it. Normally, I’m
polite and nicely decline their advances toward me; however, tonight is not the
night for it. Too many people are distracting me from where I want to be.

“Ladies,”
I say, causing them to giggle at each other the way girls half their age would.
Fuck me. “What’s going on that you had to scare the shit out of my waitress?”

“We
weren’t trying to frighten her. We’ll make sure she knows that the next time
she comes back,” the one lady says. Once again, I check on the girls. They seem
fine.

“Please
make sure you do. She’s new here and I’d like her to hang around.” I smile.
Something makes me look over at Kacie again. All I can see from this angle is
her back and Jade flipping out. Jake is now standing next to the table.

“Hey,
handsome. Are you listening to me?”

I
ignore the voice and walk over to the edge of the dance floor, still keeping my
distance. I know she likes to handle shit herself and is perfectly capable of
it, but this feels different. Kacie starts to walk away when a hand grabs her
arm. She turns around and, with her other hand, smacks someone across the face.
Fuck this! I take off for her and make it there just a few steps ahead of Jake
and Kyle. When I see who the hand belongs to, my anger multiplies
exponentially.

“Get
the fuck off of her,” I demand, taking Kacie by the hand, tucking her safely
behind me. “Who the fuck do you think you are coming in here and pulling this
shit? What if Meg was here?”

“Ah,
the big, bad cousin. You’re always looking out for her, but Meg knows what’s
up,” the prick slurs. “She gets to have me when I say.”

Jake
must know what’s about to happen because he comes to stand next to me, putting
his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t do this here. Let security take care of him.
You don’t want unnecessary trouble for yourself or the club.”

“You
and Meg are done,” I inform him. “Do you understand me, Connor? Done. Don’t
even let me find out you tried to call her, or the next time we meet won’t end
well for you.”

“Whatever.
I’ve had her plenty of times anyway,” he mumbles, then holds out his hand. “Now
give me back the girl and I’ll get the hell out of this deadbeat club.”

“No.
Get lost,” I tell him. Kacie slides her hand into mine.

Connor
doesn’t miss the gesture. He starts laughing. “My bad, man. Go ahead. Take her
back to the office and do your thing. I’ll wait the ten minutes for my turn.”

Suddenly,
Kacie is gone from my grasp and I only see red. Bright fucking red. The only
time I was ever this pissed off was when that two-timing bitch had the balls to
show up at my brother’s funeral. I feel myself jump for him, then hands are all
over me. As I try to break free, Joe and someone else are there hauling him
away.

“Evan!”
Jake screams. “Calm the fuck down! Joe’s got this!”

“Joe
won’t do nearly as much damage as I will.” I continue to struggle against my
friend.

“Not
here,” another voice says to me. “You’re freaking all of these people out.” On
the other side of me is Kyle, who’s barely able to keep his grip on me. After a
few deep breaths, the adrenaline starts to slow, as does my heart rate.

“He’s
gone,” Jake confirms, letting me go and motioning for Kyle to do the same. “Any
other time, I would have helped you beat the motherfucker to within inches of
his life. But not here. Not in your club. Your uncle doesn’t need to come home
to a lawsuit.”

“Thanks,
man,” I say because he’s right. It would have ended badly. I need to know how
Kacie is. When I turn around, neither she nor Jade is anywhere in sight. “Kacie!”
I call out. “Where is she?”

“Jade
took her to the restroom,” Kyle says. “She’s okay.”

I
need to see for myself before I’ll believe it. What if she’s angry with me for interfering?
Without waiting for anyone, I push my way through the crowd. It feels like
hours that I stand leaning against the wall across from the ladies room. Ten to
fifteen girls come out of there before she finally does. Her eyes immediately
lock on mine. She’s obviously still very upset.

“Kacie.”
I can’t close the distance separating us fast enough. “I’m so sorry. I should
have gotten to you sooner. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“I’m
fine.” She can barely get out. Her eyes are filling with tears, fast.

“Why
don’t you look fine?”

“I’m
going to take her home,” Jade declares.

“Not
yet. Kacie, please tell me what’s wrong,” I beg. Someone yells my name from
down the hall. “What now?!” I yell.

“I
have your uncle on line three!” Kylie says.

“Fuck!
I’ll be right there!” I say, running my hand through my hair. “I have to take
this call. Please give me a few minutes.” Neither of them respond. “Please.
I’ll be right back.” I can’t make my uncle wait, so I kiss Kacie on her head
and whisper, “I’m so sorry I have to walk away from you right now.” She only
nods before I take off down the hall. By the time I make it to the office, my
breathing is short and uneven. My uncle notices when I pick up the phone.

“You
better not have some girl bent over my desk,” he bitches in my ear.

“I
wish,” I respond. “I did, however, almost just beat the shit out of Connor on
the dance floor.”

“What
the fuck did he do now?” Uncle Tim wants to know.

“Language!”
my aunt yells in the background.

“He
was touching some girl who didn’t want to be touched. As if that wasn’t bad
enough, he bashed Meg. I told him he’s to stay away from her or he won’t
survive our next meeting.”

“You
should have punched the sorry son of a bitch.”

I
knew he’d understand. “My friends were afraid it would have caused too much
trouble for you.”

“I
would have dealt with it. Anyway, how’s it going?”

“Other
than that, everything is perfect, as usual. The new waitress is awesome and
fits right in with everyone. They love her,” I say, hoping Kacie is still in
the building.

“Stay
the hell out of this one’s pants so you don’t have to deal with that problem
again,” he laughs. Damn, Meg needs to keep her big mouth shut. “I heard Keith
is covering tomorrow. I’m glad you’re taking a break. You deserve it. Meg is
looking forward to the party.”

“I’ll
still come in sometime Monday to do the money and shit, so don’t worry about
it.”

“No,
you won’t. Skyline is closed Monday. Take care of it on Tuesday.”

“It
won’t take me long.”

“Evan,
don’t make me end this trip early because your aunt wouldn’t be happy. I’m
serious. Tuesday is fine.”

“But…”

“End
of story. You have no idea how grateful we are that you’re doing this. Aunt
Grace is worried about you working too hard. That’s why I’m calling. She wanted
me to check on you.” My aunt is my mom’s younger sister. They were close as
kids, but grew apart when my aunt married my uncle and moved down here to
Florida.

“Tell
her I’m good, really. Listen, I’m going to run to make sure Joe was able to get
Connor out of here and see how the girl is. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Sounds
like you are handling this just fine. Thanks, Evan. Enjoy the party tomorrow.
We’ll be home in a week or so.”

“Take
your time. See ya.” I hang up and set out to find Kacie.

She’s
no longer in the hallway by the restrooms. I figure they must have gone back to
their table, but when I get there, a new group of people is sitting in their
place. Panic sets in as I rush for the front door. Joe is back at his normal
station.

“Joe!”
I raise my voice to get his attention over the crowd of people. “Did the
Quinn’s leave?”

“About
ten minutes ago, with their friends.”

“Thanks,”
I say, pulling out my phone to text Kacie. Her reply to me wondering why she
left scares me.

I’m
sorry. I can’t do this.

Can’t
do what?

I’m
sorry
.