Left Behind: Left Behind Series #1 (28 page)

I
find Meg sitting on the sofa, inspecting the gift I bought for Kacie. “Why does
it hurt so damn bad?” I ask my cousin who seems to know everything today.

“Because
she’s your glue,” she says without looking up.

“Glue?”
Now I’m thoroughly confused. “Okay, the shit in the bathroom I could follow,
but glue?”

Meg
glances at me with a small smile. “You really should pay more attention when I
talk to you.” She holds out the open box. I stroll over to take it from her. The
front of the oval locket has a daisy etched into it, a diamond at the center of
the flower. When I open the locket, the face carved into the metal is just like
the picture Jade was able to get for me. Every feature of the woman Kacie
admires most is captured perfectly. I’m not sure why I’m so surprised, but I
am. “It’s beautiful. She’s going to love it,” my cousin tells me.

Still
staring at it, I sit down on the cushion next to her. “Glue?” I whisper to
remind her.

Meg
leans her head on my shoulder and wraps her arm around mine. “Not that long
ago, we had a discussion about how we’re all broken. You insisted you weren’t,
of course. I explained to you that, sometimes, it’s not until we find the
person meant to hold us together that we realize it. Kacie is the person meant
to keep you in one piece. Before she came along, you hid by pretending to be
someone you’re not. Lately, you’ve been yourself, and you’ve never been
happier.”

I
close the locket and set the box down on the table. “How do you know I’m happy?”
I ask, leaning my head to my cousin’s.

“Anyone
with eyes can see you’re happy, Evan, especially when Kacie’s around.”

“Do
you think she’ll still want to be around?”

“Yup,”
she answers, sounding so sure of herself.

“How
do you know?”

“Have
you seen the way she looks at you?” Meg chuckles. “She looks at you with such
awe, it’s hard not to notice.”

“How
do I fix this, Meg?”

“Go
talk to her,” she says, standing up. “Say you’re sorry for being an ass. I’m
sure she feels bad, too. Just don’t let her go because of something as stupid
as this. Is that your phone ringing?”

Now
that she mentioned it, I can hear it. It’s still in my room, so by the time I
get there, it stops. My uncle calls back right away. “Hey, what’s up?” I pick
up.

“Evan,
glad I got you. I know I said I have today covered for you, but is there any
way you could do me a huge favor? I am supposed to be meeting with the
potential new distributor I told you about in fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, I
just got a call that the new bar I ordered for outside is done and needs
someone to approve it before they’ll bring it in. Do you think you could run
down and check it out for me? I’d really like to get it here as soon as
possible.”

“Yeah,
sure. No problem,” I say, even though I don’t want to. “I’ll leave in a few.”
Guess my visit to Kacie’s will have to wait.

A
huge favor for my uncle turned into a huge pain in my ass. Between the traffic
and the idiot who sent me to the wrong place to look at the wrong bar, I
thought I was going to miss Kacie’s party. I wanted to get there before it
started so I could talk to her. To tell her how sorry I was for screwing up.
Mostly, I was nervous that maybe Meg was wrong and Kacie wouldn’t want to see
me. The last hour was the worst, though. I had to stop back at my place to get
changed and grab her gift. It was a good thing I left it for Meg to wrap. I
have no clue how to do that. The entire ride to Jade’s, I kept thinking of all
the ways this could go bad. Would Kacie be pissed at how late I was?

Seeing
that Jade’s driveway is full and so is the street in front of her house, I pull
in Kacie’s driveway and park behind her convertible. When I get out of the
truck, I look up at Kacie’s house to find it completely dark. She’s definitely
already next door. The music coming from Jade’s backyard is pretty loud and I’m
wondering if their neighbors are going to complain. I don’t bother with the
doorbell since no one will hear it anyway. There aren’t as many people inside
as I thought there would be. Making my way through the kitchen, I spot Jake
making drinks behind his bar that sits in the far corner of the dining room.

“Evan!”
he calls out. “You made it. What are you drinking?”

“Nothing
right now. Where’s Kacie?”

“Last
time I saw her, she was outside talking to Danny and the guys on the patio by
the pool.”

“Thanks,
man.”

“Yup.”
He goes back to the brunette sitting on the stool in front of him.

When
I go outside, I try to sort through the crowd of people as I look for Kacie or
even Danny, but Jade finds me first.

“Look
who finally decided to show up,” she says. I’m not surprised to see my cousin
right behind her.

“Told
you he wouldn’t miss it,” Meg tells her, grinning.

“I
would have been here a lot sooner if I could have. Where is she?”

“Um,”
Jade wonders, looking around. “I’m not sure. She was trying to say hello to
everyone. I lost her a while ago.”

“Thanks
for the help,” I grumble.

“Hey,
Evan.” Jade grabs my arm. “Be careful. Her brother showed up. I invited him thinking
he wouldn’t come, but he’s here. So is his girlfriend. Neither one of them tend
to be on the parent’s side, but I’m just giving you a heads up.”

I
nod and think how this night may be taking a turn for the worse. I head to the
pool, looking for Danny and his crew. They shouldn’t be hard to spot. As if on
cue, I hear Mike’s obnoxious voice calling out to some girl. He’ll never learn.

“Danny.”
I get his attention as soon as I’m close enough.

“Pierce!
You took a night off? Holy shit!” He reaches out to shake my hand.

“I
do that sometimes. Hey, have you seen Kacie? I heard she was last seen with you
guys.”

“The
birthday girl is popular this evening.” He tilts his head in the direction to
my left. “She just stepped away to take a phone call.”

Over
my left shoulder, I see her. She’s standing in the corner of the yard away from
everyone. The phone is up to her one ear and she’s covering the other one with
her hand to try and block out some of the noise.

“Thanks,
Danny,” I say, patting him on the shoulder and set off toward her.

The
closer I get, the more I wonder what to say. Maybe I shouldn’t be here. Maybe
the conversation Kacie and I need to have should be when no one else is around.
I could leave before she sees me and come back tomorrow. That way, she can
yell, scream, and say whatever she wants without an audience. Then I notice
what she’s wearing. It’s the dress she was wearing in the dressing room last
week. The day my life changed forever.   

Something
makes her turn around. The torches set up around the yard give off just enough
light to catch the look on her face. “I have to go,” she says into the phone.
The beautiful smile on her face lets me know she’s happy I’m here. That’s a
good sign. “You heard what I said, Sean. Goodbye.” Sean? Is she really talking
to him? My heart feels as though it crashed into a brick wall. I should have
run before she saw me. It was a mistake to come here.

“Hey,”
she whispers cheerfully, dropping her phone on the wooden chair beside her. She
ignores it when it starts ringing. “I didn’t think you were coming.”

“Yeah,
but I can’t stay,” I reply shortly.

“Why
not?” Her smile disappears. As I turn to walk away, she closes the gap between
us and grabs my forearm. For a chick, she has a tight grip. “No! You
don’t
get to walk out on me again. What do you mean you can’t stay? You just got
here.”

“I
can’t do this, Kacie,” I say.

“Can’t
do what?” She looks genuinely confused, which sort of pisses me off.

“Are
you kidding me? I get here only to find you talking to him.”

“I
had to answer. I’ve been waiting for him to return my call since yesterday.”

Nice
to know she called him after I left. “I don’t want to hear it!” I didn’t mean
to yell at her. Fuck! This is going to shit fast. “It’s apparently none of my
business.” I can feel people’s eyes on us now.

“Damn
it, Evan. Will you just shut the hell up and listen to me?” she snaps back. My
feet refuse to move. “I needed to make sure he heard it directly from me, not
leave it in a voicemail he could deny ever getting. Evidently, this was the
soonest he could get back to me.” She lets go of my arm and takes a deep
breath. “I needed him to know that I’m not going with him on Saturday.” For a
minute, I consider what she’s saying. She called him yesterday? That was before
she found out about the house.

“You’re
not?” I ask, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

“No.”
Her phone starts ringing again, but she doesn’t seem to notice.

“I’m
assuming he didn’t take it very well?”

“Not
even a little bit.” Her smile returns.

“Did
you tell him why?” Knowing her brother’s around, I try to keep my distance from
her.

“I
explained how I met this guy, and I kind of have a thing for him.” The
shit-eating grin spreading across my face is involuntary. She’s repeating the words
I said to her that night in my room. I honestly thought she was too drunk to
remember them.

“Do
I know him?” I throw her words back at her.

“You
might.” She changes things up. “He’s about your height; works at some club in
town; is a big pain in my ass, but he’s sexy so that makes up for it.” Kacie
takes a step closer and I find myself squeezing my hands into fists inside of
my pockets to keep from touching her. “That’s not even the best part about
him.”

“It’s
not?” She shakes her head. “Then what is?” I ask curiously.

“For
some reason, he seems to like me for me. That, alone, is pretty rare. Most
people can’t stand me at all.”

“I
find that hard to believe.” I want to show her just how much I like her. It
almost doesn’t matter that the yard is full of people who just so happen to be
staring at every move we make. Some of those people shouldn’t know how I feel
about her.

“Kacie,
you need to step back,” I warn.

“Why?”
she asks.

“Because
I’m having a hard enough time keeping my hands off of you as it is.”

Not
only does she do the exact opposite of what I asked her to do, she also puts
her hands on both sides of my waist and loosely grips the sides of my shirt.
“What if I want your hands on me?”

“People
are watching.”

“Let
them watch if they have nothing better to do.” Shit! Does she have any idea
what she’s doing to me?

“I
heard your brother’s here. What if he tells your parents?”

She’s
trying not to smile. “You don’t want my parents to know?”

“You
do?”

“I
want the whole world to know,” she whispers, pulling herself into me.

“You
want the whole world to know my hands are on you?” I ask, trying to be funny
and hoping to distract her.

“I
want the whole world to know that I’m yours.” I was not expecting Kacie to say
the words I’ve been needing to hear from her.

“Mine?”
I whisper.

She
nods. “Only if you’re willing to give your heart to just one girl. I won’t lie.
I was never any good at sharing.” My hands find their way out of the pockets
they were hiding in. One grabs her side, holding her against me, and the other
runs along her face.

“It’s
a little hard to give something to someone they already stole.” I couldn’t hold
back now if I tried. My lips find hers and they don’t let go. Neither one of us
rush to end it, either, not even with the catcalling and whistling going on
behind us. I couldn’t care less who’s here or what they see. Eventually, the
kiss comes to an end, which is probably a good thing. I’m just a few seconds
away from taking her home. “You’re sure this is what you want?” I say after
kissing her forehead.

“I’ve
never been more sure about anything in my life,” she answers, finally opening
her eyes.

“Damn,
that was intense!” Jade barges into our conversation. “People were out here
taking bets on whether you were going to start fighting, or start ripping each
other’s clothes off.”

“Shut
up,” Kacie tells her best friend. “It wasn’t that bad.”

Jade
laughs. “Yeah, it was. Anyway, it’s your birthday and we’re here to celebrate.
Pick this shit back up later at your own house. I don’t want people throwing up
all over my yard.”

“Before
I share you again…” I remember her birthday gift. Reaching around, I pull the
box from my back pocket and hand it to her.

“You
got me a present?” She looks even more surprised than when she saw I was here.

“Did
you think I wouldn’t?”

“I
wasn’t expecting you to.” She smiles.

“Will
you just open it already?” Jade bounces.