Left Behind: Left Behind Series #1

by D. J. Pierson

  “Of what?” I ask in a voice as quiet as his.

  “That when you wake up in the morning, after you’ve sobered up,” his fingers linger on my cheek, “you’ll regret it.” I start to shake my head and tell him that I’d never regret anything with him, but he doesn’t allow me. “If you did, it would crush me. I’m not willing to take that risk.” He leans over to kiss my forehead. “Please stay. I don’t want you to leave.” My shattered ego pulls itself back together again after hearing his reason. My heart swells knowing I must mean something to him if he feels this way.

  “I will,” I say, leaning against him. “But only if you don’t make me sleep alone. I promise to keep my hands to myself.”

  Evan agrees to come to bed with me. Once we’ve cleaned up the mess we made with the drinks and get ready, we both curl up under the covers. Exhaustion has begun to take over. I assumed he would keep his distance, but he doesn’t. He lays his arm over my hip and nestles in behind me. I feel him move my hair out of the way, but I’m too tired to make it easier on him by doing it myself. My eyes are too heavy to keep open any longer.

  “I have a problem,” he says.

  “I offered to help you with that, but you turned me down,” I mumble. He starts laughing softly, but I can only manage a smile that he can’t see.

  “That’s not what I meant,” he clarifies. “I met this girl who refuses to get out of my head. I kind of have a thing for her.”

  “Do I know her?”

  “Doubt it. She’s new in town. She happens to be hot as hell, but is the biggest pain in my ass.”

  “She sounds awesome. What’s the problem?”

  “I’m afraid to tell her.”

  “Wuss,” I yawn, trying my best to fight sleep from taking over.

  “You think I should?”

  “Mmm.” I’m unable to say full words at this point.

  “Sweet dreams, Kacie,” is the last thing I hear before losing the battle to stay awake.

  Chapter Twenty

  Kacie

  Something is trying to wake me up. Whatever the hell it is needs to stop. When I enter a state of consciousness, there will be a massive headache just waiting to destroy me. It’s best if I stay in my peaceful slumber. Unfortunately, the culprit trying to torture me is persistent and ultimately successful. Finally, it occurs to me what is so desperate for my attention. My hand leaves its comfortable position under the pillow to grab the phone next to my head on the nightstand.

  “Hello,” I answer groggily. I don’t bother looking at the screen because whoever it is will just keep calling if they aren’t answered anyway.

  “Where the hell are you?!” Jade yells. Didn’t I say something about having a headache?

  “Bed.”

  “No, you aren’t. I’m standing in your room. You know, where your perfectly made, empty bed is located.”

  My eyes fly open so I can take in my surroundings. I relax when I feel Evan’s arm still draped over me. “Hold on,” I whisper. No need to disturb him. He’s out cold and doesn’t even budge when I lift his arm to slide out of his all-too-cozy bed. I swing around to admire his naked chest. The blankets are still covering the rest of his body. Damn it. Recalling Jade’s on the phone, I sneak out to the living room. “Sorry. I didn’t want to wake Evan.”

  “Jake told me what happened last night. Are you okay?”

  “I guess you knew they were racing, too?”

  “I did, but I only found out recently when I walked in on a conversation between Jake and Danny. Jake made me swear not to tell you. He knew you’d be pissed.” I start rubbing my head. It hurts too much for me to be mad at the moment.

  “He was right,” I tell her.

  “You didn’t forget we’re going shopping this morning, did you?”

  Shit! “No, not at all.” Yup. I totally did. “I just overslept.” I’m going to hell for lying to my best friend. “Can you come pick me up at Evan’s?”

  “Yeah. I’m on my way.”

  “Before you leave my room, can you grab some clothes for me, please?”

  “Sure. What do you want?”

  I tell her where to find my jean shorts, my favorite blue shirt, and my flip flops. “Oh, and please grab me a bra.”

  “Do I want to know why you don’t have a bra with you?”

  “Remember the dress I bought at that little boutique in the city near my school?”

  “You finally wore the peach dress?” She’s a little too excited about it.

  “Yeah, and as soon as I get the chance, I’m burning it.”

  “Stop it! Don’t blame the dress because your night sucked,” she laughs. “Blame that on your mother. The rest of the shit you could have handled just fine.”

  “How did you know about my mom?”

  “Kacie, she messes you up every damn time you see her. She’s like a natural disaster wreaking havoc wherever she goes,” she sighs. “Need anything else?” I run over the list one more time and she claims she has everything. “I’m walking out now. I’ll be there soon.”

  “Just text me when you get here. I’ll change in the car. Evan should sleep longer.”

  My purse is sitting on the coffee table where I dropped it last night after almost leaving. I grab it, then tiptoe into the bathroom to try and make myself somewhat presentable. Washing my face and brushing my teeth with the spare toothbrush I always keep in my purse really does wonders. If freshening up could take away a headache, I’d be set. The t-shirt Evan let me borrow last night gets replaced with the stupid ass dress that I’m going to destroy. I only put it on now because there’s no way in hell I’m leaving this place with only a t-shirt on.

  I decide to leave Evan a note because he’ll worry when he wakes up and I’m not here. He’d probably check his phone right away, but I don’t want to send a text in case he hears it. There’s some junk mail laying on the kitchen table, so I grab a piece and write on the back of it.

  Don’t worry.

  Went shopping with Jade.

  Forgot to mention it.

  Didn’t want to wake you.

  Call me later.

  <3 Kacie

  There’s something else I want to add, but I’m afraid. The debate continues in my head until I get the text announcing Jade is waiting outside. Shaking, I scribble it underneath my name, take it into his bedroom where he’ll be sure to see it, and run out the door before I change my mind.

  Jade’s car is idling in the parking space next to Evan’s truck. The grin she’s wearing this early in the morning is nauseating. “What the hell is your problem?” I ask her after climbing in. My friend laughs at me. She points to the red can in her center console. “How did you know?”

  “You sounded like shit on the phone,” she tells me, dropping the clothes I asked for on my lap. After taking a sip of the best cure for a hangover, I start to change. “It looks awesome, by the way. Maybe you should just put it in the back of your closet and revisit it again after the bad karma wears off.”

  I throw it into the back seat, along with those damn heels. “You hang it in your closet, give it a try, and let me know how it works out for you.”

  Once I’m situated, Jade puts the car in reverse and sets off for the mall. “So, how was it?”

  “How was what?” I rest my head back and close my eyes.

  “Don’t play stupid with me. The sex. How was it?”

  “There is no sex to tell you about.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you, Kacie Foster?” she snaps. “How can you torment the man like that?”

  “For your information, I tried. He turned me down.”

  “No way! I don’t believe it,” she laughs.

  “Well, that’s what happened.”

  “You need to tell me.”

  She won’t let it rest, so I tell her everything starting from when Evan picked me up at Skyline because she’ll ask about it eventually, anyway. When she hears what he said about being crushed if I regretted it this morning, she thought it was the
sweetest thing she’s ever heard him say. “Come on. You have to admit how cute that is.”

  “It is, but it didn’t help me last night.”

  She agrees and begins to tell me about her date with Kyle. Knowing my best friend has finally found someone who makes her happy is heartening. Jade has purposely avoided these kinds of relationships her entire life. Because of her parents continuous fighting that ultimately led to a failed marriage, she’s been scarred and afraid to get close to anyone. Who would blame her?

  When we finally arrive at the mall, I tell Jade we need to walk through the food court. If I don’t get something in my stomach soon, there will be no productive shopping for me. At the counter, I order another Coke and a chocolate chip muffin. “Jade, do you want one?”

  “No way. If I start eating like you, then I’ll have to do that running thing, and we both know that shit isn’t happening.”

  “One muffin won’t hurt you,” I assure her.

  “You’re right. It won’t. However, once I make an excuse to eat a muffin, what’s next? Cake? Candy? Cookies? Crap! Just get me a blueberry one.” The guy behind the counter rolls his eyes and gets our order ready without a word. Smart move, dude.

  Since we are eating our unhealthy breakfast before diving into the clothing racks, we slowly stroll to the opposite end of the mall. Jade window shops along the way, pointing out things she’d like to try on, as well as stuff she believes would look good on me. We are pretty much the same height and body type. How could something look better on me than on her? I’ll never understand Jade’s reasoning on this kind of thing, so I don’t even bother asking for clarification.

  The first section we hit is the summer clothes. We both need some new shorts and light-weight tops. There is plenty to choose from, which almost never happens for me, so I jump right in and start going through the racks. Once I have about seven or eight shirts and just as many pairs of shorts piled in my arms, I tell Jade I’m going to head to the dressing room to try them on.

  “Hold on a second,” she tells me. “Let’s head over to the dresses for a quick look.”

  “I don’t need a dress for anything. Just meet me back there when you’re done.”

  “You do need a dress for your birthday next week. You might not want to go out partying, but we will at least go out to dinner. Take a quick look around and see if you find anything. If not, no big deal.”

  “Fine,” I concede. “Don’t get upset if I don’t like anything.”

  Her phone starts to ring and she fumbles with the clothes she’s collected from around the department to get to her purse. Pulling it out, she says, “Why the hell…Hello?... Shopping with Kacie, why?... At the mall. Where else would we shop?” She looks at me, rolls her eyes, and turns her back as she takes a few steps in the other direction. I ignore her and begin shuffling through the dresses. After last night, I’m not really in the right frame of mind to look at something that doesn’t cover me from my neck all the way down to my toes.

  “Find anything?” Jade asks, once she catches up.

  “Nothing.”

  “Here.” She holds out about five hangers. “I found these. They have three of them in different colors if you like the dress but not the color. If you don’t want to get new shoes, we could find a pair at home to go with any of them.”

  “Thanks,” I say, taking them from her. “May I go to the dressing room now? I can’t hold one more thing.”

  She frowns. “Yes, smart ass. Go to the damn dressing room. I’ll be back there in a few. I just want to take a look over on this side. If I find anything else for you, I’ll bring it back with me.”

  “Gee, thanks.” She either doesn’t hear me or simply ignores my snide remark.

  The dressing rooms sit all the way in the far corner of the section. No one else is back here, but the only room unlocked is probably the smallest of them. It’s not worth trudging all the way back out to the service desk with this crap, only to have to wait for someone to get their lazy ass back here. So I settle for the one that is available right now. I reach up and hang the dresses on the bar, then lay all of the shorts and shirts on the stool in the corner. Some of them fall to the floor. Great. Since there is no place else to put my purse, I place it on the floor next to the shit that fell. There’s one bite of my muffin left so, after shoving it in my mouth, I throw the white paper bag it came in next to my purse. I’m wishing I didn’t inhale that second Coke and toss it in the garbage can before I came into the store because I’m thirsty. I really wish I was back in bed.

  First, I try on the shorts and the shirts. Only two pairs of shorts look halfway decent, but all of the shirts look fine. I decide to only get four of them, though. I separate the clothing into two piles so I remember which things I want to buy. For a moment, I almost skip trying on the dresses. Then I figure that Jade hasn’t come to get me yet, so there’s some time to kill.

  I finally make it to the last dress that needs to be tried on. What the hell was I thinking letting Jade pick these out for me? This one is black, looks like it will barely cover my ass, and it’s strapless. At least the dress last night had the thin straps, giving me some sense of security. Jade would have no trouble wearing this, but my boobs don’t do well with strapless anything. They tend to jump right out of the top. Can’t have that for my birthday dinner, can I? The light chiffon material feels nice against my skin as it falls over my body. It actually doesn’t look as bad as I imagined it would. As I check out how it looks in the mirror, there’s a small knock on the door.

  “Someone’s in here,” I call out, knowing it’s not Jade. She would be yelling through the door or trying to walk right in. Whoever it is pushes their luck and knocks again. I know when I first came in here that there was no one else back here. Why the hell can’t they pick another room? This time, I say nothing and keep admiring the dress. Maybe I could pull it off as long as there’s no dancing involved.

  The knock comes a little louder this time, which pisses me off. I rip open the door and shout, “What?!”

  The familiar crystalized, blue eyes on the other side of it drop from my face to roam my body. Obviously caught off-guard, he recovers quickly and pushes his way into the dressing room, closing the door behind him. Because of the small space, this causes me to step back. I notice his hair is disheveled. It’s usually messy, but in a neat way. He also has a look of determination in his eyes. “Evan, what the hell are you doing here?”

  “Did you mean it?” His eyes are glaring into mine.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The letter. Did you mean it?”

  “Clearly I meant I was going shopping. I’m standing in a dressing room wearing a dress that has tags hanging from it,” I say, holding my arms out to the sides to show him. I know damn well that’s not the part of the note he’s talking about.

  He takes another step toward me, forcing my back up against the wall. Evan reaches up and sets his hand on the wall next to my head. I turn to look at it to break the glare we are currently stuck in to see his muscular forearm is only a few inches from my face. A shiver runs through me. Evan’s other hand is knotting in my hair, turning me back to him. He holds me in position. “Would you have regretted it if I had sex with you last night?” I might have been a tad braver when writing the extra line of the note than I am right now. I wrote that, even after sobering up, I still wanted him. Had I thought he’d track me down, I may have reconsidered. My voice has become stuck in my throat, so I’m only able to shake my head.

  He must have gotten the answer he’s looking for because his lips crash into mine, devouring me. I’ve never been this weak over a guy before. After his rejection last night, I should push him away. He’s only going to leave me wanting him more, but I’m defenseless against him. I kiss him back, begging for him not to stop this time, and run my hands up his arms until they reach his hair. Then I feel the hand that was just on the wall next to my head sliding up my thigh. Despite my body’s objection, I pull away from hi
m and steady myself by resting my hands on his chest. My breathing is ragged and my head is blurry. He leans back slightly, reaches down to grab the bottom of his shirt, then pulls it up over his head.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I barely manage to get out as my eyes run down his body. The muscles this guy has are perfect…from his chest all the way down to that sexy V-shape that’s sticking out of the top of his worn jeans. Somehow, I remember those are the same pants he was wearing last night. Did he just pick them up off the floor and run out the door? Shit! That’s probably exactly what he did.

  “What I should have done last night,” he says. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a condom.

  “What? We are not having sex in a dressing room!” I blurt out, panicking. If this wall wasn’t behind me, I would move away from him.

  “Why not?” Evan gives me his sexy smirk, which screws with my ability to think straight.

  “We can’t do that. It’s illegal or something.”

  “Kacie, the only way I’m not having sex with you right now is if you tell me you don’t want it.” My mouth falls open and he raises his eyebrows, challenging me to tell him no. I should tell him no. I should push him out of the door and slam it in his face for even suggesting we do such a thing. But the problem is, I can’t. When I don’t deny him, he slams into me again. This is so unlike him. His hands are all over me. They are on my face, down my back, on my sides, on my hips. Everywhere. I can’t keep up with him. As I grab the button of his jeans, he reaches under the dress and slips my panties down. How he gets them all the way off without actually moving away is beyond me. I’m just glad they’re appropriate for such a situation. Although, he doesn’t seem to notice them.

  Since I’m apparently too slow for him, he pushes my hands out of the way and undoes his jeans without removing his lips from mine. Once they’re down, he pulls away to open the wrapper. My first glimpse of the guy who has been turning me on for weeks renders me speechless. This can either be because my body is going to self-combust in seconds, or he’s going to tear me apart when he enters me. I’m not sure which, nor do I give a shit.