“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.
“You even wrapped it in paper with daisies on it?”
“Technically, I wrapped it, but Evan did go to three stores until he found the paper he wanted,” Meg adds, joining us.
I watch her as she carefully opens every piece of tape and slowly pulls off the paper. “I don’t think I ever bought wrapping paper before,” I admit. It’s worth looking like an ass because it earns me a smile from my beautiful girl.
“It’s kind of hard to see. Let me help you,” Meg says, shining her phone on the box.
Kacie lifts the lid back and gets a glimpse of the locket inside. She looks up at me, then back down at her gift. I watch as she gently pulls the necklace out of the box. Jade helps her by taking the empty box, leaving her hands free to open the locket. When it opens and she sees the picture inside, her eyes immediately begin to fill with tears. “How did you…? When…?” She can’t finish a thought.
Raising her chin with my finger, I ask, “Do you like it?” I couldn’t stand watching her struggle.
“I love it,” she tells me as tears begin to escape. I take it and open the clasp to put it on her. She turns around and raises her hair so it doesn’t get caught. Once it’s refastened, I spin her back around. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome,” I say, wiping her face. “She may not be living in the same house as yo
u anymore, but she’s still with you. All the time. There’s no way she’d be able to leave you forever.”
“I knew it would complete your look perfectly,” Jade cheers.
Kacie laughs at her. “This dress doesn’t need a necklace? It’s nice enough by itself?”
Jade laughs back. “I had to say something to stop you from picking one of those other ones.”
Kacie reaches up to kiss me on my cheek. “I’m so sorry about yesterday,” she whispers.
“No, I’m sorry. I will never lose it like that again,” I promise her. A piece of her hair keeps blowing around in the gentle breeze that’s coming in off of the water, so I tuck it behind her ear. “I guess I should share you with everyone else for a little bit. They are here for you, after all. Just be warned. Once they leave, I’m never sharing you again.”
She wraps her arms around me, so I do the same. “In a minute,” she whispers, looking up at me. That’s when I see what Meg was talking about. The gleam in Kacie’s eyes says there’s nowhere else she’d rather be than right here, right now. The look that wonders how the hell did I get so lucky to find someone as special as this person here in front of me. I only recognize it because the same thing happens to me whenever I look at her.
A familiar song begins to play in the background, one that I will always stop whatever I’m doing to listen to from now until forever.
“A special request by the birthday girl,” I hear Nick say through the speakers. “I couldn’t tell her no, could I?”
“You and me?” I ask her.
“You and me,” she promises.
To Be Continued…
Kacie and Evan’s story continues in
Left Together
Coming Fall 2014
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To my husband, Jason: Thank you for all of your love and support. I know sometimes it seems like I’m a million miles away. Maybe I am, but knowing you’re always here when I come back means the world to me. A special thank you for providing the inspiration for the relationship between my two main characters. If anyone can pull off sarcasm and name calling as love and affection, it’s us. Thank you for everything! Love you, Always & Forever!
To my kiddies, Kaitlyn and Nicholas: There are no words to explain how much I love you both. Every day, you fill my life with joy and pride. Thank you for loving me back. Remember to always reach for the stars and always strive for your hopes and dreams. OXOX
To all of my Beta Readers: A simple thank you will never be enough for everything all of you do for me. I love each of you dearly and will always cherish your friendship. Beta reading, especially for me, isn’t as easy as it sounds. The way you’re able to still tolerate me after all of this is absolutely amazing. Cara, where do I even begin? It feels like you worked as hard on this as I did. Not only with your revisions, but also the constant chatting over ideas on how to make this story better. The most important thing to me is that we were able to finish this together. It wouldn’t have ever been complete without you. Please tell Fil thanks for his help with all of the car stuff. Briana, I’d apologize for talking your ear off about this story, but there’s really no point. You demanded to know where things were going, so I told you. It was only fair to then torture you for your opinion. You loved it! I know you did. Terri, thank you so much for reading along and helping me out. I loved getting your responses to the chapters. Tammy, I’m so glad you offered to join this group of people who help me almost daily. The knowledge you brought was priceless. Your excitement was contagious and usually just what I needed to keep going. Getting your emails always made my day. Kellie, even though you tried to get me to steer the storyline in the direction of your liking, repeatedly, I’m so happy to have added you as a beta. You made this journey a blast and memorable for me. Thanks for all the ideas. Colleen and Michelle, thank you for reading and offering help when it was needed.
To all of my family and friends who have offered encouragement: Your kind words are truly appreciated and will never be forgotten.
To my cover designer, Samantha Bagood: Thank you for working on this series with me and creating the beautiful covers.
To my editor, Kim Young: Thank you for all of the hard work you put into my “baby” and for making it a million times better than it was!
To all of the blogs and other authors I’ve met along the way: There are too many of you to name specifically, but I’m so glad we’ve crossed paths. Thank you for your support!
A special THANK YOU to everyone who reads this story. I truly hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed telling it.
Other Works by this author:
Forever Altered
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
D.J. Pierson graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2002 with a degree in Radiologic Technology. While she will claim to be more of an obsessed reader than a writer, she decided to share a story of her own. She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband, their two children, and two dogs.
To find out what’s new, you can check out her Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/D-J-Pierson/547669458607713
Or you can email her at:
[email protected]
Left Behind: Left Behind Series #1 Page 31