Evolve Series Box Set

by Hall, S. E.

  Sawyer whips his head around to me and laughs. “Don’t tease me like that! I’m trying to concentrate on world domination here.” He nonchalantly turns back to his game. Liking Sawyer better and better all the time, he’s so chill.

  “What are you doing here, Dane? Oh, my bad, do you two need this bed?” Now why did I just say that? I’m hurt and embarrassed about the studio thing, but that’s now what that was just about. Am I jealous? Yes, yes I am. Not good.

  “Really?” the canary bites out.

  I like the word really, it’s very fitting in many a situation, but she’s gotta change it up a bit. It was her signature phrase the last time I had the pleasure of an encounter with her, too. If there’s one brain cell in that pretty lil head of hers, she’ll pick up on my vibes and not push me right now.

  “See ya, Sawyer, thanks for letting me hang. I’m out.” I jump out of the bed like it’s on fire and practically run out of the room. I don’t stop until I’m crashing through the lobby doors into the brisk night air. I have on no shoes, no coat…and no fucks given.

  I just start jogging, sucking huge gulps of air into my lungs. The burn of it actually feels good, therapeutic even. Maybe I’ll go to the campus park and sleep on a bench. Maybe I’ll climb a tree, find a nice bridge; I don’t even care right now.

  Tears gush down my face and I refuse to wipe them. All I feel is the anger pushing me to run and run. Why am I doing this to myself? Just go back to your room, Laney…NO! Why am I here? College degrees are almost useless in today’s market, not that I even know what degree I want or that it matters, since I’m having a complete nervous breakdown! Like mother, like daughter, right? I’m going crazy AND I’m running, literally.

  The night temperature, which only I would think has a chill to it, wet hair and the running barefoot thing finally win out so I’m forced to stop and sit on a picnic table. My feet aren’t cut or bleeding but they hurt. I just start to catch my breath when I see headlights slowly approaching. I really hope the panic attack taking over finishes me off before the possible murderer in the car gets out. The vehicle stops, and it’s then that I realize how irresponsible I’m being.

  Chest constricting, it’s difficult to breathe and true fear begins to ring in my ears. No smartass comments come to mind; shit just got real. I don’t do stupid stuff like this. I don’t throw myself into unsafe situations. I’m head over ass in petrified shock…until I see Dane step out of the car.

  “Disney, is that you?!” He’s barreling towards me, hands fisted and swinging with his pace.

  “No habla.”

  He’s right in front of me now, glaring down, and it’s obvious he’s not happy. Well, too damn bad, neither am I.

  “Laney, it’s dangerous, you alone out here. What the hell are you doing?” His face is inches from mine as he screams.

  “Walk away, Dane, leave me be,” I say in a cold, stoic voice. “It’s official, I’m just like her, and you’re practically a stranger so there’s still time for you to run away unscathed.”

  “Just like who? Laney, speak English, literally. If you’re gonna spout shit off, at least make it real.” He crosses his arms against his chest and it raises my defenses.

  “You don’t want me to be real, Dane. I don’t know you like that. You don’t need my sob story. Seriously, go back to your meadowlark and I’ll just go home.”

  “Good, let’s get you home. It’s late and you’re upset.” He moves gently now, his arms about to embrace and guide me to his car, but I push him away.

  “No, Dane!” I run my hands through my wet hair. “I mean home home. I’m done. I’m going back home.”

  “Laney, don’t be crazy, just calm down. We can fix this.” He comes toward me again and this time I jump from the table and move away. I’m even more pissed now. His choice of words wasn’t good, and he’d know that if he knew me—he doesn’t. No matter how he’d instantly drawn me in and coaxed me out—he doesn’t know me.

  “That’s right, I’m crazy; the whole ‘rational girl who talks about things calmly’ is all an act. I can’t handle all of this. My first challenge and I screw it up just barely in, and now—I’m gonna run. And we aren’t gonna fix anything.” I’m yelling now. It’s not what I do, or so I thought.

  “Damnit, Laney, stop it! You don’t have to prove shit to me, just talk to me, for Christ’s sake. Let me take you in and we’ll talk.” His voice is firm but his deep brown eyes are pleading with me and I want so badly to believe he’ll listen and not judge me. No, he’ll use it to hurt me, just like all the other lines he’s thrown me before.

  “I can’t go in there. My room’s been taken over by two happy people who remind me my heart is bleeding every time they speak. Zach isn’t home, you invaded Sawyer’s room with your Barbie, and the person who knows me best in the whole wide world apparently lost my number! That or the skank he’s banging, which I basically told him was okay, keeps sending me straight to his voicemail.” Stop, you’re scaring him with verbal vomit! My mind is reeling but I keep going. “Maybe I’ll ask him when I’m at his school this weekend with the softball team I shouldn’t even be on because I’ve sucked at it for a while now. Maybe there’s time before my stalker sends me a head in a box! But, if you take me to ‘the studio’ again,” I ramble, throwing in snarky air quotes, “cause you know, ‘I’m special,’ I’ll feel all beautiful again and forget that I’ve turned into a complete whack job who gives up and runs, just like her mother! Sound fixable Dane?”

  And now he knows it all and can walk away, and quickly. I’ve just screamed, cried, and regurgitated onto him like a blubbering psycho. I’m officially as exposed and as vulnerable as I’ve ever been, and too damn numb to care. Maybe he’ll tell everyone and the whole school can whisper about me, again…gotta love the limelight.

  “Why are you still standing there?!” I yell. “Are you a glutton for punishment?”

  All at once he moves and throws me over his shoulder, carrying me to his car.

  “Put me down!” I scream, banging on his back. “If your parakeet’s in that car laughing at me, I’m gonna kick her ass!”

  I feel him laugh under me, but I don’t see what’s so funny. He throws me across the seat from his side, banging my butt against the console, and locks the doors before I can scramble out. Well, at least there’s no one else in the car; a small consolation.

  “Are you kidnapping me? You’re crazier than I am.”

  He doesn’t answer me, just removes his jacket and dresses me in it, like a child…like I’m acting. Car finally moving, Dane just stares straight ahead and drives in the opposite direction of the dorm. The longer we ride, the more I realize I have no idea where we’re going, but I refuse to break the uncomfortable silence to ask. I lean my head against the window and close my eyes, trying to sleep off this EPIC DAY.

  CHAPTER 23

  Exposed

  ***Laney***

  I wake up when Dane opens my door, causing my head to fall forward. It takes a minute to get my bearings; we appear to be in a garage. Dane reaches in and picks me up, then shuts the door with his foot.

  “Where are we?” I ask groggily.

  “My house,” he answers as he comes to an interior door. “Open that.” His hands are full of me, so I lean over and do so. We walk into a kitchen, obviously made for Rachel Ray, as Dane kicks the door closed behind him. Just this room is bigger than my childhood home, well almost, miles of beautiful dark granite and cherry wood cabinets. All the appliances are shiny stainless steel and the massive fridge could hold everything I own.

  “Dane, why did you bring me here? I don’t want your parents to see me like this,” I sputter, looking up at him desperately from the cradle hold he still has me in.

  “They’re not here, no one is.” He sets me down on my feet.

  “I-I need to call Bennett.” I realize I don’t even have my phone with me; it’s back in my room…along with my shoes.

  “I called Tate on the way. She knows you’re safe and w
ith me.” He moves to the fridge and starts pulling things out, placing them on the large island. “Sit down, let’s get you fed.”

  I take a seat on the large barstool at the island and put my face into my arms on the counter. “Why’d you bring me here? Won’t your girlfriend be wondering why you just ditched her?”

  He turns back to me and lets out an exasperated sigh. “Let’s get that cleared up right now. Whitley is not, nor has she ever been, my girlfriend. And before you ask, no, I have never slept with her. You want ham or turkey?”

  “Ham, please, mustard only.” Wait…what? We’re just gonna move right on to sandwich talk? Um no, we’re not. “Sure didn’t look that way tonight, Casanova, she was all over you. How’d she do on her photo shoot?” WHY, again WHY, do I care? And why do I keep opening my mouth like a jealous, insecure idiot? One minute I’m screaming at him to walk away because he doesn’t even know me, the next minute I’m asking him to explain himself.

  I truly don’t like myself right now.

  “I saw her outside the building and she walked up, shitfaced. Her friend lives in the building but didn’t answer her door. I’ve never taken her to the studio, much like any other girl, and if you’re gonna keep saying it, you could at least enlighten me why you think it.” He slides my sandwich over to me, staring at me like I have two heads. “No games, Laney, remember? Tell me what it is you think you know.” His eyes and tone are glacial and I feel the chill.

  “When Tate saw the picture you printed me, he smirked that you had taken me to the studio,” I say with venom. “I got the impression it was a regular thing.” My head drops and I let my now-dry hair fall in front of my face. I want to hide from the vulnerability that consumes me.

  He dips his head to meet my eyes, pushing my hair behind my ear. “Look at me, lovely.” He tilts my quivering chin to him. “That’s not what he meant, and I’m sorry you were made to feel bad. You’re the only girl I have ever taken to a personal photo shoot. I know it’s important to girls to know this kind of thing, and yes, you’re the first and the only; it was special for you.” He taps the end of my nose lightly with his index finger. “There, one problem solved. Now eat something.”

  He takes a big bite of his own sandwich and turns to get us both a bottle of water out of the fridge. Sliding mine across to me, he says, “I gotta tell ya though, Laney, for someone with a boyfriend, you sure like calling me out on my supposed female shit.”

  OUCH. Memo to self, be ready to take it if you’re gonna dish it out with Dane.

  He’s obviously assumed Evan is my boyfriend based on whatever it is he and Bennett have discussed behind my back, but I’ve had enough humiliation tonight, so I’ll let him stew on that misconception a little longer.

  “You’re absolutely right. It’s none of my business and I’m out of line. I just…I haven’t felt special since I got to college, and you made me feel that way. It hurt to think it wasn’t, I’m sorry.” I was wrong before, this is what a fool feels like.

  “Doesn’t Evan do things to make you feel special?” His voice has softened.

  “Oh, God yes, all the time. That’s probably why I miss it so bad.”

  “And now he’s banging skanks? Big leap.” So he’d caught every word I’d ranted earlier and was going to call me out on them one by one. Normally I’d kibosh this, but I’d put it all out there and I’ll be leaving soon anyway, never to see him again, so I might as well get it off my chest.

  “I don’t know what he’s doing. We haven’t talked in a while.” I get up to put my plate by the sink; I’ve had all I can stomach. “I feel a lot better; can you take me back now?”

  “Why don’t you stay here and relax? There’s plenty of room and I’ll get you back in the morning.” He waits for me to say something, I guess, but I don’t. “You’re safe here, Disney.”

  I’m back to Disney now, he must not be mad at me anymore.

  “I don’t want to impose, really, I feel better. And I’m sorry, Dane, I really am pretty low maintenance most of the time,” I sigh. “I just lost it.”

  “I know, and you wouldn’t be imposing. It’s lonely in this huge house, Laney. Why do you think I’m at the dorms all the time? Come on, I’ll give you a tour.” He comes over and takes my hand, pulling me to a new part of the mansion.

  Right out of the kitchen is a large living room with a huge stone fireplace as the focal point. The furniture is beige leather, all oversized, and the couch faces a wall completely taken up by the largest flat screen TV made, I’m sure of it.

  “Well, remind me never to watch movies here.” I fake a scoff. “I mean, how would I see it on that teeny tiny thing?”

  He gives me a smirk but doesn’t shoot back a retort.

  The long hall holds several doors he doesn’t open and leads to an open foyer with marble flooring. There stands the largest floating staircase I’ve ever seen, and to the left, a dining area hosting an enormous mahogany table with about twenty chairs. To the right is a sunken den that houses a beautiful grand piano, which makes me wonder if Dane plays.

  In the corner is a set of French doors that I’m sure lead to the backyard. While it’s all beautiful and immaculate, it feels cold. Sterile. I didn’t see a single picture. There’re no worn out recliners where dads watch the game, no throws on the couch, and no catch-all spot with papers and junk…it’s not a home; the word mausoleum comes to mind.

  Dane leads us up the stairs and to the left to show me a full gym, like ‘please fill out this application for your membership’ full gym. There’s at least one of any piece of equipment you could name, most of which I can’t, and that’s saying something, since I’m a freaking athlete. The walls are solid mirrors with speakers along the ceiling intermittently and oh, of course, a small bar in the corner…why, sure. It’s the sleekest gym I’ve ever seen, but it would intimidate the hell out of me with all those mirrors.

  “Wow” is all I can think to say.

  He just laughs and pulls me out and further down the hall…to the place I’d like to be buried. It’s the biggest and best home theater in the whole wide world! I can’t help the gasp that escapes me; it’s fabulous. There are four rows of seats, which are big and fluffy, not hard-backed and stiff, with headphones and cup holders. The screen itself is massive and oh my God, the room is the perfect temperature- I can feel my toes! The whole right wall is shelves lined with movies, and I can’t decide whether to cry or get down on my knees and pay homage. I guess he sees the look in my eyes.

  “I figured you’d like this. Just imagine Disney in here.” He smirks at me. He read my mind. He starts to pull me by the hand to continue the tour and I dig in my heels and beg to stay in here, to which he laughs, “come on, you can come back any time you want.”

  I am so holding him to that. I’m kinda in a daze now and after some twists and turns, I see a number of bedrooms that I barely register. They’re all luxurious if not plain with their own bathrooms and huge tubs, but that’s all I remember. Until we finally arrive in the one he tells me is his.

  His room isn’t representative of how I think of him at all. It’s barren and bleak with lots of black, white and gray. The only noteworthy thing about it is the biggest bed I’ve ever seen in my life, with large posts in dark wood, facing a fireplace. There’s a balcony that he takes me out to, and from it, you can look down into his backyard paradise…which belongs on MTV. There’s a waterfall, a cave, a rock slide and an in-pool bar with a TV above it. Now, how the hell does that happen in water? And how is the water a deep sapphire blue rather than normal pool blue?

  “And there you have it,” I say and he laughs under his breath.

  “To the left over there, you can’t see right now, are basketball and tennis courts. No softball field though…yet.” He bumps my shoulder with his playfully.

  “Dane, this place is, well, it’s overwhelming. I can’t believe you l-live here,” I stutter shamelessly. This is the part where I’m supposed to act all composed and unimpressed I’m sure, but
he had me at the home theater. This place is paradise and I’m flabbergasted.

  “I sleep here sometimes, yeah, not a lot of living goes on here, though. It’s just a lot of space.” He answers me with sadness; a sorrow that reminds me I’m not the only one with issues in my life. “So you want me to show you to a room? I know you have school tomorrow, you should probably get to bed.” He turns to lead me back in the house.

  “Seriously, Dane, you can just take me back. I’m sure Tate’s gone by now, I’ll be fine. I just lost it for a minute. I’m not going postal or anything, I promise.” I offer him a sheepish smile. “As embarrassed as I am, it actually felt pretty good to get it out for once.”

  “I get it, Laney, I promise. Everyone hits their breaking point once in a while. Don’t you dare be embarrassed, okay?” He lifts my chin and catches my eyes with is. “How about this? If you’re not too tired, let’s grab a glass of wine and chill in the grotto; we can talk some more. Sound good?”

  I know I can’t fall asleep right now, and talking to Dane somehow puts me at ease. He’s got this soothing effect about him, like he could solve anything that came his way, effortlessly.

  “Yeah, that sounds real good right about now.” I take a deep breath and feel even more of the tension leave my body.

  He leads me back down the stairs and through the doors that do in fact lead to the backyard. Walking down the cutest little pathway, with in-ground lights and a beautiful floral border, we come to a pool house that could easily be someone’s apartment.

  “In that room,” he says, pointing, “should be plenty of bathing suit options. Pick whatever you like, there’s a bathroom to change in. I’ll meet you in the pool.” And with that, he turns to leave.

  With a moment to myself, I stop to make sense of my thoughts. Dane is lonely, and comforting, and rich…I mean rich. So why does Tate live in a dorm? How far is this place from school? Why am I selecting from bikinis on a school night? Why is Dane so nice to me? Why do I trust a guy who keeps a bikini selection on hand for his guests?