Evolve Series Box Set

by Hall, S. E.

  “Really? I thought you’d already done that.” Now he’s taking me from pissed to drive there and kick his ass mad. I want to go real country on his ass right about now.

  “Whatever, man, I had school. I didn’t walk away just for the hell of it. Either way, it’s none of your fucking business. I’ve been beside that girl for ten years, you’ve been there for ten minutes, so don’t ever kid yourself that you know our story.”

  “Evan, I understand your position, I really do. I can’t imagine losing a girl like Laney, it would make me crazy, too, but this is not for you and me to decide. We can’t duel it out for her hand, that’s hers to give.”

  “I haven’t lost her and she gave her hand to me! If you care about her, back off! You’re just confusing her and stressing her out.”

  “I will do whatever Laney asks me to do…Laney, not you. Have a good night.”

  I’m not sure what that phone call accomplished. It didn’t make me feel any better and his proper ass shows no signs of backing off anytime soon. His calm rationale and confidence in what he has with Laney burns through me like acid. How is it that he’s he all smug about where he stands with Laney and I’m standing here doubting everything I thought I knew about us?

  I have to narrow our gap, literally. Laney Jo Walker is my future, no way I’m gonna stand back and let some tool blind her with fancy trips and gifts. There’s no way he’s had enough time to steal her whole heart. His time stops now.

  The next morning I knock on the door nervously, not sure how I’ll find Laney on the other side. If Dane told her I called him, then I’m sure to be greeted by my lil hellcat. Luckily, she opens it with a sleepy smile. “Hey.”

  “Morning sunshine, how you feeling today?”

  “Better, more grounded. Come on in, Dad’s in front of the TV. Go keep him company, please. I’ll get breakfast.”

  I watch her walk half-dazed to the kitchen, she’s so not a morning person, but cute as hell. I can’t wait until she wakes up in my arms every day. My Laney…please God, don’t let anyone take her. If you give me this, I swear to wake her every morning with ‘good morning, beautiful’ and kiss her to sleep every night. I’ll keep her safe and hold her tight. I’ll take care of her, I swear it.

  “Hey, Mr. Walker, how are you?”

  “There he is; how are you, son?” He stands and gives me a hug; he calls me son. Dane doesn’t even know him. He has no idea what lure he throws for top water or his favorite NFL team. Too bad Laney’s dad doesn’t get the deciding vote. I’d win that shit hands down.

  “I’m good, glad to be home.” I give him the most sincere smile I can despite the sadness inside me. My angel is slipping away. I never thought I’d see the day. Another man’s lips have touched hers. He’d shown her Disney World, like only her biggest dream come true. I’ve probably already lost and the thought causes a very real crushing feeling in my chest.

  He asks me about school and ball. I concentrate to keep up my end of the conversation, telling him we’re 2-0 in conference play. That news makes him smile and scrub my head.

  Laney walks in with a breakfast tray for her dad. “You want something, Ev?”

  “No thanks, lil bit, I already ate at home. Your Dad and I were just talking about school.”

  She looks over to me and holds my stare. Can she feel it? Does she know that I’ll do anything for her? “Are you happy there, Evan?” she asks.

  She wants me to say yes so that she knows I’m fine without her. No matter what, Laney would never simply disregard my feelings, but I don’t want to be her pity pick. I want her to want me, like the way she did before I left her. I left her. This is all my fault.

  “I’d be happier if you were there.” I give a simple answer for the sake of her dad and pat the seat beside me for her to sit.

  The rest of the late morning is spent watching TV and visiting with her dad and by the time we’ve finished lunch I still haven’t found any time to talk to Laney alone. We’ve both got to get back on the road soon, and before I know it, I’m loading her bag for her.

  She meets me on the porch on my way back in. “Evan, what do we do, ya know, about…us?” She looks anywhere but at me and I see the tears in her eyes, about to fall. “Please tell me you know, Evan, because I don’t have a clue. I don’t know anything anymore. “

  “Look at me, Laneybear.” I tilt her chin up and wipe her cheek with my thumb. “Everything is gonna be alright. You don’t worry about me. I’m not going anywhere. I love you, Laney Jo, and I’m always going to love you. We’re always gonna be okay, no matter what, so you don’t worry.” I kiss her on the forehead, breathing in the sweet smell of her. “If there’s nothing else in the whole world you know for sure, know that you are always the most important thing in the world to me. Just take care of you, Laney. I’ll take care of everything else.”

  I don’t press her about the Dane thing right now, leading us to her truck. I don’t want to stress her out anymore, she’s got to be able to drive and right now she looks like she may crumble any minute. Besides, I’ll take care of that little inconvenience soon enough. I just hope I’m not underestimating him until I can get things in place.

  As stoic as possible, I open the door and lift her in by the hips. No matter how badly I want to dig my fingers in, throw her against the door, and kiss her until she can’t breathe, I hold it together. Giving her a smile, despite the ache in my chest seeing her watery eyes, I lean in her window and place a gentle kiss on her lips. Her brows furrow and she shifts, unnoticeable if I didn’t know her like the back of my hand. “It’ll all be okay soon, Laney, I promise.”

  CHAPTER 33

  Tit for Tat

  ***Laney***

  There was a time, not too long ago even, where I automatically assumed the worst about people. I didn’t let just anyone in; and no one in easily. I very seldom gave new people a chance. College kinda takes that option away from you; dorms, classes, projects, sports—detachment poses a challenge and Thank God for that! My crew is a blessing; I’d be lost without them. It’s surreal how easily we all “fit” and how natural it feels when we’re all in a room together. They’re my crutch these days, so pizza night is a must.

  I refuse to leave in my pajamas and Zach doesn’t know how late he’ll be, so the group text declares our room the meeting spot. Avery drew the “bring dinner” card tonight but I know Sawyer or Zach will see to it that the replacement cash finds its way to her. Bennett and I have a bit to catch up on before anyone else shows up and I’m grateful; we’ve been spread too thin lately for a good heart to heart.

  She’s excited for her big production and its approaching opening night. They’re doing A Streetcar Named Desire and the truly fabulous Bennett has been cast as Blanche Dubois. I now understand why there are pictures of Vivian Leigh pinned around the room and bathroom. She’ll be great, I know it, Bennett is a flash of secure individuality in any room. It makes me very happy to hear the elation in her voice and see the flush in her cheeks as she then sings Tate’s praises; he supports her, reads lines with her, even read the play himself so he’d be able to discuss it intelligibly. That last part really does impress me; if it’s not your thing, reading a play can be torture.

  Speak of the hero…Tate and Sawyer walk in, sans knock, which no longer aggravates me, bearing beer and smiles.

  “Ah, Gidget’s home!!” Sawyer lifts me and twirls me in a giant hug; with his big old self, you’re risking a rib fracture every time.

  Gidget—I have got to find time to watch that movie so I know what the hell he’s talking about. Bennett talked them all into watching a classic one night without me, and Sawyer hee-hawed the whole movie about how much I remind him of “the sweet lil blonde coming of age.”

  “Hey, Sawyer, I missed you, too.” I giggle, giddy with the realization that I did miss him. “Hey, Tate, how are you?” I volunteer a hug for him as well.

  “I’m good, we all missed you.” I see right then what has Bennett so enamored. His kind eyes, hi
s reflective smile…it reminds me of his brother.

  “Thanks, Tate, you too,” I simper as Kirby pops her head inside the door.

  “Knock knock.” She peeks inside shyly. I usher her in, Avery right behind her. They’re both in red, which makes it even harder to tell them apart. I try not to gape as Sawyer moves to them and literally welcomes them at the same time, touching them both in some way. Man, I’m feeling unsure about my bet, I can’t tell with any certainty at this point which one he prefers. And when Zach finally shows up and glides the threesome comfortably into a foursome, I’m even more puzzled.

  I steal a glance at Bennett, who just shrugs at me and grins. Oh yeah, definitely gonna have to form an alliance with her for an impromptu game of Truth or Dare or something—the truth shall set us free! The suspense is killing me! Those are lucky twins, though; you can’t make a wrong choice between Sawyer Beckett and Zach Reece.

  We all fall into an amicable rhythm, grabbing our pizza and drinks, vying for a seat in the cramped space. Avery graces Sawyer’s lap, but he entwines his leg with Kirby’s, who’s sitting beside him…killing me!

  Zach comes and sits by me, seemingly unfazed by the show, and tells me how he missed me. “How’d your talk go?” he whispers.

  “Confusing and nothing got resolved, but at least I told him.” I shrug.

  “What’d he say?”

  “That he forgives me, he’d fix it, and not to worry. I honestly left more confused than when I got there. He didn’t ask me back and he didn’t ask me to stay away from Dane. I have no idea.” I give him a questioning look. “You got any other ideas?”

  He kisses the top of my head. “That’s all you can do, Laney. It’ll all pan out, you’ll see.” I so hope he’s right.

  “Laney, where’s Dane?” Kirby asks.

  Good question, I was wondering the same thing.

  “He should be here any minute,” Tate offers.

  “Maybe he thought we were in our room. He’ll figure it out,” Sawyer answers with his mouth full of pizza.

  “I’ll go look for him.” I stand to navigate my way through everyone’s legs.

  I hear him before I see him, his voice lowered and heated. As I get to the end of the hall I start to feel sick, I can make out enough to know who’s around the corner with him. When he jerks his head and meets my eyes, I don’t venture to guess what he sees in them because even I don’t know what I’m feeling right now. Quickly assessing, I’ve interrupted a serious, concealed conversation between him and Whitley. I flick my eyes to her and the snarky brow lift she gives me shoots fire all through me.

  Taking in Dane’s expression, I can actually read his mind…“Oh fuck” is exactly what he just thought.

  I find my voice. “We thought maybe you went to the wrong room. I was just coming to look for you, sorry.” I’m not going to cry, not even a hint of tears building. I’m not going to punch either one of them, my anger surprisingly restrained. I think of Evan’s soft goodbye kiss, a direct violation of my breathy promise to Dane, and decide to simply turn and walk back to my room.

  “You not find him?” Tate asks as I step inside.

  “Actually, I did. He’s in the hall, I’m sure he’ll be in here in a sec.”

  Bennett gives me a concerned and confused look to which I respond with a slight “let it go” shake of my head. It’s about twelve minutes, not that I was keeping track, before Dane joins us. I don’t look at him but rather stare straight ahead at Bennett. She looks like a crazy cat lady glancing quickly back and forth between us, frantically trying to figure out what’s just happened. You’d have to be asleep to not feel the tension in the room.

  I’m trying to understand. I’m not unfamiliar with the whole obsessed fan thing, but he has to be stringing her along or something. I mean, it’s all the time—she calls him, she always knows where to find him, and now she seems to be able to lure him into a secret hallway rendezvous. It pisses me off to think I’m hurting Evan for a player, but that can’t be right…my instincts are screaming at me that Dane simply isn’t a player and basing my decision on Evan solely off whether or not this thing with Dane is real, well, that’d make me the biggest player of all.

  Evan deserves better than to be a wishy-washy girl’s fallback guy. Evan deserves someone’s fire, someone’s all-consuming passion, and someone’s love; nothing less. He should be someone’s everything.

  Dane makes his plate and comes to sit down by me. He says “welcome back” out loud but whispers, “I need to talk to you.”

  I want so badly to play it off and give him the jealous girl cold shoulder, but I just can’t make myself do it. I’ve told Dane all along that I don’t want to play games so I have to stick to that. I hitch up my big girl panties and head to the hall, indicating to him non-verbally to follow me.

  He steps in the hall, clicking the door shut behind him, nervously moving towards me. “So, about Whitley…it’s not what you think.” He runs a hand through his sexy brown hair, messing it up just right.

  “I’m not sure what I think, to be perfectly honest with you.”

  “What do you want me to do? I can’t change my number; too many important people have it. I can’t get a restraining order.” He shakes his head and looks down. “What do you suggest I do? Tell me and I’ll do it. I don’t want to be a dick, but I can’t get her to leave me alone.”

  “You could block her number. You could keep walking and ignore her. I refuse to believe she physically contains you.”

  He leans into me, teasing me with his musky scent and his hot breath. “I could tell her my woman’s getting mad and is gonna kick her ass,” he whispers, running his hands down my arms until he links his fingers with mine. I gulp, not ready to forgive him just because he talks purty and lights up my whole body.

  “You just want to see a cat fight, you hornball. You’re as bad as Sawyer.”

  “Mmmmm,” he hums as his lips and nose graze my neck, “I could watch you do anything. If that happens to be a cat fight, so be it.” He chuckles slightly into my skin, earning my forgiveness with the fire it shoots through me.

  “Come on,” I roll my eyes and pull him to the room.

  The tension fizzles and I know everyone is grateful. The night turns out very fun with lots of laughter. I almost forget all about the Whitley thing…almost.

  ***

  Even after our little spat about Whitley, or the teeny tiff over the night I promised to call him after talking to Evan and forgot, or less-than-happy texts due to having almost no time for him this week because of late practices…Dane has still been wonderful, greeting me with dinner and a massage every night, no matter the time.

  By Thursday, fatigue is about to completely take over. He shows up at my room around eight, and after we say our goodbyes to Bennett and Tate, who are on their way to some new movie Bennett’s been raving about, he settles beside me on my bed, stroking my hair gently. “What time do you have class tomorrow?” he asks softly.

  “Only one class tomorrow at three then ball at five-thirty,” I reply through a yawn.

  “So nothing until three? Why don’t you come home with me tonight, baby? I can pamper you all night and most of tomorrow.”

  It sounds wonderful and new life springs into me at the thought of it, but I haven’t met his parents yet; will they be there? Thinking about it, I talk about my dad all the time. Hell, I’ve even told him bits and pieces about my mom, who might be a Buddhist hiding in the mountains for all I know, and he’s never said anything about his own parents.

  “What about your parents? I don’t want them to meet me as the floozy creeping in after dark.”

  He shakes his head. “They won’t be there, baby, just us. Well, that’s not entirely true. Helen, the housekeeper, will be there for a bit in the morning.” He gives me a slow, lingering kiss. “But I’m hoping you sleep through her visit.”

  Even I, fog girl, know what he’s insinuating. Am I ready?

  “No, Laney, you just need your rest.” />
  My damn telling face! He knew exactly what I was thinking and answered before I’d even answered myself.

  “Um, okay, sounds good.” I prop up on one elbow and kiss his cheek. “Sounds wonderful, actually. Why are you so good to me?”

  He really is. He’s barely gotten past first base and has no real commitment from me, Evan calls every day and he knows it and yet he continues to pamper me every chance he gets. What do I possibly give back to him to deserve all this?

  “Laney, I’ve told you a dozen times, making you happy, doing things for you…it makes me feel whole, like nothing ever has before.”

  I roll on my side and scoot as close to him as possible, burying my face in his chest. He smells so good. I found out a while ago that he wears Fierce by A&F; I love it.

  “You do make me happy,” I mumble into his chest. “Very happy.”

  “Ditto, baby, now let’s go before I have to carry you out asleep.” He stands, putting his hand out to help me up.

  “Let me pack some stuff real quick.”

  “No need.” He shrugs, smiling at me.

  “Yes need, I haven’t showered and I’m not wearing this,” I motion to my sports tank and Sofe shorts, “tomorrow.”

  “Okay, grab an outfit for tomorrow, but I’ve got your jammies and girly bathroom stuff covered.” He winks at me with a devilish smirk.

  “Oh, do tell.” I start to rummage through my clothes for something to wear. “This I’m dying to hear.”

  “Toothbrush, check. Lady razors, check. New pajamas, check. Makeup, check. Your kind of shampoo, check. Did I forget anything?”

  Every weirdo warning in my brain should be firing on all cylinders right about now, so why is my whole body flushed? “Okay…do I want to know how you know all that stuff? Am I gonna look like a clown with non-conditioned hair?” I actually don’t care if I do; his effort is undeniably adorable to me.