She slipped into her swimsuit and headed outside to where everyone else was lounging by the pool. Talis and Traevyn were actually sitting in the hot tub, which she really couldn’t understand, but she supposed that after nearly killing Traevyn earlier, he more than likely needed to soak his back. It was probably the same with Talis since he had spent about as much time eating dirt as Seth.
Ash and Seth were playfully racing one another in the pool and Ash waved when he saw Evie step out into the yard. “Evie, come on over!” he urged.
She grinned and made her way to the pool, eager to feel the cool water against her skin.
* * * *
Traevyn watched Evie and his heart beat out a strange rhythm at the sight of her. She was wearing a blue, two-piece swimsuit that showed off her ample curves very nicely. He swallowed uncomfortably and forced himself to turn his glance elsewhere. He was almost positive that the way his blood started to burn raised the temperature in the hot tub at least five degrees. “Something is happening to me, little brother,” he said.
Talis grinned. “Congratulations, Traevyn, you’re still a man.”
Traevyn felt his face flush. “This is strange for me. Evie has been living at my home for two months. We’ve grown to be close friends. I can tell her things I can’t tell anyone other than you and Julian. She understands me. I don’t have to explain myself to her. She just blindly accepts me. She has from the beginning. I was an ogre, yet she never questioned me. She told me off several times, which I deserved, but never questioned my reasons.” He shook his head. “Talis, I’m confused. My heart…it has been so guarded, but lately…” He didn’t even know how to explain it. Nothing made sense to him anymore. What had happened between Evie and himself earlier really made no sense.
“Lately your heart seems to beat a little faster when Evie is around?” Talis questioned.
He met his eyes and nodded.
Talis gave Traevyn a gentle smile, obviously seeing the genuine terror lurking behind his eyes. Talis knew him even better than Julian did. He could read him like a book. Talis knew that the thought of Traevyn leaving himself open for another blow like the last petrified him. “Traevyn,” he said, “would you change knowing and loving Amy if you had the chance?”
Traevyn frowned and looked down, wondering where that had come from. A twinge went through his heart at the mention of her name, and something deep inside told him to run as far away from this situation with Evie as possible and never look back. He forced the thought away, knowing it was a reaction due to fear. He thought of Amy and the unspoiled years he’d had with her. She had taught him many things about love. They had been happy together at one point. He had to force himself to think past the bitter poison that tainted his memories of her, but he remembered how his heart had felt so full and warm when he was in love. He loved the feeling of knowing he was completely devoted to one person, that she was his and he was hers. And then there was Leanna. He would never trade his years with his precious baby girl.
He sighed and shook his head. “No,” he answered.
Talis nodded. “She hurt you, but your heart still beats, Traevyn. You’re still alive. You survived. Don’t let her ruin the life you have left by living in fear of what she did happening again. You’ve always known your heart. You’ve always known your path. Since we were kids.”
Traevyn closed his eyes, feeling more lost than he ever had. “Talis, I lost my path when everything around me turned to blackness.”
“Yes, but you have light now.” He pointed to Evie, who was laughing with the others in the pool. “Don’t just throw it away and return to your shadows because they’re familiar and safe.”
Traevyn fought a shiver at the thought of going back to that dark, desolate place inside himself. He looked over at Evie and Seth, who started to have a splash war with one another. He needed to spend some time with Evie away from everyone. He needed to be with her without distraction so he could properly decipher what he was feeling. He needed to know for sure before he drove himself mad. He stood. “I need some water,” he announced. “Plus, I’m starting to stew over here. I’ll be back.”
Talis smiled and watched him go.
* * * *
Evie watched Traevyn head into the house, thinking he looked strange in swim trunks. He was always so refined and sophisticated and she’d always thought he seemed so much more like the old world knight trapped in the wrong time than a modern man. Seeing him in swim trunks just seemed weird somehow. Although, watching the play of muscles in his shoulders and back as he walked was a nice sight.
“Hey, Evie,” Ash’s voice came. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
She blinked, surprised by the sudden request, but she shrugged. “Sure.” She got out of the pool and followed Ash around to the side of the house where it was private.
Ash turned to her with a shy smile and met her eyes. “Evie, I know I don’t know you that well, but I’ve really had fun with you since you’ve been here.”
She grinned. “Me too, Ash.”
He scratched at the back of his head and took a deep breath. “I was wondering, I know tomorrow Talis wants to take us downtown, but tomorrow night I thought… Maybe you’d like to go to a movie with me?”
She raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly became very aware of a presence behind her. A silent presence she had grown accustomed to.
“Hello, Ashton,” Traevyn’s smooth voice interrupted.
Ash, who had been busy watching Evie’s reaction, nearly jumped right up to the roof. “Holy crap!” he cried. “You scared me to death!”
Traevyn gave him a small, satisfied smile. “Evie already has plans tomorrow,” he stated.
Evie frowned. “I do?”
“Yes,” he emphasized. “You have plans with me.”
She blinked up at him. “O—Oh…”
Traevyn stood protectively behind her, staring down at Ash with a calm, yet menacing look.
Ash seemed to shrink under Traevyn’s stare and he took a step back. “Oh, sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know.” He gave Evie a dismal look. “Maybe some other time.”
She tried to give him a reassuring smile and nodded, but he was retreating almost instantly. She frowned and turned to face Traevyn. “That was beyond rude,” she spat.
He frowned. “Why was it rude? I was just stating a fact.”
She folded her arms. “Stating a fact, were you? Well, I wasn’t aware that we had plans tomorrow. It would have been nice if you’d asked.” She snorted and rolled her eyes. “I swear, sometimes I think you crawled right out of the cave.”
His dark eyebrows drew together in a scowl. “You mean you’d rather go off with him?”
She blinked in bewilderment. Where in the world was this coming from? “That’s not the point. What’s the matter with you? You can’t just come up and inform me of what my plans are! At least he asked me like a gentleman! You were just rude! He was just trying to be nice!”
Traevyn stood up tall in the way he did when he was feeling backed into a corner. “Oh, I’m sure he’d like to do a lot more than be nice to you.” His voice was more like a snarling hiss than anything else.
She stammered for a few incoherent seconds before she flung her arms up in the air in exasperation. “What the heck are you talking about?”
“It’s only obvious to everyone here that he is interested in you.”
Evie stood very still, feeling a molten rage replace the regular flow of her blood. How dare he! How dare he try and deter someone from liking her! It didn’t happen very often! Actually, it never happened at all! “So what if he does?” she shouted. “Am I not allowed to have someone like me? Am I not worthy of that?”
Traevyn seemed slightly taken aback by her vehement response.
“I have the right to have a life! Who dubbed you my lord and master? Besides, even if he does like me, what does it matter to you?” She felt tears sting her eyes again. Hot, angry tears. What did it matter to him?
Why did he even care? He’d said it himself. She was a special friend. A friend. So what did it matter if she went out with another guy?
Traevyn’s face grew sober and dark. He walked up to her, trapping her against the wall and towering over her with his powerful presence. Evie gasped at his sudden nearness and she looked up into his angry, green eyes, her own fury rapidly dissipating.
He dipped his head so that his mouth was against the side of her face. “Perhaps I wanted you all to myself.” His voice was still a snarl, but it carried a sensual, purring undertone that was devastating to her heart and breathing ability.
She shivered as his breath tickled her ear and strange tingles ran down her spine. Then, just like that, he was gone, striding away and leaving her all alone. She let out a slow breath and looked down at her trembling hands, confused by that entire series of events.
“Evie!”
She jumped at her brother’s sudden sharp remark and frowned as Seth stood before her, scowling.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he snapped.
She blinked rapidly in complete confusion.
“You’ve been flirting with Ash all day!” he supplied.
Her irritation quickly returned. “So what?” she cried. “Can’t I flirt?”
“No!” he exclaimed. “You can’t!”
She stepped back in surprise.
Seth shook his head and met her eyes with force, as if to drive home his point with his glare alone. “You are going to ruin everything. If you pulled your head out of your butt and started paying attention you’d notice that Traevyn has been staring at you all friggin’ day, not to mention whatever happened between you two in the mountains.”
She looked down to hide a blush.
“You know how Traevyn was when we first met him,” he continued. “Now he laughs and smiles and plays. That’s because of you, idiot!”
She opened her mouth to reprimand him for calling her a name, but he took her firmly by the shoulders, cutting her off.
“You’re being stupid, Evie,” he stated. “That man does not open up to people. He opened up to you! That means something! And you’re just going to let everything you want walk away because of your own stupid insecurity!” He snorted and let go of her. “Grow up.” He turned and left her standing there.
Evie stared after Seth, feeling so overwhelmed she didn’t know what to do with herself. She sat down where she was standing and put her head in her hands. She sighed and tried to sort out both Traevyn’s reaction to the possibility of her going out with Ash and Seth’s powerful words.
* * * *
Talis gave Traevyn the once-over with his eyes as he entered the house. Traevyn pretended not to see as he continued to sit with an irritated frown on the sofa, but he saw well enough.
Talis sighed and sat next to him. “The next time you decide to scare the crap out of my roommate do you think you could let me know first? That way I can start looking for a new one?”
Traevyn glanced at Talis dismally, but said nothing.
Talis rolled his eyes heavenward. “Traevyn, you look like a wet cat.”
“Thanks Talis, but you’re really not making me feel any better.”
Talis chuckled. “Did she reject you?”
He frowned. “Not exactly… Unless her calling me a caveman counts.”
“No, that was just stating the obvious.”
Traevyn expelled a forceful breath. There were times when he really hated having brothers.
“Did she say she would go out with Ash?”
“No, but she wanted to,” he snapped.
“Did she say that?”
Traevyn’s sullen frown deepened.
Talis nodded. “I thought so. Next time, try communicating. It works better than dictatorship.” He patted his brother on the shoulder and stood to leave.
“How do you know all of this anyway?” Traevyn questioned. “You weren’t part of the conversation.”
Talis fixed Traevyn with a look. “Please, the way you two were yelling… The entire neighborhood was part of the conversation.”
Traevyn sighed in irritation at both himself and the entire situation. He knew he might not have behaved in a very dignified manner, but he couldn’t help it. Something about the thought of Evie spending time alone with Ash… Not that there was anything wrong with Ash. He was actually rather nice. It was just that he had grown accustomed to having Evie to himself…
He rolled his eyes. Oh, come on. Who was he trying to fool? The truth was that the thought of Evie choosing Ash over him made him sick because Amy had chosen another man over him. He was terrified of being rejected and his response to that was to act like a jerk. Yeah, that would definitely insure him a place by her side.
He sighed again. Evie had no reason to feel guilty. She didn’t owe anything to him. He had no claim on her. Had he just assumed that the beautiful light she emitted was solely for him? A sharp pain stabbed at his heart to think that it wasn’t, to think of her showering her beauty on some other man. When had he come to cherish that? When had he come to want it all for himself? The same voice inside him, the one that kept seeming to point out the obvious, told him that the desire to have all of her beauty for himself meant something, meant more than he had been willing to admit. It terrified him. It invigorated him. It made him want to scream with the confusion of it all.
Just then, Evie entered the house and his heart leapt into his throat, nearly choking him. “Evie,” he croaked.
She stopped and gave him a measured stare. “Yes, Conan?”
His lips quirked at the corners and he averted his gaze. “Come here, please.” It was not a command, just a quiet request.
She went to sit next to him, her arms folded.
Traevyn turned to face her. “There’s this place by the airport called Airport Mesa. It’s a lookout point where you can watch the sun set over the red rocks. I…” He looked down, hating how she always made him feel so vulnerable. He’d swore he would never feel vulnerable again, but he knew, deep in his heart, that Evie had the ability to hurt him badly if she wanted to.
He thought back to when she had kissed him to stop his emotional tangent. He remembered how she had anchored him, led him to safety with her gentle, guiding light. How many times had he turned to her since then? How many times had he sought out her company to chase the shadows away? He had told her that she held a part of him, part of his soul. She held the one part of his soul that had not been poisoned, the one part that was still good and pure and hopeful. He had given it to her out of blind trust, something he would never have done for anyone else. She held the only good left in him and she could shatter it in a second if she wanted to. This realization hit him hard and his hands started to tremble.
He cleared his throat and tried to focus. “I was hoping maybe you would go to dinner with me and then I could take you there, but…” He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, forcing himself to say what nearly killed him. “…if you would be happier going to the movies with Ash, go… I have no right to claim anything on you or your life, and I’m sorry.” He shivered, feeling very cold. She could slay him, slay him right now, and she didn’t even know it. She didn’t know it because he had never told her. He hadn’t even told himself until now. He hadn’t wanted to believe that he could care for her so much because it would make him weak. It would make him open and vulnerable. Love had always been his weakness, emotion his undoing. He supposed it came with the territory of being creative.
“Traevyn…”
Her soft voice sent waves of warmth through him. He felt her gentle fingers lightly close over his and his heart lurched. He feared her words, feared her rejection, yet he held onto her soft touch.
“Hey, look at me,” she coaxed.
Traevyn slowly turned his eyes up to meet Evie’s. She gave him a soft smile. “I would rather go to dinner with you than go to a hundred movies with someone else,” she murmured. “All you had to do was ask.”
Several different emotio
ns flashed through him right before his lips split into a grin. His fingers tightened on hers and happiness surged to life inside of him.
She smiled and lifted her free hand to touch his cheek. Traevyn trapped her hand there with his own, leaning his cheek into her palm and feeling her touch in the very depths of his being. He needed Evie. It was suddenly clear to him. He needed Evie to live. She showed him how to breathe again. She made his heart remember how to beat.
He shook his head and let out a slow breath. “I’m sorry for how I treated you back there. It was rather barbaric of me. I actually imagine clubbing you over the head and dragging you by the hair might have had better results.”
She giggled.
“It’s just that—” He needed to tell her. He needed to tell her how much she meant to him. He met her eyes. “Evie, I—” The words got stuck in his throat, refused to emerge. He couldn’t. Not yet. He couldn’t face her possible rejection yet. It would destroy him if she turned him down. The words he would have said dissolved and he forced a smile. “Never mind.” He clasped both of her hands in his and gave her a great, fake smile when everything inside of him was in turmoil. “Let’s go back out and enjoy everyone’s company,” he suggested. “I promise not to be insane.”
She grinned and rolled her eyes playfully. “You can’t really get around that one.”
She stood and kept her hand in his, guiding him back outside.
Traevyn tried to force his troubled thoughts out of his mind for the time being. He just wanted to have a good time without being so lost in his own mind that he looked like a brooding statue. He had already scared the wits out of Ash… A sadistic, satisfied smile twisted his lips. He was kind of happy about that. He couldn’t deny it.
Evie led him to the pool and jumped in while he stood, trying to decide if he even wanted to get in. He was already almost dry and—
Suddenly, Seth and Talis crashed into him and all three of them went flying into the water.
Dark Masterpiece (Serendipity Series 3) Page 17