Evolve Series Box Set (27 page)

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, his 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.

“If it’s all right, then I get the credit. If it’s all wrong then blame Helen and Bennett,” he laughs.

I continue grilling him on the way to his car, my arm looped through his. I can’t wait to see what he’s gathered…there’s no way he had her get Moroccan Oil shampoo and conditioner, my fave. Through more interrogation, I discover Dane is quite the smooth operator. He’s actually blushing as he admits to sending Helen to the stores with lists Bennett made him for the makeup and toiletries…oh and a picture off the internet for the pajamas he’d picked. Good Lord.

We laugh the whole drive as he describes Helen’s fiasco of putting a clerk on the phone with him to list off all the scents of bubble bath and candles since he hadn’t specified on those items. Bennett and I don’t burn candles in our room, so that’d been all him. Adorable. It’s then and there that I decide one day soon I am devising a tampon run where Dane simply has to go in for me; can’t wait to see what he does with that!

When things calm, he reaches for my hand, lacing our fingers. He lifts my hand to his mouth for a kiss. A pang of familiarity shoots through me, but I give him a small smile. He sees it in my eyes, he clears his throat and lowers our hands, but leaves them connected. “About your trip home this weekend…”

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking I’d take you.” He glances out of the corner of his eye at me. I’m not sure I’m ready for him to meet my dad, or if Evan’s going home this weekend; we haven’t talked about that at all this past week.

“I’m going all weekend, Dane. How will I get back? You don’t want to stay that long, I’m sure. I’m not even sure my dad would let you sleep there, quite honestly.” I bite my lip; I can’t imagine how Daddy would react. I can imagine exactly how Evan would react, even scarier, but the thought of having Dane there with me is enticing.

“I’ll stay there all weekend, too, as long as you want. And whatever your dad wants, I can get a hotel for the nights. Please, Laney, let me in.” His thumb traces quick circles into my palm and the longing for acceptance in his voice is palpable.

I don’t like ultimatums, I really don’t, but I also don’t like putting myself “out there” without feeling secure in reciprocation, which is why I ask faintly, “Will you do the same?”

He exhales loudly. “I’m trying, Laney, I really am. I’m just not ready for you to leave and I’m afraid you might.” He looks over at me, his chocolate eyes darker than usual. I decide to lighten things up a bit. Much like me, Dane likes little games of give and take…

“Let’s make a deal.” I wiggle my eyebrows up and down at him. “For every fact I take from you, I’ll give you something.”