Evolve Series Box Set (82 page)

Her light snoring grabs my attention and I look down at the beautiful girl now asleep with her head in my lap, body curled into a little ball half on top of me. She’s gonna be a hungover bear tomorrow, but for now, for now she’s a snoring, snuggly angel. That sweet little mouth puckers as she blows out her signature puffs of air, her cheeks flushed from the alcohol and her hands wrapped around my waist under my shirt. I brush the hair off her forehead and kiss her there. “I adore you, Laney Walker. I can’t wait to marry you.”

“Okay,” she purrs, snuggling deeper into my side.

God, what I’d give for her to say that sober and awake.

CHAPTER 13

***Laney***

“Sawyer, we’re gonna be late!” I scream through a mouth full of Crunchberries.

There’s a knock at the front door, interrupting my breakfast. When I open it, I’m met with a sea of blue…roses. I gasp and reach for the vase, uncovering a young delivery boy.

“Laney Walker?” he asks.

“That’s me!”

“Here you go,” he hands me a light blue envelope, “have a nice day.”

I shut the door and take them to the kitchen counter, inhaling their sweet fragrance. I know who they’re from, but once again, he has floored me—where does one even find a blue rose? And this early in the morning? I open the card, more than anxious to read what it says.

My Disney,

I’m sorry I can’t see you off to your first day of sophomore year today. No doubt you look beautiful and will kick butt!

Blue roses are thought to mean “the impossible” and eleven of any color mean “you are my treasure, that which I love most in my life.” Both are true. You are absolutely the most treasured and loved thing that will ever exist in my world, impossibly so.

I will see you tonight. Nothing could keep me from it. I’ll want to hear all about your day. And how much you missed and loved me of course.

Do your thing, baby,

XOXO D

“Gidge, you shouldn’t have.” Sawyer saunters in, grabbing my bowl of cereal. ”How’d you know blue were my favorite?”

“Lucky guess,” I sigh, still on my cloud. “You ready to go? I don’t want to be late the first day.”

“Yup.” He turns up the bowl and drinks the milk. “I even made my bed and picked up my room like a good boy.”

“Very nice.” I pat his chest. “Now have a great day, play nicely with the other kids and I’ll see you at lunch.”

Sawyer’d moved in, just like he promised, and seems to be a bit more chipper every day. I haven’t asked and he hasn’t shared, but things seem…better. We walk out together, him locking the door behind us, and head down the driveway. “You want a ride?” I ask him, climbing into my truck.

“Nah, I’ll take the bike. I have a long break in the afternoon, I’ll come home and make dinner. Meatloaf good? It’s my specialty.”

“That’s sound great, Saw.”

I can’t wipe the grin off my face as I drive to campus. Dane and I are fantastic. All my friends, including Sawyer, seem on track; happy or happier and healthy. My dad is dating. My mom learned to use the laptop we brought her to Skype with me at least once a week. Hayden’s doing great and Angie’s truly thrilled, chomping at the bit for her grandbabies to come.

And always, I think of Evan. He may be happiest of all, so wrapped up in Whitley and now living with her, I might add, that the smile he permanently wears is bigger than my own. Whit got her lobster or seahorse or whatever she says, and Evan got his Juliet.

We’re all just one, big, crazy, loving, extended family…forever entangled in one another’s lives, and pretty damn blessed.

Life is good.

Entice

The Evolve Series, Book Three

“Love is like a butterfly, it settles upon you when you least expect it.”

Author Unknown

Prologue

Where do dreams come from? No one knows, and that’s what makes them cool; some are random as fuck, some stem from recent events, but never knowing what you’ll dream each night, how weird or erotic they’ll get, gives you that time with your mind to look forward to.

When your dream’s the same every night, it becomes a god damn nightmare.

I know, every single night, what I’m going to see from the time I close my eyes to the moment I drag my sorry ass out of bed in the morning. Without a doubt, I’m going to toss and turn in frustration, a rerun marathon of that night this past summer taunting me.

This bachelor party, for Parker, who I’ve known maybe eight weeks. God, I’m jealous as hell of him. That Hayden of his fucking adores him, and she’s even hotter knocked up than she was before. And she dotes on his ass in a very independent, non-bloodsucking leech kinda way. Why can’t I find a girl like that?

Obviously I’ve had too much tequila since I’m hosting my own little titbag party over here, feeling sorry for myself. Fuck this. I hold up two bills in my hand, I think they’re twenties, and Silver Cowboy Boots comes over, way too eagerly.

Challenge me, dammit! Engage more than my dick!

“What’s this get me?” I slur, shoving the bills at her.

She kicks one ankle, then the other, getting my legs just as far apart as she wants them and climbs over them, onto my lap. “This,” she croons and starts to grind. Her attempt to pet my chest all sexy-like is an epic fail, snagging one way too long silver nail on my nipple ring. She better not rip my fucking shirt—I love this shirt.

“How much to go in the back?” Two months on a farm is damn lonely.

She cuts quick, nervous glances around, then leans into my ear. “Not my usual club, so not in here,” she whispers. “But for a hundred, I’ll meet you outside, after.”

Just when I’m about to finalize the exact details, “Shook Me All Night Long,” my favorite song ever, starts blaring. Now this dance I gotta see, moving Dracula Nails off my lap and outta my view to the stage, aka the flat area in this place.

Spank me and put me to bed…who the fuck is that?

“Zach?!”

Nothing.

“Zach?!” I yell louder.

“What?”

“Who. Is. That?” I point to the, um, we’ll go with “dancer” for now.

“Cause I know her? I think they said Karma or something, but I doubt you’d find her in the phone book under that. Why?”

Look at him, trying to be all smartass… Well, he fucked it up, who the hell uses a phone book?

“No reason.” I bounce my shoulders in what I hope looks like casual nonchalance, never taking my eyes off her. That may blow my cover, but damn if I could look away even if I tried.

I’m thinking it’s the beer, strike that, tequila goggles; has to be. I was just dogging every chick who came near me, ready to pay for a meaningless quickie, a scratch to an itch, and sheer perfection happens to strut in to my favorite song?

Yeah, and when I’m done here, I’m gonna ride home to the Playboy mansion on the flying fucking dragon that I bought with my lottery winnings.

This isn’t real; up close she’s probably a big mess with bad breath and a whiny voice…and herpes. Gotta be.

But here’s what I do know, no guessing, no wishful thinking, no maybe to it—take it to the bank: her hair is so dark and shiny that you can damn near see reflections in it and it has purple streaks in it—hot as hell. AND, wait for it… IT. IS. IN. BRAIDS.

Usually two braids or ponytails are known as “handlebars” in my language, but on this girl, they’re cute; cute, wet dream-inducing braids.

Her eyes are as dark as her hair, and hold the fear and anxiety of a kitten stuck in a drainpipe when it’s raining. I may never know where it came from, this instinct that up until this point I would have sworn on a stack of Bibles I didn’t possess, but I swear I hear her mind screaming to mine, “You’re big and strong, protect me, Sawyer, take care of me, hold me and make me unafraid!”

That body of hers is tiny. Not frail, just petite, and tan and muscular…and her own. She turns it to the side and away from the onlookers and keeps her hands over her barely-covered breasts like the tease is part of the dance, but it’s not. I’d bet you a nut this girl has never danced or stripped before in her life. And if she has, she should stop immediately, because she absolutely sucks at it.

Those come fuck me heels she’s wearing? They’re two sizes too big and she’s never walked in them before. Also something she should stop doing immediately. If the teetering and wobbling didn’t draw attention to her shapely legs, it’d just be sad, but the legs are worth the painful show. Oh and fuck me, she’s skipping around in a circle. I hope she doesn’t think that’s a good cover for her lack of dance skills…skipping, for crying out loud.

And lastly, she loves this song. She’s mouthing the words, keeping her eyes unfocused and on the back wall, dying for everything but the song itself to be over. And when it is, she runs like she’s on fire for cover behind the curtain.

“Who was that?” I ask Dracula Nails, still standing beside me.

“New girl,” she answers snidely. “First night, can’t you tell?” she laughs.

“Yeah, I can.”

“So, I’ll see you later?” she curls those inflated lips at me.

“Maybe. If I see ya I see ya.” I get up, walking over to Dane. “Where’d you get these girls?”

“Hell if I know; Brock hooked it up.”

“So the company, it’s local to us, like in Statesboro?”

“I think so, why?”

“Find out for sure. I’m gonna hit the can. Be right back.”

I really do need to take a leak, but somehow I veer off course, peering behind the curtain like the Great and Powerful Oz will be waiting to hand me the 411 on this girl. I don’t see him, or her, only several other scantily clad women who only remind me how different she was. I want to bust in a demand they tell me her name and where she is, but I’m forced to duck out and shove the curtain back when their escort/bodyguard/whatever guy spots me.

No worries, Dane can find out for me, that man has scary ways of digging up the buried. I hurry back from the bathroom and catch him just as he’s hanging up his phone. “Well?”

“Local company, kinda off the radar, Brock isn’t sure they’re on the Better Business Bureau, if you catch my drift.”

“I don’t.”

He leans into me, talking low and discreetly. “I know nothing, and I’m going to say this, walk out of here and never speak of it again. I may also fire Brock for being a dumbass. It’s some on the side thing for one guy, mostly underage college girls needing money.”

“Fuck,” I mumble.

“Fuck is right. My name is never to be associated with this, ever. I had no idea and I’ll kill Brock if he jeopardized any of us in any way. You hear me?”

“Wait, so college, as in our college?”

“Yes,” he sighs, running his hand through his hair, mad as hell.

“My old job ready at The K?” Wait, better yet… “I’ll replace Brock even.”

“You always have a job with me, Sawyer, you know that. Just say the word.”

“Word. I’m heading back early. Don’t fire Brock until I say, okay? I need to talk to him first.”

“You just fire him when you have what you need. My hands are washed of this whole thing. Now get the fuck out of here and pay for the party in cash. No paper, you hear me, Sawyer?”

“Got it. Go, man.”

Look out, Skipper, Daddy’s coming home.

CHAPTER 1

Sleepless In Statesboro

***Sawyer***

“Why are we here again?” Zach questions me, looking around.

“Put your pussy back in your pocket and shut the fuck up.”

Since all my boys keep getting lost in the Bermuda Bush—as in they dive into her bush once and I never see them again—I’ve nominated Zach, the only single one left, as my new partner in crime. Though if he doesn’t quit his fucking whining, I’ll go solo.

I’m a man on a mission; there’s no time for bellyaching. After spending the last few weeks scouring every club within fifty miles of school, in all directions, my patience is wearing thin…and I’ve run out of clubs. If this isn’t the one, and I’m guessing this isn’t the one, I’m out of brilliants ideas. All Brock had to do was take Dane’s money and throw together a bachelor party for Parker. No one even said send dancers, but he did anyway, and because he can’t get ahold of the shady fuck he did business with, I’m plagued by the image of a girl who’s proving to be more elusive than Bigfoot.

“I don’t think this is a strip club, bro. Look.” Zach nudges my shoulder and points to a small stage with a wall of chicken wire wrapped around it and several different colors of broken glass littering the surface.

The flashing sign outside says Unbuckled—how is it not a strip club? Disappointed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel watching Meemaw and Peepaw slow dance amongst the peanut shells on the floor. I’m not sure if I should sue for false advertising or thank God they’re not going to actually unbuckle anything.

“Come on.” Zach gives me a slap on the shoulder, his face not hiding his pity. He knows this was it—the last place on the list. “Let me at least buy ya a beer.”

Since there’s nothing better to do and we’re already here, I accept his offer and we grab two stools at the bar. Zach orders our drink and within minutes we’re approached by two girls who are way below Social Security eligibility, so I’m more than a little surprised they’re here.

“You wanna dance?” the blonde asks me, strategically placing herself between my chest and the bar, her tit grazing my arm.

I wouldn’t even begin to pretend I know how to dance to the twangy, inbred music coming from the jukebox...and if we’re doing this, I want her brunette friend anyway. I shake my head slowly and take a swig from my beer. “No, but Zach here has dance fever, don’t ya, buddy?”