Evade (The Ever Trilogy) (3 page)

As we made our way through the expansive hotel, we passed the media center and I paused.

“Oh, Ever. You just saw Frankie this morning. Let’s go have some fun! We’ll check our emails a little bit later, okay?”

She wasn’t asking, which was obvious by the way she pushed me forward. I nodded. She was right. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since I’d seen him. Heck, it hadn’t even been six hours. I could call him later tonight from the media center. I had a prepaid calling card and everything.

This trip was for Jessie and me—one last hurrah before she headed off to college without me. I should be focused on her…but I couldn’t shake this funny feeling. I just had this weird knot in the pit of my stomach that wouldn’t go away.

I’d seen the distance in his eyes again this morning when he drove Jess and me to the airport; I was sure of it. I mean, sure, he made small talk and listened to Jessie ramble on incessantly about her plans for us for the week, tossing an occasional smile my way, and laughing at all the right times…but every time he didn’t think I watched him, I caught the distance in his eyes.

Like he was somewhere else. Somewhere away from me.

Or wanted to be.

The pit in my stomach grew even more as I thought about it now. I debated telling Jessie my suspicions, but as she linked her arm through mine and pulled me out to the pool area, I realized it wouldn’t be fair to bring her down. I also didn’t want to tell her for fear that voicing my concerns would make them real.

Totally logical assumption.

Plus, if I were to tell her that I felt a small reaction to that look in his eyes, a feeling that told me something
was
missing between us…well. What would she think of me then? What kind of girl waits for a guy for so long—practically my entire life—then takes him for granted when he’s finally hers?

No. I didn’t want to talk about this with Jessie just yet.

The hotel was packed. Mid-Autumn in Cabo was definitely not the down time of the year. Bikinis and muscles were everywhere, and I briefly wondered why the pool even had a Shamu water slide because there were
maybe
four little kids in the pool area. As we made our way past the multiple pool decks, my enthusiasm grew.

“Welcome to Villa Del Palmar. What can I get for you lovely ladies?”

Jessie giggled as the bartender’s eyes slowly grazed over her. When he moved on to me, they widened for the slightest second as he took in my over-exposed chest. I felt like kicking Jessie for picking out this skimpy sundress, and then kicking the bartender.

Jessie pulled out a chair and sat down, leaning forward on the bar and turning on the Jessie charm, leaving me standing behind her like an idiot. Clearly, I was the only one who wasn’t completely intoxicated by the bartender’s accent, or his dark skin and exaggerated charisma. I shook my head and sat down on a barstool.

Jessie finally ordered her margarita. Hopefully that would be the last I’d have to hear about how badly she wanted one. I ordered a virgin strawberry daiquiri, and you’d think I’d ordered a side of deep fried alien toes for the crazy looks everyone directed at me. Even some random stranger sitting on the other side of Jessie.
Sheesh.

“Fine. Make it a regular daiquiri. But go easy on the liquor.”

“Si, Bonita, your wish is my command.”

Yeah right. That drink arrived with more alcohol than was humanly safe. The first sip made my entire body shudder. I ate the cherry, spooned the whipped cream into my mouth, and played with the straw. There was no way I could drink the dangerous concoction. The stranger to the right of Jessie passed me a beer out of his bucket, and I took it, thanking him for the gesture—and the save. At least I knew the alcohol content of one beer wouldn’t kill me. That daiquiri, however, I wasn’t so sure about.

I’d almost finished the beer when I realized I’d been off in my own world again. Jessie was chatting with the guy next to her, who in my opinion was far too old to be talking to Jessie, but whatever. He had saved me from drinking that poison slush earlier, after all.

“Senoritas, tonight is local night at my favorite bar in town. For locals and guests. I would love the accompaniment of two beautiful girls such as yourselves.”

Ha! Yeah, I bet.

Accompaniment
…was that even a word? There was no way we were falling for that nonsense. This bartender was a regular Don Juan Demarco. I wondered if he really spoke that way, or if he played up his accent for the tourists. His nametag said “El Paso, TX” underneath his name. Which was Juan. He really was a Don Juan. And not even from Mexico. The nerve.

I think I may have even scoffed aloud because I received a swift elbow to the ribs from my best friend.

“Oooh, local night! With
locals
! That sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?”

My jaw may have hit the floor. Here we were in this foreign country, and Jessie was just going to wander off to some bar with a total stranger. Shocked would be putting it mildly.

“Jess,” I whispered. “I thought our plan was to stick close to the resort.”

“Live a little,” she growled under her breath. Then she turned back to the bartender and beamed. “Of course, Juan! We’d love to go, right Ev?”

Expectant turquoise eyes turned back towards me, and I knew I was supposed to say something.

“
Right
, Ever?”

“Yeah, sorry,” I answered, as I shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts. I leaned in towards Jess to whisper. “Jess, seriously. Are you sure we should go? Is it even safe?”

“Si, senoritas, I promise you will be safe.”

“Said the wolf to Little Red Riding Hood,” I mumbled.

“Ever!”

Whoops. Jessie heard me. Didn’t know if the bartender had or not. Didn’t really care either. I was too busy flinching from the second elbow I’d just received to my rib cage.

“Fine, fine. Geez, Jess. We’ll go.”

Whether I was convincing or not didn’t seem to make a difference. Jessie tried to pay for our round of drinks, batted her thick lashes when Don Juan Demarco shook his head ‘no,’ then hurried off to the restroom, leaving me alone at the bar.

“Your friend is a very beautiful woman.”

I snapped my head back around and glared at him. “Easy there, Don Juan.”

He laughed as if I was being funny, then turned around to clock out and exchange cash register tills with the new bartender on duty.

“I will see you ladies here in two hours, yes?”

“Sure. Whatever.”

Ugh. What had I agreed to?

A date with the hungry wolf, that’s what.

L
ater that night, I realized that walking down the beach at sunset, in Cabo San Lucas, hand in hand with my very best friend in the world, was exactly what I’d needed, regardless of whom we were with, or where we were going. Jessie’s joy was infectious, and having not stopped with just the one drink, we were both a little tipsy. Well, I was a little tipsy. Jessie had guzzled down that easy-on-the-alcohol-yeah-right strawberry daiquiri I’d ordered earlier.

We were also not alone with our charlatan bartender, as the other guy from the bar had joined us. I was creeped out at first, thinking we’d been set up on some creepy double date, but then his wife and a few of their friends came along as well, so it was more of a group thing and less of a creepy-old-guys-hitting-on-teen-girls thing. They were on vacation from somewhere in the Midwest, and once I discovered their ages, I realized he wasn’t nearly as old as I’d originally thought. Oh well. I’d been grumpy earlier, and he never had to know that I’d pegged him for mid-forties when he was early-thirties. Whoops. My bad.

I wanted to believe that with the added people came added protection—safety in numbers and all that—and my worries were disappearing by the second.

Don Juan was leading all of us to a place called Skid Row, which I thought sounded kind of scary until I got there and read the sign: El Squid Roe.
Squid eggs? Isn’t that what roe is?
Well, that made absolutely no sense, but at least it wasn’t as scary as Skid Row. All I could think of with that name was serial killers and inmates, so naming a bar after baby sea creatures was far less scary than that.

Or so I’d thought. Because one hour into the evening, and Jessie was dancing on tables, which actually was pretty scary. Luckily, her skirt was long and flowy, and covered just about everything that her tunic hadn’t covered earlier. It was see-through, yes, but at least her cheeks weren’t hanging out, because she was coming toward me doing that shimmy-shake-sashay thing she’d promised to never do again.

Liar.

“Dance with me!” She tipped her head, indicating a stage behind her and smiling wildly.

“Oh no, Jess. Uh-uh. I’m not getting up there.”

Ignoring me completely, she pulled me through the crowd and climbed up to a makeshift go-go booth. Well, it was really just a large plywood box painted bright yellow, but Jessie started dancing around on top of it, and it seemed like it could hold her. Could it hold both of us? I highly doubted it and wasn’t about to find out. Sweating like a banshee, and suddenly dying of thirst, I motioned toward the bar.

“Good idea! I’m parched!” Jessie winked and gestured for me to get her a drink—at least I think that’s what she intended—then turned back to dance for the crowd of people that had been surrounding her all night. Even in Mexico people gravitated toward her like moths to bright lights.

On my way to the bar, I spotted the bathroom sign and decided on a quick detour.
Geez, beer goes through you fast.
Of course there was a line, so I took my place and leaned up against the wall which—
eew
—was apparently as sweaty as I was. Didn’t know walls could perspire, but there it was. Sweating. Gross.

I scanned the patrons waiting in front of me, people watching out of boredom, when the line of men parted like the Red Sea, catching my attention as they allowed the woman to pass by easily—without suffering any groping, which at this place was a shock in itself. She was just about hidden from my line of vision when I focused in on her long black hair, hanging down over a pale shoulder exposed by the nearly backless strapless dress she wore…

Someone stepped into my line of vision, blocking the darkly painted hallway just as the woman stepped out the back door and disappeared from my view. My stomach churned, and my need for the bathroom was momentarily forgotten.

It couldn’t be…

I pushed through the crowd, irritation and curiosity stirring inside of me. But mostly irritation. What the hell was Ariadne doing in Cabo?

I reached the back door and pushed it open, propelling myself outside. Either the door had been way lighter than it looked, or the alcohol made me clumsy, because I plummeted through the doorway and landed on my hands and knees in the dirt. I caught myself just before face-planting, and right in time to hear the door click closed behind me. I jumped up and pulled on the handle. Locked.

Of course it was locked.

Shit!

I turned around, looking in all directions for Ariadne—or whomever I’d just followed outside. I was beginning to wonder if I’d momentarily lost my mind. I was alone. In an alleyway behind a bar. In Mexico, of all places! What had I been thinking? I realized how foolish I’d been to think I’d seen Ariadne. I could have sworn it was her, but now that I was standing out here in the fresh air, I realized how crazy it was. Ariadne? In Mexico? At the same exact time as us? How likely was that?

Not very.

It must have been the alcohol. I’d need to go back to being anti-drinking because this was just stupid.

I pulled on the door again, hoping luck was on my side. Nothing. I knocked as hard as I could and waited. Nothing.

Damn. No one could hear me over the pulsating music coming from inside. Now I had to walk all the way around to the front of the bar. I placed a hand on the wall to steady myself, then began following the back of the building.

My skin prickled, and every hair on my body stood on end as a cold breeze skittered up my spine. I froze as my blood chilled and my pulse sped, the sensation of being touched by nonexistent, icy fingers disquieting. My breath swooshed in and out in loud, heavy gasps.

I gathered my nerve and whipped around to face the empty alleyway. Still alone. No icy fingers waited to tickle my back again.

What is wrong with me?
I’d wandered away from Jessie and the safety of the group of people we
kind of
knew, and for what? I was going to die back here!

I wasn’t one for panic attacks,
especially
unprovoked. I was freaking out for no reason. I tried to take a deep breath, but my lungs were tight. I tried again. I inhaled a little more air this time. I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall of the building. I waited a few long seconds until my breathing was almost back to normal. I still had goose bumps all over, which was an odd sight against the glistening layer of sweat coating my skin.
What’s wrong with me?

I straightened up, then took a few steps, but my ankle twisted slightly when I stepped in a small crevice in the hard dirt—just enough to throw me off balance. I reached out for the wall, but missed, and plummeted to the ground, catching myself with my palm out, and damn lucky I didn’t snap my wrist backward when I landed.

“Ooomph,” I exclaimed as I hit the ground, my legs a jumbled pretzel beneath me.
Damn wedges. How does Jessie walk in these all the time?

My vision swam, and my head spun.
It must be the alcohol.
Yeah, that was it. I’d had at least four beers at the pool bar earlier, and a shot of something peach in color when we’d gotten to the bar, and…shoot. Another two beers after that? I think? Maybe more. Then there was the half a beer in the car from the airport, and…damn. I’d never had that much to drink before. I’d never even come close.

Okay, okay, see? You’re fine. Just walk back in and find Jess.
It was time to go back to the hotel. I’d had too much to drink, Jessie was dancing on tables, and I’d gotten myself locked in an alleyway.

An alleyway in Mexico, you idiot! Who does that? I started to panic again and had to take a few more deep breaths.

So I was alone in an alleyway in Mexico. It wasn’t like I didn’t know how to get back to the bar. I just had to follow the structure around and I’d get to the front of the building. I looked up, noticing for the first time the purple wall I leaned against.
How pretty
, I thought absently—

My stomach rolled over, flooding my mouth with fluid.
Oh shit.

I bent over just in time to miss vomiting all over myself. Though Jessie’s black platforms weren’t quite as lucky. When I was done expelling every.single.thing. I’d ingested today, I leaned back against the wall a few feet from the puke and slid down to sit on the dirt. I pulled my knees up to my chest and was relieved that I was wearing my new black capris so I wouldn’t be flashing my undies at any people.
People? Look around you! You’re completely alone in an abandoned alleyway, genius! In Mexico! Get up!

Tilting my head back, I searched the wall above me for something to pull myself up with, but the wall was flat…and then everything tilted sideways. I slammed my hands to the ground on either side of me, flattening my palms to the ground and bracing myself.
Make it stop.
I focused on the wall on the other side of the alley, but looking that far away made my eyes cross, churning my stomach over once more. I lay down on my side, curling into a ball, and pressing my cheek into the cold dirt. I just needed to feel the coolness of the earth on my skin. I closed my eyes, but that sent me spinning once more.

I rolled over, facing the wall of the building and curling up again, tucking my purse into the curve of my stomach. I focused on a tiny speck on the wall. I just needed a few minutes to rest. If I could lay here for just a few minutes, the alcohol would move through my system. It had to, right?
That makes sense.
I pressed my cheek more firmly into the ground, letting the coolness ease the heat in my face.

I just need a few minutes…

I woke up in someone’s arms. I began to panic, but immediately heard Jessie yelling nearby and knew I was not alone. If I’d been kidnapped in Mexico, at least my best friend would be with me.

Cocooned in strong arms, my face was pressed tightly to a chest that smelled of vaguely familiar cologne. The rocking motion of being carried would have probably kept me comfortably lulled forever, if not for Jessie’s shrill voice waking me. She was
pissed
. I tried to open my eyes, but everything was hazy, and my stomach churned when I strained to focus on anything too hard. I closed my eyes tightly and waited for the nausea to pass. I wondered who carried me. Hopefully not the bartender from our hotel. I had a feeling he’d carry me right to his bed, not mine.

“You still haven’t explained to me what the
hell
you’re doing here!”

I heard a rumbling laugh in the chest of the person carrying me and recognized it even before he spoke. My heart leapt in my chest.

“Seriously, Jess? I practically rescued you from being mauled on the dance floor in there, and now I’m carrying your best friend all the way back to your hotel. I think a thank you would be in order.”

“Ha! A thank you? You’re freaking kidding me, right, Greg?
Ugh.
Forget it. Just set her down and I’ll call a cab.”

“Mmnnohhhhppuh.”

I tried to argue with Jessie, but I’m not sure what actually came out of my mouth. I didn’t know why Greg was in Mexico, or how they’d found me, but I didn’t want him to set me down until I was safely back at the hotel. Preferably in my bed.

“I think Ev’s disagreeing with you, Jess. You’re outnumbered. And anyway, there’s no way I’d leave the two of you out here alone at three-thirty in the morning, even if she wasn’t completely comatose. I’ll make sure you guys get back to the hotel, and then I’ll leave…if that’s what you want.”

Three-thirty?
Holy shit.

“If? There’s no if about it, Greg. I don’t know why you’re here, or why you think you rescued me, but yeah, after we get her into bed, you’ll be leaving.”

Her heels clicked loudly ahead of us as she stormed off, followed by another low chuckle deep in Greg’s chest. I was going to open my eyes again and ask him what he was doing in Cabo, but the motion of his arms did nothing to keep me from passing out again. I was remarkably comfortable. Or maybe I was just still drunk, and I would have been comfy anywhere. God only knows how long I’d slept behind the bar if it was already three-thirty in the morning.

“So she still hates me, huh?”

He whispered it, more to himself than me, I imagine, since I
was
pretty close to comatose.