Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries #5)(17)

They got there in the middle of a class change, and her smile died as she caught snatches of conversations going on between groups of students. She’d been wrong. They weren’t talking about Ball at all.

They were talking about her sister. About Elise being missing.

Most thought she’d run away.

Ashamed that she’d let herself enjoy even one minute of her day when Elise was out there somewhere, probably terrified, Everly pressed her lips together and refused to look around at the kids as they made their way to the front office.

“What’s wrong? What are they saying?” Ball asked, pulling her to a stop with a hand on her upper arm.

“Nothing.”

“Everly, tell me. I don’t give a shit if they’re talking about me, but considering how you just shut down, I’m thinking it’s something else, right?”

Feeling as if she was on the verge of losing it, Everly shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Ball pulled her off to the side, but she didn’t open her eyes. When she felt a wall at her back, she did finally open them, and looked up to see Ball standing between her and the hallway. His hand rested on the wall next to her head, and he was leaning close.

“Talk to me. Whose butt do I need to kick?” he asked.

She couldn’t help it—she chuckled. “You can’t get into a fight with a kid, Ball.”

“Why not?”

“Because!” She stared up at him in exasperation.

“That’s not an answer. Tell me what they were saying.”

Everly shook her head. She couldn’t discuss it now. “We have to go meet with the principal,” she stalled.

“Everly,” he said, putting one hand under her chin, “tell me.”

“It’s nothing. They’re just talking about Elise. Wondering who you are, and why I’m here. They know I’m her sister, and apparently some think I abandoned her. They were just gossiping, Ball . . . saying she probably ran away because no one cared about her.”

Ball turned and glared at the few students still milling around in the hallway. “Who? I’ll kick their ass.”

Everly grabbed his arm. “Ball! Stop it.”

He turned back to her. “You didn’t abandon your sister. Don’t for one second let that shit sink into your head. You dropped everything to be here for her now. And don’t think I don’t know that you’re taking unpaid leave from your job to be here.”

“How’d you know about that?”

“I know everything,” he said, and Everly had a funny feeling that he really did. “Ev, don’t let these little shits get to you. We’re going to find Elise.”

“What if we don’t?”

“We are.”

“Ball, you can’t know that.”

“I do. I don’t know how, but I do. Someone as beautiful as your sister—and I mean who she is as a person as much as her physical looks—can’t have her life ended this soon.”

“You don’t know what she’s like inside.”

“I’ve listened to you talk about her. I read her thoughts written on the back of that poster. She feels hard. About everyone. If she only cared about herself, she wouldn’t be nearly as emotional. I’ve met Me-Maw and Pop, I’ve seen her room, I see how much you love her. How could she be anything else?”

Everly just stared up at him. She wasn’t sure she’d even liked Ball all that much until now, but given what he’d just said, she felt herself softening. “I’m scared,” she whispered.

“Me too,” he admitted. “But that’s not going to stop us, is it? Elise needs us. She’s counting on you to find her. And dammit, that’s what we’re going to do, no matter what these gossipy teenagers say about the situation. All right?”

“All right.”

“Good.” Then he grabbed her hand—not romantically, almost impatiently—and towed her down the hallway. Apparently the look on his face was somewhat scary, because the few kids who were still lurking about rushed to get out of his way.



Ball sat next to Everly in the principal’s office and watched them talking.

Everly was translating as they signed so he could understand what was being said. It was odd being on the outside like he was, and now he fully understood why Rex had insisted on Everly being involved with the investigation. He wouldn’t have been able to talk like this with the principal. He would’ve had to resort to writing things down on paper and having the principal do the same.

It would’ve been awkward, and there was no way the man would’ve opened up like he was with Everly. It was obvious the two knew each other, that they’d had many chats in the past about her sister.

The man was worried about Elise, and he told Everly that no one had reported anything being off with her the last day she’d been at school. He’d talked to all her teachers, and everyone said the same thing, that it had been a normal day. She’d gotten a history test back and had earned a B. She was seen chatting happily at lunch with a group of girls she hung out with, and she hadn’t said anything to anyone about where she was going or who she might be meeting after school.

The only useful thing that came out of the conversation was when the principal said that one of the bus monitors had seen Elise walking the opposite way from the direction her grandparents lived.