Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries #5)(40)

He knew Everly had gotten her in to see a psychologist and was doing her best to make sure Elise felt safe, but often, time was the best healer.

He went back upstairs and texted Elise when he was there. The door opened immediately, and she raised her eyebrows while signing something.

Assuming she was asking if he’d found anything, Ball shook his head.

Elise’s shoulders slumped, and she turned away from him, dejected. She picked up her phone.

Elise: I’m sorry I bothered you.

Ball: You are NOT a bother. Ever. You did exactly what you were supposed to. You reached out for help. Never be ashamed of that.

Ball: If it’s all right with you, I’d like to stay until Ev gets home.

Elise: I’d like that.

The next two hours went by fairly quickly. Ball helped Elise with her math homework, then they spent the rest of the time working on his signing. He’d learned a bunch of new signs, and Elise had lost the haunted look in her eyes by the time he heard a key in the lock.

Standing, Ball motioned to the door and signed, Everly.

Ball watched as several emotions flitted over Everly’s face in quick succession upon seeing him. Surprise, pleasure, irritation, then concern.

“What’s wrong? Why are you here?” she asked.

“Elise texted me, said she thought she saw someone outside. She was scared.”

Everly ran a hand over her face, and Ball saw the utter exhaustion there. His irritation that she hadn’t called or gotten ahold of him for the last week disappeared in an instant. He took her arm and steered her to the couch next to Elise.

“Sit. Relax. I’ll make you a cup of tea.”

She didn’t argue, which told him even more about how tired she was.

Standing in her kitchen, waiting for the water to heat up, he watched as Everly and her sister “talked.”

Their hands moved a mile a minute, and the progress Ball thought he’d made in being able to speak to Elise seemed like a joke. He knew it required more than a couple of hours to be proficient in sign language, but seeing them talking made him realize exactly how long it was going to take.

Everly was still wearing her uniform. He’d once thought that seeing her wearing it would remind him too much of Riley, and his dislike of working with women, but that didn’t happen.

Instead, his mind immediately went to how much he’d like to help her remove it, piece by piece. Like unwrapping a present.

Shaking his head—because the fact they hadn’t had any meaningful conversations since they’d returned to Colorado Springs didn’t bode well for any kind of disrobing in the near or distant future—Ball steeped her tea, then walked into the other room with the mug.

She accepted it with a small smile, took a sip, then put it on the coffee table in front of her and continued her conversation with Elise.

He had no idea what they were saying, but neither woman looked freaked out, so he was going to take that as a good sign. He stayed quiet and sat on a nearby chair. It was interesting to observe the sisters so close together. They both had red hair and green eyes, but where Elise was petite, Everly was not. She was quite a bit taller than her sister, and was filled out, as a woman should be. Elise was pretty, but in his eyes, Everly was beautiful.

He was brought out of his reflection when Everly turned to him. “Will you bring me Elise’s phone? She said it’s on the table.”

“Of course. Something wrong?” Ball asked as he stood to collect the phone.

“No. I check it every day to make sure she hasn’t been talking to someone she shouldn’t be.”

It made sense, but Ball hated that for both of them.

“She has to have a phone, for safety’s sake, but I’m terrified whoever she was talking to before, whoever snatched her, will try to get in contact with her again. She swears she hasn’t downloaded any of the apps she’d used, but I’m still paranoid.”

He handed the phone to Everly. “I don’t blame you.” He knew he was being rude to Elise, but he turned so she couldn’t see his face as he said, “If you want, I could get Meat or Rex to put a tracker on it. They could also monitor it to make sure.”

Everly looked up at him. “You’d do that for her?”

“No.”

She blinked in surprise. “But you just said—”

“I’d do it for you.”

“Ball—” she started, but then Elise touched her arm and signed something.

Everly nodded and clicked on a few buttons on her sister’s phone. Elise didn’t seem to care that her sister was checking up on her. She simply waited patiently until Everly was satisfied that Elise hadn’t been talking to someone she shouldn’t.

They signed for a bit longer, then Elise stood up. She came over to Ball, who was still standing near the couch, and signed slowly so he could understand her. Thank you for coming.

You’re welcome, Ball said. Call me anytime. He couldn’t wait until he learned the signs for more words. Spelling out words was annoying and took forever.

Elise smiled and reached out to hug him.

Ball returned the hug, then watched as she headed down a short hallway and disappeared into a room near the end.

He turned to Everly. She was staring at him with an expression he couldn’t read. “What?”

“Why are you being so nice?”