Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries #5)(48)

When Meat hugged her goodbye, he told her that he’d been able to get a few conversations off of Elise’s old phone, and that he’d send them over to her and Ball later.

Everly nodded. She wasn’t sure she was ready to see how this “Rob” person had manipulated her sister, but she needed to know, to possibly figure out how to prevent it from happening to Elise, and other teens, in the future.

She waved bye to Noah as they left, and he cheekily held up a hand to his ear, mimicking a phone, and mouthed, “Call me.” Ball scowled at him, but the bartender merely laughed and waved.

When they were outside, Ball shook his head. “Jeez. I swear I hadn’t realized how obnoxious they were. If I had, I wouldn’t have brought you here.”

“I bet you were exactly the same way when you met their women,” Everly said.

Ball put a hand on his chest in exaggerated surprise. “Me?”

She could only laugh. When they got to his Mustang, he turned her before opening the door, trapping her against the warm metal. “You okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I didn’t want to interrupt you. That was kinda intense.”

“Ball, compared to what the others went through, my story isn’t the least bit intense. I wasn’t beaten. Me-Maw and Pop made sure to see me at least once a week and stuff me full of healthy food.”

Ball shook his head. “Don’t compare what you went through with what the others did. They were different circumstances, and you were only a kid. Your mother should’ve protected you. Made sure you were safe and fed. She did none of that. If she’d done the best she could, she would’ve gotten off the drugs and done everything in her power to protect you. And for the record, Ev, I don’t want to meet her. Ever. I don’t think I’d be able to keep my mouth shut.”

“I wasn’t planning on introducing you to her. Ever,” she said, intentionally repeating his proclamation.

“Good.” He brushed a lock of hair off her forehead and stared into her eyes. “Every time I think to myself that you’re too good to be true and I should take a step back, be more cautious with whatever it is that’s happening between us, you knock my feet out from under me.”

“I’m sorry?”

He chuckled. “Don’t be sorry. I feel as if I’ve waited my whole life for you. That I had to go through all the other shit in my life just to appreciate you.”

Wow. That was . . . Everly didn’t know what that was. But Ball didn’t give her a chance to respond.

“I don’t know the first thing about teenage girls, but I do know that Elise is going to be okay. She’s got you as a role model. How could she be anything but?”

Then he kissed her on the forehead and leaned over to open the passenger door.

Everly sat, not sure what to say. But he obviously didn’t expect her to say anything. He simply climbed into the driver’s side and headed for her apartment.



That night, Everly watched as Ball and Elise both made fun of his latest attempts to communicate. He never seemed to get frustrated, and he no longer relied on Everly to translate for him. He and Elise muddled through, and if either of them got stuck, they picked up their phones sitting nearby and texted each other.

Everly had never dated anyone who’d gotten along with her sister like Ball did. Granted, not many of her boyfriends had even met Elise, but the few who did were uncomfortable when she and Elise had a conversation they couldn’t understand, and they hadn’t made even the smallest effort to learn any signs.

She might’ve thought Ball was trying too hard to impress her, except when he and Elise started “talking,” Everly may as well have not even existed.

It was after dinner, and Elise and Ball had been at it for at least an hour, when Everly heard a sound she hadn’t heard in more than a decade.

Her eyes whipped up, and she stared at her sister in surprise.

She was laughing. Out loud. Hard. Her head was thrown back, and she was holding her stomach, laughing so much that tears were coming out of her eyes.

When Elise finally recovered enough to talk, she nodded and repeated the sign for bullshit. She made horns with her pinkie and pointer finger on one hand, holding that arm up, and formed a fist with the other, touching it to the opposite elbow, opening and closing her hand quickly. Like crap coming out of the back end of a bull.

Ball laughed and repeated the sign.

Everly had no idea how long her sister had been teaching Ball dirty words. She stood and walked over to the pair. She didn’t want to end their fun, but felt somewhat obligated to break it up. “What are you guys doing?” she asked, even though it was pretty obvious.

Without guile, Ball said, “Elise is teaching me how to swear. Look.” He made a circle with the fingers of one hand and slammed the middle finger of the other inside. “Asshole.”

Everly rolled her eyes. “I know what it means. I’m not sure my little sister should be teaching you that stuff. She shouldn’t even know it.” Everly was signing as she spoke so Elise wouldn’t feel left out of the conversation.

Everly, seriously? I’m fifteen. I’m not a nun. Of course I know how to swear.

How about you say good night to Ball and get ready for bed? You’ve got school in the morning, and I have to work.