Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries, #5)(18)

That was new. And Everly picked up on it immediately.

“Why didn’t someone tell the cops?” she asked.

I think they did. They were here yesterday and talked to a handful of Elise’s friends, the principal signed as Everly translated.

After talking for another twenty minutes, and not getting any other useful information out of the man, Everly thanked him. He told them they were welcome to talk to any of the students if they wanted to.

“Should we track down her friends and see if they’ll talk to us?” Everly asked, back out in the hall.

He shook his head. “I don’t know that it’ll do any good. I believed the principal when he said that no one had seen anything unusual. Your sister is kind of a private person, right?”

“Yeah. I didn’t even know she had a crush on that Sean Berdy guy. She made me watch that Sandlot movie one time when I was visiting, but I didn’t think anything of it.”

“Right. And does she have one friend that she hangs with all the time? A best friend?”

“Not really.”

“I’m thinking if she was talking to someone on one of those apps, that maybe she was keeping it to herself. You said it yesterday, she’s sensitive. If she shared that she had a cyber-boyfriend, she might’ve been afraid someone would talk her out of it, or tease her, or tell her that he might not be who she thought he was. Maybe he was older, and she was worried someone would tell her grandparents.”

Everly thought about everything he’d said. “You’re probably right. But what now?”

“Let’s take a walk.”

“A walk? Are you crazy?”

“Nope. Come on. Trust me.”

And oddly enough, she did. They exited the school the way they’d come in and turned left . . .

away from the direction Elise would’ve gone if she was walking home.



Ball was unsettled. And not just about the case.

The more time he spent around Everly, the more he liked her.

She wasn’t prone to hysterics, and in fact had been way more stoic than he could’ve imagined, under the circumstances.

She didn’t expect him to do things for her simply because he was a man and she was a woman.

He clearly remembered Riley standing back and letting him coil rope on the boat they’d operated together. She’d also let him pump the gas, troubleshoot the engine, and clean out the boat at the end of the day.

Then again, he’d done all those things without thought or hesitation.

Maybe he’d perpetuated some of the stereotypical gender roles she’d fallen into. He’d been all too eager to be the first one to make entry on any boat they stopped, and to stand in front of her when shit went sideways.

Had it always been that way? He honestly couldn’t remember.

But Ball had a feeling if he tried to do any of that stuff with Everly, she’d push him aside and do whatever needed to be done herself.

It wasn’t a comfortable thought that maybe, just maybe, he’d done Riley a disservice over the years.

He hadn’t let her do a lot of things because he’d thought she didn’t want to. But what if she did? What if she could’ve been a better Coastie if he’d let go of his habit of coddling her, or his need to keep her safe?

What if it had been his actions that ultimately caused the accident that cost him his career?

Shit.

But it was more than that. Yes, being around Everly was slowly changing his mind on working with women—which was crazy, as he’d only known her, really known her, for a day or so—but it was also slowly chipping away at the shield he’d built around his heart. Holly had ripped it out of his chest when she’d left him while he was recuperating, but witnessing Everly’s devotion to her sister and grandparents, even when she didn’t live in the same city, he knew without a doubt that she’d never turn her back on a man she supposedly loved.

“What are we looking for?” Everly asked, bringing him out of his musing.

“I’m not sure. But someone saw your sister walking this way. It’s as much of a clue as we’ve had since we started looking into things.”

Everly nodded, her head constantly swiveling as she kept her eyes peeled for anything that might be related to Elise.

“When you were getting ready to go this morning, Gray sent me an email,” Ball told her.

“Yeah?”

It was progress. She didn’t immediately lambaste him for not telling her earlier. “Yeah. He contacted the FBI office out here in LA and got information about sex trafficking.”

His words seemed to hover between them like the proverbial huge fucking elephant in the room. It was a risk bringing it up out of the blue, and he might not have mentioned it at all a few days ago, but after spending the last twenty-four hours with Everly, Ball figured she could take it. And that she’d prefer he be blunt. He was right.

“And?”

Her question didn’t sound antagonistic. He heard the sorrow, but her training kicked in, and she was obviously curious too.

“They’ve been investigating a very aggressive group that seems to be based here in LA that uses social media and various apps to lure vulnerable teenagers into their web. Gray informed them about Elise’s disappearance, and she’s on their radar. They have her picture and description, and they’ll be on the lookout for her in any future raids.”