Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries, #5)(41)

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?”

Ball frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“I haven’t seen you since you dropped us off. I’ve been ignoring you . . . basically been a bitch when you didn’t do anything to deserve it.”

“I’d say we’re even, then,” Ball said calmly. “Because that’s how I acted toward you when we first met.”

Everly closed her eyes and let her head plunk onto the cushion behind her.

Ball walked over and stared down at her for the longest moment. Then he held out his hand.

“Come on.”

Her eyes opened, and she looked at his face, then his hand. Without question, she reached up and put her hand in his. He pulled her to her feet, then turned her around. With his hands on her shoulders, he pushed her down the hall to the other bedroom. “Change. Put on something comfortable.

Then come back out, and we’ll talk. Or not. Or watch TV. Whatever you want to do.”

“What I really want to do is be able to sleep more than two hours a night,” Everly muttered.

“Change, Ev,” Ball ordered.

“Bossy,” she protested, but she smiled slightly when she said it.

Ball returned her smile and backed out of the room.

Twenty minutes later, she reappeared in the living area. She had on a pair of black leggings and an oversize T-shirt that covered her down to midthigh. Her hair was brushed out of the bun it had been in, and the waves, having been confined all day, now curled around her face in abandon. She’d scrubbed her face, and it was still a little pink. But even after changing and freshening up, she still looked stressed.

“Come here,” Ball said from the couch, and held out an arm. Surprisingly, she did. Everly plopped down, leaned into him, and brought her knees up. Ball tightened his arm around her, and they sat in silence for a few minutes.

“You hungry?”

She shook her head. “I grabbed something on the way home. I figured Elise would’ve eaten.”

“She did.”

“Did you find anything?” Everly asked.

Ball knew what she was talking about. “No.”

“Do you think she was making it up?”

“No. She was really shaken when I got here. It could’ve been her imagination, but you tell me, is she prone to exaggeration?”

“She hasn’t been, but then again, that was before she was kidnapped by someone who probably wanted to sell her into sexual slavery.”

“I heard from Rex yesterday. He said the FBI hasn’t been able to find any additional information yet.”

Everly sighed. “But they do still think it’s a sex-trafficking ring?”

“Yeah. The MO fits. Kidnapping all those girls around the same time, who all look very different, isn’t something a run-of-the-mill kidnapper would normally do.”

“So we just wait?” Everly asked.

“We just wait,” Ball confirmed.

“Waiting sucks.”

He couldn’t help it, he chuckled. “Yeah, Ev, it does.” Then his tone turned somber. “What was it?”

“What was what?” she asked.

“What was it I did that made you change your mind about us?”

He wasn’t sure she was going to answer, but finally, she said softly, “My life is so screwed up. The last thing you need is to get involved with me and my issues. I don’t want to fuck with your head the way your ex did.”

He turned to look at her. “How do you figure you’ll do that?”

Everly shrugged. “I’m probably going to have my teenage sister living with me for the foreseeable future. She’s deaf, and while that means little to me, I know how much she’ll have to struggle in today’s society. Employers will assume she’s stupid simply because she can’t hear. She’ll be made fun of and mocked. My grandparents aren’t getting any younger, and they’re living in a city I hate. My mom is a bitch. And I have to figure out how to help Elise get through what happened to her, keep her safe, and go to work so I can keep a roof over our heads. I have no idea how to do all of that and have a boyfriend at the same time. I just figured it would be easier for both of us if we let it go.”

“You want to know how you do all that and have a boyfriend at the same time?” Ball asked.

Everly looked up at him, but didn’t respond.

“You let your boyfriend help. You don’t have to do everything on your own, Ev.”

“I don’t want to take advantage of you,” she replied.

“Letting me help you isn’t taking advantage. Let me put it this way . . . if something happened to me during one of my missions, and I had to be in a wheelchair for a few months, what would you do?”