Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries, #5)(54)

After lunch, the kids were excited to hike back to the cars because there were three geocaches along the way. The more enthusiastic kids walked at the front of the line, and the others who didn’t care as much were in the back, closer to Ball and Everly.

They’d been walking for a while when Ball turned to Everly and asked, “Is your sister discussing Meat’s ass?”

Everly watched Elise and Ruby talk for a second, then laughed out loud. “As a matter of fact, yes. They’re impressed with all his . . . attributes,” she told Ball.

“Better him than me,” Ball muttered.

“Don’t worry. They’re actually comparing the two of you now.”

“Shit! I don’t want to know,” Ball said, covering his eyes in mock embarrassment.

Everly nudged him with her shoulder. “Thanks for coming today, Ball.”

“Any chance to spend time with my favorite cop,” he quipped. “How’s work going?”

They started talking about her job and which websites Ball had designed that week. There were no more encounters with any strange men in the woods, and the kids were thrilled to have found all three geocaches on the way back to the cars.

The parking area was even more packed by the time they arrived around two in the afternoon.

Everly vaguely noticed that there were cars from all different price ranges, representing every level of income, which wasn’t unusual for a Colorado Springs hiking trail. There was a Mercedes parked next to a Kia, as well as Fords, pickup trucks, a Beetle, a few minivans . . . even a Tesla and somebody’s work van.

She pointed it out to Ball and Elise, commenting on how nice it was that hiking was truly an activity anyone could do, no matter their social status or how much money they had.

I love being out here, Elise said. There aren’t any places like this in LA.

There were, but to get to them meant driving quite a distance away from where Me-Maw and Pop lived. Everly didn’t bother to point that out.

Elise kept talking as they walked back to Ball’s Mustang. When I was in that basement, I never thought I’d be able to do something like this again.

Do what? Everly asked.

This. Smell the pine trees. Hike. Be free.

Everly had been all ready to tease her sister and say something to the effect that she’d never been hiking a day in her life before she’d joined the club here in Colorado, but the last two words hit her hard.

Ball’s hand curled around her waist and squeezed her for a second, before he let go to respond to her sister.

Are you interested in learning some self-defense?

Really? Elise asked eagerly.

Yes. Allye and Morgan have backed out because they’re pregnant, but Chloe and Harlow are still interested.

I’d love to! Elise signed. Everly has already taught me some basic stuff, but I’d love to learn how to really kick ass. Can Ruby come too?

Ball looked over to Everly. She gave him a small nod.

Yes. That will make the numbers even.

Cool!

Elise rushed away to tell her friend about the upcoming training.

It was Everly’s turn to put her hands on Ball. She hooked her thumb in the belt loop at the back of his waist and leaned her head on his biceps. She watched as her sister ran over to Carl’s car. He’d obviously driven a bunch of the other kids there. Elise eagerly began a conversation with Ruby about the self-defense class Ball had invited them to.

“You didn’t have a class already set up, did you?” she asked quietly.

Ball chuckled. “No. But I have no doubt Chloe and Harlow will be eager to join in. I wanted to take her mind off what happened to her, and that was the first thing I thought of.”

“It’s perfect,” Everly told him. “Thank you. I should’ve thought about it before now. Maybe it’ll give her more confidence in the future.”

“You’ll come too, won’t you?” Ball asked.

“Sure. Why?”

“I just . . . I don’t want to do anything that might cause her to have a flashback. I mean, you’ve already taught her the basics, but that was before she got kidnapped. You know as well as I do that when we start out, we’ll go back over the simple stuff, like how to knee someone in the groin and how to break away if someone grabs ahold of her arm. But eventually we might work up to how to escape and defend yourself if someone’s got you pinned to the floor.”

Everly loved that Ball was always thinking about how Elise might feel or react about different things.

Then she froze and almost stopped walking altogether.

Loved? That was just a figure of speech . . . wasn’t it?

She’d almost convinced herself when Elise returned and flung herself into Ball’s arms.

He laughed and hugged her back. Then she started an animated conversation with Ball about how excited she was, and Ruby too, and how they were going to be ninja warriors by the time he was done with them.

It was obvious to Everly that Ball was missing most of what her sister was saying, but he didn’t get frustrated and was able to catch enough to get the gist.

Loved.

Did she love Ball? What did she know of love?

Everly loved Me-Maw and Pop. She loved Elise. She loved her job and loved Mexican food.

But when it came to the opposite sex, she didn’t think she’d ever loved a man before.