Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries, #5)(7)

Everly smiled. Some things never changed. Her grandmother was always trying to feed her, always concerned that she wasn’t getting enough rest. “I’m sorry it took me so long to come visit,”

she told her. “I’m going to try to do better in the future.”

Pop wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist, and the three of them walked side by side. “You don’t have to visit for us to know you love us.”

“True, but I miss you,” Everly said.

Me-Maw elbowed her husband in the ribs. “Quit telling her it’s okay if she doesn’t come home.”

“I didn’t say that!” Pop defended himself.

“You did so!”

As her grandparents continued to mock-argue back and forth, Everly turned to make sure they hadn’t lost Ball. She met his gaze for a split second—and what she saw there surprised her. Instead of the cynical or distrustful expressions she’d gotten used to, he looked more relaxed than she’d ever seen him.

Luckily, there wasn’t a long line at the car rental place, and Ball was able to check in fairly quickly.

He upgraded to an SUV since Everly’s grandparents would be traveling with them.

He liked Everly’s grandparents. They seemed subdued, and were upset about their missing granddaughter, but the tight connection between the two of them was hard to miss. Landen kept his hand on his wife’s back or on her arm while they were talking, and the way he looked at her made it clear he was still very much in love with his wife.

Not only that, but Everly’s me-maw was amusing in her attempts to push him and her granddaughter together. He’d also actually caught Allison checking out his ass at one point, and it made him laugh.

And for the first time since he’d learned he’d have to work with Everly, he’d seen her let down her guard. Her response at first seeing her grandparents had tugged at him.

He hated when women pulled out the crocodile tears. Holly, his ex, had done that all the time.

Squeezed out tears when she didn’t get her way. And his partner Riley had cried buckets during the investigation into what had happened to Ball. Though he couldn’t prove it, he had a pretty good idea her tears had swayed a few of the officers in charge of her fate.

But Everly’s tears had been genuine, unavoidable . . . coming from the soul. He suspected a mixture of relief at being in the arms of her grandmother and despair that her sister was missing.

Throughout their talks the last few days, she hadn’t shown even half the emotion she had upon seeing her me-maw. It hammered home the fact that this wasn’t just another job for her. Not at all.

She might not be close to her mother, or even like her much, but she was extremely close with her grandparents and her half sister. Seeing their reunion created a sense of urgency in Ball that he hadn’t felt before today.

Previously, Elise had been just another missing girl. But now, she was far more real.

Ball still wasn’t too happy about having to work with Everly, but seeing her with her grandparents had already changed something in him. He just had to figure out what.

Everly insisted Me-Maw sit in the front seat, and she spent most of the drive to the house talking with her pop in the back. Meanwhile, Allison Adams spent the ride grilling him. Asking him personal questions about how old he was, where he lived, whether he wanted children—until Everly told her to cut it out.

When they got close to the house, Ball started paying closer attention to his surroundings. The neighborhood the Adams lived in was nice. It wasn’t super expensive, but it wasn’t in the middle of a bad part of the city either. The lawns were all manicured, and there were flowers along many of the walkways.

“Two decades ago, this place was filled with children,” Allison said. “But now everyone’s grown up and moved away. It’s just us old folks left.”

“You’re not old,” Everly said from the back seat.

“I’m just seasoned,” Allison replied easily, as if it was a running joke between her and her granddaughter.

“It’s nice,” Ball said.

“It is. But unfortunately, with every year that passes, it gets less and less nice,” Pop said.

“There’s more crime, and the gangs are pushing their way in, slowly and steadily.”

“Do you think Elise somehow got involved with a gang?” Everly asked.

“No. But then again, as of several days ago, I would’ve said there was no way she’d ever disappear without a trace either,” Pop said.

He had a point.

After pulling into the driveway, Ball stopped and turned off the engine. “I’ll come around,” he told Allison.

“No need,” she said with a small smile. Her husband had already climbed out of the back seat and had her door open. He held out a hand and helped her out of the SUV as if he did it every day of their lives . . . which he probably did. He started walking her to the front door, leaving Ball and Everly behind.

Ball turned to open Everly’s door, but found her already out as well, and at the back of the SUV, opening the hatch to get her bag. Hurrying back there, he tried to take her bag along with his.

“I’ve got it,” she said, snatching the handle out of his hand.

“I’m just trying to be polite,” he told her.

“Well, stop it. This isn’t a date. I’m well aware of what you think of me.”