Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries, #5)(87)

In seconds, the other man was there, opening a backpack. Everly swallowed, wincing at the pain that tiny movement caused.

“Where else are you hurt?” Ball asked.

“Honestly?”

“Always.”

“Everywhere. Is he dead?”

“Yeah, Everly, he’s dead,” Gray said from above them.

Everly looked up into the other man’s eyes. “You sure?”

“We’re sure,” Ro added.

“He could be faking it,” Everly mumbled. “He has to be dead. He killed my mom and wants Elise. He’s not going to give up.”

Ro crouched next to her and said gently, “He’s dead, Everly. You want me to carry you over so you can see?”

“No!” Everly gasped. “I hate heights!”

The men all stared at her in disbelief for a moment before Meat chuckled. “Tough as hell. You willingly let yourself get kidnapped so you could save your sister and flipped a man over a cliff when you’re scared of heights?”

“Fuck off,” Everly choked out.

“He’s gone,” Gray repeated. “His head obviously hit a rock on the way down. His brain is about twenty feet from where his body landed. He’s definitely dead, and he won’t be coming after you or your sister again. You’re safe.”

Hearing that Tylor Tuttle would definitely not be a problem anymore made the adrenaline that was still coursing through Everly’s body dissipate, leaving her weak and in more pain. Her throat felt like it was on fire, and every muscle in her body hurt, not to mention her ribs. Everly groaned, and her eyes closed again.

Something cool was placed on her throat, and she reached up to take it off, but her hand was caught in Ball’s. “Leave it. I know it hurts, but it’ll bring down the swelling.”

At first the chemical ice pack did hurt, but the longer it was on her throat, the better it felt.

Everly felt her right hand being lifted . . . and smiled when she figured out what Ball was doing. The feel of the ring Me-Maw had given her being slipped back on her finger was a huge relief.

Ball had found it and had come for her.

The words she’d held back rushed to the surface. Opening her eyes, she blurted, “I love you.”

Ball smiled, leaned forward, and kissed her forehead. “It’s a good thing, because I love you too.”

Everly heard the other men talking about the best way to carry her out, and the need to notify the authorities to recover Tylor’s body, but she didn’t care. In other circumstances, she’d be the one taking charge, but she trusted Ball’s friends to do what needed to be done.

She stared up at Ball and couldn’t look away from his gaze. Elise was safe. Her stalker/kidnapper was dead. And Ball loved her. She couldn’t ask for anything else.





Chapter Nineteen

“Hey, Ball,” Everly said as she entered the house.

Ball looked up to see his sexy girlfriend in her equally sexy uniform. She was still on half days at the police department, doing light desk duty until the doctor cleared her to go back to her regular routine. She’d healed remarkably fast, even though her fractured ribs had been very painful for a few weeks.

It had now been a month and a half since the incident with Tylor Tuttle, and when Ball had brought both her and Elise back to his house after Everly had been discharged from the hospital, they’d simply never left. They hadn’t had a big involved conversation about them staying, it had just happened, and he was fucking thrilled.

Luckily, Elise hadn’t been injured much at all. She had a few cuts and bruises from where Tuttle had hit her, and tackled her at their apartment. But Everly had to stay in the hospital for two days for observation. She had a few cracked ribs, her feet were a mess from the sharp rocks, and her larynx had been bruised when Tuttle had tried to strangle her.

Ball had wanted to kill him all over again after the doctor had finished telling them both how lucky Everly had been. The sight of that asshole strangling her was one he’d never forget. He’d been steps away from the fucker, from planting his knife in the back of his neck and paralyzing him for life, when Everly had kicked him over her head as if he’d weighed little more than a child.

He’d slept at the hospital with Everly, and Allye had taken Elise to her house. She’d called Elise’s therapist to the house at two in the morning to see her, and the two had talked until dawn, only stopping when Elise couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore.

Even though it seemed like ages ago now that Everly had almost died, and she was mostly healed, Ball couldn’t help but get upset every time he thought about the bruises she’d had around her throat for way too fucking long. He had no idea what he would’ve done if Tuttle had succeeded in choking her, or had pulled her with him over the side of the cliff.

“What did you find out?” Everly asked as she dropped her stuff on the floor and came over to where he was sitting on the couch.

Earlier that morning, Ball had a phone call with the rest of the Mountain Mercenaries and Rex.

Their handler had updated them on what was happening with the case. It had taken a while for everything Tuttle had done to come to light, but now that it had, Ball knew they’d been lucky. Very lucky.

He wanted to spare Everly the terrible details about Tuttle, but she was a cop, she dealt with awful things all the time. Although this time was a little different, considering it was her sister who’d almost fallen prey to this psychopath. But he respected her enough not to prevaricate.