“Sherr,” Eva said a little hesitantly.
“What’s up?”
“Can we go Abe’s for lunch?” She sounded somewhat unsure, as if trying to gauge my mood.
“We’re continuing?” I asked. I couldn’t hide the worry in my voice, and it seemed Chase honed in on it, because his eyes shot to me as I took a sip of my coffee.
“Sure.” In the back of my mind I was thinking about what Haley said, that if we thought we were in any trouble, we’d stop. Since she punched a big guy yesterday, I’d say we were in dangerous territory. Maybe I could convince her later to stop pursuing it.
“Eva?” Chase asked when the call ended.
“Mmm,” I hedged, lifting the coffee up to my lips to keep me from talking. “Damn good coffee.”
“Thanks. You going out later?” he asked as he sat down opposite me, placing a plate of eggs and ham on the table.
“Yep.”
“Need a ride?”
“Oh it’s fine, I’m stopping by the library after this, anyway.”
Abe’s was pretty close to the library, so it wasn’t a huge deal.
“Gonna be drinking?”
“Nope.”
My phone rang again. It was Sierra.
“Hey,” I answered, picking up.
“Oh my God Sherr, Evie is insane. That’s probably partly my doing, but why she had to decide to do this now I have no fucking cl–”
The line clicked.
“Hello?” Did she just hang up on me? That was odd. But then why would she… Oh. Eva must’ve been with her.
I was starting to think lunch was a bad idea. Not that I thought it was a good idea from the start anyway, but if I already thought it wasn’t a great idea, then that could only mean it could be much worse.
It was then that I realized Chase was looking at me, a brow raised in question.
I opened my mouth to say something else when my phone rang again.
Why the heck were so many people awake at this time?
It was Haley.
“Hi,” I said cautiously.
“Sherr,” Haley said, sounding a little breathless. “I don’t think it’s safe to meet at Abe’s later. Try Goodies’ Donuts?”
What on earth?
“Did something happen?”
“Well,” she continued, weary, “I just went to Abe’s to get some coffee after my night shift, and maybe a cookie, and I found Eva and Sierra basically fighting for a phone.”
Oh my God. If those two get me banned from the shop, I wasn’t going to speak to either of them for a long time.
I let out a sigh. And because I was a little curious, I asked, “Who won?”
“Neither. They broke it. It was Sierra’s phone, so now Eva feels bad, except she doesn’t look it. She did promise to replace it though.”
Pressing my forehead against my palm, my elbow resting on the table, I grimaced. “I swear, those two…”
“I know. I’ll be crashing right about now, so I’ll try to make it later, but no guarantees. Tell me about it if you decide to come.”
“Will do.”
As soon as I set my phone down, I stabbed some ham with a fork, and got some eggs. When I looked up, his expression was more than curious now, it was stern and unrelenting.
“Something wrong?” Chase asked.
"Just a brawl at Abe's."
He stewed on that as he ate some toast. “Something I've been thinking about. Where'd you go yesterday?” he asked, but his eyes were sharp.
"Umm. Just a little further out town, up north.”
"Why?"
Conflicted, I decided to tell him straight up. “I can’t tell you.”
He frowned, going still. “Can’t? Or won’t?”
“Can’t. I’ve been sworn to secrecy,” I told him gravely.
He seemed to think about this carefully before he asked, as concern flickered his gaze, "Will it get you hurt?"
Good question. I had no idea what it was going to be about that even Sierra declared was insane, but I couldn't lie to him.
"I don't know," I admitted. "But I'm going to find out."
* * *
Goodies' Donuts sold a variety of donut flavors, some hot dog rolls and a decent selection of ice cream. It had less people than Abe's, but that probably had more to do with their coffee being just okay, not the way that Abe's coffee was kick-ass.
So maybe that partially had to do with me not only getting a headache, not only not knowing what to say, because someone finally did go insane, but also that I had no idea what the heck to do. Having just had breakfast, I didn't feel like I had room for desert, so I had no sweet treat to fall back to.
"I'm sorry," I slowly said, finally losing it. "I thought you just told me that we were going to walk into a drug deal, with some drug-dealers in some shady alley, with some even shadier people. But that couldn't be right, right? Because," I pinched the bridge of my nose, and continued, "what. The. Fuck."
"We're not going to walk in on the deal. We’re just going to listen in, in case one of them might be Alan."
"And if they're not?" Sierra challenged.
"Then we go home."
"And then what next, Evie?" Sierra retorted. "You go on to the next deal you hear about from some source you can't even fully trust?"
"It's my brother!" Eva yelled back as she blinked back tears. "I don't even know that he's okay."
"The deal was, we stop if we think we're in any danger," Haley said quietly. "I think this puts us directly in danger."
Kate looked between us all, conflicted. "I think they're right. This seems a little crazy. I don't mind asking a few people about whether they've seen him, but…"
"I'll t-tell Wes," Eva said, hiccuping. "I'll tell him e-everything. Please, can we just do this one?"
The thing was, no one could look at Eva the way she was, crying and heartbroken, and not feel like you wanted to help her. Having her miserable now contrasted greatly with her usually sunny disposition.
* * *
"This is crazy," Sierra muttered for the seventh time.
"I know," I agreed, an equal number of times.
She'd gone insane.
By the time she told him, Wes was pissed. He was about to call the police, but all Eva had to say was "my source knows about me" and Wes reluctantly agreed not to, but I could tell he was still fuming.
The place of the drug-dealing was supposedly only a few blocks away from Doug's. I didn't like being anywhere near that place considering our reception when we last came.
* * *
None of them were her brother.
It felt a little anti-climactic, because we observed each face, but none of them were familiar.
One man stood waiting, dark-haired and olive-skinned. He was tall, his build bulkier, and he was carrying a case as he paced back and forth. Two men emerged right after, and they were both taller, but leaner, a blond and a redhead. I was surprised how fast it took.
Everything was going rather smoothly when Kate, who looked a little freaked out and a little pale, accidentally stepped over a branch. It made a snapping noise that pierced through the night. My hands flew to my mouth. Crap.
The men merely turned around, and scanned the area.
“Probably just rats,” I heard the first dark-haired guy say.
The blonde guy was about to take a step in our direction when the redhead whispered something in his ear. The blonde guy ignored him and continued walking closer.
Oh shit.
"It's okay, we'll be fine,” Sierra said quietly with a straight face. Only I didn’t know if she was trying to convince us or herself.
”No, it's not okay!” I whispered, starting to panic. “I don't want to die. We need to get out of here.”
Another branch snapped, this time from Sierra.
I looked back at her, putting a finger over my mouth. When I looked behind me, everyone was gone.
“Where is everyone?” I was starting to panic. “Oh my God. I'm going to do die."
> "Why do you keep saying that word?" Sierra hissed. “Only one place to hide, really.”
I pressed both my lips together tightly. I didn’t mean to say it, but I couldn’t help the images that sprung in my mind.
We were both rushing to slip in the space between two buildings. We found everyone there, pressed tightly in the small space.
I heard someone sneeze.
“Shhh,” me and Kate both put a finger over our lips.
“The fuck did you slather in your hair?” Wes demanded in a hushed voice. “Smells like oranges.”
“They’re apricots,” I heard Haley reply defensively. “They smell amazing.”
Wes muttered something back inaudibly.
When I peeked out, with Kate’s death grip on my arm, the street was empty. It didn’t seem like anyone was coming.
“Lets go home,” I heard Kate say. “Your brother isn’t there. Must be a blessing in disguise that he wasn’t involved with that.”
“I say aye. I’ve had five, six hours sleep today,” Haley said.
“Okay,” Eva conceded, but she only sounded deflated.
“Maybe in ten minutes to make sure they’re gone,” I suggested.
I heard a sneeze again. Wes wore a scowl.
Unsurprisingly, Wes gave Eva an earful on the way home. He was pissed, and the blame bled over to us. We hung our heads low. We did something totally reckless, and I had a feeling Chase wouldn’t be spared from the details. I wasn’t looking forward to that.
Throughout Wes’ tirade, Eva vacantly stared out the window. Somehow, remembering her response to dropping the search earlier at Goodies’, I had a feeling it would be pretty damn hard to get Eva to do something she didn’t want to do.
* * *
She proved me wrong.
Just as I was loading the dishwasher, my phone began to ring. Chase looked at me curiously. I had a feeling he knew something was going on. It was a wonder Wes hadn’t told him about it yet.
“I give up searching for him,” Eva told me, much to my surprise. “I shouldn’t have put you guys in danger. I’ll put out feelers, but I won’t actively search for him.” It was mingled with a little regret, but somehow, a little stilted.
“You won’t search for him anymore?” I asked, somewhat doubtful. She had no reservations about watching a drug-dealing transaction, but now she was letting it go just like that?
“I won’t get you in trouble anymore,” she said quietly. “It was stupid. I’ll let you guys know if I find out anything.”
Wanting to offer some form of comfort, I told her, “I hope he comes back, Eva.”
For her sake, I hope he did.
I heard her sigh. “Me too.”
* * *
It looked like Chase just got off a call too, because a muscle ticked in his jaw when he emerged from the room. He looked ready to chew someone’s head off.
Oh damn. May as well start telling him. “That was Wes, wasn’t it?” I brought up, bracing myself for his reaction.
He muttered a string of curses. “You could’ve been hurt.”
“Nothing happened.”
“That’s not the point, Sherr,” he replied, clipped. He approached me, and his hand shot to the fridge.
“She’s been worried sick about him,” I tried to explain. “Chase, you didn’t see her. I’ve never seen her look like that. We had to help her, and we–”
His eyes blazed. “Do you have any idea what it would do to me if something happened to you?”
“I do,” I blurted out before I even thought about it. “I’m sorry.”
My eyes were focused on his shoulder, not daring to look at him.
He went silent for a little while. His hands squeezed my shoulder. “You do, huh?” A hand went to tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear. His touch was tender, his voice lower, and when I looked up, gone was the fury, replaced by something else. Something softer. Something sweeter. “That mean something?”
“I didn’t mean to make you worry,” I babbled on like he hadn’t said a word, feeling like I needed to explain. “I had my phone. I thought it was crazy, but it was only going to be for one night, and Eva was miserable. And if…”
Noticing he wasn’t saying anything, I realized his lips were pressed together, as if trying hard not to laugh.
I frowned, put a hand on his chest, and pushed. Or tried to. It didn’t work, because he wouldn’t budge. “It’s not funny!”
“I guess subtle isn’t going to work,” he mused.
I didn’t feel like unraveling riddles today. I broke free, frustrated that he was talking about something else altogether. “I’ll make chili,” I declared.
“Need help?” he offered.
“I’ll be fine, thanks,” I said, looking for a pan.
But then his arms went around me, just holding me still. I placed a hand over his arm, wanting to soothe.
“Nearly fucking lost it,” he muttered. “Next time you do something that crazy, I need to know, okay?”
And because I didn’t want him to worry, and I’d had enough craziness today, I gave him that. “Okay,” I said softly.
Chapter Twenty-Three
As you wish
It was the perfect weather for a run. The sun was out again and I was looking forward to going out and getting a good workout.
I was damn near skipping this morning.
It was strange. Somehow, I felt like I’d gained a newfound appreciation and perspective for things, and I couldn’t have been more grateful.
There was no other way to describe the feeling– I felt, with a lightness of heart, like I could conquer the world.
Everything just felt right.
I also woke up and found out that Chase had gone to work early today, but he made me pancakes.
Pancakes. With chocolate chips! My heart swelled. He’d thought of me, and he’d made sure I knew it.
As I was pulling out some chocolate syrup, my phone burst out with the light, perky tune. Chase called, as I was learning was his habit just before he arrived at work, to check up on me.
“Morning, beautiful,” he said, his voice sexy, a little rough and just perfect. “Going for a run?”
“Morning,” I sighed. “Yep.”
“Get Haley.”
“‘Kay."
"Busy tonight?" he asked.
"Not really.”
"Wanna show you something later," he said warmly.
“Oh,” I said, pleasantly surprised. Then, “‘Okay, I’ll be here. Thanks for the pancakes by the way,” I told him, not quite wanting to let him go.
“Any time, baby.”
I paused to consider if I should ask him, but then decided it was worth a try. “Is it okay if you can drop by the library later? There was some book I could use about encryption. Cara said she’d hold it for me.”
Without skipping a beat, he replied, “As you wish.”
Oh my God.
My breath caught in my throat. We watched that movie together once. Okay, more than once, and only because I wanted to watch the same thing for years, and he never complained. Not once. “T-Thanks,” I managed to reply.
He let me go five minutes later, and even as we moved on to talk about something else, my mind was still reeling.
I was so looking forward to tonight.
* * *
I dialed Haley on my way out. It took a couple of rings before she picked up.
“Ready?” I asked cheerily, locking the door shut.
“Really sorry Sherr,” she replied, regretful. I didn’t miss how tired she sounded either. “Just got up. Not really feeling well this morning. Hadn’t really gotten enough sleep last night either.”
“Oh.” Hmm. I was okay with running alone, but knowing Chase, he would want someone with me.
Curiosity seemed to grip her, because she asked, “Will that stop you from running?”
Good question. I didn’t really want to do anything that would make Chase worry again, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to
do a shorter run since I already made the effort, plus I missed running.
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m all dressed. I’ll probably stick to the main streets. Sierra will kill me if I wake her up, Eva would take a while to get ready, and Kate has work.”
“Why? You've been running a while on your own now," she asked, a little confused.
“Uh, I felt like someone was watching me this one time. Then I looked out, and saw a head disappear behind a tree.”
She went oddly silent.
“Hales? Still there?”
“Sherr,” she said carefully, “don’t you think that’s weird?”
“It happened a couple of weeks ago. I don’t think that person was really watching me. Could be I just happened to look at that time. It just creeped me out is all.”
“But–”
“I have my phone,” I added to reassure her.
It seemed to satisfy her, because she just sighed in defeat. “Fine. Don’t go the usual route, okay? That area’s a little secluded and kinda quiet. Also, try asking Wes. You know how he’s usually up at this time.”
“Got it. Calling Wes and keeping close to shops and residential houses,” I uttered like an oath.
* * *
It turned out Wes was up, but he said he was helping his niece with homework.
I was in the middle of warm up, walking briskly. I loved morning runs. The sun was warm but not as hot, and the wind still slightly cooler.
“I didn’t know Lynn was here,” I said, delighted. Lynn was his nine-year-old niece, and she’d stolen the hearts of everyone she’d met right from her dimpled smile, and angelic voice when she sang.
“Yeah, she’s staying here for a bit while Mara fixes things with her asshole of an ex.”
“Is he still bothering her?”
“Not like before. But I know it hurts her, still.”
I was hoping he’d moved on. “I hope she’s okay.”
“Mara’s strong,” he replied, pride in his voice.
“She is, to have gone through all that,” I agreed. “If you guys need anything, let me know.”
“Thanks, Sherr.”
“Alright, got to go now.”
“See yah.”
To my surprise, almost as soon as I ended the call, an unknown number flashed on my screen. My finger hovered on the button considering it might be another prank call, then shrugged and decided to pick up,
Truce or Dare (Sweet Fortuity Book 1) Page 17
