Embracing Everly (27 page)

“FUCK! I DON’T
care who you have to call. You just do it. Get him in protective custody before Mick gets there and until his trial.” Dawson screamed into the phone, and I felt bad for whoever was on the receiving end.

“Everything okay?”

“No, honey it’s not.”

“Can I help?”

He snickered. “I wish you could, but I’m afraid you’re too late.”

“Is Mick in trouble?”

He glanced out the window just as a knock sounded. “I thought you didn’t care.”

“I never said that,” I whispered, feeling ashamed of myself.

“It’s been over two months, Everly since you walked. I’m here for your dad, but I’m here for him too. That poor kid has been wallowing away, while you’re down here sipping Coronas at happy hour with your new friend, who is probably waiting for her happy hour partner right now.”

“I’ll get rid of her.”

“Jane?” her voice rang out.

“Coming, Sara.” I swung open the door ready to hand out a lie to appease her when her scared face came into view.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Out of the lights, a man with a gun stepped out, pistol pointing directly at her temple.

“Move,” he ordered. He hurried in, shoving Sara as I moved to the side. “Don’t do it, man.” He gripped Sara in one hand and pointed his gun toward Dawson, who was going after his own weapon. “You remember me, homey?”

“Nah,” he shook his head.

“Put your gun on the table, now!” Dawson placed it down and held up his hands.

“You put me away five years ago. I got out on good behavior. I’m doing a favor for an old friend.”

“Look whatever beef you have it’s with me, let the ladies go.”

He smiled, and a gold tooth sparkled in the light. “Ah, no can do since I’m here for this one.” He pointed to me, and my heart dropped. “You, you’re just an added bonus. When I was told it was you, I volunteered.”

“What do you want with me?” I was almost too afraid to ask. I had no idea what he could want with me, and if it was true, I knew I might not make it out alive.

“Quiet, Ev.”

“Who’s Ev?” Sara asked, scared and crying.

“Tie her up,” he ordered Dawson. Dawson came over, took Sara to a chair and tied her with the rope he was given from this man. He whispered something to Sara, but I couldn’t understand anything he was saying.

Once he forced Dawson to sit next to Sara, he tied him up too. Dawson flinched as he tightened the ropes, but shot me a promising wink when the man wasn’t looking.

His cell rang. “Please, man, this shit was easy. You don’t owe me nothing,” he told the caller. “Yeah, I can do that. I have two problems.” He went on telling them about Sara and Dawson and the entire time Dawson stared my way, mouthing words I couldn’t make out as hard as I tried. When he realized he was getting nowhere with me, he looked at Sara and did the same to her. Although she was silently freaking out, so I didn’t know if she understood him either.

“Should I wait or bring her there?” he paused. “Hold up,” he told them.

“Hey, asshole, when’s the call coming in from Moore?” he spoke to Dawson and my question was answered.

“About an hour.” This I could tell surprised Dawson that they knew about the call they had planned.

“I’ll wait and report back.” He disconnected and helped himself to a beer, his eyes trained on me.

After about twenty minutes of him staring out the window, Dawson caught my eye with his movements. A small mirror on the mantle revealed his one hand freeing from the rope. I gasped without thinking.

“What?” the man turned to me.

“Nothing.” I quickly recovered. “I thought I saw a cockroach.”

He looked around like he’d find it and be my savior by killing it, but then went back to focusing on something out the window. I intently stared, shaking in my flip-flops as Dawson untangled his other hand. He looked at me, shaking his head slowly warning me from tipping him off.

Dawson began to inch his way off the seat inch by inch but stopped the second the man moved away from the window.

“Get me another beer, bitch,” he sneered.

I wanted to look at Dawson but was too afraid to give him away. I hurried with the beer and handed it off. “Half hour, Princess. You better hope your old man calls in. Otherwise, you might be swimming with all those fishies out there.”

He went back to his position by the window. I swallowed back any fear that had been building. Sara was quietly sobbing in her seat going unnoticed, and I feared for her. Dawson nodded and pointed his chin to the right telling me to move over. I did as subtly as possible. It happened so quickly I almost missed the entire thing.

Dawson shot from his chair so fast and eerily quiet for a man his size and grabbed the back of the man’s head, slamming it against the window, instantly shattering the glass. “Run, Everly. I’ll find you.”

I glanced back to Sara. “I’ll get her, just go NOW!” he screamed as he put him in a chokehold.

I ran as fast as my feet would take me. I thought about screaming for help but was too afraid to add anyone else to the list of the madman that held us. I thought about the beach but then his fish scenario had me shying away from that area. I ran and ran until I was wandering around the town aimlessly praying they made it out, looking for somewhere to hide. Somewhere to keep me safe.

“YOU’RE A STUPID
fuck, you know that?” Fuzz slammed his fist down on the bar at the clubhouse I had decided to drown in for the night. I refused to answer. Fuzz’s friend found me parked outside Charlie’s house, waiting for movement. Waiting for Charlie to be alone. It never happened. Now we’re back at the office in Florida.

I made my mind up, and I was leaving and nothing shy of death would stop me from going back to my sister.

“What Mick, you think we’re a bunch of idiots? Two fucking days, actually now one fucking day, until he’s behind bars and then we’ll make the damn hit on him. Why can’t you wait? What’s the damn rush all of a sudden?” He raised his voice. Fuzz had phoned in a buddy to haul my ass back to the club after Beth made good on her promise to call and rat on me. It just so happens he was on his way back from a job close enough to pick me up. At least the asshole towed my Harley on the back of his U-Haul after throwing me inside his pickup truck, and cuffing me to prevent escaping.

“I needed that one thing, Fuzz, and you took it away. I only had one thing left that I could give her.”

“You think that little girl wants that preppy-pretty–faced-ass behind bars?”

“I don’t think she cares one way or the other,” I whined even though I knew I sounded like a dipshit.

He handed off a beer and tapped mine with his. “You ain’t going anywhere. Not yet at least. We’re just getting used to ya.” I tipped the beer back. The cold felt so good sliding down my throat.

“What do you mean, Dawson? Yeah, he’s here hold on a sec.” Beth hurried over looking liked a scared girl, making us both pay full attention.

“It’s Dawson,” she told Fuzz and then looked at me all gloom and doom. “The Reapers found Everly. She’s missing.” Jesus Christ! How many times could one name stop a heart and still make it out alive?

Without thought, I grabbed the phone from Beth. “What happened?”

“Ah, shit! I asked for Fuzz.” Dawson sighed on the other end. “She took off. I can’t find her. I told her to run, but I guess I thought she’d stay close and wait.”

“What about the fucking Reaper?”

“Arrested. I knocked him out and called it in. I went right after her, Mick. I don’t have a clue where she could be. She left with nothing—no money, no phone.”

“Shit!” I hollered not feeling like I could deal anymore. “Where are you and don’t give me any crap about her father and promises?”

“Key West.” Two words. Two beautiful words that would lead me back to her. I knew I was supposed to give her up, let her go and all that shit. But, she needed me. I could feel it in my gut.

“All right. I’ll jump on the next flight and text you when I’m due in. Come pick my ass up, and we’ll find her.” I hesitated asking the next question, but needed to know what we were up against. “How much time do we have before they know shit went south?”

“A few hours maybe. I made sure the cops knew not to give him a call right away.”

“See you in a few.”

Fuzz and I boarded a private flight, which took off two hours after we spoke to Dawson. Since it was last minute, we used an old friend named Joe who still thought he owed Dawson his life and helped us out when called upon. Since driving was not an option seeing how long it would take, we called in a favor. I had planned on going alone, but Fuzz wouldn’t let up insisting we might need the backup. We couldn’t fly into the Key West Airport because we were carrying firearms. Joe knew of a small hanger that he’d used in the past and radioed it in. We landed about an hour later, and I was thankful Dawson was already there waiting.

He smiled when he saw us walk down the steps. “You look like shit, Irish.”

“At least I can sleep and then look good again, old man. Can’t say the same for you,” I teased him trying to ease the obvious worry from all of our thoughts.

He looked to Fuzz. “I can’t believe she let you down here without her.”

He snarled. “Me either,” he paused and looked between the two of us. “We gonna stand here and make more snide remarks, or go find that little girl?”

Dawson draped his arm over my shoulder. “We’ll find her, Mick. She couldn’t have gotten too far. She’s scared and hiding out somewhere.”

“If anything happens to her…”

“Can’t think like that, kid,” Fuzz added.
Yeah, no shit.
Tell my brain that.

“I think one of us should sit at her place. She might come back too scared to go anywhere else. She also, like I told you, left with nothing but the shoes on her feet and the clothes on her back.”

“It’s late, where would she go?”

“I’m hoping she comes home. Let’s set up there and figure out the rest,” Dawson suggested. We both nodded in agreement.

It was nothing like I thought it would be. I had never been down this far south in Florida. It was so different from Tampa and the hustle and bustle of the city. I found I loved the whole relaxed atmosphere. Forty minutes later, we pulled up to a bright aqua house. The shade of blue was so bright you could make it out just by the light of the moon. We headed on in passing another house. All three of us detected the curtain was moving slightly to the side enough to see a woman alert at our arrival. I kept my head down and moved forward. “We being watched?”

“She’s harmless. It’s Everly’s neighbor friend.”

I came to a screeching halt. “Wait! Hold up. I thought you said it was a dude next door?”

“Did I say that?” he asked like he had no clue the shit storm he stirred up inside me.

“Yeah, you fucking did. I almost fucking left for that very reason.”

He glared at Fuzz, angered. “You didn’t tell me that?”

Fuzz shrugged. “Didn’t have a chance yet. We got him back, so the way I look at it—you owe me.”

We all piled inside, and I immediately smelled Everly’s scent everywhere. A scent that I had missed more than I could’ve possibly imagined. A scent I wanted to get lost in. A scent I wanted to hold in my arms and breathe in.

“Where were you going?” Dawson asked me.

I stroked the blanket draped across the sofa, wondering if she fell asleep wrapped around it watching television. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Dawson gripped my elbow. “It matters. Where were you going?”

“Home,” I admitted. Why hide it? I was sick of running and hiding and all the crap that went with it.

“Home, as in Boston?” he asked with suspicion in his tone. It was like he was my damn father; he always knew when I was lying.

“No,” I answered, defeated. “I was going to find Mary Catherine, my sister in Ireland.”

He shook his head unable to believe the words spewing from my mouth. “Ireland? How many times have we talked about your father and all the shit he does, and how all of it will come down on you like a goddamned hurricane if you go running back with your tail between your legs?”

“I know. I just felt like I needed something.”