Chapter Ten

Riot

F inally, we pull up outside of the restaurant. All of our nerves are high, and for a moment we just sit in the car and wait.

“We should probably get out,” Cash says, “our reservation is at seven.”

Trick takes a deep breath, “Alright, let’s do this.”

We all get out of the car, and the majority of us remain silent. Then, we head into the restaurant. All of our eyes scan the restaurant, looking for Ever, but I don’t recognize anyone. That doesn’t mean that she’s not here though. She could be in the kitchen picking up orders, or maybe she hasn’t arrived for her shift yet.

The hostess shows us to our seats, and we still remain silent as we wait for our server to show up and take our order.

“Guys,” Jensen smirks, although the nerves are obvious in his bouncing foot, “we should probably talk or something, sitting here in silence is going to look suspicious and most likely make people nervous.”

“Shit,” I curse and then chuckle, “it’s like we lose all sense in these situations.”

Cash sighs heavily and runs his hand through his hair, “Yeah, we do.”

“Why is it when someone says that you have to act normally, you immediately have no idea how to act normally?” Luc asks.

“Tell me why I don’t know what to do with my hands?” Trick asks, dead seriously and making us all laugh.

“Hey guys,” a voice near the table interrupts us, “I will be your server today. My name is Henry.”

“Hey, man,” Trick greets him while the rest of us just smile.

“What can I get you guys?” he asks.

We quickly give him our orders, and he smiles as he takes them down. He walks away, telling us that the food won’t be long, and the drinks will be right out. Once he has gone, the conversation is much more relaxed, although I don’t miss the fact that all of us keep checking the restaurant to see if we can see Ever anywhere.

Every dark-haired woman I see, my heart rate picks up, and I think that it’s her before it sinks when I inevitably realize that it’s not Ever.

We have had our main courses now and there is still no sign of Ever. Our contact said that she worked here, and that gives me an idea.

“Why don’t we ask one of the people working here if an Ever works here and if she’s in today?” I ask suddenly, halting the conversation that was already going on and that none of them were really invested in anyway.

“I don’t see why that wouldn’t work,” Trick replies with a shrug.

Cash raises his hand and calls Henry over to us.

“Is everything okay, guys?” Henry asks with a smile, adding, “Can I get you some refills?”

“No, we’re good, thank you,” Cash replies. “We were wondering if someone called Ever works here? She’s an old friend of ours, and we were told we could find her here?”

Cash doesn’t lie, he tells him the truth but in a way that doesn’t sound as crazy as it probably is. The way that we have people looking for Ever is not normal, under any circumstances, let alone for teenagers to be using these means. We are not normal teenagers, and we’re so used to that, sometimes I have to remind myself that what we consider normal would be a shock to other people.

Fortunately, Henry doesn’t seem to find anything odd with Cash’s question and answers with a happy smile.

“Oh yeah, Ever works here,” he looks around for the moment and my heart jumps into my throat. He points, “That’s her, do you want me to call her over?”

My stomach drops as my heart aches. That’s not Ever, not our Ever.

Cash swallows and clears his throat, pasting on a fake smile, “Oh no, that’s okay, that’s not our Ever. We must have gotten it wrong.”

“We probably misheard the name of the restaurant,” Trick adds.

Henry’s smile falls slightly as he says, “Oh, that sucks, guys.” His eyes light up as he says, “Oh, there’s another one of these restaurants on the other side of the city. Maybe that’s what she meant?”

Although it’s fake as hell, Trick smiles and replies, “Yeah, maybe. We will check with her and see which one she meant.”

“Thanks for your help,” Cash says.

“No problem,” Henry smiles kindly, “let me know if you need anything else.”

“We will, thanks, man.” Cash replies.

As soon as he’s walked away and is out of earshot, all of our smiles drop, our shoulders drooping as well.

“Fuck,” I mutter.

“I was really hoping that we had caught a break, and it was her,” Jensen adds, looking as upset as I feel.

“Me too,” Rafe signs.

“It’s been a long time since Luke’s called and been that excited about a lead,” Cash mutters, taking a long sip of his drink and clearly wishing that it was something stronger.

“Yeah, he is usually a lot more cautious about it and tries not to get our hopes up,” Trick says, “I think that’s why I found it more difficult to stay objective this time.”

“We all did, man,” I reply. “Are you guys ready to get out of here?”

“Hell yeah,” Jensen is the first person to agree.

“Don’t forget to give Henry a big tip,” Rafe signs.

“I like him,” Jensen agrees, as he leaves a tip big enough that it will most likely make his year.

“Let’s go,” Trick says.

We all get up and leave the restaurant, weaving through the tables and stepping outside.

“Guys!” We hear a voice call behind us just as we step outside.

I tense thinking that something is about to kick off because usually when people yell for us and follow us out of places, it’s because we have pissed someone off or because Tomlinson has decided that they want to cause a problem, and all the way out here it can’t be Tomlinson.

Turning around I find myself feeling slightly disappointed that I’m not going to get a fight, at least I don’t think so.

“Hey Henry, is everything okay?” Trick asks, with a frown.

Henry nods, “Yeah, sorry, I think you wrote down the wrong amount for the tip.”

Jensen smiles, “No, I didn’t, man; it’s all yours.”

Henry’s eyes widen, “Seriously?”

Jensen claps him on the shoulder, “Seriously.”

We don’t say anything else as we all turn around and head back to the truck, climbing in. When we leave the parking lot, Henry is still standing where we left him, with the receipt in one hand and the wedge of cash in the other.

We may have not found Ever tonight, but I’m pretty sure that we have made a difference in at least one person’s life judging by the look on Henry’s face.

“I’m calling Luke to let him know that this was a dead end and to take any mention of Ever in this town off the list of people to look into,” Trick says, as Cash keys in the location for the house he’s rented for us to stay.

“Was it her?” Luke asks as soon as he picks up and, sounding almost as hopeful as we were.

“Nah, man, it was a different Ever. Can you take any mentions of Ever in this town off the watch list,” Trick replies.

There is a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone before Luke replies, “Shit, I am so sorry, guys. I really thought it was her. You know I wouldn’t have sent you there if I didn’t think there was a chance that it could be her.”

“We know, dude. Don’t worry about it,” Trick replies.

“I still feel fucking awful,” Luke replies, his tone full of remorse. He’s silent for a moment before he says, “I’m guessing that you guys are feeling the need for some violence?”

My eyebrows raise as I answer for everyone and say, “Yeah. Why?”

“Well, I’ve had a job ping up on the dark web, and it’s in the city you’re in,” he starts.

Trick looks around at all of us to see if we are up for doing a job, and we all nod. I don’t know about the others, but I am definitely up for some violence, and our jobs are pretty much always fucking violent. Now, more than we usually do, we need this. It will definitely help me with the sting of this Ever not being our Ever.

Surprisingly, the sting isn’t as strong as it usually is, and I hate to say it, but I think it’s because I’m starting to lose hope that we will ever find her. We have been looking for a couple of years now, and there’s still no sign. It’s like she’s disappeared completely.

Even using our more alternative ways that really should have located her, we haven’t been able to, and I’m starting to wonder why it’s so damn hard. She’s not even on any sort of social media, or that would have made our search a thousand times easier.