Chapter Thirty

Ever

A s I’m rummaging through the box and finding things that make me smile and bring back the happiest memories, I come across a small piece of folded paper. I frown, not immediately recognizing it, and then my eyebrows rise as I read the note. It’s the note that Isabelle gave me all those years ago. She made me promise that unless I knew what the initials and three dates meant, that I didn’t call the number. Although something about them struck familiar with me, I never could quite place it, and then life got hectic as fuck, and I sort of forgot that it existed.

She told me that it had nothing to do with what we were looking into at the time, and she was right. I didn’t just want to throw it away since she had taken the time to give it to me, and eventually, it may have made sense, but it never did, so it went in my memory box since that was the only way that I could assure that I wouldn’t lose it. She was one of the only people that I have come across who had something nice to say about Amelia. I think she felt sorry for her, I think she may have seen herself in my mother, and the more I learn about Amelia, the more I am sure that Isabelle was probably projecting herself onto my mother.

Although Isabelle did know her when she was much younger, and maybe at one point she really was like that, before my father leached anything that was good or nice from her.

The numbers still look familiar to me, but I can’t place them, and it is only the one set that seems to jog something in my memory but not enough that I can actually remember why. As I stare at the number, an idea starts to form; it’s mostly just so I can put off thinking about what I should be thinking about, and that is my mother and her funeral.

I want to call the number; Isabelle told me not to unless I recognised the numbers but now that I have found it and remembered that it exists, I am insanely curious. There is a chance that the number no longer works anyway since it was such a long time ago that it was given to me. It would also be one long standing mystery solved.

“What are you doing?” Jensen asks, making me jump.

He has somehow managed to enter the room without me hearing him and is lying on the bed above me, on his stomach, his hands steepled under his chin, holding his head up with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Fucking hell Jensen, you scared the shit out of me,” I accuse, and his grin widens even more. I ask, “How long have you been there?”

“Not very long, but it’s nice to know that my stealth lessons with Luc are working.” He replies, looking proud.

“They’re definitely working,” I reply.

“So, you didn’t answer my question,” he says, his eyes full of curiosity.

I only debate telling him for a moment before I hold up the piece of paper, “Do you remember this.”

He squints slightly and then nods, “Yeah, that’s from Isabelle, right? We had a big shoot-out at her place?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” I reply, impressed that he has remembered.

He frowns, “Did we ever figure out what the numbers and initials were?”

I shake my head, “No, I thought I recognised one, but I couldn’t place it, and I still can't.”

“Right,” Jensen says, dragging out the word. His eyes narrow again, “What are you up to, and I’m in.”

I chuckle, and push up so I can kiss him, before I sit back down and reply, “I do love you.”

“I love you too, Angel,” he grins, and then raises his eyebrow, “that didn’t answer my question though.”

“I’m going to call the number,” I say.

“Okay,” Jensen agrees immediately, “put it on speaker so that I can hear as well.”

“Just like that, you are going to agree? You aren’t going to try and stop me or tell me it’s a bad idea?”

Jensen chuckles, “Oh, it’s most definitely a bad idea but I’m curious as hell and it’s been so long it might not even work anymore but at least we’ll know.”

“Good point,” I reply and then pull out my phone so that I can start typing the number. There is no point in hanging around.

“Oh, this is exciting,” Jensen mutters from above me, his eyes twinkling and his legs kicking in the air behind him.

I grin as I press the call button and then immediately put it on speaker so that Jensen can hear as well.

“How did you get this number, I stopped giving it out years ago?” An angry voice demands through the phone. I don’t reply though as there is something familiar about it, before I can place it the person speaks again, “Don’t make me ask again."

I share a look with Jensen, who is frowning. Suddenly, it clicks, my eyes widen.

“Liam?” I ask and Jensen shoots up into a sitting position, nearly throwing himself off the bed in the process.

Liam’s voice is shocked and a whole lot softer than it was a second ago as he asks, “Ever?”

“What the fuck?” I reply, incapable of saying anything else.

Liam chuckles, which is really weird, and then replies, “I could ask you the same thing. Where did you get this number from? I haven’t used it, or rather, I haven’t given it out for years.”

“Isabelle gave it to me years ago, along with a list of dates,” I reply, still in shock.

“Isabelle?” Liam questions, sounding slightly confused, and then asks, “What were the dates?”

I read them to him and then ask, “Do you know what they mean?”

“There is my birthday, written in the English format since that is how I like to write it, and only people close to me know that, your mother's birthday and the date we met. Whatever was going on at the time, Isabelle must have thought that I could help you. She wouldn’t have wanted to mention my name directly unless you already knew of me and my connection to Amelia. She was a big believer in staying the fuck out of other people's shit.” Liam explains, effectively solving a mystery that we have had for years, just like that, with such a simple explanation.

“What was Isabelle to you?” I ask him.

“I knew her from when we were kids, she went to the other school near Blackbreak, your mom was good friends with her before Marv got his claws into her. She was a friend of mine, a really good friend,” he says fondly. “I tried to help her with that fucker, Chris. I set her up with as much as I could to keep her hidden; she was so fucking stubborn and didn’t accept my help easily, but at least I managed to get her to accept that. Your mother didn’t particularly like that I helped her. I think I was more upset than she was when news of her murder reached us.”

Weirdly, I feel sorry for Liam; I didn’t detect a single lie in anything that he said. It’s a feeling that I am not sure what to deal with.

I have no idea how to respond to that; if that story was told to someone who had no idea who Liam was, they would think that he is a kind man. I know that he is capable of horrendous things, but up until recently, that is all that I would have said he was. Now, I'm confused, and I know that I'm not the only one. I need to talk to Atty.

Because I don’t know how to respond, and clearly neither does Jensen since he is just sitting there with his eyebrows raised and looking slightly perplexed, I reply, “Thank you, for filling me in.”

“Anytime Ever. I mean that, any questions that you have, I promise I will try to answer to the best of my ability.” He pauses and then adds, “I don’t know if Atlas told you, but your mother’s funeral is happening soon, I gave them the details.”

Those words jolt through me, and I reply, “Yeah, they mentioned it, bye Liam.”

I hang up the phone, I am not willing to have that conversation with Liam, I can’t.

“Are you okay?” Jensen asks me, as he pulls me into a tight hug.

I take a moment, listening to his steady heartbeat. My mind is a mess, and it is going around in circles, not really making much sense; I need to stick to my original plan more than ever before. I need to escape for a bit and go for a ride.

“I need to go and see Tank,” I say, and then add, “the guys should know about what Liam said as well, and that the number was from him.”

Jensen kisses the top of my head, “You go and see Tank, and I will round the guys up and tell them when they have all woken up; it’s not something that is urgent anyway, okay?”

I nod and stand up, “Thank you.”

“Of course, Angel, you go and do what you need to do. Stay safe and take your phone,” he replies.

I nod, scoop my phone up off the floor, and then head out of the door. I manage to move through the house without running into anyone, although I do stop and give Runa some fuss because otherwise, I won’t hear the end of it later, and she will just sit and meow at me until she has decided I have learned my lesson.

It doesn’t take me very long at all to get up to the stables, and get Tank tacked up, and ready to go. By the time we head out on our favourite trail the grey skies have started to worsen, and it is now raining. It’s not too bad, only a light drizzle really and I need to clear my head more than I am worried about a bit of rain, it doesn’t bother Tank in the slightest, so we head out anyway.

For a time, we just ride, moving at a fast pace and burning off some of this extra energy that I have so that I can at least start to get my thoughts in line and working the way that they should so that I can begin to make sense of the circling thoughts. It’s incredibly freeing, and the trust that I have with Tank means that I can let my mind race as fast as we are and trust that he is not going to misbehave.

It takes a while but eventually we’re both ready to slow down a bit, and when that happens, I realise that I’ve been so lost in my thoughts that I haven’t noticed that the rain that was a drizzle not that long ago is down starting to pick up and along with it so is the wind. This seems a bit more than just a bit of rain.

I sit up straighter in my saddle as I look around and try to work out exactly how far I have come and how long it’s going to take me to get home.

“Fuck,” I curse and Tank snorts, almost like he is in agreement.

I must have been lost in my thoughts for longer than I thought because we are actually a couple of hours away from the house, and the rain is only getting heavier.

“Come on, Tank, baby, we better head back. I don’t want to be out in this any longer than we have to be,” I tell him, and again, he snorts.

The weather is getting worse faster than I had hoped, so I push Tank into a canter as we race back through the woods.

I am soaked through, rain dripping down my back between my coat and my neck; I keep having to swipe the rain out of my eyes so that I can see where we’re going, but it’s no use, and I’m having to rely mostly on Tank knowing how to get us home. The wind howling through the branches isn’t helping matters and if I don’t get ill after this, I will be incredibly fucking shocked.

Suddenly the sky lights up with the flash of lightning and then thunder booms so incredibly loudly that it spooks the usually bomb proof Tank, he rears up in panic, and thanks to the rain making everything slippery I can't keep a good enough grip on him and fall off, landing with a hard thump on the floor as Tank, still panicking bolts off through the woods.

Fucking hell that hurt, I grumble to myself, as I take stock of any injuries that I have. Fortunately, nothing is broken, but I am going to have some pretty monster bruises, I can just tell. I'm also covered from head to toe in mud. Glancing around I have no idea where I am, and Tank is nowhere to be seen, he has most likely taken himself home.

Sighing, and wishing that I would warn more layers as the woods light up with a flash of lightning once again, I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I mutter. The screen is smashed and there is absolutely no way that I can make a call on it, it is completely dead. I must have landed on it when Tank threw me.

Looking around at the dark woods, the weather making it seem much later than it actually is, I scrunch my face up. Are you supposed to stay where you are when you are lost or carry on moving? It’s probably going to be a while before anyone realizes that I am missing, and to be honest, I am starting to shiver from being so wet and the chilling slice of the wind. It’s because of these reasons that I start to walk, hoping that it will at least keep me warm and that I am heading in the right direction.

Atlas

J ensen came down and filled us in a while ago, and honestly, I don’t know how I feel about what he said. I think it says a lot that in the past, I would have immediately said that he was lying and playing with Ever’s feelings, but now I'm questioning it. I know a conversation with him is looming, I know that in my gut, but I also know that conversation is going to throw me through a fucking loop, and I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.

So, I am taking a leaf out of Ever’s book and putting a pin in it, like she likes to say. I will deal with it, just not right now.

“Is Ever back yet?” Rage asks with a frown as he walks into the front room.

“No,” I reply, and then realising just how worried he is I ask, “why? What is going on?”

“Look outside, I think that storm that we were preparing for has come through early, the weather is horrendous,” Rage explains, just as he finishes thunder booms loudly sounding like it's right on top of us and I jump up.

“Maybe we should check the cameras and see if she is up at the stables. This came on pretty quickly, but she has been gone for a couple of hours, so hopefully, she made it back there before it got worse,” I suggest. I really fucking hope I am right.

“Is Ever back?” Cash asks, coming into the room, and we shake our heads.

As Rage quickly fills Cash in on the plan that we have, I send a text to the guys, and do the same. By the time I look up everyone is in the front room and Pete has his laptop out, a worried look on his face as taps away, and we all silently watch him.

“She’s not at the stables and neither is Tank, so they haven’t come back yet,” Peter says.

“I don’t like this,” Luc mutters, looking out of the window as yet more thunder cracks above us.

“Me neither,” Riot agrees.

“Let’s get our gear on and grab the four-wheelers; we can go and look for them,” Trick suggests.

“Tank won’t like the thunder; she might be hurt,” Rage says, heightening our worry even more.

“Gear up,” Trick snaps and we all disperse, getting ready to go.

I pull on my boots, my mind filled with worry for Ever, especially as I watch Luc get his kit and strap it to his back; she better fucking be okay. Only Ever would go to think and end up lost in a storm. We are ready within a couple of minutes, and head to the garage where we keep most of our four wheelers, we turn them on as we wait for the garage door to open.

When it finally does several curses ring out around us, Tank canters into the clearing where we usually park our cars, his eyes panicked, and his ears pinned back.

“Fuck,” Rage curses again. “Stay here.”

We do as we are told because Tank is a massive fucking horse, and if he wanted to, he could kill you, and he is currently scared. I watch, impressed, as Rage walks confidently up to a pacing Tank and has him calm and relaxed within moments; even when a boom of thunder cracks above us, Tank stays calm.

“Can he lead us to her?” Trick asks once it’s obvious he is calm enough.

Tank whinnies, and Rage smiles, “There is only one way to find out, he is bonded with her, so maybe. I know the trails she likes to take anyway, so we can start there.”

He puts his foot in the stirrup and then swings his leg over effortlessly, and Tank immediately takes off again, heading back into the woods.

“Let’s find our woman,” Jensen says as he chases after them both.

Ever you better be fucking okay.

Ever

I don’t know how long I have been walking for, but I do know that it’s too fucking long; I am miserable, wet, sore, and now starting to shiver. I am pretty sure that I have got myself turned around, and I'm just walking around in circles.

It is amazing to me how a place that is usually so familiar to me can be so unfamiliar and unwelcoming in the middle of a storm. I feel like the biggest idiot alive for not double-checking what the weather was doing before I came out, but to be honest, the weather was the last thing on my mind. I’m now panicking about where Tank is and if he is okay, the thunder is pretty fucking relentless and is getting louder.

I usually love thunder and lightning, but this is fucking terrifying.

Okay, Ever, we need to get our shit together; if anyone out there is listening, please let my severe lack of sense of direction turn into a great sense of direction just this once. I want to be inside by the fire, warming up with cuddles and hot chocolate.

I don’t think anyone fucking heard me, and if they did, they are probably laughing at me right now and my epic misfortune.

What kind of person gets lost on their own fucking property?

I stop and once again look around me, trying to find something that I recognize, but through the pounding rain, everything just seems the same, and I decide that we are going to get fucking markers or some shit out here.

A massive clap of thunder, the loudest one yet, makes me jump, and the floor is so slippery and slick from the rain that I lose my footing; I don’t manage to catch myself in time, and my head bounces off the floor; I try to fight it, but the dizziness takes over, and I black out.

A wave of DeJa’Vu washes over me, Fuck.