I had half a mind to do it simply to prove Calder wrong. “Get out of my office before I throw this coffee at you.”
He chuckled but pushed to his feet. “I have to get to work anyway.”
“Enjoy riding that pole.”
“Always do, desk jockey.”
Just as Calder disappeared, Deputy Young stepped into my office with an amused smile on her face. “Did he just call you a desk jockey?”
“Yes,” I growled. “He’s an ass.”
“He’s a firefighter. They’re all pompous.”
“You’re not wrong there. What can I do for you, Young?”
Her feet shuffled as she gripped the back of the chair Calder had vacated. “I, uh, saw something yesterday I thought you might want to know about.”
“Okay…”
“I was picking up lunch for my mom and me from Spoons, and I saw Everly Kemper.”
Young stopped talking. I waited for a moment, but she didn’t say anything else. “She does live here now. You’ll probably see her in town.”
“I know. It’s just… It looked like her brother was threatening her. I was about to step in and see if she needed help when her uncle called Ian off. I’ve got a bad feeling about those guys, boss.”
The coffee in my gut soured. I did, too. And Everly hadn’t said a single word when I showed up at the cabin yesterday afternoon. “He touch her?”
“He knocked into her when he walked away. She stood her ground, didn’t let him see her scared. But I saw her shaking a bit when she walked to her car.”
I bit back a slew of curses. I didn’t want to feel this pull to make sure Everly was okay. I tried to justify in my mind that it was simply because this was my job—to protect the citizens of this county. But I worried it was more.
11
Everly
I leaned on the fence and pulled. With a groan, it gave way in an almost comical domino effect. Post after post, and board after board went down. That answered whether any part of the fence line was salvageable. It looked like an entire new one was on my list. I stepped on a rail with my boot. The wood itself seemed sturdy. That meant I might be able to reuse the materials, but it also meant I’d have to assess each piece.
The sound of an engine caught on the breeze, and I turned to see an old pickup truck cresting the hill. I stiffened, my hand going to the holster at my back and resting there. If my brother thought he’d catch me unaware, he had another thing coming.
But it wasn’t Ian who climbed out of the truck. It was a face as familiar as his, but one that had matured over the years. The rest of him had, too, broad shoulders and a leanly muscled form. I froze in place, my body warring with itself. Part of me wanting to run to Ben and engulf him in a hug. The other part felt the need to protect myself from whatever might be coming my way.
“Hey, Evie.”
His voice was different, yet the same. And it had tears burning the backs of my eyes. “Hey, Ben.”
“Ian said you were back.”
I did my best not to stiffen at my brother’s name. “I’m sure he had lots to say about that.”
“Ian has a lot to say about any topic. Even when he doesn’t know anything about it.”
His words startled a laugh out of me. “I guess some things never change.”
Ben took a step closer. “You have, though.”
“Bound to, I guess.”
“You gonna take that hand off your gun, or still making up your mind?”
Of course, he knew what my hand rested on. We’d practically grown up together, his family having the ranch next to my uncle’s and being just as involved in the prepper community as we were. We’d formed this insular almost-family. Homeschooled together, raced horses, swam in the lake. But all of that had disappeared in a blink.
My hand flexed. “That depends on why you’re here.”
“To see my best friend.”
I studied Ben’s face. I didn’t see any deceit in it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.
He took another step closer. “I’ll never forgive myself for not protecting you. For not stepping in when Ian—”
The look on my face stopped Ben cold, and his words fell away. The echoes of pain had entrenched themselves there. I usually kept them well disguised, but I couldn’t hide them when he brought that up. “Someone should’ve stepped in. I’m not sure it was your job, though.”
The feel of Ian’s steel-toed boot in my stomach, ribs, and shoulder resurfaced. The pain bloomed as if it were yesterday, not sixteen years ago. I released my hold on the gun, my hands fisting so my nails could dig into my palms as if that small bite of pain could distract from memories of so much worse. It couldn’t.
Ben kicked at a rock. “It was my job. I’d been looking out for you practically since you were born.”
It was true enough, but it only hurt more to hear him say it aloud. “I can’t go there. Please, don’t make me.”
“All right. But I need you to know I’ve regretted it every day since.”
I nodded, unable to get any other words out for a moment. “Why did you stay?”
“It’s home.”
It was such a simple answer—the ties that bound us to family, the roots that made up our pasts, they were powerful. Far more than I’d given them credit for when I was just eleven years old. “I get that.”
“Are you okay? I don’t know that you should be staying up here all alone. If I talk to Allen, he’ll let you come back. He won’t do anything—”
“I can take care of myself.” My spine locked tight. It didn’t matter how many precious childhood memories I shared with the Ben I’d known as a boy; he was a man now. And he was tied up with a group of people who wanted nothing more than to put me in the place they thought I belonged and deserved—which was likely under their boot.
“I know that you’re a capable woman. I admire that. But—”
“But nothing. I’m fine here. And I’m more than protected. You can report that back to Allen and Ian.”
“I’m not reporting—” The sound of another vehicle cut off Ben’s words. Another unfamiliar truck appeared, and Ben surveyed the driver. When he saw that it was a woman, he turned back to me. “I should get going. I’ll come by later and—”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
The hurt that flashed across his face cut, but I just dug my fingernails deeper into my palms. I had to draw a line in the sand because as much as I’d missed our friendship, I wouldn’t let Ben try to drag me back to that life. Not now, not ever.
“Okay, then. When you change your mind, you know where I’ll be.”
My throat burned as I watched him walk back to his truck and drive away. As his taillights disappeared, I tried to convince myself that it was for the best. A door slammed, and I looked at the woman who was standing in front of a dusty truck.
I would’ve recognized her anywhere. The image of the missing person’s poster was seared into my mind. Even a decade and a half of time passing and growing up didn’t disguise her.
Shiloh raised her chin and met my gaze. “Who was that?”
I wanted to laugh. She asked the question as if we were lifelong friends, and she had every right to know who came and went from my life. “Someone I used to know.”
“Friend or foe?”