Page 18 of The Job
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.
Chapter Eleven
Rafe
Iam absolutely gutted that Ever wasn’t at the restaurant, but if I am being completely honest with myself, I didn’t really think that she would be. I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason, and I believe that Ever will come back into our lives when she’s supposed to. Right now, there is far too much that would make it complicated if she were to come back into lives, like Riot was saying in the truck on the way up here.
If she’s found in a different town, which she is obviously going to be since she’s definitely not in our town, then we’re just going to have to leave her there, which would absolutely suck after we have spent so long looking for her, but it’s not like we can just stay with her or get her to come with us.
I don’t think that it’s the right time for her to come back into our lives. At least that’s what I keep telling myself, and what I’m going to keep telling myself until she’s back in our lives, or I have given up completely. We have our senior year coming up, and then we are off to college. Obviously, we’re all going to the same one since we would never consider splitting up. Maybe it will be like some of the books that I read, and she will be at the same college that we choose to go to. I’m aware that sounds a bit too fairytale-like, but like the other thing, I’m going to keep holding onto that too, until I’m proven wrong.
“Okay, send us over the details and give us an hour and then we’ll let you know if we will take it,” Trick’s words pull me out of my thoughts.
“Great. This one is right up your street.” Luke says. “I’m sending it through now. Let me know what you think.”
“Will do,” Trick replies, “thanks man.”
“Not to add any pressure, but as far as I can tell, there is a bit of a time crunch on this one, so if you do take it, you’re going to have to work quickly.”
Trick smiles, “Sounds perfect, we can’t really do a long one now anyway. Thanks again man.”
“No problem,” Luke replies and then hangs up.
“How long is it going to be until we get to the safe house?” Jensen asks from beside me.
Cash looks down at his phone to check where we are on the map, “It should be another ten minutes.”
“Good. I’m now curious, and since he mentioned the word violence, I am very definitely up for some violence.”
“Me too,” I sign, my smile just a little bit too sharp to be considered a real smile.