Page 16 of The Job

All of these thoughts continue to swim around my mind as the car falls silent and everyone gets pulled into their own thoughts, which are no doubt focused on Ever.

The thing is, when this inevitability turns out to be a bad lead, and not in fact Ever, we are all going to be in foul moods for a while. Jensen is going to need to beat the shit out of someone, actually, we all will, but Jensen will need to even more so than the rest of us. Rafe will become even more closed off and barely sign, Cash’s scary blankness will be closer to the surface, and he will scare the shit out of anyone that talks to him without meaning to. Luc will go almost as silent as Rafe and as stabby as Jensen, Trick will try to stay positive and put a brave face on for us, trying to make us feel better about it, and as for me, the nightmares will just get worse, which means I’ll be sleep deprived and an ass because of it.

You would think that it wouldn’t affect us this much still since she’s been gone for so long, but it does. We saw her almost every day from when we were born until she left when she was eight. The suddenness of her departure and the fact that we didn’t get to say goodbye also made it harder. The other thing that plays on my mind about the way that she left is that she didn’t know that it was going to happen. If she had known, she would have told us, and she didn’t, so it was as much of a surprise to her as it was to us.

It has always bothered me that she didn’t know.

None of the parents knew either, and they used to consider themselves best friends. Ever’s mom died, and Ever’s dad left without telling anyone. None of it ever sat right with me, but I was just a child, and I could have easily been viewing it through the eyes of one who just had their best friend taken away from them for no good reason that they could see. I’m sure as a child, I missed a lot as well.

My thoughts are starting to go around in circles, and I take a deep breath trying to remain rational.

At one point during the journey, I try to get some sleep before I realize that’s probably not a good idea since my emotions are already heightened, and that will fuel my nightmares. The last thing I want to do is have a nightmare and end up swinging while we’re in a moving vehicle. I can only imagine that wouldn’t end well for anyone involved, and one of the guys would end up getting hurt trying to stop me, or even just because they are in close proximity to me, and then I would feel fucking awful.

I still feel bad that I hurt Rafe that time, although he won’t let me apologize for it. For someone who is silent all of the time and doesn’t speak, he’s fucking difficult to win an argument against.

Chapter Ten

Riot

Finally, 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 theconversation 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?”

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