Page 71 of These Jagged Edges

I just finishedthe last-minute touches to the treehouse including stocking Charlie's bookshelf full of his favorites and tying off Bash's rope swing. Hopefully, with all the climbing options we included, he'll finally keep off people's roofs and sheds. No doubt about it the boy’s a damn thrill seeker, and I have no intention of clipping his wings, just making sure his mama has a piece of mind. Lord knows that woman hasn't had much of that.

The little vixen had me rightfully pissed off early. She damn near broke her neck climbing that ragged little step stool to hang something, then argued with me about doing it herself. She stood there, arms crossed looking down at me from her perch on the top step. "I don't need your help, Maddox Cole, I've managed just fine for years without you and your help."

I wanted nothing more than to spank her pussy pink for the next week, but I refrained.

As frustrating as it was, I understand. Though she’ll never admit it, I know a part of her struggles to let me in,especially when it comes to something as sacred to her as Charlie and Bash’s birthday. One last look over the treehouse I decide to turn in for the night; I walk into the house to find the boys fast asleep on the couch, with the dog sprawled out on its back, all four paws in the air between them. I cover them with a blanket before going in search of their mama.

I open the door to an empty bedroom and freeze. How long has she been gone? It hasn't been that long, maybe she decided to help Allison close. I call her cell, and it goes straight to voicemail. The world around me stills and I have a nagging feeling something isn’t right. Not wanting to wake the boys, I lock the door and go next door to Vic's.

A few sharp knocks, Vic throws the door open. Evie and the boys just walk in anytime, but the cranky bastard and I aren’t that tight. He tolerates me more or less because of them, something he proudly let me know the day he blacked my eye.

"Damn boy! Why are you knocking like the police with a warrant!" The man is dressed only in his white tidies and a pair of tube socks, he's a damn sight to behold.

"Evie here?"

Vic cuts his eyes at me. "No."

I run a hand through my hair. "Go watch the boys for me, will you?"

"Where is she?" His tone is authoritative. Vic isn’t a man you can bullshit; he’s a kick-ass now-demand-answers-later kind of man. The old fucker beams with pride every time he tells the story about Evie tasing me on her porch that night. I don’t have it in me to tell him I have a feeling something is wrong.

I run a hand down my face. "She went to pick up the boys' cake from the diner and hasn't made it back yet."

His hard eyes assess me. "Been gone long?"

"About 30 minutes."

"Tried calling her?" I nod my head. "Go find her."

My body tightens with each passing moment, coiling like aspring ready to snap during the drive to the diner. When I finally pull into the parking lot, I let out a sigh of relief upon spotting her car. I jerk the back door open and call out her name into the dimly lit diner. When she doesn't reply I try again, "Damn it Evie, this shit isn't funny! I ought to tan your ass for this."

I flip on the lights and halt in my tracks, my heart pounding. The sight before me—a squashed cake and scattered money—covers the floor behind the register, sending a wave of fear crashing over me.

I don't remember calling my brother, but the red and blue lights flood inside the diner. "Maddox, do you remember around what time she left?"

Fuck! Did I even look at the time when she left? I fist the ends of my hair before shaking my head. “No. I don’t.”

My brother gives me a reassuring pat on the back. "That's okay. Anything you can think of that stands out before she left today? Maybe it was a few days ago. Did she seem off? Did anything seem weird?"

I scoff at my brother. "Evie isn’t the kind to up and run off."

"Eves is a jumpy little thing, she sticks to her routine and schedule religiously. I know she wouldn't leave, I'm just trying to do my job, Maddox."

Henry may be my brother but hearing him call her Eves and talk about knowing her routine makes my chest tighten. I know my brother’s just trying to do his job, so I think. "A couple of days ago she came back spooked from the grocery store. Tried to play it off like it was because of the boy's birthday."

"Okay, good start. Johnson! Get over to the grocery store and pull film from the last three days. Tell Cece to look for anything or anybody suspicious." Film? Wait Aunt Joe had cameras here! How the hell did I forget? I make my way into her office with Henry hot on my heels.

"Aunt Joe has cameras! Why the hell didn’t we start here?”

"Maddox," my brother gives me a grim look, "They quitworking a couple of years ago. She just keeps them up for show." Anger fills every molecule of my body. She just had them sitting here like lambs waiting for slaughter.

"Fucking tell me?—"

"Tell you what? That I need a good ass whooping for not having them fixed?" The old crow barrels into the room, her duster buttoned crooked and house slippers on the wrong feet looking worse for wear. She looks at Henry and then me before sitting down. "Where's Allison?"

Shit, I had completely forgotten about her. Aunt Joe gives me a knowing look before turning to my brother. "Both my girls are missing. Allison closed tonight." She runs a weary hand over her face. "Could be nothing, but I overheard her and Evie outside a while back, seems Allison's pimp had found her and was threatening her."

"Did you overhear a name for this pimp?" Henry asks as he takes notes. He’s all business, and I’m envious. I know his time as a Ranger helps him dissect personal feelings from the task at hand, something I can never do.

---