God.
My jaw is hanging open because I’m staring at the face of my missing best friend, Evie Bouvier.
“Eeeee!” I squeak out, unable to form her entire name, so I try again. “Eeeevie!”
Her lips press together and she nods. “It’s me.”
Those two words solidify what I already know becausethat’s her voice! That’s my bestie’s voice!
And I burst into tears, a tragic geyser of emotion that erupts like Old Faithful from my eyeballs.
I smash my knuckles against my lips so hard I taste blood, but not even that can contain my sobs. Evie’s beautiful heart-shaped face—aged slightly from time—crumples into a mixture of joy and sadness, and she’s crying too.
We simply stare at each other and bawl our faces off for a long while, neither of us uttering a word.
Finally, I pull my fist from my lips, inhale deeply, and say, “Well, I see you haven’t lost your flair for the dramatic.”
That instantly transforms the mood, and our tears turn into laughter. Like the crazy, out-of-control laughter we used to share as kids and teenagers. Evie has the kind of laugh that can only be described as infectious, but it’s the kind of virus you want to catch because it’s loud and lively and fun.
With my hand against my pounding chest, I heave out the last few guffaws before asking the questions I’ve carried in my heart for years. “What happened to you, Evie? Where have you been?”
Her smile turns sad, and she swivels her eyes upward, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds before turning those cerulean orbs back on me.
“I was kidnapped.” I gasp, but she continues. “By human traffickers. That guy I danced with at the beach bonfire that last night, Felipe, he was one of them.”
I didn’t think my heart could hurt any worse than it had for the past six days, but I was wrong. The pain radiates outward until my bones hurt. “Evie, noooo,” I cry, the damn tears back now.
My friend nods. “But I’m okay, Juli. I promise. Some dickhead bought me, but before I could be delivered to him, an angel rescued me.” Her gaze darts from the screen, and a faint smile appears on her lips. I get the feeling she’s looking at someone else in the room. “A very dark angel, but he was the only one who could save me.”
“I don’t… I don’t know what that means,” I tell her.
She returns her eyes to me and puffs out a raspberry. “It’s a long-ass story, but here’s the quick version. I lost my phone at the bonfire, and when I went back down there to look for it, Felipe and his asshole friend snatched me.” Evie’s bottom teeth saw back and forth over her top lip for a second. “They put me on a boat, and I was eventually transported to New Orleans.”
“Did they… hurt you?” I rasp out, needing to know but also not sure if I can handle the truth.
Evie leans forward so her face takes up the entire screen. “I was not sexually assaulted, Juli.” Relief floods through me, and I cover both eyes with my hands, feeling the hot sting of tears against my palms.
“O-okay,” I stammer, sliding my hands down my cheeks and attempting to find some damn backbone for my friend.
“I’m not saying they were very nice to me, but at least they didn’t touch me like that.” She blows out a long exhale through her nose. “Anyway, they told me I had been purchased by someone, and he’d be there to pick me up.”
“What kind of asshole,” I mutter through gritted teeth.
“The worst kind you can imagine,” Evie says with a humorless laugh. “This next part, I need it to stay between us, okay? Not everything we did after that was entirely legal.”
I cross my fingers and tap them against my heart. “I swear, Evie. I would help you bury a body and then take the secret to my grave.” That earns me a small smile, and then something she said hits me. “Who’swe?”
“Dane Osbourne, my husband.”
“You’re married?” I shriek, though I shouldn’t be surprised. She’s in her thirties like me.
“Yes, to the man who showed up and rescued me.”
“Your dark angel,” I repeat, and she nods.
“Yes, he…took careof Felipe and the other guy.” Her eyes widen significantly, and she doesn’t have to spell out what she meant bytook careof them.
“Good,” I grunt out. “I hope it was painful.”
