Page 70 of Craving Consequences

VAN

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The call goes to voicemail.

I shouldn’t be annoyed, but who am I kidding? I’m pissed.

It’s been hours since Lach and I snuck out of Everly’s bed like a pair of criminals. Hours since the pintsized brat left us — again! — and vanished off the radar. I’m trying to tell myself she’s fine. Nothing ever happens in Jefferson that would cause concern, but ... it’s been hours!

“Where the fuck is she?” I snap to the man leaning against his kitchen counter, arms folded, glowering at the patio screen.

The phone makes a concerning clattering sound hitting the island between us.

I know he’s as oblivious as I am and equally annoyed.

He’s been quiet since that morning. Even when we did a cursory drive through town, hoping to spot her car, he’d kept his thoughts to himself.

I left him to it. We’re usually pretty open about our feelings with each other, but only when the other is ready to spill them.

He wasn’t and I respected that. Still, I already know it had to do with Everly.

Do with the fact that she’d upped and vanished again.

Or maybe about yesterday when I left my house in the wee hours of morning because I couldn’t sleep without Everly to find Lachlan already making his way down his own driveway.

It would have been comical if it wasn’t sad.

We shouldn’t have to sneak around to be with the woman we love, we shouldn’t have to watch Everly’s heartbroken expression as we leave her.

It isn’t anyone’s damn business what we do in the privacy of our homes, but damn if that’s going to change as long as we’re in Jefferson.

“Do you think she’s gone to the cabin alone?” I ask.

Lachlan opens his mouth to respond when a knock at the door has us both stiffening.

We’re both rushing to answer it, my heart frantic and excited at the prospect of it being Everly with her sweet smile and a very good reason why she’s had us worried all day.

Sheriff Brewer stands on the porch and my good feeling vanishes. It plummets to my feet as I stare at the law man.

“Gentlemen,” he begins, tipping back the brim of his wide cap with a bent knuckle. “Pardon the intrusion, but I was hoping you could tell me if you’ve heard or seen Bron in the last couple of hours.”

Lachlan and I exchange glances .

It’s Lachlan who answers. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday afternoon. Why? Has something happened?”

The sheriff hesitates just long enough to make me think —hope — the little fucker is dead, but I don’t think he’d be asking for Bron’s whereabouts if that’s the case.

“Do you got a minute?” he says instead, gesturing with a nod of his chin to the inside of the house.

Lachlan steps back and lets him in. None of us speak a word as we follow my friend down the hall back towards the kitchen.

“Can I get you a drink?” Lachlan asks.

Brewer shakes his head. “Appreciated, but I won’t be long.

” He pauses with the island between us, hat in hand.

“There’s been an incident. I want to give you a heads up before you hear it from someone else.

” Bastard pauses again like he’s trying to drag our torment on a bit longer.

“Early this morning, young Mr. Shaw was seen manhandling Miss Cavanaugh outside Holland’s. ”

“What?” Lachlan and I both burst.

Brewer puts a hand up. “He forced her into his truck and drove off to an unknown location.”

Bells clang between my ears. I have to really force myself to listen over the sound of their screaming.

“He was seen by Miss Rousseau who got into Miss Cavanaugh’s vehicle and gave chase. ”

“Lauren?” I blurt, heart hammering with a new surge of panic.

Brewer nods. “She found them in the woods. He was assaulting Miss Cavanaugh. She stopped him and got Miss Cavanaugh back to Jefferson.”

I can’t speak. Can barely think. I don’t know which thread of emotion I’m supposed to hang onto when they’re all tangling together.

Next to me, Lachlan looks on the verge of throwing up. Every drop of color has vanished from his face, leaving behind an ashen hue.

“Dr. Hammell assures me that Miss Cavanaugh will make a full recovery, but we are unable to locate Mr. Shaw.”

Lachlan makes a strangled noise, but falls silent once more. I can only stare at the island, brain fighting to process.

“I’m telling you this in confidence,” Brewer continues, “I want you to hear it from me. News is going to spread fast and it’s going to get messy. Everly is loved in this town and not a soul here isn’t going to want blood, if you get my drift.”

“Lachlan had nothing to do with this,” I snap, despising the implication in his gravelly voice. “And, trust me, I want his head as much as anyone else.”

Brewer doesn’t bat an eye at my outrage. “Sins of the son fall heavily on the father. No one’s going to believe you don’t know where Bron is. It would be best if you told me anything you might know.”

“I don’t know—”

“I’ve been with Lachlan all day,” I tell the other man, shoulders squaring. “I would tell you exactly where that little fucker is if we knew, but we don’t.”

Brewer nods slowly. “I have to ask.” He turns shrewd eyes back to Lachlan.

“If you hear anything, anything at all, call me.” He doesn’t wait for our response when slipping his hat on and turning to leave.

He pauses just in the doorway and glances back.

“And it might be best if you didn’t reach out to Miss Cavanaugh at this time.

She’s suffered quite an ordeal and needs time to heal.

Reminders of her attacker might only upset her further. ”

He’s fucking insane if he thinks we’re going to let Everly deal with this alone. I don’t say as much as the man disappears down the hallway. I wait until the front door clicks shut before scrambling for my phone.

I dial Lauren’s number. My daughter picks up on the third ring.

“Hey, Dad,” she mutters, voice thick with tears and exhaustion.

“Hey, where are you? Are you okay?”

I hear shuffling and a door opening.

“Home and yeah.”

I wait for her to tell me, to confirm everything Brewer just said, but she’s saying nothing.

“Brewer was just here. He said—”

“I’m not really up for a chat right now,” she interrupts heavily. “It’s been a really hard day and I’m tired.”

“Are you serious right now?” I snap. “What the hell happened? Where’s Everly?”

I hear a derisive snort. “I’m guessing she’s home. You should try there or wherever you slept with her.”

I blink, taken aback by the accusation. “Lauren—”

“Not right now, okay? I’m too done with this conversation to think properly.”

“It’s not what you think,” I say, even though I have no idea what she thinks or how it’s different.

“Did you?”

I don’t ask for clarification. I don’t bother to lie.

“Yes.”

I hear her exhale and it’s worse than if she’d screamed at me. “There wasn’t another woman you could have gone for? You had to pick my best friend?”

I move out of the kitchen, not because I’m hiding anything from Lachlan, but because Lauren needs privacy when we have this chat.

“I love her, Laur. I didn’t set out to, but...”

She’s silent .

The quiet fills the line while hollowing out my insides.

“So, you’re going to stay with her?”

My instinct is to say yes. Always and forever. Until the day I die. But Everly’s words from the cabin echo through my skull, reminding me that’s not possible.

“I don’t know,” I say at last. “I want to, but it’s complicated.”

“What about Mom?” she snaps, voice rising for the first time. “You made a promise to love her.”

“And I always will, but she’s gone, Lauren.”

Lauren scoffs. “Well, I guess that means you’re free of her and you can move on now, huh?”

“That isn’t fair,” I growl, fingers tightening around the phone. “I will always love your mother, but I need to move on, too.”

“Then find someone else!” Her scream nearly has me dropping the phone. “Don’t ruin the only friendship I’ve ever had.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to point out that I wasn’t the one who ruined that friendship, but this isn’t the time. There are so many bigger issues.

“What happened today?” I interrupt. “Are you okay?”

I hear her sigh. “I really don’t want to talk about it. You should ask Everly. She probably needs you more than I do. ”

The line goes dead before I can think to speak. It sits still in my hands, a weighted bit of plastic with infinite possibilities, except the thing I need it for the most.

“Damn it!” I hiss under my breath.

I contemplate calling her back, demanding she talk to me, but knowing Lauren, she’s most likely shut her phone off.

I call Everly instead for the nine millionth time.

Voicemail.

Muttering another curse, I stuff the useless thing into my back pocket and return to the kitchen.

Lachlan is at the island, perched on a stool with a beer in one hand and an empty bottle at his elbow. He sits with his head bowed, fingers tight around the glass like it’s the only thing keeping him together.

I’m trying very hard to understand his feelings right now. He had a lot dropped on him in the span of a few minutes, but we need to go to Everly. We need to check on her. Every second we waste is time she could need us.

But fuck, I get the dead, blank look in Lach’s eyes. I get it. This would gut any man, especially a guy like Lachlan who has lived his whole life trying to do the right thing.

“Lach.” I pull the chair opposite him and lower myself down on it, ignoring the prickle of anxiety crackling up my spine. “Talk to me.”

He shakes his head but says nothing .

I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to say here. My own head is so full of everything, I can’t even figure my own shit out, but I can’t leave him like this.

“This isn’t your fault,” I tell him, knowing with all the certainty in my entire chest that’s exactly what he’s thinking.

“I pissed him off,” he mumbles. “I drove him to it. If I hadn’t...”

He drops his forehead into his hand.

“Listen to me, you’re dead wrong. That kid did not need any reason to do what he did. We’ve both seen the way he was towards her from the beginning.”