Everlasting - Christine Michelle Page 0,19

always possible, but he did his level best.

I’m not sure when I actually managed to fall asleep, but it felt like I had only been out for moments when I was awakened. “You need to see this,” Christina whispered to me as she encouraged me to get up out of the bed. “Keys has video footage. One of the nomads from Aces High was able to track the bitch down and followed her across the border to where she had been hiding Deck.”

“Was he there? Did we get him back?”

“Please, just come with me. It’s better that you see it,” she insisted and all I heard was the fact that she couldn’t tell me we had him back. Surely, she would have told me that up front it were true. My heart plummeted at the thought of what I might be waking to see. Would it be his emaciated, dead body? Would it mean, not only the end of our search, but the end of my husband as well? Every cell in my body ached for him and I couldn’t stave off the worry that threatened to swamp me.

“Ever,” Jay intoned coolly as he twisted a laptop around so that I could see what he had been looking at. He didn’t bother prefacing the video, just hit play and stood back as I watched.

The same woman from the pictures that had been left at my house stood outside a small cottage-style house, glaring in disbelief before she went inside. “Where have they taken you?” She screamed as she came storming back out of the house to search the area around the cottage. The desperation shrouding her was palpable as I watched her run around, shrieking the entire time. She cursed the gods, her brother, and Deck himself. “When I find you again, I will make all of you pay for your treachery!”

“Jesus, she really is completely out there, isn’t she?” I asked. “She just threatened Deck and he obviously had no choice in being moved again while she was away.” I turned to Jay then, “Or did he manage to escape?”

“Our guys searched the area, just in case. No sign of him, but there was a sign of other vehicles having been there recently. We think someone else was responsible for moving him while she was gone. Whether or not they inform her of his whereabouts is another story. Phoenix is sticking to her like glue, and can follow her if she is contacted. Ghost sent someone up with him to take shifts so that we don’t have any mishaps.” Jay pulled me in for a hug and just held me tight for a few minutes. “I know that this is incredibly difficult, but you are the absolute strongest person I’ve ever known. This is the closest we’ve come to finding him too. Keep holding on to whatever reserves you have, be they faith, positive thoughts, or prayers. At this point I don’t care. Just keep it in your heart that we are going to bring him home to you.”

I simply nodded my head against Jay’s chest and let his warmth surround me for a few minutes. “I need to get back home to the girls. You’ll call me if you hear anything?”

“You know I will,” Jay told me as he kissed my forehead before he released me. “Keep your phone close, just in case.”

Chapter 11

No Justification

Lucy

The lines on the paper started to blur along with the words as I read CJ’s latest letter I pulled from another box. It was an odd one because it didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the timeline where he only wrote when we were separated. This one had been written when Ever was struggling so hard with our family and with CJ’s extended family with the club.

Lucy,

I don’t even think I deserve the right to call you anything else right now. I realize I’ve been a complete asshole. I know I’ve been unfair to Ever and, in turn, to you as well. Everything has been left on your shoulders and I don’t know how you bear the weight of my fuckup. I had a child with someone else, yet you’ve been able to look past that, while I have let the thought fester and bubble up inside of me. It was supposed to be only you. Always, only you. As much as I try, I can’t rectify that in my mind.

You have stood by our girl, my girl, since she