Chapter 12

                                    

                                          
Jolly
I look across the table at Noah who has the most pained expression painted across his face. 
He called all three of us and told us we needed to get here as soon as possible. Ive never heard so much panic in his voice before. Of course we all left whatever we were doing to run over here without a second thought. 
"Okay look, we all know that I'm weirdly protective over Everlee and you've jumped my case numerous times over my weird "rules" over her." 
We all nod and stay quiet, waiting for him to tell us what the hell has him so shaken up. 
He blows out a deep breath and looks up from his hands where he had been picking at the dry skin around his fingers, his eyes are bloodshot and glossy. I've never really seen Noah actually cry before, hes always been a bit emotionally closed off towards all of us. 
"When Everlee and I were younger, I went on a vacation with her and her parents to Florida. She loved the beach so much, she would wake us up every morning almost as soon as the sun would rise so that we could go down to the water and she would refuse to leave until it was dark." 
He laughs softly and shakes his head, as if he's reliving the memories all over again. He's acting like she died or something, there's so much remorse and longing in his voice that he starts to make me nervous.
"On the second day of the trip I asked Everlee why she was wearing long sleeves. It was quickly talked over and excused away by her mom but I knew that look on Ev's face. Something wasn't right." 
He clears his throat and his eyes quickly go back down to his hands. 
"Uhm, Everlees Mom and Dad weren't very nice people. They'd make you think they were, you'd swear they were the perfect family, but that's wrong. They hurt Everlee several times, she would call me in the middle of the night sobbing, begging me to come pick her up. I would every single time. The night we graduated, shit got bad. To this day I don't know what happened but it was the worst I had ever seen. She wanted me to pick her up and take her away for good, I of course would do anything she asked so I got in my car and drove. I had the apartment at this time so I knew I could get her away. Thinking about it today makes me want to puke." 
He takes a second to breathe and we all tell him it's alright and take his time. 
I don't know where this is going but I don't like it at all. I look at the Nicks and I can tell we all have the same feelings. 
We've all loved Everlee since the day we met her, she was so bubbly and inviting. She took care of Noah and as far as we knew, that was all. She did everything for him, took care of everything, now I realize she must have been trying to repay him for what he did for her. 
I called Noah a piece of shit many times and he just sat there and took it, because it wasn't his story to tell. 
"She thought her parents had gone to bed so she tossed her suitcase and bags out of her window. When I pulled in and started shoving it all in my car she had remembered she left something in the living room. I didn't like it, I wanted her to jump out of the window and leave it behind but she wouldn't. She disappeared and after a few minutes I heard screaming. They weren't asleep, they were awake the whole time and knew I was coming. It was Everlees Dad, I left the keys in the ignition and ran inside. I walked into my worst nightmare that night. He had Everlee shoved against the wall, he was screaming right in her face, her hair was all over her face mixed with blood and sweat, she was still fighting though. She was kicking and turning her head, she was panicking. Her mom was on the couch, watching all of it happen." 
I see a tear drop down onto the table and I can't even imagine how hard it is to relive all of that. 
"Noah I-"