“Nah,” I say. “But thanks for the generous offer. They had a new wireless security system put in today. I don’t need to sleep over there. I don’t think we’re at the point yet in our relationship where I move into Eva’s house, or Calvin’s.”
Coop looks relieved, but at the same time, worried. “You realize some crazy shit is going on, right? Crazy shit, and you and Eva are smack dab in the middle of it?”
I nod. “I do. I realize this.”
“What’s your plan?” Beck asks me.
“My plan? My plan is to head back over there for a bit and then find you two wherever you’re crashing.” I look out at the ocean. The waves are perfect today. “But right now, my plan is to surf.”
“Surf?” Coop wiggles in his seat with excitement. “Shit’s hitting the fan and you want to surf? Just making sure I understood you correctly, boss.”
“Yep. I want to surf.”
We head to my house to grab the boards, and that’s exactly what we do. For hours. My ribs are super sore and every once in a while, the salt water burns the cut above my eye as it continues to reopen. But we surf until evening approaches, the sun starts to go down, and my legs start to feel like jelly as I go to walk. When the three of us declare we’re spent and ready to call it a day, I tell them I’ll find them later tonight and hop in my jeep for Eva’s. Still in my wet swim trunks, a damp t-shirt, and sand stuck in the hair on my legs and arms, I back out of my driveway and head to the Halifax.
When I get there, she’s not answering her phone. I decide the best option is to head into her backyard, where I last left her. I can hear her brothers playing from a distance, and when I turn the corner and the yard comes into view, I see them kicking a soccer ball around under the lights of the patio. It must be nice to have a built-in playmate all the time. I then see Calvin sitting at the patio table watching the boys. Mrs. Calloway is nowhere in sight. Neither is Eva.
“Calvin?” I say his name. He looks up. “Where’s Eva?”
He points to the dock, but doesn’t say anything else. Something isn’t right. I’ve never seen Calvin so quiet before, granted, I haven’t known him that long, but still.
“Everything okay?”
He shakes his head and points to the dock again. “Just go find Eva.”
My heart thumps madly in my chest. My feet move as fast as I can get them to go as I run towards the dock. I hear them hit the ground hard and the dock shakes with each pounding step. She has to hear me coming. I can’t get to her fast enough though. It’s as if I’m running in slow motion or maybe even running in place. When I finally do get to her, she’s looking straight at me, sitting on the dock as I come into view. I can tell she’s been crying. I can tell something is horribly wrong.
“What happened?” I ask. “Eva? What happened?”
She stands and walks over to me. “Mr. Channing’s boat, they found it in the middle of the ocean. My dad’s stuff was on it, but he wasn’t. He’s gone.”
chapter twenty-two
Eva
B odhi just texted me again. I love how often he’s checked in since he left earlier today. Every single time a new text message comes in from him, I feel myself holding my breath as I read it. I love the fact his messages are rapidly filling up space on my phone. He said he was going to surf for a while with the guys and would be over after. I don’t want him to think he has to be with me all the time, that he can’t do normal things with his friends. I’m not the type of girl who needs a guy by her side from sunup to sundown. Porter thought I was that type of girl. I’ll be damned if I come across that way to Bodhi.
The alarm company was here for hours and left just a few minutes ago. We can now monitor every little movement outside of our house, from our phones and a panel that’s on the wall by our back door. It’s going to make sneaking out of my room every night a little difficult, that’s for sure.
The police were also here for a little while, but like my mom suspected, with no evidence of a destroyed office like Bodhi and I are insisting we saw, there wasn’t much for them to look into. They did take a statement about the cut phone line. We’ll see if that ends up going anywhere. I’m not holding my breath.
I suddenly hear the doorbell ring and pop my head out of my bedroom as my mom pulls the front door open.
“Henry,” she greets coldly.
“Audrey,” Mr. Channing says back, just as cold. “How are you?”
“I’m good, Henry. What can I help you with?”
He cuts to the chase. “I wanted to let you know our boat was found a little while ago.”
“Found? Where was it found, Henry?”
“About ten miles south of Nassau,” he replies with no emotion whatsoever.
“The Bahamas? They found your boat in the Bahamas?”
“Apparently,” Mr. Channing confirms, crossing his arms over his chest.
There’s a pause, a long one, before my mom asks, “And Brayden?”
I stop breathing, waiting for his answer. We haven’t heard from my dad since yesterday.
“Not on the boat, Audrey.”
I rush over to the railing overlooking the foyer. “What do you mean he wasn’t on the boat?” I cry out to him. “Are you even sure he was on your boat to begin with?”
Mr. Channing looks up at me, my mom stays staring at Mr. Channing. He continues, “They found a bag onboard with some of his belongings and—”
“No!” I scream as I run down the steps. I push past my mom and shove my hands at Mr. Channing. He falls back but catches his balance on the stone wall behind him. “You did this! You did this to him! Where’s my dad? What did you do with him?”
Mr. Channing looks shocked at my outburst. “I didn’t do anything to your dad, and I sure as hell don’t know where he is.”
I push him in the chest. “You’re fucking lying. You’re a fucking liar.”
Mr. Channing’s face turns ten different shades of red. “Control your child, Audrey!” he grinds his teeth and demands.
My mom starts laughing as she pulls me back into the house. “I think it’s obvious my child doesn’t believe you,” she glares at Mr. Channing. “But if there’s anyone’s child that needs a little more control in their life, it’s definitely not mine. Eva, go back upstairs. I’ll be up in a minute.”
I back myself up, never taking my eyes off Mr. Channing. He’s beyond pissed, but also looks rather shaken.
“I’m going to find out where he is,” I tell him. “I’m going to find out what you did to him, and I’m going to unravel all the other little secrets you and my dad have been keeping over these years. I know a lot already,” I warn him. “You better get yourself fucking ready.”
I then stomp my way back up the stairs and slam my bedroom door. My mom never comes up, I don’t blame her. I’m starting to even scare myself with these random outbursts. I pace around my room for a while, thinking back to all the different conversations I’ve overheard my dad and Mr. Channing have all these years. Then I hear my mom crying from her bedroom. I can’t take this anymore. I need to get out of here. I fling open my balcony doors and climb down to the patio. The sun is getting ready to set and I don’t see Calvin right away. I almost run right into him.
“You do that a lot?” he points to the balcony, a shocked look on his face. “Climb down your balcony like that?”
He obviously saw me.
“Yes,” I honestly reply.
He looks taken aback by my truthful response. “Well, okay. Don’t fall.”
“My mom call you?”
He nods. “She did, I heard the news. I don’t buy it. Don’t trust the Channings or a word they say.”
“I don’t. I won’t.”
He smiles and pats my shoulder. “I’m going to sit here and watch your brothers for a bit while your mom gets some stuff taken care of.”
“Okay.”
He points to the dock. “Carry on, Eva.”
I turn to leave but spin back. “Bodhi. When he gets here, will you te
ll him where I am? I left my phone upstairs.”
“Sure thing,” he responds, then he turns his attention back to my brothers as they run by kicking a soccer ball.
I’m on the dock for a full hour before I hear the pounding steps running my way. Bodhi. I see him as soon as he comes into view.
“What happened?” he asks. “Eva? What happened?”
I stand up and tell him about the boat and my dad. I then tell him what I said to Mr. Channing.
“You said that to him?” he shockingly asks. Looking somewhat amused at the same time.
“I did. I was pissed, and so angry and—”
“It’s okay,” he interrupts. He pulls me into his arms. “I sort of wish someone would have recorded that, but it’s okay.”
I bury my face in his chest. “It’s not okay. This is Mr. Channing we’re talking about. Nothing good can come from what I said to him. We need to figure this out, Bodhi. Now, right now. No more waiting around for answers to fall in our laps.”
He rubs my back and says, “I agree.”
“Bodhi, do you think my dad is—”
He stops my mouth with his finger and shakes his head. “No. No, we’re not going to go there. We’ll figure this out and we’ll find out where he is.”
I nod my head and bury myself back in his chest. Bodhi moves us over to the side of my dock, sitting us down as his arms wrap around my body. We stay like that for a while, as the sun disappears in front of us, and as I start to hear the rumble of a boat engine from across the Halifax. Bodhi hears it too. We both look over in the direction of where it’s coming from. It’s dark and at first, I can’t place where the boat is, but it’s not long before I can see the movement from the water.
Bodhi groans. “Is that—”
“Porter.” My whole body feels twenty pounds heavier.
Porter’s on his small speed boat, making his way over to my dock. He’s going way too fast for such a short distance. He clears the Halifax in record time and pulls up right behind my boat, turning his engine off. We’re further up on the dock so we can see him, but he can’t see us.
“Eva?” he calls out my name into the dark. “I know you’re out there! I saw you! Grab the rope for a minute! I swear I just need to tell you something!”
“Let me handle this,” I say to Bodhi as I stand.
He gently grabs my arm, pulling himself up at the same time. “No. We handle him together. What do you want, Porter?” he calls out into the dark, creeping towards the end of the dock.
“Bodhi?” he exclaims. “Grab the goddamn rope for a minute!”
I hear the thud of something hitting the dock. We both move forward and Bodhi bends down to grab the rope as we come into Porter’s view. He’s standing at the wheel of his boat, looking between us and his own home. Even in the dark, I can see right away that Porter has a black eye. It’s almost swollen shut, it’s so bad.
“Porter,” I whisper. “What happened to your eye?”
He looks down like a wounded dog. “Don’t worry about it,” he bluntly says.
“Your dad do that to you?” Bodhi questions.
“I said don’t worry about it!” Porter shouts.
“Where is he?” I ask him.
“My dad? He went to pick up dinner, or that’s what he told me. Dinner at almost ten at night. Does he think I’m fucking stupid? I only have a few minutes …”
“Okay?” I question, not understanding why he’s telling us all of this. “Why’d you come over here?”
He looks panicked. Worried. Like he’s going to get in trouble for being at my house. I’ve never seen Porter act like this in all the years I’ve known him.
“I was going to call you,” he continues, looking at me. “But I knew you wouldn’t pick up, and then I saw you out here earlier, but I had to wait for my dad to leave—”
“What is it, Porter?” Bodhi hastily asks.
Porter beats his hands on the wheel. “Your dad!” he says to me. “He wasn’t missing. He isn’t missing. Well, he is now … I overheard my dad on the phone with him, a few times since yesterday morning actually—”
“You lied to us? You knew this when you came over here yesterday?” I angrily ask him.
“No!” he shouts. His temper makes me jump. “I didn’t! My dad sent me over yesterday to ask about our boat, but I just figured this all out, tonight. I wasn’t lying! I swear! I didn’t know then, I didn’t realize who he was talking to, but I do now. It was your dad, Eva.”
“So, where is he?” Bodhi asks.
“The Bahamas,” Porter answers. “My dad sent him to the Bahamas to do business with someone, but when he got there, something happened. The guy wasn’t there—or was missing. Something went wrong. I don’t know what, but I heard my dad yelling at him on the phone about it this morning—”
“This sounds like a bunch of shit,” Bodhi points to Porter. “And why the hell would we believe you?”
“I’m not lying!” Porter shouts. “I’m telling you what I heard! Why the fuck would I put myself in this situation to lie to you both?! Do you know what my dad would do if he found out I was over here?”
“What would he do, Porter?” I ask him carefully. I’ve always questioned if Porter’s dad was abusive towards him. I always wondered if the bruises I used to see on his body might have been from his dad and not from football like he told me. I always wondered if Porter acted the way he did, because he just didn’t know any better.
He points to his eye. “This is nothing.”
Bodhi sighs loudly next to me. “Your dad sounds like a real asshole.”
Porter looks at Bodhi. “Over these last couple days, I’ve realized that myself.”
Bodhi sighs again, like he almost doesn’t want to feel sorry for Porter, but he does. “What did Eva’s dad say?”
“He got to the Bahamas, he abandoned our boat and told my dad he’d be back in a few days.”
I’ve been around Porter long enough to see that he’s not himself. Whatever he overheard his dad talking about is really bothering him.
“Why are you telling us this?” I ask him.
Porter stutters for words. He’s never been speechless before. “I screwed up. I screwed up with you, Eva. I blew it, I was awful, I can’t believe what I did. How I acted … your wrists.” He looks away from me. Like he can’t bear to see the marks he left on my body. “I can’t believe I did that,” he continues, looking straight at my hands. “That I was the type of person who would do that. That I’ve been that type of person this last year. I’m sorry, I’m fucking sorry. I won’t ever bother you again, come around here again, I promise … I just didn’t want you to think that your dad was—that he’s—”
“I get it,” I say. “I get it, Porter. Why would your dad lie about the boat then? If this was some sort of business trip?”
Porter looks down at his feet.
“Porter …” I say slowly. “Why would he lie?”
He looks up at me. “My dad, there’s something wrong with him. I’m realizing this now. All these years of me thinking he was some hard-working role model I wanted to be like.” He shakes his head. “I don’t want to be anything like him anymore. I don’t think this was just a business trip, Eva. I think my dad was setting him up, which is why he’s so pissed now, because it didn’t go the way he planned it.”
I remain calm, but my heart is racing in my chest. “Setting him up, how?”
Porter grips the wheel and looks up at me, destroyed. “I don’t think your dad was ever going to come back home. This guy that he was supposed to meet … I think my dad hired him to get rid of your dad.”
Bodhi rushes towards the boat. I pull his arm hard and keep him by my side. Porter backs up, almost tripping over his seat. The boat rocks with the movement.
“He’s missing now! Your dad!” Porter makes clear. “My dad is freaking out because he’s missing! He can’t get ahold of him anymore, and he’s pissed! That’s all I know! I swear!”
I watch his f
ace. Trying to see behind the fear in his eyes. “You heard all of this?”
He nods his head. “I hear a lot. I don’t think he’s ever realized how much I hear. But, Eva, your dad isn’t as innocent as you think he is. He’s done things—”
“I know,” I make clear to him, cutting him off before he says anything else. “I know he’s not innocent.”
Porter nods. He then turns to Bodhi. “I’m sorry, man,” he says to him, shaking his head. “For what I did to you. For real this time.” He points to his own black eye. “I get it now. I was an asshole. I’m trying not to be that person anymore. I’m sorry.”
Bodhi tilts his head sideways and stares at Porter. “Okay,” is all he says to him.
Porter tugs on the rope in Bodhi’s hand. He lets it go as Porter pulls it in and turns the engine to his boat back on. He looks over to his house as if to make sure his dad still isn’t home.
The engine is roaring loudly now as Porter stares me dead in the face and shouts over the noise, “Don’t get involved, Eva! I know what you’re thinking! Don’t do anything stupid!” And then he turns the boat towards his house and leaves.
We both stand there, watching until Porter makes it back across the Halifax. Bodhi puts his arm around my shoulder.
“Do you think he’s lying?” he asks me.
I shake my head. “No. No, I don’t. I think he’s scared to death.”
chapter twenty-three
Bodhi
I hate leaving Eva. I hate leaving her in her house across from the Channings with everything that’s going on right now. I hate the fact I can’t walk her to my jeep and drive away from the Halifax, keeping her safe with me until life seems normal again, if it ever becomes normal again. I hate that although I’m free to make my own choices day in and day out, I have to tiptoe around the fact that Eva is not, and I hate that this is how it should be right now, for both of us. I respect it, but I hate it. I hate it so much I almost refuse to leave.
“I don’t want to leave you,” I make clear. “I don’t feel right leaving. Every time I leave you, something crazy happens. This is the universe telling us we shouldn’t be apart. I want to stay with you tonight, every night, Eva.”
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