Unbroken: The Loss Mission: Book 3 (Soulmates)

by Jay T

  “Why do you like to do that?” Ethan asks as he sits at the kitchen counter eating cereal.

  “Why do I like to do what?” I ask wiping the sweat from my neck with a towel.

  “Run on that out thing there? Are you mad? ‘Cause you look mad when you’re on it.”

  I sigh and pour myself a cup of coffee. “I run because it makes me feel better.” I sit down next to him. “I don’t know if you know but I have a lot of hurt in here,” I say pointing to my heart.

  “Why do you have hurt in there?”

  “I lost a lot of people I love and I miss them every single day but I can’t let myself sit around and cry all the time. I have to put that away to get through the day but things get stuck in there when you do that.”

  “My mommy and daddy died too,” he says quietly. “Do you think I should do that?”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that, kiddo. I think you should do whatever makes you feel good and makes you healthy.”

  “I like ice cream.”

  “I said healthy.” We both laugh.

  I give him a hug.

  “You’re gross,” he says pushing me away.

  “Yeah,” Aunt Kami says, coming in. “Go take a shower, I can smell you from here.”

  “No, you can’t,” I shoot back.

  I make my way upstairs and my phone starts to ring; it’s Amy.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  Amy sighs, “Look, don’t freak out.”

  “Uh, don’t start a conversation with don’t freak out if you don’t want me to freak out,” I say.

  “There’s a picture on Facebook but I already talked to Brent about it and this chick is just being an idiot.”

  “What’s he doing?” I ask. “Do I need to yell at him for you?”

  “It’s not Brent, Eva. It’s Evan.”

  My heart drops.

  “What?”

  “Brent says they share the same room and he was with him all night. It’s not true.”

  I hang up the phone without saying goodbye and open the Facebook ap.

  There’s a picture of a girl who’s tagged Evan. She’s hanging on him and kissing him while wearing very skimpy clothes. Her makeup looks slept in and her hair is a mess. I read the caption and my worst fear is coming true. I just didn’t realize it was going to be this soon. I mean nothing to him at all.

  I type a message to Evan and then delete it. I get in the shower and get ready for school then type another message and delete it.

  I stand in front of my closet, trying to pick something to wear. I notice something on the door frame. I lean closer to look. It’s scratch marks. I run my thumbs over the tips of my fingers. Evidence of my dream the other night. I repress a shudder and try to push it out of my mind.

  I pick up my phone and look at it again. Still no message. I need to let him go.

  School takes forever. Everyone is talking about the guys. There are a few YouTube videos people are watching between classes. I’m trying hard to avoid it all. Andre’s found me a few times and given me a hug.

  It feels like every hour that passes and he doesn’t call or text, he gets that much farther from me. My resolve to let him go grows.

  Brent called right after school ended. He said the guys were rehearsing and Evan had no idea about the picture, otherwise he’d be calling or texting. He says he was with him all night. I may have bit his head off and said it wouldn’t matter if he did or not because the guys would always lie for each other.

  Hope blossoms in my stomach against my better judgment. Maybe it’s just what Brent said, a girl being stupid.

  I’m brushing my teeth and washing my face to get ready for bed when my phone starts to ring. Evan. I hit the big red button and send him to voicemail. A minute later, my phone rings again. Again, I send him to voicemail. A text pops up.

  Evan: I just saw FB pict.

  Me: I saw it this morning

  Evan: I was just getting coffee this morning in the lobby. She was just a random girl behind me in line. I didn’t know she was going to do that.

  Me: OK.

  Evan: Afterwards I went and sat alone until the car came to drive us here.

  Me: Sure.

  Evan: I’m sorry you had to deal with that all day. You could have texted me and asked.

  Me: I thought you would have texted when you saw it.

  Evan: I am texting as soon as I saw it.

  Me: Sure.

  Evan: Eva, I’m sorry. Nothing happened.

  Me: K night.

  Evan: Good night

  My heart hurts. My emotions are all over the place. I wish he would call one more time so I could hear his voice. He says nothing happened. Brent said nothing happened. It makes me feel better but I’m not ready to trust this yet.

  45 evan

  The third night we start off with the choir music song we recorded earlier because it has a really cool intro and we decide to move the first song to last so we leave the crowd after they’ve just been singing along with us. That should let Centuries know we can warm up the crowd. We make a few mistakes but I don’t think the crowd caught them.

  Back in the dressing room, we sit on the couch and wait for the guy to come in and tell us how we did. We expect the same dude whose come the previous two nights, but instead, we get the Centuries’ lead singer. He doesn’t knock, he opens the door, comes in, grabs a chair, sets it down across from us, and sits down.

  “You guys suck.”

  “No. We don’t,” I say straight-faced. I’m taking a risk I really hope pays off.

  He’s silent for too long. “You guys have no edge. There’s a million other bands just like you waiting to fill your spot. What do you have that’s special? You need to give me more. You are improving every night,” he concedes. “The choir boy song made my guys laugh their assess off. So, you get one more night. What’s your name?” He points to me.

  “That’s Anny,” Ryan answers for me.

  “My name is Evan Darius,” I say.

  “Anny, you’re holding back, man. I know you got more in you, what are you doin’?”

  Naomi’s words echo in my head, “Don’t let them know why.”

  “I didn’t know I was holding back. I’ll try harder.”

  “Last chance, boys,” he says to all of us.

  He stands up and leaves the room.

  “OK, he said we need more edge. Ummmm” Brent trails off. “A stylist! I’ll get someone to meet us in the next town and get you boys gussied up.” He picks up his phone and gets to work.

  Robert gets up and starts pacing back and forth, occasionally shooting me a look.

  “What?” I finally ask.

  “He wants to know what we have that other people don’t,” he says. “We have you.”

  I have a sinking feeling. I know where this is going.

  I shake my head no.

  “You could take them out,” he says, pointing to his own eyes.

  I shake my head no. “That’s not for sale,” I say deep and low so he knows I’m serious.

  “He could take what out?” Ryan asks.

  “What’s going on?” Liam adds.

  Tristan sits forward, elbows on his knees. “What do you have that could be for sale? We’ve already used my leg and fingers to get here, so what are you holding onto?”

  I glare at Robert. This wasn’t his secret to tell. I thought I could trust him.

  I’m not going to get out of this with the guys without telling them something and I’m going to have to lie my ass off. I didn’t want to do that to them.

  I reach up and take my contacts out. They’re silent.

  “I thought you said that was a freak lighting thing,” Liam says.

  I shrug.

  “So, why do you wear contacts?” Ryan asks.

  “So I don’t get a million questions,” I answer.

  “Why don’t you want to leave them off?” Tristan asks.

  Because I wouldn’t be flying under the radar anymore. Because I
don’t want to alert the darkness, “Hey, I’m right here, come get us!” It knows where I am but there’s knowing and drawing attention to the fact that I’m flaunting what I am and asking them to get us.

  Instead of answering, I glare at Robert again.

  His face glows red.

  “Sorry, guys, I can’t take them out.” I walk back over to the makeup mirror and put them back in.

  I catch Brent and Robert whispering back and forth about something but I don’t ask. I don’t want to know.

  46 eva

  The girls from the basketball team and I made it to Anchorage today after school. I drove and we’re staying in a nice hotel. Aunt Kami has a good friend who lives up here and she helped us get checked in since we aren’t old enough to get a room by ourselves. There was a little fibbing involved but it’s for a good cause.

  “Try this one on,” Charlene says holding up a pink dress.

  “No,” I say firmly.

  “Why? What’s wrong with it? It’s soft and pretty.”

  “It’s pink for one thing, and another, I don’t want to look soft and pretty. Apparently, I have a lot more competition that I thought.”

  She gives me an evil smirk and goes back to digging through the racks.

  Mallory holds up a long flowing purple dress with a deep dip in the back. I shake my head no.

  We go to four different stores. Everyone has found the perfect dress for them except for Mallory and me. At the last store I find two dresses I like and decide on the red one with the top half covered in white sequins. It has an inch strip that exposes my mid stomach. The bottom hem hits at my thigh and has a little flair to it.

  A day shopping with the girls is exactly what I needed to keep my mind from wandering. We have wonderful massages and facials before heading back to the hotel room and ordering pizza.

  I look at my phone wishing there was a message from Evan. There isn’t.

  47 evan

  We make it to the Los Angeles early and find a very flamboyant man there to meet us. He takes us to a store and gives us all a makeover. When he’s done, I hardly recognize us. The guy tries to get me to get a tattoo but I’m worried it will be all red and puffy tonight. It sounds like a terrible idea.

  I made a deal with Brent; if we keep the gig for another period of time, it’ll be worth my time, and I’d do it.

  We got haircuts, clothes, and shoes before making it back to the hotel. We hurry back to work on the final tweaks to our music. We play through them until we like what we hear. We have an hour and a half before we need to be in the lobby to head to the venue. I pick up my phone and look at it. No text messages. I feel uneasy about how I left things with Eva. She’s clearly upset. I text her.

  Me: How was Anchorage?

  She doesn’t respond.

  I head down to the gym at the hotel and go for a run on their treadmill before hiting the weights.

  In the car on the way to the concert, my phone dings.

  Eva: Fine.

  Well, she’s clearly still ticked. But she responded. A smile crosses my lips. I don’t want to ask her about a homecoming dress because I don’t know how things will be when I get home.

  The curtains rises and the choir music starts. We nail it and the crowd of thousands cheers.

  We nail the second song too. And the third.

  The last song, I don’t want to hold anything back. The crowd is singing along with us and eating it up. I sing like I mean to sing until the last verse. The wind gets knocked out of me. I grab my stomach and turn around.

  Eva.

  Something’s wrong, I feel my eyes heat up and I know they’re glowing purple even behind my contacts. I keep trying to sing but I catch the attention of everyone in the band. Robert looks over at Brent on the side of the stage behind the curtain. I make a phone sign with my hand and I point up, hoping he gets I mean north, the girls. He looks confused for a moment. I make the motion harsh, indicating that I need him to call now. My eyes aren’t subsiding and my band members’ eyes are huge. I only have one more chorus to get through.

  I turn around and finish what we started while Brent calls the girls. The crowd goes crazy as I try and focus on the task at hand. The second the song ends, I yell, “Thank you, Los Angeles!” and run backstage to Brent. The crowd is still going crazy but I don’t care. My stomach is upset but it’s finally subsiding and my eyes are returning to normal.

  “Where’s Eva?” I ask Brent, his face is red.

  “They’re not answering,” he says. “None of them are.”

  My heart drops.

  48 eva

  Olive Garden was amazing. We went for lunch after we walked the mall to pick out shoes and accessories. I call Aunt Kami and let her know we’re on our way back.

  The sun begins to get lower on the horizon. The temperature is dipping and the roads are wet from the earlier rain.

  An hour later, we’re in Turnagain Pass. The sun is directly in my eyes and I can hardly see between that and the reflection off the wet roads high in the mountains.

  A freaking moose decides to cross the road close to us. Too close.

  “Moose!” Amy yells as she braces for impact.

  I saw it and hit the brakes. I slide and my back end goes right, I turn my wheel right, back end goes left; I turn left. There’s a car coming the other way. We’re close to crossing the line into their lane. I barely nick the moose with my sideview mirror as girls in the back scream. My back end goes right, I turn right, and let it ride longer because I need to stay on our side with the corner coming up. Left then right again and I finally get control of the car as I hit a dry patch. My car hits it and stops and tries to tip over. I turn the wheel the other way and punch the gas as it corrects and jets towards the side of the road. I slam on the brakes and stop just in time. I sit there for a moment. I want to jump out of the car, but if that just happened to me, it might happen to the car behind us. I look carefully and pull back onto the road and drive to the pull off at the bathrooms right next to where my parents’ accident was. There is complete silence the entire way. I put it in park get out and slam my door as hard as I can and walk away.

  49 evan

  I pull out my phone and call Eva as I run back to the dressing room. It goes straight to voicemail.

  Brent’s right behind me. “When was the last time you talked to them?”

  “Uh, right before you guys went on. They were, oh shit.”

  “What?”

  “They were headed home from Anchorage. They should be just about,” he has a crazy look in his eye. “It’s an hour in. They should be at Turnagain Pass,” he says quietly.

  “What’s going on?” Ryan asks.

  “Something’s up with the girls,” Robert says.

  “We know this because?” Liam asks.

  “Because we know, didn’t you see his eyes?” Robert says.

  I glare at Robert again. Seriously?

  “Uh, that’s freaking trippy, man. Where’s the bar in here?” Liam asks. “I need to get liquored up before you tell me we’re living with an alien.”

  “Did somebody say bar?” Ryan joins in looking around the room.

  “Try them again,” Tristan says.

  “There’s spotty reception in the Pass. Just because they’re not answering doesn’t mean anything. Let’s not freak out yet. Evan, how are you? How is she?”

  I call again; this time it rings.

  “Evan?” Eva answers.

  50 eva

  I storm off and make my way to my family’s site. I look down at the crosses we buried. “I’m sorry I don’t have flowers today guys. I should have planned on stopping but I didn’t want to do this with the girls in the car. Is there a reason you wanted me to stop tonight?”

  My phone rings, it’s Evan. “Evan?” I answer.

  “Oh, thank god! Are you alright? What’s going on?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine, why?”

  “She says they’re ok,” he says to someone. I hear sounds of relief
from other people on his side of the phone. “Hang on, I need to find a quiet spot. I can barely hear you,” he says. There are sounds of movement on his end before it quiets down. “What happened?” he asks.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Eva, I know something happened. Are you ok?”

  “How do you know?” I ask.

  “I felt it. I felt you. I don’t know what, but I know something was very wrong with you just now.”

  What does he felt me mean?

  I look down at the four crosses I’ve left on the side of the road.

  “I almost hit a moose, and I almost crashed my car filled with girls from the basketball team.”

  “A moose?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  I look at the spot where he used to be in my dreams when he was larger than life, the guy who got me through their deaths, my guardian angel. Then I remember all the fights we’ve had since he’s been here and I remember the photo with the girl and it stings deep.

  “Are you ok now? Can you drive?”

  “Yeah, I’m alright. I don’t want to drive but we can’t stay here.”

  “Do you want me to call Kami?” he asks.

  “Oh god no. She doesn’t need to know about this.”

  “Yeah, probably a good idea. Will you call me when you make it home?”

  “Yeah. Evan?” I say.

  “Yes?”

  “Thank you for calling.”

  “Thank you for answering.”

  51 evan

  There’s a knock at the door and the errand dude for the band walks in. He clears his throat. “I was told to tell you, ‘What the fuck was that? Like the new duds and Anny much improved. Send your peeps to talk to our peeps. We leave in the morning for Las Vegas.’”

  “Oh my god! Does that mean?” Ryan yells.

  “Oh my god! That means!” Liam yells

  “We did it! We get to keep going!” Ryan concludes.

  Flurries of excitement race through the room. Ryan pops a bottle of champagne and starts passing out drinks. Relief floods through me. The girls are fine and we won Centuries over for at least one more town.