Chapter 12 Evan #2
Forest pauses the video. “Mind telling us what that’s about? It sounds to me like you didn’t know Jericho was a vampire.”
“I did,” I say. “But he didn’t know I did.”
This only seems to raise more questions. Grant’s stony gaze burns into me. “I thought you were traveling together? How did you not know?”
Shit, this looks bad. Like we were lying to them from the beginning.
“Look, I spent months trying to find Jericho before that night, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t. Then he came back to… I don’t know, check on me or something and thank God he had, or I wouldn’t be here. That guy shot me. Jericho fed me blood to heal me. Once he saw Rip in the car, we left.”
“You were looking for him?” Grant asks me.
Jericho shifts uncomfortably. “I disappeared on Evan before I was turned. Left without saying goodbye. It was stupid, and I hurt Evan. He spent the better part of a year looking for me, and that’s when he found out what happened to me.
I only checked in on him that night because my gut told me to.
” He drops his gaze. “If I hadn’t, he wouldn’t be pulled into this mess. ”
I reach out to him. “No. If you hadn’t, I’d be dead, Jer,” I say for the third or fourth time. Why can’t he get that into his head? He saved me.
Grant considers this. “Who shot you?”
“His name was Trace McCallister,” I say. “He worked with the private investigator I hired to find Jericho. I never paid the guy before he died, so Trace wanted his money.”
“Why would you invest in a PI to find a freshly turned vampire?” Jasmine says, like she can’t understand why someone would want to get close to one.
“Because he’s my best friend,” I say simply. “I’ve already told you, we met in college four years ago and we’ve spent nearly every day together since. But then he left, and I never heard from him again. I panicked and hired some help.”
“So you’ve only been together again for… what? Two days?” she asks incredulously. “You made it sound like you’ve been together this whole time!”
Jericho avoids my eyes, his jaw ticking. I want to comfort him, but I’m not sure how. That night had been hell for both of us. But in some weird way, it was also a dream come true. I finally got him back.
“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you this, but I didn’t see the point. We were traveling together,” I say.
“No, it actually makes sense to me,” Red says, reaching for Sage’s hand. “I’d go to the ends of the earth to find someone I loved.”
I clamp my mouth shut. Why does everyone assume we’re a couple?
And yet... something about the way Red looks at Sage, the way he said that, resonates with me. I would go to the ends of the earth to find Jericho, and I sure as hell tried. I just never once stopped to ask why.
My chest squeezes. Holy fuck. Have I been blind this whole time? Am I—
“There he is,” Grant says, gesturing to the television. I didn’t even notice it was playing again. “Watch.”
He replays the clip, revealing a white sedan passing the driveway.
“That’s Rip’s car, isn’t it?”
Jericho nods.
“Thought so. I’ve seen that car before at the club.”
Grant clicks on the next video, taken only twenty minutes after we high-tailed it out of my subdivision.
“He must’ve come back,” Jericho says.
I grind my teeth together, finally getting a good look at the man who’s been chasing Jericho. He’s tall with dark skin, a pierced ear, and dreads that almost touch his shoulders. He’s smaller than I expected, but still deadly.
I hold my breath as Rip enters the house, and Jericho closes his eyes, as if listening. But a couple minutes later, Rip leaves.
“What did he do?”
Jericho shrugs. “Probably just looked around.”
“Go to the last one,” Forest says.
The final video was taken nearly ten hours later. Rip, another guy, and a petite dark-haired woman approach the house.
“Who are they?” Jasmine asks, looking at Jericho.
“No idea. I’ve never seen them before.”
“It’s not Foxx?” I ask.
He shakes his head and frowns when all three of them head inside. They must leave the door open because a moment later, I hear a stony, male voice.
“Well? What are you waiting for?”
“It won’t work,” a female voice says.
“Is that Rip?” I whisper. Jericho nods.
Rip sighs dramatically, as if annoyed. “Try anyway.”
“I told you, I can only read people who have been dead for a few hours. This guy has clearly been here a while."
There’s a shuffle, then a pained cry, as if Rip is hurting the woman. “Should I tell Foxx you resisted his orders?”
“N-no,” the woman rasps, as if struggling for air. Is he strangling her?
“What was that?” Rip asks again.
“No.”
“Good.”
For the next five minutes, all I can hear is hushed whispers and faint shuffling. When I look at Jericho, he’s standing still, eyes closed. Completely focused.
Finally, the woman speaks again, her voice cold and emotionless. “Tell me the name of the man who killed you.”
A new voice, this one cold and raspy, sends a chill down my spine. “Jericho.”
They sound strangled, as if coming from the grave. But that’s impossible, isn’t it? People can’t really talk to the dead?
“And who was with him?”
Silence.
“Tell us the name of the man who lives in this house,” the woman tries again. “Why were you visiting them?”
“Evan O’Connor owed me money.”
Well, at least that can convince the pack I was telling the truth.
“Did Evan know Jericho?”
“Yes.”
“Were they friends?”
“I do not know.”
Rip clears his throat. “Ask him if this… Evan O’Connor is the key to helping us find Jericho.”
The woman relays the question. “Would Evan help us locate Jericho?”
“They left together.”
A snarl breaks through the speaker, and then Rip complains, “I knew there was someone with him!”
A few minutes later, the trio leaves Evan’s house and drives off.
Jericho strolls away, fisting his hands at his sides. “Fuck!”
Sage purses his lips together. “You probably shouldn’t go back home until this is over.”
“Oh, I wasn’t—”
Jericho suddenly appears in front of me, eyes wild. “You can’t leave me now, you hear me? We can’t split up. Foxx will learn all he can about you and start tracking you like he did me. He’ll use you to get to me!”
I furrow my brows. “We already knew this, Jer.” Why is he acting like it’s new information?
Jericho reaches out to cup my face. It’s so unexpected, so intimate that I freeze.
“You don’t understand,” he says softly. “I need to keep you safe, Evan. It’s why I stayed away for so long. I was afraid. I always thought that I would be the one to hurt you, but now…” He sucks in a sharp breath. “Just promise me you won’t leave.”
When I don’t say anything, he starts to pull away, but I close a hand around his wrist, needing the contact just a little longer, for reasons I can’t even explain. Doesn’t he see I need him just as much as he needs me?
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say firmly before hugging him. “I promise. I’m not going anywhere.”