Chapter 19

Everly POV

I watched Zoe blow out her candles. Today was her 21st birthday, and I was blessed to call her one of my best friends. She is more like a sister to me. Zoe and Macey filled the places where my family should have been, but now I was happy with how far we all had come; we didn’t need anyone; we only needed each other. “Happy 21st,” I whisper to her, giving her a hug after setting the cake down.

“Oh, we need napkins,” I tell Zoe before rushing off back to the kitchen. I go into the storeroom, grabbing a box of refills down and pulling a handful out before placing the box on the shelf. Just as I walk back out, Zoe rushes into the kitchen, her face pale and a look of horror on her face. She smacks straight into me before grabbing my arms.

“What is it? What happened?” I ask her, looking around for what scared her. When she didn’t answer, I went to walk past her to investigate myself. It must be bad for her not to be able to tell me. Zoe feared nothing these days she had come out of her shell, but something happened for her to be such a nervous wreck.

“You can’t go out there,” She exclaims, gripping my arms and pulling me away from the door just as I was about to step out into the Restaurant. I hear

Macey talking behind me in the Restaurant.

“Sir, you can’t go back there, “I hear her call to someone.