Seb waved him off. “Go get it. I’ll just leave this paused while you’re gone.”
“Want to come up?”
“No, thanks.” Despite Jared’s assurances that Gareth was great, Seb had no desire to walk up more flights of stairs, only to have to turn round and come all the way back down.
“Okay. Be back in ten minutes, tops.” Jared slipped on his shoes, grabbed the flat keys from the table, and headed for the door.
Seb stretched and yawned, and when his phone vibrated in his pocket, he jumped a mile. His smile faded when it wasn’t his sister’s name that appeared. “Hello?”
“Mr Calloway?”
“Speaking.” Seb pulled the phone away from his ear a second to check the number. It looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place it.
“This is Caroline from Airport Xpress Taxis. Our driver has been waiting at the airport for over almost an hour now, and there’s no sign of Miss Calloway. Can you confirm the flight details were correct?”
Seb sat there, stunned, not sure what was going on. “Um, I’m sorry, there must be some mistake. I got a text from my sister a while ago saying she’d been picked up and was on her way home.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible, sir. Well, it wasn’t our firm, anyway. And since she’s obviously no longer at the airport…”
She carried on talking, something about him still being charged the full amount, but Seb wasn’t really paying attention any longer. He gripped the phone tightly; his hand shook as the implications began to sink in.
“Mr Calloway? Are you still there?”
“Yeah, do whatever’s necessary. Bye.”
He hung up, not caring what he’d just agreed to. Jesus Christ! Some fucking stranger had picked up his sister from the airport and could be taking her to God knew where. He ran a trembling hand through his hair, gripping hard at the long strands while dialling his sister’s number. His phone buzzed with a text as the call went to voice mail.
Seb left her a terse message to call him back immediately, then checked the text.
It was from Kelly.Heading to your flat first. Hope that’s ok. X
Fuck no, it wasn’t okay. Who the hell was she with? And what if they left her waiting outside on her own? Christ, what if those fucking rogue shifters chose that moment to pay him a visit!
Shit. Shit. Shit.
He called her again as he stood and grabbed his crutch. No reply.Again.
Come on, Kelly!
Jared came through the door, carrying his laptop, just as Seb was frantically pulling his trainer on. “Going somewhere?”
“Grab your car keys. We need to go back to mine.”
“What? Why?” Jared grabbed Seb’s arm as he reached for the door. “Seb? What the hell’s going on?”
“Kelly didn’t get in the taxi I arranged.”
Jared looked confused, but fuck, there was no time for that. Seb reached past him for the door handle.
“Someone else picked her up, J. She’s in a car with some fucker, and on the way to my flat. I need to get there right the fuck now.” He glared when Jared took too long to respond. “Jared!”
“Okay, okay, but we can’t go on our own. Nathan would kill me, and I suspect Tim wouldn’t be too pleased either.”
“I’m not fucking bonded to Tim,” Seb snarled, pushing his way out of the door. “I don’t care whether he’ll be pissed off or not.”
That wasn’t true—he did care—but at that moment the only thing that mattered was getting to Kelly.
“Everyone’ll be pissed off if we do this, Seb. Let me just call Nath—”
