I scroll through my phone, finding the number that has no name attached and calling it. It rings and rings before he answers.
“Hello?”
“Nathan, this is Leland, Waylon’s guardian. Can I speak to Sophia?”
He hesitates, probably confused and wondering what the boys got into. “She’s at work still. Has something happened?”
“I need her number.”
“Yeah, of course. I’ll text it to you. What’s… is something going on?”
“Text it, quickly,” I say before hanging up.
The text comes through almost immediately and I click the number. The woman thankfully answers.
“Sophia, this is Leland. We have a problem.”
“What the fuck do you mean?” she asks, already getting defensive.
“Waylon called me and told me there was someone following him. Of course I thought your lying ass set it up. I got to the scene and found Waylon, but Cam is missing.”
“What the fuck do you mean Cam is missing?”
“I’ll send you our location. We’re trying to track where they’re going. The police took over the scene before I could get more information out of them.”
“Did you do this?” she asks.
“You think I orchestrated Waylon getting hurt and terrorized so I could fool you into thinking someone else took your kid? I’m not sure how sloppy you really think I am.”
“Where are you?”
“Like I said, I’ll send you our location, but I’m not sure what good it will do. The police are already here. We’re simply telling them that Waylon called and we just arrived.”
“My family knows nothing about the life I lived. I… I’ll be there.”
“Got it,” I say and end the call.
Cassel gets my attention. “Ellis is going to drive me to my house. I’ll let you know as soon as I figure out something.”
“Take the guns we used,” I request, and all of us pass them off to him.
“Leland, you have blood on you. Switch shirts with me,” Ellis says as he quickly starts pulling his shirt off.
I grab it then pull my shirt off and hand it to him. There’s little I can do about my bloody knuckles, but I decide I’ll just do my best to hide them with the longer sleeves.
“Be careful,” Tavish tells Ellis.
“I will be. Going to Cassel’s house sounds like something I can handle. This type of stuff? I cannot do.”
“Hey, you held a vase while skydiving. Name another person who can do that. Even Leland’s weasel arms couldn’t do that,” Tavish assures him.
I slowly turn to look at Tavish and raise an eyebrow. “How did you get in the group text anyway?”
“Hey! I was the one who found him. You should praise me,” Tavish says.
I choke out, “Thank you for finding Waylon and being useful for the first time in your life.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” he says smugly.
