“The hose needed to be fixed.” He walks to the kitchen to wash his hands and then he sits at the table, opening up his Crunch wrap supreme.
It’s quiet as we eat, except for the crunch from Zinnia’s nachos.
“Did you get the book?” my dad asks.
I nod. “Yes.”
He chews the food in his mouth, leaning back. After he swallows it, he says, “Next time…” He eats more food. “Turn left. It’s faster.”
I blink up at him as he takes another bite of his food.
Suddenly, my appetite is lost. He breaks eye contact for a moment, but he doesn’t need to stare at me to prove his point.
My gut twists.
What does he know?
Chapter Twenty-Six: Zephyr
I press the phone against my ear, trying to make out what Callum’s saying through the static and heavy breathing.
“We’re coming,” I tell him. “We’re fucking coming.”
Jax is still inside Barnes & Noble with Tigerlily. I’m pacing the parking lot, scanning the surrounding area, waiting for him to get his ass out here.
Finally, he pushes through the doors. Tigerlily’s at the front counter paying for something.
I pull the phone away from my ear and wave Jax over to move faster.
“What?” he asks.
“We need to leave right now.”
Tigerlily walks out of the store a second later, storming toward her car without looking at us. She’s annoyed. Good. At least she’s safe.
Jax doesn’t waste a second getting into the passenger seat. “What the fuck is it?”
“Callum,” I say, clenching my jaw. His voice is still ringing in my ears—panicked, breathless, desperate. “Fucking drive.”
I set up the GPS on my phone and give him directions to Callum’s location. We peel out of the parking lot just as Tigerlily pulls onto the main road heading toward her house.
We race past her. She turns into Taco Bell.
“Did it work?” Jax asks, weaving through traffic like he’s on the ice.
“Fuck, I guess. He got jumped. He’s on the run right now.”
Jax presses the gas harder. He blows through a red light without slowing down.
I lean forward, checking the GPS. Five more minutes.
“Fuck!” I slam my hand against the dashboard.
Jax cuts across two lanes and floors it. We make it there in three.
He slams the brakes when we see Callum limping down the side of the road, one hand pressed against his ribs, the other clutching his phone.
I unlock the doors. Callum slides into the back seat, groaning as he moves.
