Page 113 of Soft Flannel Hank

“Why?” Hank couldn’t help but ask.

“Because I’ve been watching you as well, and I believe that if you did know where she was, you wouldnae be here, alone and sulking.”

“You’re right about that.”

“Unfortunately,” Callum said, closing in on the last inch of the apple, “I need to find her anyway.”

“I can’t help you. I won’t.”

“You cannae lead me to her, nae, but you will help me whether you mean to or no. Because she’ll be back if she thinks ye’re in danger.” Callum’s voice was deep and silky. “She’ll come back to save you.”

“Over my dead body will you take her,” Hank growled.

The last of the peel dropped from the perfectly smooth, perfectly bare apple. The ribbon Callum had made of it lay in a delicate tangle on the tabletop.

Callum held the apple out for Hank, who shook his head tightly. Callum sighed and tossed the apple into the air. Robbie reached out and caught it, bringing it to his mouth and taking a large bite, the snap of his teeth in the apple loud in the otherwise silent kitchen. He smirked as he wiped the juice from his lips with the back of his tattooed hand.

“I would hate for it to come to that, Mr. Dove,” Callum said, wiping his knife clean with a handkerchief with his eyes locked on Hank’s.

* * *

Esther feltthe reverberation of her feet pounding on the wet pavement up her legs and into her jaw. She had never run so fast in her entire life. She was beyond reason, beyond rational thought. The only thing she could focus on was getting to Hank before Callum did.

A cold mist fell from the sky. Not snow. Not rain. Just a permeating cold dampness that Esther could already feel through her jeans.

She saw headlights shining from behind her, illuminating the sidewalk and road ahead of her, and Esther had a moment of panic as she whipped around, fully expecting it to be Callum, fully expecting to be hauled into an open SUV door.

But then a sleek little car stopped right next to her, the window down, and Esther saw Jory leaning across the console. “Get in the car, Esther,” she said.

“I have to get to him,” Esther gasped, breaking away at a run.

“A car is way faster than you are, Esther!” Jory shouted, driving next to Esther as she ran. “Get your ass in!”

Esther, locating her logic again, practically hurled herself into the passenger seat.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Jory asked, pulling away from the curb and speeding down the street.

“I wasn’t,” Esther said, her breath coming in short pants.

“I would have driven you. We could have been there sooner.”

“I know,” Esther wailed into her hands. “I know. This was stupid. I wasn’t thinking. I had a vision. Callum was there, and I—” She hiccupped.

“Callum’s coming?”

“If he’s not already there.”

Jory turned the wheel sharply, making a left through a red light toward Hank’s house. A car horn blared behind them. Esther’s adrenaline was pulsing so hot that she didn’t even register the way her guts slammed against her spine as the car drifted around the corner.

Esther felt like she was in a fever dream. Like she’d fallen out of her real life and landed in a video game that was a mix between Grand Theft Auto and Formula One racing.

“What’s your plan?” Jory asked quietly, gripping the steering wheel with both fists as she ran another light, deftly maneuvering around an oncoming car.

The question jolted Esther back to the present.

“I’m gonna give myself up.”

“What?”