Page 127 of Puck Prince

“Probably just solicitors,” I shrug. “They’re not supposed to come in here, but I always have a dozen takeout menus from that Indian place down the?—”

I stop talking when Callie’s eyes widen. “Owen…”

I take the paper from her hand, and Callie falls against me like she can’t stand on her own.

You can’t protect her forever.

It’s one sentence. No name, no indicator of who wrote it or when they left it here. It says so little, and yet, it says a thousand things. Things that make me feel like I’m going to be sick.

“Come inside.” I shove the note in my pocket. I want to ball it up. To throw it away and never look at it again.

But shit just got real. Someone is threatening me. I need to hang onto it.

“Who would do that?” Callie is shaking. Her voice is broken, that smile from moments ago dead and gone.

“You tell me.”

She hesitates.

“Goddammit, Callie!” I don’t mean for my words to come out as harshly as they do, but this secrecy thing has gone on long enough. “Why won’t you tell me who he is?”

We both know this is about the guy from last night—the guy from her past. This is him, and I’m going to kill him.

“Because I don’t want you to do something stupid!”

“Something stupid?” I widen my eyes, ripping the note back out of my pocket. “You mean like this? Like threatening me and you and?—”

“How do we even know it was him? How do we know it’s about me?”

“Who else would it be about?” As soon as I ask the question, the answer hits me hard enough in the gut to knock the wind out of me. “Summer.”

I want to rage. I want to scream and get in my car and hunt the bastard down. But I don’t know who he is—whoeitherof them are—so I can’t. That smug, proud,I’m protecting my ownfeeling that had me all puffed up just a few minutes ago? That’s as much dust in the wind as Callie’s smile.

For the first time in a long time, I feel something sickeningly familiar:fear.

All I can do is drag Callie into my apartment and plummet down on the couch. I rest my head in my hands, trying to figure out what to do next. What I evencando.

Callie comes and sits next to me. “Listen, maybe it’s nothing.”

“Maybe it’s nothing?” I spit out. “You’re joking, right? One or both of the guys you and Summer got caught up with is fucking with us. That’s not nothing.”

“I just mean, maybe the threats are empty. Because what can they do, really?”

I drop my hands and look over at her. “I don’t know. You tell me. What can the nameless man do, Callie? You know him—I don’t. What is he capable of?”

Callie chews on her lip, tears forming in her eyes. My question dragged her back somewhere she didn’t want to go. Somewhere that hurts. I regret my words immediately.

“I’m sorry. Fuck, Cal, I’m sorry.” I pull her against me, my hand in her soft hair. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry. I don’t know who Nicky’s dad is, but I do know what that son of a bitch did to Summer. It eats at me every single day. And now, knowing someone hurt you, too—it’s too much. We need to put a stop to it.”

“I just don’t want my problem to be your problem. And I don’t want you to go to jail,” she sniffles.

“I’m not going to go to jail.” I let out a frustrated sigh. “You have to get caught in order to go to jail, and I wouldn't get caught.”

Callie pulls away, looking at me frantically. “See? See?! That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

I actually laugh a little, putting my hands on her shoulders. “I’m kidding. I’m kidding.”

“You’re not funny.”

---