Page 29 of Stabby Little

I gesture to the picture wall. “You've been to Little Land?”

“Yes.” Christian smiles. “My friends and I go there to destress.”

“Oh my God.” I bring my hands to my cheeks. “I was there earlier today. My friends and I played in the stuffy pit and jumped in the hot tub.”

Christian squeals. “Another Little in my ice cream shop. This is amazing.”

“You have to play with me sometime,” Christian says, poking my forearm. “My friends and I love meeting new Littles in the city. We have stuffy fights in the stuffy pit and party on the dance floor.”

“I didn't know Little Land had a dance floor.” I furrow my brow. “I didn't see it when I was there.”

“It's a new installation. You can only access it through the back door.”

My insides fill with warmth. “That'd be incredible. Thanks for offering to play with me.”

I pull the black heart plushie I nicked from the stuffy pit out of my backpack. “I stole this earlier today,” I confess. I have no idea why I'm telling Christian this. I feel guilty because I snatched the stuffy, and maybe this will help my conscience. “I like darker things.”

Christian rubs my stuffy. “You're not like other boys. There's nothing wrong with that.” He bites back a grin. “And the stuffies in the stuffy pit are for the boys to take. You didn't steal it—if this caught your eye, you were within your rights to take it with you and give it a home full of love.”

That's when the front door opens. Callum enters in a white T-shirt with a pink heart embroidered on the breast.

“Hey, psycho.” He settles into the seat next to me and tosses his hair over his shoulder. “I see you started eating without me.”

Christian lets out a snort. “Do you want to try my new bubblegum and banana flavor, Callum?”

“That'd be amazing.” He hugs Christian. “I've been dreaming about this ice cream ever since Ollie said we were coming here. It made my tummy growly.”

Hold up. I flit my eyes between the two boys. “You two know each other?”

“Callum is my friend Arlo's friend,” Christian says with a laugh.

“Christian has a lot of friends,” Callum explains. “They seem to grow at an exponential rate.”

Christian heads back to the counter and prepares Callum's ice cream. After he brings it to us and provides me with a second bowl, Callum joins me at the table by the window and we get down to business.

I tell Callum that I was proud of him for pushing through with our plan to escape the Diavolos' warehouse. He didn't want to take the second dose of drugs I injected him with, but it was necessary. If he recalled the air vent I found that led to the manhole outside the warehouse, it would've fucked up our plan.

“You can count on Benedetto's help.” Callum grips my hand tight after I ask him about tracking down Zaire's yacht. “His brothers will help, too.”

“Great.” I make a mental note to tell Sparrow this. “Finn and Sparrow will be pleased.”

“You're welcome in the Hamptons anytime.” Callum buries me in a hug. “You, Finn, and Sparrow can chill with us for as long as you need. We want to help take down the Diavolos, too.”

I shake my head. “We need to do this on our own. I appreciate the offer, but it's too risky.”

I refuse to endanger Callum's life again.

I nearly got him killed when I snuck him out of the warehouse the first time.

He also nearly died again when the Diavolo brothers captured him after the Ferraris snuck back into the warehouse the second time.

There's no way in hell I'll put him in danger again.

The sound of footsteps distracts me. I glance up to see Christian approaching us with a bag over his left arm.

“I thought you might like this.” Christian blushes as he sets the bag on the counter. “It's a gift from Dino Tracks. I hope you'll enjoy it.”

I peek into the bag. There's a tiny black dinosaur with a spiky tail and rainbow scales sitting at the bottom.

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