Page 146 of Shattered

Callum had only ever had that sick-to-your-stomach feeling two times in his life. Once was the night he’d found out about Millie. The other was during the twenty-seven foot walk it had taken to go from his car to his parents’ front door the day he’d told his mom about his dad. Tonight was now the third time that feeling made itself known.

He reached for his phone and let out a curse when he saw it was dead.

“Call her,” he all but demanded of Kristin. His voice was frantic and foreign.

Kristin furrowed her brow at his tone. “You okay?”

“I’m going to grab my charger. Just call her, okay?”

He didn’t even wait for her to respond before he was downstairs and yanking the cord from the wall. By the time he made it back to the living room, she was setting her phone down on the table while Micah was fixing them a drink.

“It went straight to voicemail, but I left her a message. I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

Callum opened his mouth to tell her to try her again when Kristin’s phone lit up with Sam’s name and photo on the screen.

A sigh of relief slipped past his lips.

Kristin answered with a laugh as she said, “Listen. Callum must be super horny because he is over here–” She abruptly clamped her mouth shut and a confused look covered her face. “I’m sorry, what?”

That feeling in Callum’s stomach came back, and this time it was ten times worse than it had ever been before.

“Who are you?” Kristin questioned an unknown person on the phone.

“What’s going on?” Callum was across the living room before he had finished the question.

Kristin sucked in a shaky breath and then reached to grab ahold of Micah. “Oh my god.” The words were barely a whisper.

“What is going on?”It took every ounce of restraint Callum possessed not to yank the phone from Kristin’s ear.

This time it was Kristin’s voice that became shaky and foreign. “What hospital is she going to?”

He couldn’t breathe.

His chest caved in on itself and his stomach flipped upside down.

He couldn’t think or focus or breathe.

He wasn’t sure how, but in a matter of seconds he had on a pair of shoes, had found his wallet, and was reaching for his keys. Micah jumped in front of him to swipe them away.

“You aren’t driving.” Micah ran to the banister that led upstairs. “Drew! I need Mel’s car keys! Now!”

“Just let me drive my goddamn truck,” Callum yelled out.

In reality, he didn’t even know where he was headed. He was waiting for Kristin to give away some more information, but she stood still and stone-faced as she listened to whoever was on the other line.

“No, you'll get in a wreck trying to get there. We’re taking Mel’s car. It’s the only one that will fit all of us if she ends up being able to leave the hospital tonight.”

Callums’ mind went in a thousand different directions.

If she ends up being able to leave the hospital…

If…

If…

If…

“Why wouldn’t she be able to leave?” The myriad of possible answers to that question raced through him along with a crumpling weight that settled in the pit of his stomach.

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