Blending in with the guys was paramount to not giving away the game.
Clay and Asa had a tiny head start, but I wasn’t worried they would win.
When my phone rang, I tucked it between my shoulder and ear while I searched for my keys. “Hollis.”
“I have Aedan,” a low voice informed me. “I won’t harm him. I simply wish to speak to you privately.”
“You’re the black witch who’s been sniffing around my shop.”
The girls had pegged him right. He did have an odd speech cadence and a formal tone.
A peculiar tingle in the back of my mind spread like an itch I couldn’t reach.
He sounded…familiar…but I couldn’t match a face to his voice.
“Do I need to tell you what I’ll do to you if you hurt that boy?”
“I’m aware of your reputation. I understand the peril I have placed myself in.”
“I’ll meet with you, I give you my word, but leave him out of it.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible at this juncture.”
Hands balling at my sides, I demanded, “Let me talk to him.”
“Of course.”
Rustling filled the background, then muttered words, and wood scraped on metal.
“Rue,” Aedan breathed into the receiver. “I’m sorry I—”
“I’m the one who owes you an apology for not coming home sooner.”
A few murmurs hinted the kidnapper was ready to reclaim the phone.
“I’m coming for you,” I promised Aedan. “You’re going to be okay.”
The handset passed from him to the black witch, and I grated out, “I can be at the shop in ten minutes.”
“I won’t harm him,” he reiterated. “I simply wish to talk.”
Famous last words.