Confrontational Fathers
Callum
We quietly lie in her bed, but things are different now. I have several missed calls from my dad and Leo, I know we don’t have much time before I’ll be expected at The Society. Time lingers as anticipation grows thicker.
I lean in and smell her shampoo. The sweet scent of lavender calms me. I take one last breath and kiss the top of her head. I need to get back to Harrison and make sure we fix this. I need to protect her.
I can tell by the way that she’s breathing heavily that she finally fell asleep.
Harrison took Elliot’s body back to The Society so I could stay with Scarlett.
She needed someone, and I had to be that person for her—the only person I know how to be.
Harrison prepared Stirling to tell Sophia, and she knows to keep her distance for now.
She’s permitted to spend time with Scarlett tonight.
With those two glued at the hip, I’m surprised I didn’t see her over here sooner.
I carefully snake my arm out from under her head, trying not to wake her.
I sit at the side of the bed for a moment, thinking about what’s to come.
I know The Society won’t take what I’ve done lightly, and my final initiation is coming up.
Before the Elliot issue occurred, Harrison asked me to help with a drop today. I need to go.
I pick my jeans up from the floor beside the bed, slip them on, and pull my phone out of my pocket.
1:10 a.m.
Harrison will be leaving soon. I text him so he knows I’m coming.
Callum: Your house or Society?
I slip my shirt on and open the window. Usually, I can make it through the house at this time of night without waking Jake, but tonight, I can’t take that risk.
I grab onto the wooden lattice as I position my feet in its slots—muscle memory.
The front porch light turns on as I get to my car. Fuck.
I look up, Scarlett’s bedroom window is dark. Jake.
He opens the door as I keep walking toward my car.
“Callum!” My feet stop in the middle of his lawn. I guess this is what it would feel like to get caught doing stupid shit as a teenager, I’ve never had the pleasure. I was always too calculated to get caught.
Jake walks off the porch and toward me. I don’t say anything. As he approaches, I notice his heavy eyes and messy hair.
“I’m just going to come out and say it. My daughter is an adult, she’s a smart girl, so I don’t interfere.
I know that she wouldn’t stop dating you, even if I begged.
” He studies me. “Why don’t you use the front door next time and come around dinner time?
I’d like to get to know the person who takes up so much of my daughter’s life. ”
“Sure.” I nod. His eyes stay locked on mine for what feels like a long moment, before he turns away to return home.
An unfamiliar weight fills my chest as I walk to my car. How can I kill someone without batting an eye, but conversing with Scarlett’s dad made me so uneasy?
I consider the father figures in my life. My father, grandfather, and the Highers—who have been in my life for as long as I can remember—don’t have a parental bone in their bodies. Scarlett is so lucky to have a father that actually gives a damn about her.
I sit in the driver’s seat, and my phone vibrates. Speak of the devil. Father’s name appears on the screen. I hit accept and bring the phone to my ear.
“Where are you?” Immediate anger fills his tone.
Hasn’t he learned? If he wants to know where someone is, he must keep tabs on them. This is what happens when everyone does things for you—you forget how to do them yourself.
“What the fuck did you do, Callum? It’s like you’re trying to get caught.”
It’s cute that he thinks I care about him being upset. Fatherly love and all.
“There was a problem, and I eliminated it.” He won’t see it that way.
“You eliminated the son of one of this town’s most influential men. There will be consequences.”
There are no consequences when you already live life in the depths of hell.
“We need to discuss this. When will you be back home?”
Home? More like solitary confinement.
“I’m doing a drop with Harrison. I’ll be back in the morning.”
“I’ll be waiting, Callum.”
He hates waiting, most powerful men do.
I hang up.
The car’s engine idles for a few minutes before I pull off her street.
I make my way to Harrison’s house, across town.
After his grandparents passed, him and Stirling took over their family’s estate.
The house is nothing like ours. It’s warm and welcoming.
Harrison’s grandmother, Harriet, would always have fresh flowers in the house, picked daily from her second home—the outdoor garden.
She was Harrison’s icon, always so humble and sweet, with so much life left in her right until the end.
She fought for what she believed in and had his grandfather wrapped around her finger.
Harriet was a Nana to all of us, and Harrison still struggles to fill the void.
My mind drifts to Scarlett—the perfection in my life that I don’t deserve.
I think about the first time I took her to the greenhouse.
That day, I knew I could never let her go.
But now we’re in this mess. With all that is about to happen within The Society, I can’t help but wonder if she would be safer away from here, away from me.
I struggle with the want to keep her close and the need to keep her safe.
The white house comes into view as I pull into the curved driveway.
Even with all the gardens out of season, a vase of fresh flowers sits on the foyer table when I walk in. Harrison’s shoes thump against the old wood floor.
“I don’t expect you to cover for me, say you weren’t involved.” I know The Society could probably figure out that Harrison helped me with Elliot, but I’ll lie through my teeth for him.
“That’s not your decision to make.”
“It is when I’m the one responsible. You won’t go down for this.” Image is everything for his family, and if this ever gets out, I can’t be responsible for their downfall.
He doesn’t say anything. Instead, he walks past me, toward the door. He opens it and makes his way to my car. I follow him.
He grabs my pack of cigarettes and offers me one. We drive in silence, anticipating what’s to come.