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The light is off. The shower curtain hangs still. A single drop falls from the faucet, its soft plink jarring in the quiet.

I stand in the hallway with my arms crossed over my chest. Cold seeps up from the hardwood into my bare feet, moving from discomfort into an ache as my toes curl in on themselves.

My stomach growls, an empty ache that jolts loose a memory of Kain talking about dinner and my demand for Stackers.

That’s why he’s not here.

I uncross my arms, letting them fall to my sides. I flex my fingers, one at a time, the joints popping in protest from hours of clutching the handheld.

Kain has been gone for...

I search for a starting point, a memory, but my brain is a blank screen. He left when the sun was up. The stove now reads seven oh three.

That’s... too long?

I run the numbers.

Stackers is twenty minutes away. Fifteen, if Kain drives like he does when I’m not in the car. Five minutes to order. Fifteen to come home.

The timeline doesn’t work.

He should be back by now.

My throat tightens, and I swallow, the sound too loud in the empty hallway.

Did he say he was making any other stops? I rack my brain, but I can’t remember the conversation.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, the vibration cutting through the quiet. I snatch it out, the screen lighting stabbing into my eyes.

William Mosley.

Unease twists in my stomach.

Will never calls me.

I answer and bring the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

“Reef.” William sounds strained. “Where are you?”

“At home.” My heart hammers against my ribs, and I brace myself on the wall. “Why?”

“I heard Kain’s name on the police scanner. A mugging and carjacking happened outside Stackers.”

The sentence doesn’t fit together.

Kain.

Stackers.

Mugging.

“What?”

“An ambulance is taking him to Mercy General.” A frantic clatter of keys comes from Will’s end. “I don’t know anything else yet.”

I try to speak, but my throat closes.

“Reef.” William cuts in, sharper. “Are you hearing me?”