Dying inside, I let the call ring out, ignoring Ranger’s bored curiosity. A conventional call lit up the screen a split second later and I let out a harassed breath.
“Best off answering.” Ranger nudged my foot with his boot, not quite a kick, but nearly. “Might calm you down.”
It was the most sense Ranger had made over the past few days. I took the call, steeling my eardrums for Ivy to screech at me. But instead of my excitable kid, I got the masculine warmth of Folk’s voice saturating my brain, my heart, and everything in between, and Ranger’s gruff prophecy came true. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself,” Folk murmured. “Everything going all right?”
I turned away from Ranger, measuring my words. “It’s going.”
“Something happen?”
“You sound like you already know it did.”
“I don’t know anything. I just got a vibe off Teddy.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not here, so whatever vibe he gave you is second-hand.”
“Teddy’s not there?”
“Not for a while now.”
A pause stretched out, one that had me frowning. Teddy.Alexei.He and Folk had a complex relationship, one I’d never tried to understand, but they always seemed to know each other’s business better than anyone else. Folk not knowing Alexei had left us made as much sense as Cam sleeping on Ivy’s bedroom floor. “Are you okay?”
It was the first time I’d flat out asked him. Probably because I was scared of the answer. Folk loved me—I knew that. And he and Ivy loved each other more than I’d ever dared dream. But he wasn’t happy, and I had no fucking clue how to fix it.
You can’t fix it.
But, god, I wanted to.
“Not really,” Folk said so quietly I barely heard him. “But I’m trying.”
“Where are you?”
“At the Unholy Mansion. Locke’s still trying to figure out how a piano ended up in his kitchen. Ivy’s getting her nails done at the flat.”
“You’re not alone?”
“Not for days and days now. I think I’m wearing how much I miss you all over my face.”
Visceral pain clenched my heart. I’d been away before, but leaving him this time had just about killed me, because as much as Folk would never have let me, I’d known how badly he’d needed me to stay. “I miss you too. This is the shittest run I’ve ever been on.”
“Something really did happen?”
“Rubi and Ranger got in a punch-up.”
“With each other?”
“No, someone else, thank fuck.”
Folk laughed, mellow and wonderful. “Who won?”
“Our lot on points, but I broke it up before it got too lairy.” The shoulder my ex-wife had hit with her car throbbed as a reminder. “Where are you sleeping tonight?”
“At the flat. Orla said she’d sit on me if I tried to leave.”
“You already left.”
“Seth, trust me. I’m not spending a night away from Mother Locke until you come home.”