Callum: Trillionaire Shifter Club Book Four (2 page)

CHAPTER FOUR

Eight pm. Ruby had not returned.

Ava stepped
out into the cold, eerie night, locking the factory’s entrance behind her.
Surveying the car park, the only vehicle still standing was her own. No sign of
Ruby or Kirsten. No sign of…

Ava shook her
head. It was just stupid to think about him now.

And, as
horrible as it seemed going out with her friends tonight on a desperate mission
to find the man who had left her stranded, now she was looking at a New Years
spent in her lonesome apartment, eating non-fat ice cream in the glare of her
computer screen.

She’d said
she’d be back. She’d said to wait.

But Ruby
hadn’t even texted her. Ava was annoyed.

She opened
the car door and stepped into the driver’s seat putting the keys in the
ignition but failing to turn it. She leaned over the chair and looked back
through the window to the rest of the car park.

Still empty.
Still no sign.

Ava
reluctantly turned back to the steering wheel and closed the door beside her.
She rested her phone on the center console and then stared straight ahead. Into
the blank fence wall.

She wanted to
know.

She wanted to
know what had happened to him.

Ava
reluctantly picked up the phone and touched Ruby’s number. She listened to the
dial tone in her ear.

“Hello?” Ruby
answered.

“It’s Ava,”
she said softly. “You said you’d be back.”

“Sorry.
Things got a bit out of hand.” She added, “I couldn’t get a hold of Callum if
that’s why you’re calling.”

“Where are
you?”

“Donna and
Evan’s. We decided not to go to the VIP party thing. It’s a bit of a drive and,
well, we were only really going to do it for you anyway.”

“How are
things at Donna’s?”

“Pretty
boring. Just a bunch of dickheads getting pissed as usual.”

“I might …
drop in.”

Ruby paused a
moment. “Yeah, you should. I mean, you don’t want to be alone on new-years, do
you?”

“I think … I think
I want to go to the other party.”

“The one …
the one with Callum?”

“Even if no
one wants to come with me. You … were right. I need to know what happened to
him.”

“Okay. Come
down here and we’ll talk about it.”

“Right. I
should be there in fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll make
sure the front is open for you.”

“Thanks,
Ruby.”

Ava put down
the phone, aware her breathing was now rapid.

This was
actually happening. She was actually pushing herself.

She was going
to find out what happened to Callum.

Before the
new year was upon them.

CHAPTER FIVE

There were so many cars parked
outside and around Donna’s house, Ava had to park at the other end of the
street. After a short walk up the footpath towards the residence, she passed by
several of Donna’s friends and associates, some of which Ava vaguely knew. She
smiled where appropriate and allowed them to continue their conversations and
cigarettes, moving further up the driveway. The door to the house was open as
Ruby had said it would be, loud music booming from within. Ruby herself was
standing a few feet on the other side of it, chatting to a couple of guys at
the base of the stairs. Ava squeezed her way into to their little group, and
faced Ruby so she could see her.

“Oh hey,”
Ruby beamed quickly grabbing her wrist. “My friend is here now, so –”

“Just say the
word,” one of the guys hollered after them. “You know that’s all I need.”

“Who were
they?” Ava asked once they were alone.

“Friends of
Evan’s,” Ruby replied. “Are you ready to go?”

“So we are
going?”

“Yeah, I’ll
just go grab the passes from Kirsten. I think she wants to stay here, but we
should be able to get in without her.”

“Okay,” Ava
said. “But … there’s no hurry.”

She followed
Ruby around the house, through the living room and kitchen, until they were at
the backdoor and walking outside.

Kirsten was
lying on her back in the middle of the lawn with a bunch of other people, most scrolling
through their phones, a drink or smoke in the other hand. They approached.

“Kirsten,”
Ruby began.

“What?” Kirsten
replied without looking up.

“Ava’s here,”
Ruby continued. “She wants to go find Callum.”

“We said we
weren’t going to go.”

“Kirsten,”
Ava said crouching forward.

Kirsten
peered up from the phone. “How’s it going?”

“Do you not
want to go? Do you just want to stay here?”

“Well we’re
here now, aren’t we? It’s a bit rude to leave after we’ve just shown up.”

“Where do
they want to go?” a familiar voice asked behind them.

Ava turned as
Donna moved round to sit beside Kirsten on the grass.

“Hi Donna,”
she said.

“Ava,” Donna
smiled. “Come on, where are you guys off to?”

“Well it was
Kirsten’s idea in the first place,” Ruby said. “She has passes to a VIP party
going down in Shifter World tonight.”

“You mean
that creepy theme park?” Donna replied. “Eww.”

“Um, not
eww
,”
Kirsten snapped. “Shifters are fucking hot.”

“Hot? Don’t
they keep them in cages there? On display? Like a zoo?”

“Wait, what
are you saying?” Ava demanded. “Did Callum get captured by them?”

Kirsten
looked up silently towards Ruby.

Ava followed
her gaze.

“Is this some
sort of a joke?” Ava demanded. “Or have you just been messing with me this
whole time?”

Ruby opened
her mouth, but no words followed.

“Evan’s
little brother has a mate named Callum,” Donna offered. “Do you want me to set
you up, Ava?”

“Fuck you,”
Ava said standing up. “Fuck off the lot of you.”

CHAPTER SIX

A few minutes later Ava was in the
downstairs bathroom, one hand on the edge of the basin, the other wiping tears
from her eyes.

So that’s
what it had all been then. A joke. A way to make fun of her for having the only
guy she ever cared about walk out on her. She didn’t know if Callum really had
been taken by the park, of if he was off somewhere else entirely, living a
glorious life – but in any case it didn’t matter. Because she’d never see him
again.

Her train of
thought was broken as someone knocked softly on the door outside.

“I’m in
here,” Ava called. “Go away.”

“Open the
door, please.”

Ava squinted.
She didn’t recognize the voice.

“I’m not
finished.”

“Ava, I need
to talk to you.”

Ava stepped
away from the basin and proceeded to unlock the door.

A young woman
with auburn hair entered, and closed and locked the door after her.

“Who are
you?” Ava said backing away. “What do you want?”

“I’m Maisey
Newfield. I know Evan from work.”

“So?”

“I wanted to
warn you, about the Shifter World. You have no idea what you’re getting
yourself into.”

“What do you
know about it?”

Maisey
lowered her eyes and put her hand against the wall. “Your story sounds similar
to mine,” she said. “The bits I’ve heard. You met Callum at the club, didn’t
you?”

“Trillionaire
Shifter Club?”

“Yeah. That’s
where it all started. Somehow, they were able to convince the leader of the
club to join their cause. Perhaps they brainwashed him. I don’t really know. Since
then everyone who has gone out looking for him has been taken by the park.
There are creatures who run things there. At times they can appear human … but
they are anything but. They’re monsters, in the purest sense of the word.”

“How do you
know all this?” Ava demanded.

“One of my
friends got wed to the club’s leader, just before everything went wrong. My
other friend, my best friend, who was involved with the second in charge went
after her and disappeared. There was only one good shifter left there, a panda
named Declan. He had feelings –”

“I met him.”

“What?”

“I met Declan
… the same night I met Callum. He was one of the nicer ones.”

“I never
really got a chance to know him,” Maisey confessed. “But in the small amount of
time I was with him, I knew we were meant for each other.”

Ava
swallowed. “I felt the same way about Callum. But … I’m just … crazy…”

“He could
feel the same way. And if he was taken by the park then you’d have no way of
knowing.”

“What
happened to Declan?”

“I don’t
know. The last time I saw him…”

Maisey’s face
paled and her hand on the wall slipped.

Ava quickly
moved to break her fall.

“Oh shit,”
Maisey said stepping away from her. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s
okay.”

“It was
during our night together. We set off to find my best friend Cordelia, and
instead came across that wretched theme park. Declan ran in before me. I tried
to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen. I chased after but … I never saw him
again. The police found me a few hours later, lying somewhere in the middle of
it, unconscious. I came to in the ambulance. Screamed for them to take me back
there … but…”

“But what?”

“It was too
late. They searched the entire place for Cordelia and Harper and Chilton and …
Declan.”

“They didn’t
find them?”

“No. There
was no proof they were even there at all.”

“Did you go
back there?”

“Yes,” Maisey
said in a quiet voice. “But I wish I hadn’t –”

Someone
started pounding on the bathroom door.

“Ava?” Ruby
called from outside. “Are you in there?”

“I’ll just be
a minute,” Ava fired back.

She turned to
Maisey. “What happened when you went back there?”

Maisey
grabbed hold of Ava’s wrists and stared into her eyes.

“I saw the
creatures,” she said.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

As soon as the bathroom door was
opened, and Ruby entered, Maisey stormed out in a tearful mess.

“What the
hell was that?” Ruby asked suspiciously.

“She’s been
to the park,” Ava said. “She lost someone there too.”

“Oh come on,”
Ruby replied. “You don’t believe all that nonsense do you?”

“What’s the
alternative?”

Ruby shook
her head. “Look, that was – that was stupid of us before. Having a go at you
and that.”

“Is that what
it was?”

“I didn’t
mean to, it just sort of played out that way.”

Ava looked at
her friend stiffly. “Are we getting those passes or not?”

Ruby pointed
to her handbag. “Got them.”

“All three?”

“Kirsten’s
not coming. But I convinced her to give them to us.”

Ava took a
step forward. “So you’re with me now?”

“Of course I
am, silly,” Ruby beamed.

“Cause this
could be dangerous.”

“What, is
that what that headcase told you?”

“Do you know
her?”

“Who?”

“Maisey.”

Ruby
chuckled. “She told us off for joking about the park just before. And then
chased after you. I assume she offered some insight.”

“More than
that.”

“I wouldn’t
pay any attention. She has like no friends here, so…”

“Do I?” Ava
challenged.

“Do you
what?”

“Do I have
friends here?”

Ruby groaned.
“I’ve got the passes. I’m coming with you. I dragged you out of work for this
instead of trying to have a good time here – is there anything else I can do
for you, your highness?”

Ava inhaled
sharply. “Sorry.”

“What’s
that?”

“I’m sorry. I
know you’re my friend.”

Ruby crooked
her head to one side. “What exactly did she say to you?”

“She said I
shouldn’t go to find him.”

“But we are
going then?”

Ava stepped
away from the basin and walked past Ruby out of the bathroom. “We don’t have a
choice.”