Page 72 of Soft Flannel Hank

“I didnotknow that, clearly, or I would have sent Esther to her from the start!”

Nat smirked and shrugged again. “Clearly Magda wanted her with you, or she would have insisted otherwise.”

“Esther could just stay there,” Hank said, feeling a glimmering hope. “She’d be safe there.”

“She’d be safe there, but just for the night. You don’t want to cause trouble for Magda.”

“Of course not,” Hank said.

“So you stay there tonight. Let me try to scramble the trail. They’ll search your house for her. And then when we all go underground tomorrow morning, you haul ass for the cabin.”

“It’s not provisioned.”

Nat sighed heavily. “I know. But I’ve got someone I can call.”

Hank raised an eyebrow. “What kind of someone?”

Nat glared at him. “It’s complicated.”

But he pulled out his phone and scrolled down before punching the screen and holding it to his ear.

“Don’t hang up…Yeah, I know I’ve got a giant set of balls calling you…Yes, I know you want to turn them into rearview mirror decorations…Look, Niamh, I need a favor.”

Hank heard shouting through the phone, Nat held it away from his ear wincing. After a time, it seemed he’d had enough. “It’s not for me. Jesus Christ, you shrieking harpy…Yes, I know!...Will you stop screaming at me and listen?” he barked.

Hank watched intently. He’d never seen Nat so worked up. Granted, he’d seen Nat more ruffled in the last week than he ever had, but this was beyond. He wasn’tjustagitated.

“I’ve got a buddy and his girl who need the cabin… Yes, it’s a life-or-death situation… Really, really… Can you stock it first thing tomorrow morning? I swear I’ll never ask another thing from you… What do you want?”

Nat shot to his feet and stomped into the mudroom. “I told you no. I told you I wouldn’t do that. Anything but that. Please, Niamh. Don’t ask me for that.”

Hank heard him pacing in the small space.

“It’s too much. It’s—” Nat fell silent. “Fine. You win. Are you happy? Stock them for two weeks. I’ll call you later.”

Nat slouched back into the kitchen and resumed his seat at the table, staring at his clasped hands.

“You okay?” Hank asked. It wasn’t what he wanted to ask. He had a list of no fewer than thirty questions he wasitchingto ask about that phone call, but he held them back.

Nat sighed heavily, covering this face with his hands. “I’ll be fine.”

“Who was that?” Hank asked, unable to resist at least that one question.

“An old friend, I guess you could say.” But his face looked ashen. Well, more ashen than a vampire usually looked.Anything but that,he’d begged the person on the phone. And he’d given it to them in the end anyway.

“You’re giving up a lot for us, aren’t you?”

Nat lifted his gaze and met Hank’s. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Nothing you wouldn’t do for me, good buddy.”

That didn’t make him feel any better because he would do a hell of a lot for Nat. He would do everything for him.

He opened his mouth to ask another question, but Nat cut him off. “You should pack. Get Esther. I’ll call Jamie and tell him to meet you on Bluebell Street.”

After a moment that felt eternal, Hank nodded and walked towards the hall and stairs. But before he climbed, he looked back at Nat, who was staring at his hands again with a pensive look on his face.

Nothing was free, his mother had always told him. He had never felt that truth in his bones so coldly as he did now.

14