Pregnant Pause [H.S]

Chapter 12

Technicolour

Fitz's brother.

Awkwardly enough, also known as Fitz.

"Harry!" (my) Fitz said, giving her brother a light shove out of the way as she moved toward me. She looked shaken, but her voice evened out as she added over her shoulder, "Callum, it's only Harry."

She walked straight into my arms, burying her head in my shoulder as she hugged me tightly.

"He thought you were coming for him," she murmured.

"Who was coming for what?" I asked, thoroughly confused though filled with relief as I embraced her. "What's going on?"

Callum sank onto the couch, removing the ice pack from his face to reveal an eye partially shut. Fitz's brother wasn't a fighter – if I had to guess based on the sorry state of his appearance, I'd say he was attacked.

Briony lurked in the kitchen, preparing a salad for herself but quite obviously eavesdropping without shame.

"I didn't know he was coming," Fitz explained. "He rang me up only a few minutes ago asking for directions and then he was stumbling in and bleeding all over the place."

She released me from her embrace, though she kept an arm around my back and leaned into me as we faced her younger brother, who was dabbing the pad of his finger to his broken lip and wincing in pain.

"Callum?" I asked, expecting an explanation of some sort. He was younger than Fitz by two years, and neither of us had seen him since Christmas. He had been away away at school in Leicester. At least, that was where he was supposed to be.

He cracked a rather pathetic smile, offering a slight wave as he relaxed into the couch and nursed his shoulder, which suddenly appeared to cause him pain. "Hi, buddy. How are ya?"

A rather chummy question given the circumstances.

"Bloody brilliant," I said, my frown deepening. "Care to enlighten us as to what's going on?"

He shrugged. "Just passing through.

Thought I'd pay my big sister a visit. What's new with you? How's the job?"

Perplexed by his nonchalance, I looked to Fitz for answers. Her hand slid from my waist as she approached her brother on the couch, giving him a nudge as she sat beside him.

"Callum. Tell him," she urged.

He hesitated, hissing before he stated, "I might owe a guy some money."

My expression darkened. "Who?"

He shrugged again. "Just a guy. You wouldn't know him."

"Money for what?"

Callum was even more reluctant to reply, making a few noncommittal sounds before saying, "... long story, mate."

I had an uneasy suspicion as to why the money was owed, and from Callum's beat-up face, he was in a bad spot. Fitz had told me that he'd gotten into a bit of trouble when they were younger, and most of that stemmed from the fact that, because he was the youngest of three in the Fitzpatrick clan, he assumed he'd be overlooked. I knew he enjoyed walking on the wild side, but I also knew that, like Fitz, he was a financially struggling student who had to work his way through uni, which left less time for troublemaking.

As I tried to process all that was happening, I recalled that the door to the flat had been left open in the flurry.

"Wait," I said, gathering my wits, "someone's coming for you? Are they coming... like... now?"