Page 167 of Hi-Voltage
He didn’t deserve to know that name, have it in his phone, or wear it around his neck.
He closed the messaging app with a sigh and put his phone on his chest. He’d only had his eyes closed for a few minutes before his phone started to ring with an incoming call.
When he flipped it over to see who it was, he took a sharp breath.
Private Number
Luka’s heart jumped into his throat. “Who?” He murmured, feeling his palms grow clammy instantly. It could have been spam, but aprivate numbercalling him was so much stranger than a random 1-800 number. Fear shot through him as he watched the call end. There were too many people who could potentially have his number—a crazy fan, a reporter,Joy—that Luka immediately ignored the call when it came through a second time.
August slammed the door closed using their foot, then dropped the bags of fast food on the coffee table.
“You didn’t tell me what you wanted, so you got a cheeseburger and tots. I expect you to eat it all. Wait, why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
Theprivate numberappeared on his screen again, and his phone rang in his hand. He turned it for August to see, and they raised an eyebrow.
“Do you want me to answer that?”
“Yes.” Luka handed the phone to them, grateful that August was ten times braver than him.
“This is August," they answered in their most customer service voice possible, “May I ask who is calling?”
A pause, then August’s jaw dropped. They swallowed and said, “Hold-hold on a moment.”
They put the phone on mute and said, “It'sT-yan.”
“What the fuck?” Luka shot upright on the couch so fast he got a little dizzy. “Why ishecalling me of all people?”
“Isn’t that their drummer?” August asked, looking dizzy themself.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot you like him.”
“I donot!I just think he’s really talented. Lay off.” August scowled. “Do you wanna talk to him or no?”
“Yeah," Luka groaned, wondering if this was a phone call to yell at him for being an idiot or not. “I’ll face the reaper. Give me some privacy, though, please?”
“You’re the one who decided the living room was your new bedroom.”
Luka held out his hand for the phone, giving August a look that had them relenting. They handed it over, and even though it really seemed like they didn’t want to, they grabbed their bag of food and their drink and left for their bedroom.
Once he heard their bedroom door shut, Luka unmuted the phone.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Luka," T-yan said. “I’m glad you finally picked up.”
“Sorry, I’m still a bit freaked out, so a private number calling me made me panic.”
“That’s fair," came the reply. “You should be able to guess why I’m calling and not Arnaud.”
“I can’t actually.”
“Because he would just end up yelling at you.”
Ah, so it was a phone call to be chewed out. He’d guessed right.
“That guy likes you too much, too. Right now, I don’t know why. But, he’s way too much of an emotional person to even begin to handle this part of everything.” T-yan sighed into the phone, and Luka could picture his tired face so easily. “Look, I know shit is a nightmare right now, but can I just say my piece and ask some questions?”
“I can’t imagine what it’s been like there," Luka replied.
