“I don’t know.” Her eyes widen as she asks. “He’s not a bad—”

“No.” He shakes his head.

“Drugs?”

“No.” He repeats.

I frown at the two of them, trying to figure out what the heck it is they are talking about, because I’m so lost.

“Then what?” she asks.

He glances at me. “How well do you know him?”

“Not well. I know he has brothers, has money and is in construction or property, honestly, I don’t know much.”

“Fuck,” he mutters.

My brows dart together. “Do you know him?”

“Not personally, but my family is aware of him.”

“And that means?” I ask as April freezes in place.

“I don’t think I should be the one telling you his secrets,” he says, and something about his tone causes the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end.

“She’s not in danger because of him, is she?” April asks, sounding freaked.

Her reaction totally freaks me out.

“No,” he says instantly, sounding beyond sure. “Let’s just say that if he is who I think he is, she’s never been safer and will never be safer than when she’s with him.”

“Okay, that’s good.” April nods, wrapping her arms around her middle, then she looks at me. “That’s good right?”

“Who is he?” I ask as my heart starts to beat funny and my palms start to sweat. Knowing what I know of Maxim and his family, there can only be a few reasons why he said that his family is aware of Clay. Not friends with him—but aware of him. And although I don’t know what that means exactly or how I should feel about it, something tells me that Clay is someone who lives in that grey space between good and bad—a man who looks like he was born to be on the back of a motorcycle, or dressed in a suit at the front of a boardroom.

“He’ll have to be the one to give you that information,” he tells me.

Just by the look in Maxim’s eyes, I know that he is not going to budge. So, whoever Clay is and whatever his story, it isn’t something I’m not going to learn tonight, or maybe ever for that matter.

Chapter 10

Willow

PARKED OUTSIDE OF the apartment building where Carly lives, I stare at her car then look at her door, as I try to figure out my next move. For the last three days I’ve sent her texts, called her number, and got nothing in response, and as of yesterday her phone was off and going right to voicemail. That worried me, but now I’m totally freaking out, because this evening before I was leaving work, Katy stopped by my office to let me know that Carly sent in a letter of resignation that was effective immediately without an explanation as to why she was quitting.

And I know that people quit their jobs and cut off contact with ex-coworkers every day, but normally there’s a lead up to that happening—some catalyst that sets things into motion. But with Carly, nothing is adding up, as far as I know she was loving living in Nashville, and from what she told me, she had made a couple of friends at the gym she goes to plus she had just started dating Matthew and seemed really excited about him.