As I get closer to my door, I lift my head and stop when I see Tucker leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes on me. Dread instantly fills my stomach, causing the soup I had this afternoon for lunch to crawl up my throat.

“What happened?” I barely whisper.

“Shit.” His eyes scan my face, and he shakes his head holding up his hands. “Nothing happened, I just need to talk to you.”

“Okay.” I take my bag off my shoulder and get out my keys as I walk to my door. “Clay should be here soon.”

“He’s actually what I want to talk to you about.”

I pause with my key in hand and look up at him. “You want to talk to me about Clay?”

“You need to cut him off,” he says quietly, tucking his hands into the front pockets of the vest he’s wearing. “I know you’ve been spending time with him but he’s not the kind of man you should get attached to.”

“And why is that?” I ask, feeling a little annoyed and whole lot anxious about where this conversation is going.

“Because he doesn’t care about anyone but himself, and as soon as he’s done with you, you’ll be left picking up the pieces. I know your dad, he’s a good guy and I feel it’s my obligation to look out for you.”

“Where is this coming from?”

“There have been a hundred women just like you in and then right back out of Clay’s life. You’re not special, Willow.” His expression fills with sympathy. “But I can tell you’re a good person and you deserve better.”

His words cause a knot to form in my stomach and my hands to ball into fists. Everything he’s saying just reminds me that I still don’t know what exactly it is that Clay wants from me, I really know very little about him.

“I gotta go, but just think about what I said.”

I turn to watch him walk away, then let myself into my apartment and shut and lock the door behind me.

Going right to my bedroom I change out of my work clothes, and put on a pair of jeans, a sweater, then slip on a pair of flats. Clay told me that he would be here by six at the latest, which doesn’t give me very long to come to terms with what Tucker said or how I should feel about it.

One thing I know is I’m annoyed—annoyed that he would show up at my door to basically talk shit about his brother. Even if he thinks he’s doing the noble thing of looking out for me, it’s still messed up. I would never—not ever go to someone one of my siblings was seeing and tell them that they should back off. First, because I don’t know how they feel about that person, and for all I know that person could actually be their person and I could mess that up. Second, if I ever did that to one of my sisters or brothers, they would lose their flipping minds. Third, it’s just dickish. Okay, so maybe I do know how I feel about it, and it’s not good.