Leo Maddox (22 page)

Roughly five minutes passed—me pacing the sidewalk, scratching the scar on the inside of my wrist like it was a mosquito bite, waiting on Maggie. Finally the door to the bar opened and she walked out.

“Please tell me that worked, Mags.”

Then I noticed Stephany follow her outside. Holy shit. It worked. Way better than I expected, too.

“Thank God,” I told Stephany. “Were you inside the whole time?”

Stephany's cheeks went pink. “Yes, sorry.”

“She was hiding,” Maggie blurted out.

I frowned. “Why?”

“Because I know where Clara is.” Stephany shifted from one foot to another, avoiding eye contact with me. “I might not agree with everything Clara does,” she continued, “but I'm not gonna tell you where she is either. I would never betray her trust like that...even if it was for her own good.”

“Okay then.” I shrugged. On the inside I was screaming, but on the outside I remained calm. Stephany was our first and only link to Clara. I couldn’t do or say anything stupid right now that could harm that link. “You don't have to tell us anything. But Maggie and I did come all this way, so could you at least let her know we were here, that her whole family is worried, and that we
all
want her to come home? Not just me...well, maybe especially me...but could you please tell her that?”

Stephany nodded, her head bowed and her eyes on the cement below. “I'm sorry I can't help more.”

“We'll figure out another way to find her,” I said, giving Stephany a quick hug. “But Maggie and I have to go now or we'll miss our plane home.” Taking Maggie’s arm, I pulled her quickly away from the girl and toward our waiting taxi. It took all my composure and willpower to not try to drag more information out of Stephany.

“What are you doing?” Maggie whispered. “We still have two hours before the flight.”

Ignoring her question, I instead counted slowly under my breath.
Stephany would crack and help us,
I assured myself. She just had to.
One one-thousand, two one-thousand...
Then, just as we reached the taxi and I reached five one-thousand, I heard footsteps racing down the sidewalk.

“Wait,” Stephany cried. “I'm coming with.”

“And they don't call me Leo Maddox for nothing,” I mumbled to Maggie.

The plane ride home was dreadfully boring. Great-Grandma Bunny had met me at the airport, as promised, and she'd handed over my package from Harry Winston. She’d sweetly given me a kiss on the cheek then pinched Maggie’s ass and told her she’d put on some weight. Oh God, she was a handful, but I said nothing because I was beyond grateful she’d come to my aid today.

That had been a few hours ago and now we were in my car, driving the familiar route home to Blue Creek. The sun sank low on the horizon and I had Stephany, my link to Clara, in the car with us. Uncomfortable silence had been lingering all day.

As we were nearly home, Maggie was the first to speak. “Is it going to be okay that you're missing work?” she asked Stephany.

“I'll call in sick tomorrow at my internship,” Stephany replied, her eyes glued to the window. “They're pretty laid back there, so I'm hoping it won't be a big deal. And I explained everything to Jesse, the bartender you were shamelessly flirting with in order to solicit information, and he agreed to cover my Saturday shift.”

Maggie’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to pull out information from the girl or just making polite conversation.

“Sorry if that made you uncomfortable,” Maggie told her. “He was cute, but I'd never date anyone with all those tattoos. Not my thing.”

I almost laughed. Maggie didn’t know that I had a growing obsession with marking my own body. Not that I’d care if she approved or not, but I doubted she would have made that comment had she known what lay beneath my shirt.

“When we get home,” Maggie suddenly said to me, “I need you to go somewhere with me as soon as we drop off Stephany at the house. I came with you on your crazy trip to New York and now I need you to do the same for me.”

“Okay,” I said without hesitation. Even though I knew her crazy plan had something to do with Robby, I agreed because that was what friends did. “I can do that.”

When we reached Blue Creek, we dropped Stephany off at the Ryder house. Apparently she'd been there several times before and already knew Reed, so it wouldn’t be too awkward for her to be alone with him. Then Maggie gave me directions and I drove her over to one very rundown apartment complex—Robby’s very rundown apartment complex.

CHAPTER 19:

T
orture me while I’m at my lowest. That was what it felt like walking up to Robby’s apartment. This was about the last thing I needed or wanted to do. But when I saw the outside of the building a new emotion hit me—guilt. Because this place was shady as hell and not for kids. I didn’t want to feel anything for Robby, but I did. Especially knowing I had a giant unused house sitting across town and this place was all he had.

“This is it?” I asked, still stuck staring at the dilapidated building. “Please tell me he does not live here.”

Maggie flinched. “It's not that bad. Well...the inside's kind of nice.”

“Fine.” I cut the ignition to my car. “Go tell the bastard you're in love with him. Then you both can ride off into the sunset on white horses or some shit like that.”

“You think this is a mistake?” she asked, sensing my sarcasm.

I shrugged. “Honestly, I don't know if we can trust him or not. Six years ago I would have said ‘go for it’ without hesitation. But now... I'm usually good at seeing through people's shit, but I can't tell with him and that pisses me off.”

“Then that's why you're coming inside with me.”

Groaning, I gave Maggie a look.

“Remember New York? Now move it!” Maggie barked, playfully.

Half-laughing, half-groaning, I exited the car. I still wasn’t sure about Robby. But truth be told, good or bad, this wasn’t something I wanted to miss. Maggie followed me out of the car and clutched my arm with very shaky hands as we walked up the steps that lead into an open breezeway.

Damn, the girl was a mess. She could barely walk—that was how nervous she was. Robby better have only nice things to say to my friend or I was going to chew his ass out.

“I've never seen you like this,” I told her as we reached the door. The first smile in days spread to my lips as I knocked on the door. “This is gonna be entertaining.”

Robby answered a second later—dripping wet, wearing only a towel. Yeah. Ew. The towel was pink and obviously his daughter’s. I could almost see Robby Jr, and it seriously grossed me out. But his image had the opposite effect on Maggie. She just stood there, stunned and not speaking.

“What are you two doing here?” Robby asked. The annoyance in his voice was clear. His eyes shifted from Maggie to me and then back to Maggie. “This isn't something I need to see...and it's late.”

Poor Maggie. Her gaze wouldn't budge from his naked chest. “Um? We...um.”

“Close your mouth, Mags,” I muttered, “before you start drooling.”

She swallowed hard.

“You can't keep showing up at my place,” Robby grunted. “Especially with Leo. It's messing with my head.”

What? Did he think Maggie and I were together?

“I’m messing with
your
head?” There was Maggie’s voice. She found it and it came out harsh. “What about you messing with
my
head? Acting like you care one minute and then telling me
you can't
the next. That's pretty much the very definition of messing with a person's head!”

I huffed. “He thinks you and I are together because we showed up here together. That's what he means by ‘messing with his head,’ Mags. Calm down.”

“So you're not together?” The anger mellowed in Robby immediately, and was replaced with what sounded like hope.

“No,” I answered.

“Why are you here then?” he asked.

“Why do you think she's here? To wash your damn dishes?” God, some people were so dumb sometimes. I groaned and shoved past Robby, moving into his apartment. Now that he knew I wasn’t there ‘with’ Maggie, the guy looked like he was ready to jump her bones. They seemed to need a moment alone and so I gave it to them. “I'll be on the couch. Where's the rugrat?”

“She's already in bed,” Robby whispered, not paying me anymore attention as I disappeared into his apartment.

No longer able to hear their declarations of love or whatever the hell was happening at Robby’s front door, I took in my surroundings. Um, yeah. The inside wasn’t better than the outside. The furniture looked as if it came with the shitty apartment. And what few belongings Robby had weren’t much. I sat on the couch, leaning against a pink heart pillow.

Well…at least the pink heart pillow smelled clean.

Closing my eyes, my mind drifted to Clara.
Where the hell in the world was she right now?
Did she even think of me? Did she miss me? Because that was the worst part of her running away. I missed her terribly. I missed her sassy attitude, her gentle kisses, the way she snuggled close to me when she slept, her smell, her hair—everything.

My eyes snapped open at the sound of Maggie and Robby coming into the living room.

“Did you guys kiss and make up?” I asked, rubbing at my eyes. Damn, I was tired.

Maggie sat down in a chair across the room from me. “Yes,” she answered.

Okay then.

“Good,” I answered, genuinely meaning it. If she was willing to forgive Robby then I suppose I was, too. “I'm gonna get going then. Call me in the morning. I need to come up with a new plan for finding Clara. I think Stephany's going to be a dead end. She's clearly worried about her—I don't think she would have come home with us if she wasn't—but she's not going to crack.”

“What's going on with Clara?” Robby asked, seeming legitimately worried.

“She ran away,” Maggie answered with a shrug. “Leo got in an argument with her and then she disappeared a couple days ago. We’re all pretty worried this time.”

“I was an ass,” I told the room, “and she won't even answer her phone. We already checked her friend’s place in New York and she wasn’t there, so I don't know where she could be.”

Robby scratched at his jawline. “She probably went to Arizona then.”

What. The. Fuck.

“Arizona?” I asked, my heart falling to my shoes. That felt like half a world away.

“Yeah,” Robby answered. “She mentioned it once or twice to me way back when. I can't really remember, but I think she used to call it her ‘Arizona Escape Plan.’”

Maggie and I both just stared at him for several long moments. But the weirdest part was, Arizona seemed to click in my mind somehow as well. Maybe she’d mentioned this ‘Escape Plan’ before—years ago—when she'd been upset about something stupid. Had her juvenile threats to run away been real? Why Arizona? And could she even pull off something like that? She'd need money. But knowing Clara, I wouldn’t doubt that she had some stashed away for this very purpose.

“Thank you, Dean,” I mumbled, meaning it.

And I can’t believe I actually called him Dean. Yeah,
that
wasn’t happening again.

He sighed. “I'm not sure I did anything. Arizona is a big state.”

“It's more than I knew two minutes ago,” I said sincerely. “Now...could you please go put some clothes on, pack a bag, and grab the rugrat? I'm sick of looking at you in that towel and this neighborhood isn't safe enough for a kid. I'm actually a little afraid that my car's been stolen in the fifteen minutes we've been inside your place. I have a giant home with enough rooms to house an army, and you and the kid can come stay with me until you figure out something better. Or stay however long you want. Whatever. Just go put on a damn shirt already.”

A cheesy grin lit up Robby’s face and then he walked over to me. And he hugged me. The bastard actually hugged me. I was so caught off-guard that for several seconds I stood still, letting this awkward moment happen.

Then I realized he was touching me and immediately pushed Robby away. “Don't turn this into a bromance. Go put on some fucking clothes.”

Robby laughed before turning and heading through a doorway. Maggie mouthed a quick
omigosh
in my direction and then quietly followed after him.

Um, once again, awkward.

I waited in the living room, while those two did God knows what behind that closed door. A few moments later they reemerged, Robby dressed and holding a packed bag, while Maggie’s cheeks were bright red.

I didn’t even want to know.

Robby went and collected his daughter from her bedroom. She turned out to be incredibly cute and polite—with his dark hair and eyes. Then our little group headed back across town. This was going to be interesting. Part of me was surprised Robby had agreed to come stay with me so easily. Part of me dreaded it. And a third part of me was strangely relieved.

We dropped Maggie at her house because it was late and Stephany probably would appreciate the company. Then Robby, the kid—Valerie, her name was Valerie—and I went back to my place.