Page 18 of Logan

His blue eyes were wide and glittered with his recent tears. The genuine confusion on his face made him look much youngerthan the sultry vixen that first showed up at the hotel. It reminded me that, despite everything he’d been through, he was only twenty-three.

“I can pay you.” He offered up his fist of bills.

Shaking my head, I closed his fingers tighter around the bills and pushed them toward him.

“No need. Your brother already hired me.”

Or, close enough. Jason Dahler had paidAlias Investigations, but I wasn’t seeing a dollar of that money. Nor did I intend to ask for any payment. This was a personal mission.

Clay wiped the remains of tears from his face, and some of the sharp intelligence returned to his eyes. “My brother paid you to find me. I doubt that included a personal escort. What do you want?”

Looking directly into his eyes, I answered as sincerely as I could. “I want to take you home.”

Only once I heard my own words did I realize the double meaning and hurried to correct myself. “Your home. I want to take you toyourhome.” As I stuttered through my explanation, I waved my hands in front of me as if that could fend off any misunderstanding. “In Maryland. Where your brother is waiting. Nothing more.”

Clay still didn’t look convinced, but he also didn’t seem to be afraid of me anymore, so I considered it progress.

“Fine,” he finally said. “Give me some time to pack up, and we can leave.” We both looked around the small space that barely counted as half a bedroom.

For the first time since meeting him, Clay looked embarrassed, and a blush turned his cheeks a fetching shade of pink.

“Well, you probably won’t need to wait very long.”

I patted him on the shoulder, but quickly drew my hand back when he shied away from my touch.

“Take as long as you need. I have to make a phone call anyway.”

As Clay started packing his meager belongings, which would probably fit into a single trash bag, I retrieved my phone from the floor and stepped out of the apartment into the building’s hallway.

The phone rang several times, nearly switching over to voicemail, before it was finally picked up.

“Logan, you asshole.”

I leaned against the brown-stained wall and took comfort in my friend and fellow detective’s familiar voice. “Hello to you, too, Roland. Why am I an asshole this time?”

“You never take personal time. Even when you got shot by that trigger-happy pimp, you wouldn’t use your vacation days. Then you suddenly leave without warning and don’t even tell me where you were going, and I’ve got to take over your unfinished work.”

I laughed, certain that even if he couldn’t see me, he would know I meant it in a friendly way. “Don’t give me that crap. I just wrapped up my most recent case, so there shouldn’t be much work for you to take over.”

I could hear him pouting through the silence. “Fine. What’s up? Why are you calling? Something wrong with your ‘vacation’?”

“Well... I need you to talk to your brother for me.”

The tone of his silence changed, and now I knew he was scowling. “Depends if you need me to talk to him as my brother, or as our Boss.”

“Whichever option will let me take more time off without repercussions.”

His sigh was so loud, I could almost feel his breath through the phone. “Fine. If it was anyone else, I’d say no. But it’s you. You wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. How long do you need?”

“At least a week.” I pictured a general map of the road we’d have to take to get from California to Maryland, and the distance we’d have to travel. “Actually, probably more like two weeks.”

“And are you going to tell me what’s so important that you have to disappear for two weeks?”

“Sorry. Can’t say.” I looked back at the door to the apartment where Clay was packing inside. “But, trust me. It’ll be life changing.”

CHAPTER 9

Clay

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