Billy knew that those were not the three words that most people waited their lives to hear or say, but they were to him. To him trust was right up there with love. Not that he’d ever been in love. At least not in the forever, soul mate, one-and-only kind. Trust held just as much of a sacred place to him, if not more. From what he’d seen people fell in and out of love easily, frequently, and without much discernment. Trust was earned. Trust was built. Trust was intimate.
He heard her phone buzzing but instead of returning to her desk, Maxi remained standing in front of him. He had no idea if the reason she didn’t leave was because she knew the magnitude of the meaning behind his words, but she definitely looked affected by them. Her lips parted and her eyes dropped to his mouth.
His willpower was dissolving faster than salt in boiling water. Like magnets being pulled towards each other he lowered his head as she lifted hers. Rational thought slipped away as his mouth hovered above hers. Need coiled in him like a cobra waiting to strike. The only thing he knew was he needed to taste her, needed to feel her lips beneath his.
The sounds of footsteps approaching the office door made their way into his consciousness and snapped Billy out of the lust haze that had settled over him. Although he doubted that whoever was coming was dangerous, instinct kicked in and Billy wrapped his arm around Maxi as he shifted to her left so that he was standing in front of her.
“I’m sorry to,” Martin spoke loudly as he pushed open the office door but stopped short when he saw Billy, “interrupt.” Martin finished with a smile that did not look like he was sorry at all as he tilted his head, looking past Billy to where Maxi was standing.
Billy felt Maxi tense as she stepped forward, clearing her throat before asking, “What’s up?”
Martin’s brow raised and his mouth turned up in a smirk.
“What do you need?” she quickly rephrased.
“Detective Grover is on line five. He tried you on your cell, but didn’t get an answer. He says he needs to speak to you.”
“My cell?!” Maxi rushed to her desk.
“Oh and Alan Turner is on three, he does not sound happy and says Ricco wants to speak to you. Good luck,” Martin mumbled as he shut the door.
Billy had never met Ricco Kingsley or his manager Alan Turner but he already disliked them. From what he’d heard and seen today, they treated Maxi like shit. Every time she was on a call with one of them, Billy had wanted to grab the phone and tell them exactly where they could shove their complaints and issues.
Grabbing the landline off the desk, Maxi picked up a call and Billy wondered whom she answered first.
His own phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to see that it was Nate.
“What do you got?” Billy asked assuming that Nate had gained some headway on Maxi’s hacked work account or where the feed was going from the cameras that had been put in her apartment.
“Chicago PD just picked someone up on Maxi’s case.”
Billy was just about to ask who when he heard Maxi say in disbelief, “Carter? Carter Simpson?!”
Nate continued, “Carter Simpson. Nineteen. He got hired at The Towers three months ago. They got an anonymous tip and are questioning him now. As soon as they get a search warrant, they are confiscating his computer.”
“An anonymous tip?” Billy heard Maxi repeat what Nate had just told him.
Something didn’t feel right about this. Billy had met the kid a few times and he just didn’t strike him as being the stalker kind. His instinct was telling him that something was off.
“That’s all I’ve got now. I’m going to look into it on my end. I’ll let you know when I have something.”
Nate Holmes was the best at what he did. He could hack into anything. He’d grown up with Seth and had spent eight years in the Navy. Billy knew that he still worked for the government on a contract basis and had top security clearance, but other than that what Nate did and how he did it was never discussed. Not that Billy would understand it anyway.
“Thanks.” Billy disconnected the call at the same time Maxi did.
A panic stricken look was on her face as she hurriedly grabbed her purse. “I have to go.”
“To the event?” Billy asked because she still hadn’t picked up the call from Alan Turner.
“No, to the police station.”
“You want to go to the station?”
“No. I don’t want to. Detective Grover asked me to come down. He said he has questions, things he needs me to see…” She shook her head. “This is crazy. I know he didn’t…he couldn’t…it’s not him. I know it. It can’t be.”
Billy agreed that the kid didn’t seem to fit, but there was something about the way Maxi seemed so sure, that it made him think there was more to all of this than she was telling him. She was keeping something from him. He didn’t know what and he didn’t know why, but he knew she was.