I couldn’t agree with her more.
***
After I dropped Layla off back at her bar, I turned the car towards my mother’s house. I wanted to check in on her, make sure she hadn’t caved and let Marcus back in. On the drive there, I called Merrick.
“I want everything you can find about Layla Reed,” I said when he answered.
“I’m one step ahead of you.”
“You’ve got it already?” I asked, surprised he’d beaten me to it.
“Still gathering it, but yeah, almost done.”
“Anything interesting so far?”
“Her family is Reed’s Mining.”
“Fuck.” She wasn’t kidding when she said she came from money. Her family was at the top of the social ladder. Everyone in Australia knew Reed’s Mining.
“She dropped out of the public eye when she was eighteen, though. Cut all ties to her family and no one knows why. It was all very hush-hush at the time, but what seems odd is that her cousin, Annie, also dropped out at the same time.”
“Where does Annie fit into all this?”
“Their fathers are brothers. They inherited the company together from their father.”
“Something happened that concerned both of them, yeah?”
“That’s my guess. It must have been bad, because Layla walked away from it all, both the family and the money. You ever hear of someone walking away from that kind of money?”
No one walked away from millions unless they had a damn good reason.
“Never.”
“I’ll keep digging, see what we can come up with,” he promised.
“How the hell did you know I’d want this information?”
“Blade, you’ve been frequenting her bar for over a year, and now you’ve involved yourself with her problems, putting yourself out for her. You need me to go on?”
Fucker knew me better than I knew myself sometimes.
“No,” I snapped.
“Where are you going now?”
“I’m gonna check in with my mother and then head over to see Madison. Call me if you need me or have anything else to report about Layla.”
“Will do,” he said, and we ended the call.
The more I learnt about Layla, the more I wanted to get to know her and spend time with her. At the same time, it confused the fuck out of me. Ashley still haunted me, and I knew in my gut I hadn’t dealt with that fully yet. To even consider opening up to someone new was madness.
Chapter Seven
Layla
Midnight.
Friday night.