The Girl in the Middle

Guess who is back

*Tom*

Clay seems to be himself again, but the real question is how long it will hold up. He know he has f****d up, but that doesn't guarantee he won't do it again. It is to easy for him to get to the drugs in a weak moment and she will always remind him of what he lost.

"Gerard has looked into some things". Kattie tells me as I sit in their couch waiting for Clay to come out so we can talk. Kattie sits on the beer boxes across from me, her hands resting on my knees.

"Sonny has confirmed that she has been with them for two days. But he wont tell who paid him to abduct her. He did tell him the reason though". Kattie's eyes tells me there is reason to worry. "She is engaged.. to Christopher".

"Christopher ?" The name means nothing to me, but honestly I have never really been good with names, I am better with faces.

"He used to go by the name Toph". Kattie add.

Toph I remember. He had helped Zombie start up his gang and had been his second in command for many years. He is a man I thought and hoped never to see again.

"Toph knows that she has been at Sunny's. He knows we had a fight the day he let her go". Kattie continue, her hands squeezing my knees. "Toph isn't stupid. He knows that someone paid Sunny".

"And Toph is going to think that we are behind it". I say dryly before Kattie has a chance to say it out loud.

Kattie and I are they only ones who know his secret. We are the only ones who know why he left the underworld. If someone would want to take a hit at him it would definitely be us, except that it isn't.

"And he knows that there is a big possibility she is with us". Kattie continues. "That man just became a big threat to us.. again".

"We need to go talk to him.. now". I say. Honestly her hands, now resting right above my knees as she leans forward, makes it hard to focus, even on this.

She sigh, her hands tightening their grip. "Then we need to tell him were she is".

"He probably already know that. If we don't go to him, we risk getting the Nobles and the entire government after us". This time I lean forward grasping Kattie's hands in mine and that way removing them from my legs. "Alone he can't do anything. If he shows his face here, we will tell everyone why he left".

"Clay will hate this". Kattie sigh again, looking worried.

I gently rub my thumbs over the top of her hand, giving her a hopefully reassuring smile. "We are not going to tell him".

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Clay and I am walking through a small residential neighbourhood, it is abandoned and overgrown, left by people a long time ago, just like the rest of the underworld. Once this had been part of the city, but that was a long time ago.

It is placed between the high rise Clay own and the old abandoned jail were Gerard and The Stars has their base. I had needed to get him out of the apartment to talk freely with no risk of Amber listening.

"I shouldn't have given her that name". He admits,watching his own feet move over the cracked road.

"No you shouldn't". I agreed, what else can I say ?

"I can't take it back now, everyone is using it". He say kicking a rock. "She wants to stay, which means I have to have a talk with all the leaders and make them understand that no one is to tell her her true name".

"Why ?" We know who she is, even with that information she could choose to stay. A lot of people have done that. "Can't she know who she is ? Don't she deserve that ? Knowing what it is she is turning away from ?"

"I can't lose her too". Clay don't look at me as he say it, but I can hear the pain in his voice. "It would be like losing her all over again".

"She isn't Amber you know". I warn him, he can't get that thought stuck in his head. She can never be that Amber. "And if you try pressuring her to be her, then you will surely lose her. You would break her".

"There is something about her that speaks to me. And it isn't the parts that reminds me of Amber, actually it's the things that puts them apart. Her frailty. The way she blushes when she looks at me". Clay smiles softly to himself. It is a smile that after all gives me a small hope that this might end well after all.

"She can't stay fragile here. As soon as Zombie sees her, she will become a pawn in your games, you know that". I point out. "She isn't strong enough for that".

"I am ready to defend her with my life". Clay look at me, he has always been a bit teatrical. "Zombie will never get near her". His tone of voice leaves no doubt that he mean it.

"You can't protect her forever. You can't be there always. She need to learn how to defend herself". I told him truthfully. If she is going to make it here, she Will need to stand on her own two legs.

"When she is ready, not before that". He said closing the argument.