Crew

There are certain luxuries afforded a man when he owns a club in Manhattan. He can drink the best scotch in the world and expense that shit. He can pick a different woman every night of the week, and he can sit on his ass and watch one of his best friends get hit on by some schmuck in a suit that's two sizes too big or he can do something about it.

I've had my fill of scotch tonight and the woman I was with last night is waiting for me back at her place. I can't leave my club, Veil East, yet. That's because, Adley York, one of my closest friends is about to go home with a professional baseball player with a reputation for hitting it out of the park.

It doesn't matter to me if another man is stellar in bed. I don't compare myself to anyone. I've never had a complaint in all the years I've been active on the Manhattan social scene. I have zero doubt that I've fucked more women than Trey Hale, but by the look of what's happening on the dance floor, he's about to take Adley home to screw her.

That is not happening on my watch.

I can't have her because there are women that you friend and women that you fuck. Adley falls squarely in the first category although my traitorous cock wants her in the second. It can't happen. If I take that petite blonde to bed, I'll lose her, and the hole that would leave in my life is something I don't have the fucking emotional maturity to deal with.

"Adley," I call out her name over the booming beat that vibrates off the walls. Why the hell did I have a state of the art sound system installed in this place? "Hey, Ad."

By the grace of God, she notices me pointing at her. She tosses me a wave and a wiggle of her ass before she grabs hold of the star pitcher's shoulders. I swear to fuck if she climbs up on that right now, I'll haul her off the floor over my shoulder.

I motion for her to come to where I'm standing. Shaking her head, she flips me the bird.

I slam my now empty tumbler on the bar and stalk toward her.

"I need to talk to you." I stand next to her. "It's important, Adley."

"It can wait, Crew." Her pretty face flushes. "I'm a little busy right now."

She's a little drunk right now. I see it in her eyes and her hips. She's aching for some and if anyone is going to give it to her, it'll be me.

No. I fucking can't. Those perfect tits and that curvy ass are off-limits.

"I'm going to drop you off at your apartment." I take a quick look around. The club is running smoothly tonight. We're at full capacity. I don't need to be here to benefit from this. "Grab your stuff and let's go."

"Why would l do that?" Her eyes rake my six-foot-three, two-hundred-pound frame.  The fact that my black button down shirt, matching pants, and shoes are all designer labels doesn't impress Adley. It never has. "You're not as fun as Trey is."

Trey has nothing on me. I'm taller, richer, and a hell of a lot better looking than he is. I own a mirror. Black hair, green eyes and a smile that has never failed me to date are what I see every morning.

"You've had too much to drink, Ad."

"Maybe you haven't had enough." She pokes her finger into the center of my chest. "You work out."

Like a madman, every morning at five a.m. before the city wakes up. "We're leaving."

"What if I want to go with him?"

"Pick another night to make that happen." I direct that statement to Hale. "She's not going anywhere with you tonight."

"Who are you? Her husband?"

Adley laughs so hard she bends over revealing a perfect bird's eye view of the top of her round breasts. The decent thing to do is to look away, but I don't.

"I'm her friend. I own the club." I push a hand at him. "Crew Benton."

"You're Benton?" He steps closer and studies my face, his hand eagerly shaking mine. "Your reputation precedes you, man."

I have no idea what the fuck that means, so I steer him to a place I'll know he'll go. "Your drinks are on the house for the rest of the night. Tell Penny at the bar, Crew's got the tab."

"No shit?"

"No shit," I repeat back. "It's a limited time offer so..."

"Understood." He doesn't give Adley another look before he heads for the bar.

"That was a cock-block, a totally intentional cock-block." She frowns. "You ruined my night. Now, what am I supposed to do?"

I eye her up. Small black dress, hair so messed up that she looks like she just fucked in the back of a beat-up pickup truck and a mouth that was made for sin. "Come to my place, Adley. I want you to come home with me."

"What for?" She scrunches her button nose. "I already told you that I'm never going to sit through another episode of that show you like. You know I'm scared of dragons."

She did say that. She didn't mean it though. I know that just like I know virtually everything about her except what she looks and sounds like when she has an orgasm.

"Today's your lucky day." I glance over at Hale. He's still got his eyes locked tight on Adley's ass. "We're all caught up. The new season doesn’t start for another six months."

"Then we don't need to talk about it now." She links her fingers together in front of her. "Besides, I don't want to leave yet. I'm having too much fun."

That's the reason I want her out of here. This is the first time I've been at the club when she's been here. She knows she never has to pay for a drink and she takes full advantage of that since we opened a year ago. I always glance at the amount of her tab when I take care of the comps at the end of each month.

Ad is on a very short-list of people I'll give free alcohol to. She's on an even shorter list of people I'll do virtually anything for including risking my own life to save theirs.

"I need your help." It's the first thing I can think of to say.

"Are you doing another one of those thousand-piece puzzles?" She steals a glance at Hale, along with a subtle wave of her fingers. "I tried to help you last time you took that on, but we both know how that ended."

The puzzle was an idea my friend Liam, a therapist, pressed on me last winter. He said it would help alleviate stress. He was dead wrong. Every single piece of that hard-as-fuck mind twister ended up being thrown against the wall of my apartment. Adley bore witness to that and she's never let me forget that a box of jagged-edge little pieces of cardboard got the better of me. She brings it up every chance she can.

I like that the memory is etched in the forefront of her mind. I know it's because she cares. She's the one who told me I needed to do something about my stress. She was right. That's where the early wake-up call to hit the gym fits into my life.

"I want to talk to you," I say because I can't tell her what I really want is to forget that we mutually agreed, soon after we met, to keep things platonic. "It's been a long day, Ad. I could use a friend."
"There are hundreds of people in this club." She surveys the packed dance floor. "You must have at least a dozen friends here. Why don't you have a drink with one of them? I'm not in the mood to hang out."

"Why would I want to hang out with any of them?"  Her fuck-me look is melting my brain cells one-by-one. I sound like a desperate sixteen-year-old kid who is trying to keep his crush away from his arch enemy. I shoot Hale a look. "You're the most interesting person I know. I want to run something by you."

"Something?" She repeats the word back with a curve of her lip. "Is about makeup? Do I get free samples?"

Of course she does. My day job is Chief Operating Officer at Matiz Cosmetics. I run the company in tandem with my closest friend Nolan Black. As fate would have it, Nolan married Ad's best friend, Ellie. That's how we met. "We're launching a new mascara line. I need your input. What are your thoughts on navy blue?"

"That would look killer on me." She bats her naturally long eyelashes. They frame the bluest eyes I've ever seen. They're dotted with faint specks of violet. I'm not even sure she realizes how unique her eyes are.  "I told you six months ago that colored mascara was the way to go."

She did tell me that. I don't generally consult with veterinary assistants when it comes to future products for Matiz, but Ad is our target market and she's brutally honest. Those two things, among others, make her invaluable to me.

"I've got the samples for three different shades in my office." I smile inwardly. If I take her to the Matiz tower, I'll get my head in a different space. I need that right now. I've been fighting this undeniable attraction to her for months and at this moment I'm losing the fucking battle. "We can head over there now."

She considers it before she glances one last time at Hale. "I gave him my number before you showed up. I hope to hell he uses it and calls me. He's so hot."

I want to go over and squeeze his phone in my palm until it's in pieces, but I won't. I can't control this. I have no claim on her. I wish my cock would see it that way.

"I feel lightheaded. Maybe I did have too much to drink." She grabs my forearm. "I'm starving. I could use a burger. Can we stop and get food? It's my treat."

I stare down at her.

Christ, woman. Please stop being everything I need.

I don't say that or anything else. Instead, I nod as I scoop her hand into mine. I can do this. I can keep it together for the rest of the night. I've done it for months. What's another hour or two?