Adley

Altar? He left a woman at the altar? How is it that he's never told me he was engaged?

I watch in silence as the beautiful woman approaches us. Her hair is black with caramel highlights. It's cut into a stylish bob that showcases the perfect bone structure of her face.

Her eyes are a deep brown and framed by lashes that most women would kill for.

"Who is this?"

She looks at me like I should be shining her shoes.

"I'm Adley," I pipe up and extend a hand because Crew is as frozen as a statue.

"It's good to meet you, Ashley." She takes my hand and wipes her fingertips across my palm. I have no idea if that's a supermodel handshake or what but I'm grateful for the minimal touching.

"Her name is Adley," Kade corrects her with a smile. He looks every part the Hampton weekender with his jeans, blue polo shirt and expensive haircut. The last time I saw him, his brown hair was cropped short. Now it's longer on top, giving him a look that suits him better.

"I'm Damaris."

It's a beautiful name for a striking woman.

"Why are you here?" Crew directs the question at his brother as he tugs his T-shirt back over his head. "Why the hell would you bring her?"

"We're friends," Kade answers quickly, his gray eyes scanning Crew's face. "You know that we're friends, Crew."

"Did you know that I was up here with Adley?"

I can answer that question. When Kade texted me three days ago to see how things were going, I mentioned my weekend trip. I didn't tell him that I was headed here with Crew, but he apparently connected those dots on his own.

"Adley told me, but I thought you'd be gone by now." He taps the face of his wristwatch. "Isn't it dinner with your friends on Sunday night, then you at your desk first on Monday morning? You're running behind schedule."

"I'm here until tomorrow night." He crosses his arms over his chest.

"Fair enough." Kade moves to stand next to Crew's ex-fiancée. "Damaris needed a break from the city. I needed a day off work, so we're here for the night."

"You're leaving." Crew widens his stance.
"I'll take my old room." Kade turns to talk to Damaris. "You'll bunk in Lark's old room. Does that work for you, Crew?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You need to leave now, Kade." He gestures toward the front door. "Get lost."

"If you can bring a friend up here, I sure as hell can too." Kade squeezes my bicep. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Fuck it. Then we are." Crew turns to his side to look down at me. "Pack up your stuff.  We're leaving."

I've never seen him this on edge before. Usually, when he gets angry, it's always laced with humor. He's a master at controlling his temper, but that's not the person I see in front of me now.

"Crew?" I reach for his forearm, but he brushes my hand away.

"Get ready to go, Ad." His eyes dart between Damaris and me. "Now."

I nod.

Crew's on his way to the kitchen and the bedrooms beyond before I've taken a step. I fold my arms over my chest, suddenly aware that my dress is sheer.
"I'm sorry, Adley." Kade wraps his arm around my shoulder. "I didn't mean to fuck up your entire weekend."

I'm sorry too. Not only did Crew and I get interrupted at the worst possible time, but I met his ex-fiancée; a woman I didn't know existed until now.

"It's fine," I lie. "I need to get back to the real world anyway."

"You're from New York too, yes?" Damaris moves to look at me. "You and Crew are friends?"

"She's one of his best friends," Kade offers. "She keeps him in line."

I smile at him. In the text I sent him about my trip, I didn't mention anything about the kiss. It's not his business. It's a secret that only Crew and I share.

"I used to keep him in line." Damaris laughs. "We were friends too, but then it was more."

"And then he made a mistake and let you go," Kade adds.

"You would have been the best brother-in-law." She turns from Kade to study my face. "Have we met before?"

"No," I answer quickly because if I met this woman I sure as hell would remember it. She could jump on any catwalk and strut herself to a million dollar contract.

"Your face is so familiar to me." Her finger darts to her chin. "Maybe we've seen each other in the city. What do you do for work?"

"That's none of your business," Crew says from where he's standing to our left. He has his gray pants on and his hands are making quick work of the buttons of his black shirt.

"I'll get ready to go." I glance at Damaris one more time. I should be polite and tell her that it's nice to meet her, but that's a lie.

"He needs a friend." She jerks her thumb at Crew. "I'm glad he has a good one in you."

He has something in me. I'm not sure what it is anymore.

***

Once we're on the highway, I ask the question that has been perched on my lips since Damaris walked into the foyer with Kade. "When were you two together?"

"That altar stuff is bullshit." He doesn't look at me. His eyes stay on the road as he handles his BMW with ease. "I broke off our engagement in person before we'd even picked a date. It was brief, Ad."

"It was before we met," I say that aloud even though I don't mean to.

"Years before." He nods his head. "We were only together for a few months."
I stare out the window at the traffic passing on the other side of the highway. "Where did you meet?"

He hesitates before he answers.  His jaw tightens as his hands fist the steering wheel. "At a club. I always met women at clubs."

We met outside a club in Vegas. It's not the same though. He didn't even acknowledge me that night. He was focused on Ellie because he wanted to offer her a job, and then on Lucia because he wanted to offer her his cock.

"You loved her." I push my hands against my thighs. I changed into jeans and a white sweater. They were the first items I grabbed as I heard Crew's shoe tapping on the floor outside the door of the bedroom.

"No." He briefly looks at me before his eyes are on the road again. "I liked what we did together. I liked the high she provided. That's not love."

"Have you ever been in love?" I ask because maybe his gauge is different than mine. I don't know what love feels like to anyone but me.

"No," he answers quickly. "I love people, but that's not the same."

He's right. It's not.

He clears his throat. "You loved Leo."

My head darts in his direction. I feel a sense of panic hearing him say Leo's name. I've spoken to him about my ex-boyfriend before, but that was right after Crew and I met. I was still hung up on Leo because he had helped me heal after the end of a relationship that damaged me in countless ways.

I missed Leo's presence in my life for months after our split. I didn't miss the arguments we constantly had over our undecided mutual future.

Leo wanted to get married and have a child right away. I want a career and the chance to grow into the person I'm supposed to be before I hold my own baby in my arms.

"I did love him," I admit on a sigh. "It wasn't a good fit for me though. If it were, I wouldn’t have fallen out of love with him so easily."

He reaches for my hand and brings it to his thigh. "Leo was a lucky man."

Damaris was a lucky woman. She got him to drop to his knee and offer his life to her. Knowing Crew the way I do, that's a shock.

"Do you ever regret ending it?" I try to pull my hand back but he holds it tightly.

"Never."

I look back out the window and the darkening sky. "I take it you two don’t talk anymore."

He lets my hand slip away when I give it another tug. "There's nothing left for us to talk about. She was part of my life, now she's not. It's cut and dry."

I fall silent as we make a turn.

He loved her enough to ask her to marry him once.

They started as friends and ended like this.

I don't want that to be our story too.