Crew

"How are you doing?" Nolan waltzes into my office. I've been here for a total of ten minutes. I knew he'd make an appearance within the first thirty. "I'm sorry about Eli."

He's not sorry Eli's dead. He's sorry that my chance to have a father died in the hospital bed with him. "I'm all right."

I'm not. How the fuck could I be?
Damaris, my dad's death and then a confessional to Adley.

I have no idea how the hell I'm still upright.

"Ellie sent flowers to Pauline." He sits in one of the chairs in front of my desk. "She doesn't know the whole story since it's never been mine to tell."

I nod in appreciation. I can count on Nolan to be loyal. He knows I would never betray him either.

Since we met, he's always been my brother. We don't speak of our bond often, but we both understand and value it.

"I told Ad I love her."

He leans back in the chair, crossing his ankle over his knee. "That was quick."

He's wrong. It took too long. I've loved her as a friend for close to two years. I've loved her as more for months. "She feels the same way."

"No surprise there." He blinks." Ellie called it a year after you two met. It was the day you set up that date between Adley and Kade."

"Ellie called it back then?" I'm shocked. The last few weeks I've hesitated to talk about Ad around Ellie. I know how protective she is of her best friend. Ellie loves me, but I never believed she would see me as someone who is good for Adley.

"She did. She said you'd end up together. I didn't agree."

I can’t help but laugh to myself. "You didn't see it written in the stars?"

He slides forward to rest his palm on the edge of my desk. "I've been by your side for years, Crew. We both know she's as far from your type as there is."

He's right. I know it. "It's easy to have a type when you don't know what you're looking for. I never had to put any thought into it. It was all about convenience then. Now it's different."

"You are in love." He raises both hands in the air. "If I were a betting man, I would have lost big. I never pegged you as the type to settle for one woman."

"It's not settling when the most amazing woman on the planet is in love with you. She loves me, Nolan. Me. How the fuck did that happen?"

"You're not half bad." He smiles. "You're going to be good together."

I push back from my desk. "I'm working half a day today. I'm going to drop by the clinic and surprise Ad, and then I'll spend the afternoon with my mom."

"Take all the time you need." He rounds my desk and waits for me to stand before he tugs me into a hug. "I'm sorry again, Crew. I know it was a shitshow with you and Eli, but the pain has to be there still."

It is. The day spent with Ad and the last ten minutes with Nolan hasn't lessened it. Time will do that, I hope. I have to let go of my father and the dream that will never come true.

"You know where to find me, pal." He moves to walk out of my office. "Say hi to Ad for me. Tell her we're happy that you came to your senses."

"You're an ass." I shake my head as he leaves. "Tell the kids I miss them."

***

"Hey." I feel a tap on my shoulder just before my hand lands on the handle to the door that leads into Premier Pet Care. "It's like a fucking reunion here today."

I turn around. The guy staring at me is at least a few years younger than me, shaggy blond hair, brown eyes, completely unfamiliar to me. "Who the hell are you?"

"You're Crew Benton." He shoves a fist into my shoulder in some sophomoric college ritualistic greeting.

I slap his hand away and smooth my suit jacket.  "I know who I am. Who the fuck are you?"

He holds one hand in front of him palm down, while the other flies in the air like he's taking an oath. "I solemnly swear not to reveal anything about the club or the identities of any of its members."

"Are you high? Drunk? What the fuck is your problem?"

I step to the side and hold open the door when a woman with a dog on a leash exits the clinic.

She gives me a tilt of her chin in appreciation. I toss her back a smile.

"Take off." I move a step closer to the guy who thinks he knows me. He doesn't. It comes with owning a club. Every asshole who you offer a free drink to thinks you're his best friend. It's called marketing, but this kid wouldn't know a good business plan if it bit him in the ass.

"You're here to see her too, aren't you? Did you find her because she's Hale's babe? That's how I found her."

The hair on the back of my neck stands up. Rage races up my spine. "What the fuck did you just say?"

"Adley works here." He drums his fingers over the window that offers a bird's eye view of the street from the reception desk. "I got her name from the tagged posts online. I brought my neighbor's dog down two days ago for some bullshit check up to make sure it was her."

"Step back," I growl. "Move over there."

He does. He walks backward, the entire time his hands are in the front pocket of his ripped jeans. I could deck him on the spot with little blood and no noise.

"She's so fucking hot." He bounces in his tennis sneakers. "Sooner or later she's got to take a break. I've been waiting for over an hour for her to come out."

"Stop talking." I tower over him. "You're going to walk away and never come back. Do you understand me?"

His expression shifts but in an instant that smart-ass grin is back on his mouth. "There's enough to go around."

"Shut the fuck up."

"Those big juicy tits and that smooth pussy." He holds his hands in the middle of his chest as he laughs. "I've jerked off to the memory of that so many times. She's not the kind of chick a man forgets. I didn't get a taste back then, but she's available now, man, so get in line."

I haul him off his feet with my hands on the front of his sweater, pushing him against the wall. "I will fucking ruin your life if you don't shut the hell up."

"You're still defending her?" He pushes against me, but it's futile. I've got at least six inches on him and a good fifty pounds. "That's what got you kicked out of Skyn, man. No piece of ass is worth that."

I stumble back so quickly that he falls to the ground. My stomach churns, my head spins.

There's no fucking way. No. He's so fucking wrong.

"Stay the fuck away from her or I will rip you apart." I spit the words out, but he's already gone, weaving his way through the mid-day crowds of pedestrians.

I haul open the door of the clinic and step inside.

The smells, the sounds, all of it is way too fucking much.

"Crew? Is that you?" Matilda calls to me from behind the reception desk. "What's wrong? Do you need to sit down?"

"Where is she?" I bark the question out into the air, not bothering to raise my head. "Where is she?"

"Adley?" Her voice nears. I see her white shoes as she steps closer to me. "She's not here. Dr. Hunt told me that she called him and that she wouldn't be in today. That's all I know."

Fuck. How the fuck is this real? She can't be that woman. There is no way in hell Adley is that woman. I would remember her. She would remember me.

Matilda says something else but I'm already halfway out the door with my phone in my palm. I call Ad, it goes directly to voicemail and I curse that fucking club and the arrogant asshole that held her down that night telling her to let herself be used until I smashed my fist through his face.