Crew

I take another drink straight from the bottle and stare out the window of my apartment at the setting sun. I ran all over this goddamn city for hours looking for Adley. I gave up when I realized that she doesn’t want me to find her.

I close my eyes again, but the same memory replays itself on an unending reel.

The sounds of music mixed with fucking coming from the room as I approached the door with Damaris by my side. It was one of our regular nights at Club Skyn.

We'd show up late, fuck other people in the back rooms reserved for members only until the club shut down. Then we'd stagger back here, fall asleep in my bed and I'd be up at the crack of dawn ready to bury myself in work.

That night was different.

We were looking for a woman to play with. Damaris had her type. I had mine.

She scoped out the choices. I watched a crowd of men that had gathered around a table. On the table was a woman, on her back.

I stepped closer to get a better look and heard her soft whimpers right away.

"I need more time. I'm not sure anymore."

One guy was wrapping his cock to ready himself to drive into her. The one standing next to her, with one hand on his dick and the other pinning her to the table by her throat, kept telling her to calm down.

"It gets me off. You promised me you'd do this."

She struggled against him, her hands tugging on his wrist, her legs held in place by the guy between them.

I edged closer and looked at her face.

I focused on her eyes. Those goddamn beautiful blue eyes looked at me with a plea I'll never forget.

It wasn't a roleplay. She was terrified.

I pushed the guy between her legs aside before he dove in. He lunged back at me but gave up when I snarled at him. I turned back, and the bastard holding her by her throat told me to fuck off because he was her boyfriend.

He said he made the rules.

" This is my property," he growled at me. " You can go to fucking hell."

My fists flew, his nose broke and his girlfriend slid off the table and disappeared.

I ended my night in the office of the owner, threatening to expose him.

He told me he'd take care of her. He swore he'd change protocol.

I never bothered to step foot in the place again.

I throw the empty bottle of scotch against the wall. It shatters sending a shower of glass everywhere. I drop to my knees and bury my face in my hands.

Why the fuck didn't I see her face then? I wasted too much of my life without her, and now, I don't know if I'll ever see her again.

***

"Crew." Adley's soft voice whispers in my ear. "I'm here. I'm right here."

I feel her arms circle me from behind. The warmth of her skin caresses my bare back.

"I've got you." She peppers my shoulder with kisses.

I roll over on the floor, my head pounding, my eyes shuttered closed. "Adley."

"Tell me you're all right," she whispers against my mouth.

I reach up and grab her shoulders. The heat from her skin soothes me. "You knew. You knew it was me all along."

She crawls closer to me. Her entire body presses into mine. "I knew."

I know why she didn't tell me. I looked right through her that night. I only saw her fear. I didn't see her face.

I move to sit up, but the fucking room is spinning. I rest my head back down on the cold floor. "I should have killed that bastard. You didn't belong in that place. Why the fuck were you in that place?"

"The same reason you were." Her hand runs over my chest. "I wanted the thrill. I wanted to feel a rush. I wanted more than he could give me."

A deep guttural sound escapes me. It's pained. It's primal. It's uncontrollable. "I was there. I was fucking there and didn't see what was right in front of me."

"You see me now," she says through a sob. I feel her tears on my skin. "You love me now."

"I love you. I'll never stop."

She nestles against my chest, her breathing slowing. "When you looked at me that night, I knew you felt my fear. I knew you'd save me."

"I would have torn him apart with my bare hands to get you away from him."

"You did."

"You didn't belong in a place like that." I reach to grab her thigh, to press it against my stomach. "That's not who you are."

"It's who you are," she whispers against my neck. "It's what you like."

"No." I turn to look at her. "I fucked in public because it helped me get off. I will never need that with you."

"Never?"

"Never." I stare in her eyes. The eyes I looked in five years ago when I heard her silent pleas and the eyes I stared into when I fucked her for the first time. "I don't want to share you with anyone, Adley. I don't want anyone to see this." I run my hand over her thigh and up her bare back.

"I'm enough for you."

I love that it's a statement and not a fucking question. "You will always be everything I need."

"Can I take you to bed?" She rolls off me and sits up. The light filtering in from outside frames her like a halo. "I want you to fall asleep in my arms."

"Carry me there," I joke. "I'm so fucking wasted."

"You have to stop drinking because I need a study partner."

I bolt up into a sitting position. "You need a what?"

"I was accepted into med school today." Her voice trembles. "Sydney called me when the letter arrived. I was on my way to work. I called Donovan and told him about my dream to be a cardiologist. He told me to go home and read the letter and if the news was good to take the day to celebrate."

"Is that why you disappeared? I was trying to find you for hours."

"I thought you were with your mom." She smooths her hand over my brow. "Your dad just died and I know she needs you. I didn't want to interrupt your time with her, so I finally went to see that new apartment my folks moved into three months ago. I've been thinking a lot about them the last few days."

"What did they say about med school?"

"I had every intention of telling you first but I wanted that to be in person."

I smile at her. Of course, she'd want that. She wanted to hold onto that memory.

"My dad started talking about how I needed to make a decision about going back to school to be a vet soon, so I pulled the letter out of my purse, and well, they were happy."

"Happy?" I bark out a laugh." They were over the moon, weren't they?"

"My dad was over the moon about med school." She presses her lips to mine. "My mom was over the moon that I'm in love."

"That came up?"

"That's what I went over to tell them." She takes a deep breath. "Time flew by, and when I finally looked at my phone in my purse, I saw all your missed calls and a few from Tilly. I tried calling you first, but you didn’t pick up so I called her and she told me about the clinic, and the jerk and you. That's when I realized that you knew that I was the girl from the club."