PARANORMAL ROMANCE: Bear Naked Satisfaction (Fantasy Shapeshifter Alpha Male Romance Book 3) (Contemporary New Adult Billionaire Steamy Romance Short Stories) (41 page)

Chapter 4

              She didn’t want to go to work.

              Cloak and Dagger was her dream, her baby, but it was also Adam’s, and he was the last person she wanted to see. Still, she couldn’t trust the guy who had failed his basic math class to run her business.

              Dragging herself out of bed, she grabbed a random shirt from her drawer, uncaring as to what she wore. She pulled it on, tugging on her jeans underneath, and barely brushed her hair before grabbing her apartment keys and going outside.

              When she pulled up, Adam’s car was missing.

              She tried to shrug it off, imagining that he probably had a late night closing down the bar all by himself, but a mental image of the woman riding home with him ruined her indifferent mood. Mentally forcing herself to calm down and count to ten, she walked into her bar.

              It was empty. Obviously it would be, as she and Adam were always the first to arrive, but it still caused a little ping in her chest to know that he really wasn’t there. She herself had been a half hour late, and they’d be opening the doors soon. The bar-backs would arrive at the beginning of their shift in an hour, and she could only hope that Adam would be there to help by then.

              By six, she had the doors open and the kids lined up outside. Everything was going smoothly – the waitlist for Adam’s Attic had been started, the arcade games were turned on, and Crystal’s Countertop was abuzz with tabletop gaming. The only thing out of place was Adam’s absence.

              She tried calling him a few times, but it went straight to Adam’s chipper voicemail: “Hey, you’ve reached Adam Smith. Please leave a message, because I’m probably at my super cool bar, Cloak and Daggers, and if I’m there then you’re calling way too late anyway. Later!”

              Crystal always hung up before the beep, unsure of what she’d say anyway. Talking to Adam in person was one thing, but being given a window of silence to say her piece was quite another.

              By nine, the place was packed and there was still no sign of Adam. She tried calling again, and this time she let his voicemail play, even when it was her turn to speak.

              “Hi Adam,” she said, nervously tucking some hair behind her ear. “It’s been three hours since we opened, and the kids say they miss you.” The moment after she said it, she immediately regretted it, knowing exactly how it must sound. “A-anyway! Please get here soon!” She hung up quickly, her stomach in knots.

              By one a.m. she was ready to close the place down early. The only thing stopping her was Adam’s damn waitlist. Officially, they closed at two, and there were still six names waiting to play, so she held on and simply made it so that no one else was allowed to enter the bar. Anyone who wanted to leave early could feel free, too. She’d just have to unlock the doors for them.

              That was why she frowned when she heard them bang open. She whirled around, ready to tell whatever punk had just picked the lock on her doors to turn right around and get the fuck out, only to freeze when she saw who it was.

              Adam was standing there, wearing the same clothes as yesterday, with a hardened look on his face. She’d never seen him so serious, and it unnerved her. When he started striding towards her, shoulders tense and hands clenched into fists, she freaked.

              “Okay, guys!” she called out, backing behind the bar. “Closing time! Everybody out—”

              She flinched when Adam got close enough and threw out a hand, but he merely snatched the waitlist from her and scribbled down a name. Tossing it back to her on the bar, he stuck his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders, taking a seat on a bar stool.

              Watching him out of the corner of her eye, Crystal picked up the clipboard and glanced at what he’d written. It read, “Crystal & Adam” under the name, and “Mario Kart” under the desired game. She looked up at him, surprised and frustrated but, above all, confused.

              Most of the kids had scrammed when she started yelling for them to leave, but the two she’d sent up earlier for their twenty minutes hadn’t heard anything and were still playing away. She glanced at her watch—their time was almost up, only seven more minutes for them to play. She wondered if she could fool Adam and buy some time by letting them stay up there for longer.

              Only, when it was the proper time for her to call them down, Adam stood up, and walked up the stairs himself. Not a minute later the kids were rushing down, calling goodnight as they bounded out the door. Crystal glanced at the hallway, unsure and maybe even a little afraid to join him.

              “Crystal,” Adam called, making her jump. “Get your ass up here.”

              Well, that just made her want to run even more! She glanced at the waitlist as she reached for her purse, her eyes stopping on their names. It had always been Crystal and Adam, ever since middle school and they’d both needed a friend who was just as weird as the other. Crystal had been pudgy for a child, and maybe a little too interested in adult swim. Adam had been a short string bean with a hopelessness in athletics and a fascination with board games. They’d found and accepted each other easily.

              Sighing, Crystal walked to the stairs. She steeled herself and took the first step, surprised when a hand shot out and grabbed her arm, pulling her up the rest of the way.

              “Wait—Adam!” she yelled, more in a scolding manner than in a fearful one. It was just Adam, after all, and he’d never done anything to hurt her.

              Well. Except kiss a skank in the bar that they owned together. And right after he’d kissed her in it, too.

              Finally coming to the landing, Adam took her inside the room they’d outfitted with game console after game console. They had a huge television that lined the wall in the center of the room, a High Definition seventy inch with three-dimensional capabilities. Adam had demanded it, and she was certain that he had planned to sneak some personal time in here with it.

              As he led her in, she realized it was her first look at the space after they’d opened it to their customers. Before, it’d been picture perfect: a giant television, the locked consoles set up nicely by shelf per shelf, and two lazy boy recliners positioned front and center. Only now, the lazy boys had some stains on them, and the plastic containers had scratches all over them, like someone had been trying to break into it. Otherwise, the television looked all right, if not a little off-center. Adam fell into one of the recliners, gesturing for her to do the same.

              She did, and he stared at her.

              He opened his mouth—quite a few times, actually—only to shut it again. Crystal got the ridiculous image of him turning into a goldfish, gaping and gasping for water. Only, the fish wasn’t desperate—just pissed.

              “About what you think you saw last night,” he finally said. That made Crystal visibly tense, and Adam quickly sat up, waving his hands in front of him in a sort of surrender. “No, no, no—fuck, that’s not what I meant. Crystal, I didn’t kiss her.”

              Crystal only raised an eyebrow. “I know,” she replied after a moment.

              “You-you do?” he asked, his angry expression falling.

              “Of course,” she said briskly. “It was hardly a kiss. It was a make out session.”

              “Jesus Christ,” Adam muttered. Then, louder, in a more normal volume, “No, it wasn’t. Look, she flashed me a fake ID, and I told her to get out. She said no way José, and before I knew what she was doing, she was leaning forward and fucking kissing
me
.”

              A small part of Crystal leapt at the news, but the rest of her—the realistic, pessimistic part of her—slammed it back down. “Gee, Adam,” she said coolly. “I don’t know why you thought making her underage would help your story.”

              “Damn it, Crystal!” he yelled, his fists clenched so tightly that they were turning his knuckles white. Crystal, on the other hand, was trying to appear as cool as a cucumber, although her sweaty palms gripping the armrests were more than enough of a giveaway. “I like you, okay? I mean, shit, I love you.”

              That took Crystal a moment. She licked her lips, and asked, “You…like me?”

              “Oh, I don’t know,” Adam huffed, making a face. “You think opening a fucking business would’ve given you a clue? Or quitting a job I’d had for more than three years? You know when I told them I was quitting, they thought I was joking. They gave me the hours, the raises—and fuck, the customers gave me the tips. You think these little college fuckers know anything about tipping? Think they believe that anything below twenty percent is worth shit? ‘Cause let me tell you right now, they fucking don’t.”

              That only hurt Crystal more. “Well, I’m so sorry to take you away from your dream job—”

              “God, don’t you get it?” Adam slid off the chair and took to his knees, leaning in front of Crystal to grab hold of her shoulders. “
This
is my dream job! Right here, with you! I wanted to do this, so I did it. Signed the fucking dotted line and everything. And now you’re giving me the cold shoulder after some girl pecked me on the god damn mouth? And, let’s not forget, after you rejected me, too!”

              “If this is such a dream to you, then why didn’t you show up today?” Crystal spat, glaring down at him. “Where the hell were you. What was so much more important?”

              “I was out shopping, dumbass!” he yelled, and he dug into his jean pocket, fishing out a thin black velvet box. “Doing something for the other most important thing… you!” With that, he flipped it open, the box making a little ‘pop’ from the spring.

              What was inside took Crystal’s breath away. It was an Indian wrist bracelet, one with two fine silver chains connected to a tiny tiara ring. There was one big gemstone on the tiara’s crown: a ruby shaped like a heart.

              “You didn’t have a fucking crown,” Adam muttered, still cursing up a storm in his embarrassment. “And you’re a queen. You deserved one.” He rested it on her lap and carefully lifted it out of the box, gentle with the chains. He slipped it on her wrist, and slid the ring down her finger.

              “It’s, um—”

              “It’s fucking beautiful, that’s what it is,” Adam said, finally breaking out into a smirk. He took her hand, kissing the back of it. “Just like you.”

              Crystal glanced at the bracelet on her wrist. It was tight, but not uncomfortable, just not pretty. It looked like it was dividing the fat between her hand and arm, and the ring itself simply bunched up at her knuckle. She frowned at it.

              “You don’t think so?” Adam asked.

              “No,” she shook her head. “It’s very beautiful, you’re right, but I’m—”

              “I know,” he chuckled. “You’re even more beautiful. You know what, actually? You’re gorgeous.” He kissed her hand up to her fingertips, finally looking up at her in the eyes again. “And you’d better fucking believe it.”

              At that, Adam stood, holding her hand in his as leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Um, thanks,” Crystal said awkwardly.

              Adam just sighed. “Crystal,” he said, taking a seat on her armrest and placing their hands in his lap. “I want a relationship with you. I want to build one like we built this bar—remember what it looked like? Abandoned and dark? And I’m not saying our relationship is like that—quite the contrary, actually—but I think it can be better. I want to drive with you into work and leave with you at night. I want to sleep next to you and feel your warmth. I want to love you freely.”

              Crystal could feel the heat radiating off of her own face; she didn’t need a mirror to know that she was blushing hard.

              “Do you love me?” Adam asked suddenly.

“W-what?”

              “C’mon, don’t make me repeat it. I already sound needy enough as it is,” he gave a small smile. “Well? Do you?”

              “Well, yes,” she agreed. But she’d always considered her affection for him something akin to a sisterly love. They’d just been best friends for so long. “But—”

              “Nope,” Adam cut her off, wagging a finger at her with a shake of his head. “Think about it. If you didn’t love me, then why did you go storming off when you saw that girl kiss me?”

              That made Crystal flush with anger. “Because you’d just kissed
me
—”

              “Yeah,” he agreed. “But then
you
rejected
me
. So, in all honesty, I’m in the clear here. If anyone is at fault for hurt feelings, it’s you.”

              Crystal knew that. She really did, but what he was saying just didn’t seem fair. “You’d just confessed to me!” she shouted. “And then you go and kiss someone else? Obviously you were lying about those feelings!”

              “Crystal, Crystal, Crystal,” Adam shook his head, his mouth smiling like he’d just won some small victory. “I told you already: she kissed me.”

              “Yeah?” Crystal said angrily. Without stopping to really consider the consequences, she did something she’d wanted to do since he had started blaming the other girl—she kissed him.