Page 23 of The Captain

“Well, I’ll take you home. We can hang out,” Crew said again, his eyes moving with intention to Lincoln. It was a weird move, and I frowned when I saw it.

I glanced back at Lincoln and saw his fists and jaw clenched. What the hell was going on with these two?

“Honestly, I’m beat.” I wasn’t really, but I just wanted to go home.

“Come on,” Crew croons at me. I liked Crew, and he’d become a good friend, but sometimes he was a bit much and something about the way he seemed to be goading Lincoln was not making me feel any better.

“She said no. Drop it,” Lincoln growled, and I blinked at him in surprise.

Crew straightened up, and I saw something flash in my mind—a vision of these two pummeling each other—and I stepped between them, boldly taking Lincoln’s rough hand in my own.

I didn’t know what I was doing, but he relaxed almost instantly when I was holding his hand.

“Another time, Crew. I really just want to go home, and Lincoln wanted to see Mick anyway.”

Crew looked at me, giving me kind eyes and a wink. “No worries, have fun.”

In an instant, Crew had changed his tune and sauntered away like nothing happened.

I led Lincoln over to his car. “What was that about, Muscles?”

He smirked at the nickname, maybe suspecting that I was trying to joke and shook his head. “Nothing. Just having some issues.”

“I thought you two were tight,” I said, leaning against the car. I glanced down to see his hand still clasped in my own.

Oh no. There was that swirling again.

“We were, until…” He sighed, deep and long and tired. “I’m surprised you didn’t want to go with him.”

I shrugged. “Why?”

“Because you two are…” He trailed off, and I waited patiently to hear what he had to say.

“We are, what?” I asked, highly confused.

Lincoln stared down at me, something passing over his features, but there was still a hint of confusion there. “I thought you guys were together.”

The blunt statement threw me off, and I blinked rapidly for a moment before I could even find words.

“What?” Not an eloquent response, but shock was overloading my brain. “Together?”

“That’s the way he’s been saying it.”

I felt anger and embarrassment creeping to the surface. “Saying what exactly?”

Lincoln ran a hand through his hair. “That you two are dating. That you’ve been dating since like Thanksgiving.”

I gaped at him, so lost on how this happened. “I don’t understand.” I shook my head, thinking back over the times I’d hung out with Crew. All we did was sit around and read or talk story structure, but…dating. “We hang out, sometimes.”

A vein contracts in his forehead, and he shrugs. “That’s not the way he said it.”

It made me feel a little gross that Crew was going behind my back and saying he was what? Dating me?

“I don’t know what to say,” I answered, unsure what to say. Part of me wanted to confront him, to ask him what the hell he was thinking by lying to his teammates about dating me, and another part of me was just absolutely gobsmacked that he would somehow use me in his little game.

I planned to talk with him about it, knowing that it very well could end that friendship.

It was unfortunate.

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