Save Me: A Singular Obsession Novella Read online

  He pushed thoughts of the hospital away when Andie giggled and her breast brushed across his cheek. Growing hard, he pulled the neckline of her tank top down, freeing one rounded breast. He palmed it, running his hand up over her nipple until she gasped.

  “If they find us like this, they’re going to fire you.” He didn’t want to stop, but felt it was only fair to warn her.

  “I haven’t clocked in yet, and no one but the manager knows about this storeroom,” she reminded him in a whisper. He suppressed a shudder when she licked his lips with a slow stroke of her tongue. “They don’t use this space anymore.”

  That may have been true, but they were still begging for trouble. Lynx was one of the most popular clubs on the strip. It was crowded every night. Sooner or later someone would find them here—but hopefully not tonight.

  Located in the top stories of a high-rise hotel, Lynx was still the place to be despite newer imitators opening up across the strip. Eric didn’t like the new places. They didn’t capture the vibe this place had…and Andie didn’t work at those places. She worked here.

  Or she would until someone caught them grinding on the torn booth someone had stuck in a cramped storeroom.

  “Eric,” Andie moaned when his hands traced up her thighs and under her skirt. She moved down his lap, unzipping him as she went.

  Drunk on the feel of her, he was slow to react when she worked his shorts down and wrapped her hands around his dick. Her tongue flicked out to tease the head of his shaft.

  He hissed and held onto her head as she swallowed him whole. “Shit!”

  His hips pump reflexively as she worked her mouth up and down. Each suck sent a pulse of pleasure to the back of his brain. Her hair brushed against his bare thighs, tickling him. He reached for her, his hand fisting in her hair.

  It was so soft. Everything of hers was soft. Her creamy skin, her lips. Even her pussy—she was waxed smooth at his request.

  But nothing beat what she felt like when he slid into her. “Stop baby,” he whispered, panting slightly. “I want to be inside you.”

  Andie giggled when he tugged her up onto his lap. Fisting his dick, he pumped a few times so he’d be rock hard for her. He was just starting to slide into her delicious warmth when he woke up.

  Eric swore viciously, rolling over in bed until he was sitting up. He dropped his head in his hands and exhaled.

  It had been like this since he’d flown home. He hadn’t thought of Andie for so long and now…now he couldn’t get through a night without dreaming of her, of being with her. And every morning he woke up alone, aching and frustrated.

  Celibacy is taking its toll.

  Eric had spent the last two years rebuilding his life. Every bit of his energy went into his work and repairing his reputation as a doctor. Though female patients periodically hit on him, he kept things professional. There hadn’t been anyone since Andie.

  He’d reached out to the hospital staff in Vegas to make amends for the way he let them down. But not to Andie. He couldn’t even explain why.

  When he left, Andie gave him a brittle goodbye and then blew him off when he’d asked her to a last dinner. She didn’t respond to his few attempts to stay in touch—and she shouldn’t have. His one text and phone call were a half-hearted bid to keep some sort of toehold in her life. Andie deserved more.

  Burying himself in work, he did his best to ignore his mixed-up feelings. Keeping busy was important. He worked eighteen-hour days and avoided temptation. He couldn’t afford to backslide.

  Late one night Eric had just finished clearing his backlog of emails and insurance forms when he got a call.

  Let that be a wrong number. It was after two AM. Nothing good ever happened after two AM.

  “Mike here,” a gravel-filled voice said when he finally found his cell under a stack of papers.

  He relaxed. After his inauspicious first meeting with Calen’s head of security, the two had struck up a friendship. “Hey, man. How is the setup of the Sydney club coming along?”

  Mike was supposed to be in Australia right now. What time was it there?

  “I’m in Vegas actually,” Mike answered. “We have a problem here. Andie’s in trouble.”

  Eric sat back in his chair, a jolt of surprise and concern shooting through his chest. “I’m on my way.”

  Chapter 3

  Eric banged on the door a third time. There was no answer. Andie wasn’t home.

  He’d driven to her apartment complex the minute he landed. The worn structure had grown downright dingy since he’d seen it last. Eric had only been there a few times. During their affair, he’d mostly hooked up with her at the club or at a hotel on the strip if he’d had a good night at the tables.

  He knocked again, squinting through the gap in the curtains. The glass was dirty, but he could still see most of the living room. There was no furniture.

  Shit. Had Andie moved?

  He searched for a neighbor to question. The middle-aged guy in a wife-beater tank top next door told him Andie had given up her lease last week. He didn’t know where she had gone. He tried a few more doors, hoping to find someone who had her new address, but no one else answered.

  Giving up, he headed to his rental car, taking the steps two at a time. Once there he texted Mike to ask if she had updated her employment records. The answer came right away.

  * * *

  No, that’s the current one in her paperwork. There’s more news now. Calen has decided to let her go.

  * * *

  They were going to fire her? What for? Andie had been one of Lynx’s best waitresses for years. She had gotten the job there so she could go to school in the day, and never missed a shift when they had been together. As far as he knew she had done a stellar job—as long as no one knew about the two of them hooking up in the storeroom. And he didn’t think anyone did.

  No one but Mike knew they had even been together, and that was only because Eric had told him. They’d bonded after spending weeks working together setting up Calen’s new restaurant in Dubrovnik. After a particularly long night they’d been having drinks and Eric had finally shared the details—minus his and Andie’s storeroom activities.

  The news taken the other man by surprise. Mike was a hell of a security chief. If he hadn’t been aware of their relationship, then Eric was confident no one else knew. Andie hadn’t seen fit to share the news with any of the other waitresses. According to Mike, she never mentioned him at all. Eric tried not to think about that.

  Throwing his jacket into the passenger seat, he sat behind the wheel before texting Mike again.

  * * *

  What the hell is going on?

  * * *

  It wasn’t the first time he asked, but the security chief had been strangely silent on the matter. All he’d said was that the situation was still developing. Eric didn’t like the sound of that.

  His phone buzzed.

  * * *

  Get over here to the club’s security office. It’s bad.

  * * *

  He swore under his breath, driving to the strip as quickly as he could.

  The interior of Lynx always appeared strange to him in daylight. The dark interiors were a little washed out, and it lost a little bit of its magic. However, it was oddly more intimidating at this hour, with its leather and ultra-modern light fixtures and moldings. Calen spared no expense on details people only got hazy glimpses of at night, With the lights on he could see the detailed designs on the moldings and the texture on the walls.

  I am not cool enough for this place, he thought as he climbed the stairs to Mike’s office. The security chief had sent a follow-up text. Calen was joining them. Whatever this mess Andie was in was pretty fucking serious.

  His heart dropped when he opened the door to Mike’s office. Calen was already there, sitting behind the desk. Mike, a burly guy with silver in his hair, stood next to him. He pointed to something on the computer screen in front of them.

  “I don’t see it,”
Calen muttered. He looked up and scowled. “What the hell are you doing here, Eric?”

  He hesitated. Hadn’t his boss known he was coming?

  “I called him,” Mike said.

  “Why?”

  The question hung in the air for a second. Eric resisted the urge to apologize as he sat in the chair on the other side of the desk.

  “I trust his expertise over the others in the new medical crew,” Mike said. “This thing is about to blow up and I want our best hands on deck. Plus, he and Andie were friends back in the day.”

  “Really?” Calen asked, narrowing his eyes at him. “Just friends?”

  Eric nodded, grateful Mike didn’t go into detail. Disclosing the true intimate nature of their relationship—former relationship—probably wouldn’t help her right now.

  “Now can you tell me what’s going on?” he asked Mike.

  The security chief and his boss exchanged a loaded glance. Calen sat back in the leather chair, taking something out of his pocket and setting it on the desk. It was a clear capsule with a purple liquid almost neon in color.

  “This is Drek. It’s a new designer street drug. Some variant of liquid heroine, but with a supposed smoother high. It’s highly concentrated and can be hidden anywhere. You swallow the capsule whole or it dissolves in a drink before you can blink. We got wind of it only a few weeks ago but it’s all over the strip now. There have been two ODs at other clubs so far. One kid is in the hospital—a complication from an undiagnosed heart issue. But given how fast it’s spreading, this is only the start. These things are so tiny some drunk asshole’s going to pop a handful any day now. I want to get out ahead of this before someone dies here.”

  “Okay, but what does this have to do with Andie?”

  Mike stepped back and hit a spot on the panel behind him. A molded square opened, revealing a hidden wall safe. Eric tried not to stare open-mouthed at the high-tech set up as he hit a few buttons and opened the door. Mike took out a small plastic bag holding a bunch of identical neon purple capsules.

  “We found these in Andie’s locker during a random spot check.”

  Bullshit. He shook his head. “That can’t be right. She doesn’t do drugs. She barely even drinks. I don’t think I ever saw her drunk the entire time I lived here.”

  He didn’t care how much time had passed. That wouldn’t change.

  Calen raised a brow. He gestured to the baggie. “This isn’t recreational use. This number of pills can only mean one thing—she’s dealing.”

  Eric’s mouth opened, but it took him a minute before he found his voice. “I don’t believe it. Given her family history, she wouldn’t go near this kind of shit.”

  His boss’s expression grew even more suspicious. Calen could read people very well, and Eric wondered how long he could maintain the fiction that his interest in this was purely out of concern for a friend.

  “And what history is that?” Calen asked in a neutral tone. “Andie doesn’t even have an emergency contact on file.”

  Crap. Trust Andie not to have confided in anyone. And how could she not have an emergency contact? She had a ton of friends. Didn’t she have anyone she could count on?

  Eric took a deep breath. He was violating a confidence, something she had told him during a late night pillow talk session. But he didn’t have a choice.

  “Look, she wouldn’t want this spread around, but Andie told me her mom was a junkie. The woman would get clean and then slip over and over again. Andie spent her childhood bouncing around different relatives’ houses and the occasional foster home.”

  He leaned forward. “Andie was careful to downplay it, but it really affected her. She was on her own from the age of sixteen, a firsthand witness to how drugs can wreck someone. It made her more determined to finish school and pursue a career.”

  “That doesn’t mean she wouldn’t deal to make some extra cash,” Calen pointed out. “I pay well, but college is expensive.”

  Eric wasn’t convinced. “It just doesn’t seem like her. This job was putting her through school. It pays more than any other place on the strip, right? I don’t think she’d jeopardize her place here doing something illegal.”

  Despite his reputation, Calen was an exceptional employer. Eric was proof that the man took care of his staff. Calen passed a hand over his hair roughly. He looked tired. “The stuff was found in her locker. Drug affiliation of any kind is grounds for dismissal. It’s in the contract every single member of my staff signs. My hands are tied unless we can prove these belong to someone else.”

  Mike coughed, and finally decided to weigh in. “I think there’s some room for doubt. Andie’s worked here for years and except for her ‘friendship’ with this ass, she’s basically a good kid.”

  Calen huffed a laugh. “I know she’s a nice girl. We’ve never had an issue before according to the manager. She’s a high earner tip-wise, but it’s up to the police to clear her. And honestly, I don’t see that happening. Not if they think they can track this back to someone bigger.”

  “You’ve turned her over to the police?” Eric choked out.

  Calen’s mouth turned down. “Not yet. But I don’t think we have a choice. The local cops have been in touch with all the nightspots on the strip. There’s an alert asking for any information on Drek. Someone is coming by in an hour to pick this shit up.”

  “So they don’t know about Andie’s involvement yet? Couldn’t we just withhold the information for a day or two? Long enough to find out who this stuff really belongs to?” he asked.

  Mike winced. “What do you want us to tell them? That we know who the dealer is, but we’re giving her a few days to clear her name?”

  Eric sat up straight. “She didn’t do this. And you’re going to clear Andie.”

  “Me?” Mike asked.

  “Yes!” Eric turned to Calen. “I know you aren’t convinced Andie is innocent, but I am. Which means you still have someone—most likely another member of the staff—who is dealing this shit behind your back. That person must know where the security cams are located, since you haven’t mentioned catching anyone in the act.”

  Calen and Mike exchanged another glance.

  “I’m right, aren’t I?” Eric asked. “You haven’t caught anyone dealing. Not even Andie. And she’s probably all over the footage serving drinks and doing her job. All you have is this baggie, which could have come from anyone.”

  “There was only one possible interaction where she may have slipped a patron something extra along with their drink, but the camera angle’s off,” Calen said. “It could have been an extra napkin for all we know. But the staff lockers have unique combinations. She already told us she hasn’t shared hers with anyone else.”

  “Another person could have found her combination out easily enough,” Mike pointed out. “All they had to do was watch her open it. Most people aren’t suspicious enough to keep their locks covered when they put in their combination.”

  Eric leaned forward. “So you confronted her with this?” he asked for confirmation.

  Mike nodded. “I called her into the office last night, right after we finished the inspection. I put her on immediate probation while we sorted this out and told her not to talk to any of the staff on the way out.”

  “Does she even know she’s fired yet?”

  “She has to know it’s coming. The rules are clear. Zero tolerance.”

  “Will you at least agree to keep her name out of it when they come to pick up the drugs?”

  “No.” Calen’s face could have been carved from stone, but he must have seen the dismay in Eric’s expression because after a moment he softened. “Look, I have a zero tolerance policy for a reason. I don’t need to give the cops a reason to be more interested in me or my business than they already are. The best I can do is tell them there’s a strong possibility the stuff was dumped in Andie’s locker by someone else.”

  Of course. Calen’s family ties to the Irish mob made him an automatic suspect in just abo
ut every crime the authorities couldn’t solve. His resolve to keep everything above board was the only reason he didn’t have law enforcement riding his ass twenty-four seven.

  “That’s good enough for now,” Eric replied, injecting his voice with as much gratitude as he could while still hoping for another concession. “But I still think we need to keep investigating other suspects. You said you wanted to get ahead of this. Finding the stuff in Andie’s locker isn’t an open and shut case. It’s too easy.”

  Mike grumbled something that might have been some sort of agreement, but Calen steepled his hands and appeared to be thinking it over.

  “What exactly did you tell the police when you called them?” Eric asked, turning to Mike.

  “Just that we found some of the stuff they were asking about. Nothing else,” he said.

  Eric tried not to appear too hopeful, but Calen rolled his eyes at him anyway. “We say we found it in the bathroom, behind one of the toilet tanks. Meanwhile, we look into it some more. But I can’t give Andie her job back. Not until she’s cleared.” He stopped to point at Mike. “Get on that. I trust you more than the cops to handle this.”

  Well, that hardly needed saying. With few exceptions, Calen kept a high wall of lawyers between him and most members of law enforcement.

  “Maia and the baby are waiting for me at the Caislean 21,” Calen added, naming the boutique hotel his friends, the Tyler brothers, had opened off the strip. “We’ll be staying there until this is resolved.”

  Eric stood up to follow his boss to the door. “I’m there too. And thank you again for keeping an open mind. I’m sure Mike will be able to clear Andie. She is a good person.”

  Calen gave him another narrow-eyed glance and gestured for him to follow him to the hallway. “Look I appreciate you watching out for a friend, but I don’t want you here if it’s going to threaten your sobriety,” he said bluntly.