The man was falling apart.
Cupping a hand around his elbow, I nodded toward the back. “Hey, let’s take a break.”
“I just got here,” Walt said, the gruffness of his voice trembling, giving a half-assed attempt to pull away. “You better not dock this from my lunch.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Walt,” I said, keeping my tone smooth as if we were shooting the shit. I kicked at the impact door and guided him through first, giving a visual sweep to make sure we were alone. “All right, be real with me. Are you using again?”
Walt’s head shot up, a flash of hurt crossing his face before his eyes narrowed. “Jesus, you’re gonna go straight into accusations? Can’t a man have a hard time?”
“Man, what am I supposed to think? You been calling in, missing appointments, and ghosted me for the last week.” I pointed my thumb over my shoulder toward the front. “And Duncan’s got your back, but rules are rules, bro. You know that.”
“My daughter graduated a week and a half ago. Summa cum laude. I found out from an alumni email.” Walt chuckled, broken and shaky. He grazed his knuckles over his patchy five-o’clock shadow, his eyes falling to the floor. “I didn’t expect an invite, but it had me wondering why I was putting in all this effort to stay clean.”
A couple of tears streaked down Walt’s pocked cheeks. He didn’t even bother to wipe them away. It was a bit of a shock because he’d never been the kinda dude who got vulnerable in front of people. This was all it took to fall off the wagon, and I wanted to shake Walt to death and remind him that if he went back to that shit, he wouldn’t be able to reach out to an old friend for help again. Walt didn’t need a good shake. He needed someone who’d listen, someone who wouldn’t judge.
He needed someone who knew how easy it was to go back to drugs.
“So, did you?” I asked, more gently this time. Walt flashed me with a look I couldn’t quite figure out. “I’m not asking as someone who’s your shift lead. I’m asking you as a friend.”
Walt tucked his hands into his armpits, shoulders curling in. A cold tingle danced across my cheeks, making my teeth ache. I counted my breaths as I waited, silently begging that he wouldn’t say yes.
“I went to my usual place, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy it,” Walt said, voice tight as he ducked his face away.
“When did you go?”
“Two days ago.”
I did not want to hear that. I took a moment to get my bearings and swallowed down the ache in my throat. “Few things we have to get out of the way. You’re going to talk to Duncan. You’re going to tell him what you told me, or I’ll have to make the dick move and tell him myself, and I’d like to stay away from that. He’s gonna tell you to call your sponsor, and he may tell you to do a drug test. Don’t fight it.”
“I have no fight in left in me, Nik. But if I end up on the streets again . . . It won’t be good.”
Reaching out, I grabbed Walt’s shoulders and turned him to me. “Well, then, you better not get there, right? But listen to me, if something happens, and you use again, I don’t want you doing that shit alone, feel me? You wanna fuck around with your demons, you better call me when you go dancing with them, or I’ll come looking for you.”
“Fall off the wagon and not call you equals I get my ass kicked,” Walt said, lifting a finger up as he listed each item off. “I knew my accounting degree would come in handy at some point.”
“Ah, fuck off,” I said, shoving him to the door, smiling at Walt’s sleepy chuckle. “Go talk to Duncan, and I’ll see you back here for delivery today, all right?”
The crew started making their way toward the back while the front crew began opening the store. We had a delivery today, and everyone got ready for the endless round of trucks that’d be taking up the day.
Walt behaved closer to his usual self, but even I noticed the crew giving him more distance than usual.
Something flickered in the corner of my eye, and I looked toward it, curious. Micah stood at the back of the truck, watching the crew unload everything, his blue eyes locked onto me. A smile played at his lips for a moment before it finally grew full-blown. Micah didn’t give a fuck if anyone caught him giving me flirty vibes.
Usually, it had me feeling some type of way that I couldn’t quite put words to, but my mind was elsewhere—on Walt and on what I’d had planned at the Collective after work.
“You know, I’ve decided this is my favorite spot on my route,” Micah said, lighthearted and playful as he handed over the handheld for me to sign.
I scribbled my name and returned the handheld to him. “Everyone here has always said nice things about you, which is nice. Good relationship building for the team, which we appreciate.”
Micah squinted an eye at me and pursed his lips. Half of his face was in the sunlight, exposing the swirls of a tattoo that creeped along the base of his neck. It was one of my absolute favorite places to kiss because it always drove him wild. Usually, that set my gut on fire and my dick alert, but right now all I wanted to do was curl against him and feel his hand move through my hair and over my skin, like we did when we were too fucked out to move.
Flickering his eyes back and forth at the usual commotion going on behind me, Micah stepped closer and ran his fingers over my wrist. He kept his eye on the crew for a moment so they wouldn’t notice anything, and after a few beats, he focused his attention to me.
“You want to talk about it?” He kept his tone cool and casual, like he was asking me about what I’d had for lunch. Tension that’d locked in my shoulders loosened a bit, and I closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying the relief.
“Work’s been a mess, and I’m stressed about this guest speaker thing I’m doing for a training program at the Collective. It’s ridiculous because I’ve done this a million times before, but I never know if I’m really making a difference, and that sucks.”
Micah ran his knuckles over the back of my hand, hooking two fingers around my own. I stared at the connection between us, at how our knuckles bent around each other. Such a simple touch that brought so much comfort.
“Can I come with you?” Micah asked, his voice soft.
I blinked up at him in surprise. “Are you sure? I can’t promise it won’t get intense. It can be . . . uncomfortable.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Micah said, his mouth tilting into a smirk. “I just want to be there with you.”
I searched his eyes for any sign he was fronting but found none, not that I expected it. Micah hadn’t misled me yet, and I found the idea of having him there to support me oddly comforting.
“My talk starts at eight. I have to be there at seven thirty to help set up, but you can just . . .”
“I’ll meet you there at seven thirty, then. Gives me time to get home and shower.” His slow smile radiated calmness, a sharp contrast to the last time I saw him, but exactly what I needed. I couldn’t help but smile back.
I could hear the crew razzing one another behind me, and I jerked my chin toward them. “I need to get back. If you change your mind, just let me know, it’s okay.”
“I’ll be there.” Micah leaned forward and ghosted a kiss against my temple, then turned to head to the delivery truck. I watched his graceful movements for a few seconds before returning to the dock to deal with the squabbling crew, wondering how the universe could have delivered such a perfect guy to me.
MICAH
