AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The doorbell rang, saving us from any more talk about death and almost death.
Ezra got up to get the door and came back with four pizza boxes.
He set them out on the table between all my chairs, and I felt for the first time that my living room furniture was being put to use.
It made me feel good to have everyone here.
Flint and Camryn, when they made it over, just didn’t completely fill the room like the Crusies were doing.
Pizza was passed out, and a slice was handed to me from Raleigh.
I took a bite and moaned.
“Oh, man,” I groaned as I ate. “I haven’t had anything this good in a while.”
Pizza was a no-no when you owned a CrossFit gym.
At least, according to Flint it was.
I tried to set a good example, but when I was in the privacy of my own home, sometimes that didn’t happen.
Ezra chuckled. “It’s been a while for me, too. Though these last few days I’ve eaten more than I have in the last few months.”
“I heard that cruise ships will do that to you,” I admitted, taking another bite.
A pepperoni slid off and landed directly on Croft’s forehead.
He blinked his eyes open and stared at me.
“What is that?” he asked, his eyes crossing trying to see what was on his forehead.
I snickered. “A pepperoni.”
I leaned forward and sucked it up into my mouth, causing him to groan. “Nice.”
He slowly sat up, and when I say slowly, I mean like an old man slowly.
He wiped the grease off of his forehead with his good hand and then reached forward for a piece of pizza with the other.
He stopped midway and changed hands.
“I can’t believe that you were shot,” Raleigh mumbled around a bite of pizza. “Have you heard anything more on who might’ve done it?”
We were both shaking our heads before she could even finish.
“Nope,” I grumbled. “We just know that the man that broke into my place—or tried to—and his shooter are one and the same.”
Everyone stopped eating.
“Someone broke into your house?” Raleigh gasped, leaning forward, pizza all but forgotten.
I nodded. “Well, kind of. Yes? They stole my laptop and were gone before Croft could make it over here.”
“Wow.” Raleigh shook her head. “And when did that happen?”
“The night before I was shot,” Croft answered as he brought the pizza to his lips and took a hefty bite. “The only thing anyone knows is that the shooter ran toward a motorcycle and took off. That could be anybody. I know of four people that ride motorcycles in this neighborhood.”
I winced.
He was right.
“Alfie does, too,” I confirmed.
Croft looked at me. “The nerd.”
I rolled my eyes. “Very original.”
Croft smirked before taking another bite of pizza.
“You know,” Raleigh said. “Croft was a nerd when he was younger, too. He was also in the band. He wasn’t nearly as cute as he is now.”
“Raleigh…” Croft warned her.
Raleigh ignored him, though.
Instead, she focused on me.
“He also didn’t kiss a girl until he was a sophomore in college,” Raleigh continued, looking at me with a sinister smile on her face. “He used to be known as…”
Croft hit her in the face with a piece of pizza.
The pizza slid all the way down to her lap. Her face covered in sauce, she looked freakin’ hilarious.
My mouth opened as I turned and looked at Croft. Croft who was calmly reaching for another piece of pizza as if he hadn’t thrown the last one at his sister.
“You did not just do that,” Raleigh squeaked, picking up the pizza she’d been hit with and taking a vicious bite.
“Children,” Ezra started.
“Gavin was my mediator,” Mrs. Crusie sighed. “These two always fought like cats and dogs. Gavin was the one that got along with them both, and then made them like each other as long as he was around. It’s always been like this. And, just sayin’, but Raleigh was the one to give Croft that awful nickname, so I can see why he doesn’t want it mentioned. It practically ruined Croft’s senior year of high school.”
Now that had me intrigued. “What was the nickname?”
Croft was already shaking his head.
“Come on,” I pleaded. “Please?”
Croft’s eyes were hot as they landed on me.
Raleigh leaned forward and acted like she was about to share state secrets with me.
“His name was Crop Dust,” she whispered. “Because he had really, really bad gas.” She paused. “Actually, he had really bad smelling shits, too. It’s like something crawled into his ass and died.”
Croft raised his good hand and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“He still does,” Raleigh continued, not knowing how pissed her brother was getting.
“Raleigh,” Ezra warned. “You’re pushing.”
“Well.” Raleigh shrugged. “She wanted to know.”
I had. But not at the expense of what Croft was now looking like.
Murderous. Embarrassed. Disgusted.
“Sorry I pushed,” I whispered to Croft.
He raised his shoulder.
“It made me who I am today,” he admitted. “I wasn’t the most pleasant looking of kids. I was chunky, unhealthy, and I stunk. But not because of what she said, but because I was very bad at hygiene. I just… didn’t see what the big deal was. Anyway, my senior year was god-awful. The bullying was insane, and that was what pushed me to become a lawyer, lose the excess weight, and become healthy. I started CrossFit my junior year of college and haven’t looked back since.”
