R I C H • Stiles Stilinski BAMF

C R Y S T A L • E X P R E S S

CRYSTAL EXPRESS⎮CHAPTER ONE

S E V E N   Y E A R S   L A T E R

I rolled my wrists releasing a small huff, the only thing that indicated my tiredness was the emotion. I read through the conviction once more- a teen, having just come to the age to receive any serious penalty, had stalked a young woman going against his restraining order. The thing is he hadn't abducted her, or actually made her afraid, a statement I had received from the woman herself. Because the kid had gone to her window much like John Cusack's Lloyd Dobbler in Say Anything and had blared Peter Gabriel's 'In Your Eyes' from his boombox in an effort to win her heart.

I didn't even have to take the case but I found it somewhat amusing, it generally reminded me of times when I was young and foolishly in love. I shook my head, just as my phone receiver beeped. "Mr. Stilinski, we have a call here for you from Beacon Hills Hospital." My eyebrows raised slightly as I rubbed the stubble on my chin.

Not even bothering to answer the simple-minded assistant I picked up my phone, my tone bored and cold, "What," and really it should have been a question.

"Is this M- mal- .S. Stilinski?" I sighed, the woman already beginning to infuriate me.

"Yes, could your mind process things a little faster please dear, because some people actually have things to do," I hissed, my knuckles turning white against the paper as I loosened the tie around my neck.

"Oh- erm," my eyes rolled, "Your father's condition has gotten much worse and we're afraid he may not have much longer left," she whispers quietly as my body physically slumps, the tension in my knuckles loosens just as my tie had done as my hands run through my hair.

"I'll be there in two hours." I hang up, my eyes icy with unseeing anger. It would have been five hours had I not been taking my jet, I thought bitterly. I grabbed the files and roughly shoved them in its folder before picking up my leather jacket that hung from the back of my chair.

The leather jacket concealed my muscular torso that strained against the white dress shirt, as I ran a hand through my unruly mane of brown hair. Grabbing my keys to my 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, which I had to say was a heck of a lot nicer than- Stop it. I replaced my tired expression with an emotionless one as I strolled from my office, briefly taking in the modernity with a frown. "Dude, I'm leaving." Lewis looked up from his paperwork, he was the only one who knew and understood me; him being a werewolf and all.

"Want me to come?" he looked up at me with complete respect, hazel eyes holding mine with a look that could only be distinguished as worry. "I'll be fine for now-"

"Call me, even if the time zone reads three AM here, call me and I'll come." I smile in appreciation but quickly replace it with a frown as I see some of the other workers look up. My tongue darts out to wet my lips, nodding, "I know."

He knows I wouldn't hug him, so we exchange a firm handshake, eyes locked in a grip of friendship. "Good luck, and if they bother you; you're pack, we'll be there." My eyebrows pinch together as my phone rings in my back pocket. " 'Cuse me, I'll call you when I touch down." He nods with a parting wave as I begin my descent in the elevator.

My eyes rise to the mirrored roof as I bring the phone to my ear, "Stiles Stilinski, here." I murmur formally as I override the stop at a higher level to continue my descent.

"A plane has been prepared and checked ready for taking off, sir; and accommodation has been readied for your stay." I nod, knowing he can't see me as I hang up. I redo my tie as I step from the elevator and out from the skyscraper, ignoring the obnoxious flashes of lights while an usher brings me my car.