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After giving the situation a lot of thought, Cole realized as going on with Alex probably wasn’t entirely work related Considering the et married to Dylan’s sister, the whole situation was a little more personal than he had anticipated Even if Alex wasn’t ad as much

As he continued to the next office, directly across froned to him, Cole stopped He could hear Alex’s voice, and based on the long pauses and one sided discussion, it was clear he was on the phone The door was open so Cole poked his head in, wanting to let Alex knoas there Just when he was going to escape to his office until Alex was finished, his boss waved hi the chair opposite Alex’s desk He opted to lean up against the wall just in case Alex ended up needing more privacy for the phone call Not tohow the conversation he intended to have was going to go, and Cole wasn’t interested in staying long if Alex opted to avoid his questions as had become his MO

“Thanks I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Alex said to the person on the other end before returning the phone to its cradle “Hey” Alex spared hi both tired and agitated

“I can come back if you need e in on Alex if he wasn’t prepared to talk either

“No, it’s fine Take a seat Youaboveflat

Cole took a seat in the chair across fro one ankle over the opposite knee, hoping he appeared s you in?”

“Oh, you know, I just figured it was time you and I talked,” Cole said calenuinely surprised

“First of all, you’re both frustrated and pissed off Maybe I’, but I’ve known you for quite so”

“Fuck” Alex’s frustrated exhale was followed by hih his hair

“Proble to face the picturebehind hi up a fairly decent view of the Dallas skyline in the distance Without getting an answer, Cole knew there were issues Thankfully, he and Alex had been friends for a while, so he felt fairly co so, he knew herelationship Since Alex was doing a fine job of the latter all on his own, Cole decided to take his chances

“What the hell’s going on?” Cole broke the silence after a couple ofit was now or never

“It’s Dylan,” Alex said after a long pause

“What’s Dylan?” Cole knew Dylan had been having probleht years before, and fro any better There for a short while, Dylan appeared to be on theJake’s aunt, Sarah But lately, after having taken two steps forward, it appeared Dylan was in the process of taking twenty steps back He’d become an almost permanent fixture, bellied up to the bar at the club as Luke was to tell it

“He’s drinking A lot” Alex turned to face Cole and the concern on his face said it all There was nothe look in his eyes

“How bad?”

“Bad”

“Have you tried to talk to him about it?” Cole knew Luke hadn’t because he’d asked him recently Luke wasn’t known for his emotional, heartfelt conversations, and quite frankly, Cole was pretty sure Luke avoided the to hih signifying the fact that Dylan wasn’t there, “he’s not talking toproblely offended by the question “I did And just like I expected, he told me that he was fine and that it wasn’t any of my business”

“Have you talked to Sarah?” Cole had never spoken with her, but since she was the only one who had gotten fairly close to Dylan recently, he figured it orth a shot

“No Ashleigh did though She didn’t have much to say, aside frootten that close, but she orried”