Crew

My head aches with tension.  That's what sleeping two hours and then getting up at the crack of dawn will do to me.

After I dropped Adley off at her apartment last night with a kiss to the back of her hand, I ran through the messages on my phone, laughing when I got to the thread from the woman I stood up so I could hang out with Ad. Messages that began with the promise of her naked and waiting ended with a charming ' Fuck You Asshole.' Patience tends to be in short order when a woman is hungry for a skilled mouth and cock.

I deleted it all and I asked the taxi driver to take me to Veil East. I was prepared to go inside, grab another drink and find a woman to take home with me. I'm not a guy who sees the need to have a separate place for fucking. I do it in my bed, with the nightstand full of condoms next to me and my shower just a few feet away in the luxurious bathroom I recently had redesigned.

I don't care if a woman I screw knows where I live. I'm not an unknown in this town. I don't need to hide behind a wall of mystery. I'm young, unattached and I love sex. I should be able to enjoy it where I want. Preferably that's my apartment although I'm not opposed to a semi-public rendezvous. I've done it before and if the opportunity presented itself, I'd be all-in again.

Last night I didn't take anyone home and my pants stayed zipped.

I was adjusting my suit jacket after the driver pulled up to the club when my thumb ran over that damn ketchup stain. I lifted my forearm and inhaled, drowning in the scent of Adley's perfume. I didn't want another woman after that, so I told the driver to take me to the Matiz tower.

My night was spent going over the launch for our winter line. I got a jump on it and when I show the product lineup to Nolan tomorrow morning, he'll flip his shit.

If he weren't married with kids, I'd drag him down to the office now to go over it, but Sundays are reserved for his family. Often that includes Adley and me when dinner is about to be served. That's the reason I'm standing at the door to his apartment, dressed in jeans and a green polo with a bouquet of flowers for his wife in one hand and a kite for his kids in the other.

"Captain Crew," Ellie and Nolan's daughter, May, screams as she swings open the door. The nickname she blessed me with when she was a toddler has always stuck. "You're finally here."

It's the same reaction every time I see her. I cradled her in my arms when she was a day old. I love this kid like she's my own. Her brother, Jonas, holds an equal piece of my heart in his chubby little hands.

"I got you a kite." I hand it off to her as I close the door behind me. "You're going to share that with your brother. You can show him the ropes."

"I've never flown a kite before." She studies the package that contains everything a bright seven-year-old needs to assemble it. Her blonde ponytail bounces as she skips in place. "Are you going to take me to Central Park to fly it after we eat?"

"I'll take you and Jonas to the park. We can stop to pick up a bag of candy too. Don't tell your mom. She'll ruin everything."

"I'll ruin what?" Ellie, the redheaded firecracker Nolan married, comes into view. "What are you promising my daughter now?"

Fuck, I love that.

I know it's just a simple statement but I love hearing that. Ellie legally adopted May right after she and Nolan adopted Jonas. It was a technicality that she wanted in place since the woman who gave birth to May abandoned her. She's the best mom I've ever met and in five months, she's going to be a mother of three.

She's pregnant with a little boy. I'm holding out hope that he'll be named Crew but it's not looking good.

"Kite flying and candy." May wraps her arm around Ellie's waist. "You can come too, Mom."

"You're welcome to tag along if you can waddle fast enough to keep up with us." I hand the bouquet of daffodils to Ellie. "Ad can come too. She's the one who gave me the idea for the kite. She told me a couple of weeks ago that she was an expert kite pilot when she was a kid."

"I'm barely showing." Ellie lovingly runs her hand over her stomach. "Adley's not coming. It looks like we'll have to figure out the kite flying on our own."

Work is the only reason Adley misses these things. I can't say the same for myself. I've bowed out more than a few times because of a random woman I couldn't tear myself away from.

Disappointment ripples through me. I've been looking forward to seeing her since I got out of bed. We ended last night on a different note than we normally do. She sat closer to me in the taxi, our legs brushing when the driver took a corner too sharply.

I've felt a new bond forming between us the past few months. It might be because we're sharing in the joy of Ellie and Nolan expanding their family, but it feels deeper than that to me.

"She's not on call." I sigh as I glance over Ellie's shoulder to where Nolan is sitting on the floor with his son in his lap, a toy train set in front of them. "Why would she stand us up?"

May lets out a laugh. "You don't know how to fly a kite, do you?"

I look down at her. "I can fly a kite better than Aunt Adley any day of the week."

"Go wash up for dinner." Ellie tugs playfully on May's ponytail. "I'm going to talk to Crew and we'll eat as soon as I'm done."

We both watch in silence as May takes off across the room with the kite package in her hand.

"What's going on with Ad?" I don't mince words. I know Ellie well enough to keep the bullshit to a minimum. "Is it her roommate?"

"Sydney?" Ellie says her name slowly. "What's happening with her?"

I wasn't looking for a question or two in reply to my question. I want an answer. "Her boyfriend did something last night that sent her into a tailspin. Adley had to go home to be the shoulder to cry on."

"Go home?" She waves an impatient hand at me. "You were with Ad last night? How was she?"

Three questions now instead of an answer. Fuck this is frustrating. "Why is Adley not coming to dinner, Bean?"

A brief smile passes over her lips at the nickname. Adley coined it years before I met either of them. Ellie is apparently her jelly bean, whatever the fuck that means. I took up the name myself because it used to irritate the shit out of Ellie. She's grown to love hearing me say it, even if she won't admit it.

"Your guess is as good as mine. She texted me an hour ago to tell me she wasn't coming. I sent her a message back asking why and she went silent."

I scrub a hand over my face. This is completely out of character for her. She's like a sister to Ellie. They tell each other everything. I should know. Nolan has let too many things slip about Adley that he was told in confidence by his wife. I'm the one who has benefited from that so I haven't told him to mind his own business yet.

"It's probably nothing." Ellie shrugs. "Maybe she has a date."

Trey Fucking Hale must have called her. Who the hell can blame him after the way she looked last night?

"Is there a baseball game tonight?" I gesture toward the television above the fireplace.

She shakes her head. "You know my rule about no television during dinner, Crew."

Sure. It detracts from our time together. It kills brain cells, and whatever else Ellie read online about how detrimental it is. I've heard it a thousand times.

"You're thinking what I'm thinking, aren't you?"  she asks playfully.

I highly doubt that. I'm thinking about how good it would feel to have my hand wrapped around Hale's neck while I'm squeezing that signature cocky grin off his face.

My eyebrows draw together with the question we both know is sitting on the tip of my tongue.

"She gave Trey Hale her number last night." She smiles like that's the best thing that's happened since Nolan dropped to one knee and proposed. "I think they make the perfect couple, don't you?"

I think I should have gone with my first instinct and crushed his phone in my palm.

"She was so excited about it she sent me a text late last night.  I hope she's with him right now." Ellie takes a step to the side. "She needs a guy like that. I need some food so let's eat."

I take the hint and walk toward the dining room even though I want to turn on my heel and go in search of Adley.

I can't. She gets to choose who she spends her time with. If that's Hale, so be it. I'm the one who has to learn to live with it.

Fuck if I know how to do that.