Chapter 20
CHAPTER
TWENTY
COOPER
Ikiss her one more time, and her lips are just as eager as mine. We’ve been making out in my apartment for over twenty minutes now.
“Coop.” She pushes me back with her hands. “We’re already late.”
“It’s two flights of stairs. I’m not sure why we said yes to begin with.” My head falls into the crook of her neck, nibbling on her earlobe.
“They’re our friends, and they invited us over. Bryce says you’re keeping me all to yourself since we became a couple.” She wiggles, and I grind my pelvis against hers. She rocks against my hard length.
“Who is tempting who now?” I allow her to grind against me as I push into her. “A quickie. I can’t go up there like this. It won’t go down until we fuck.”
“First of all, we don’t have time to satisfy you, otherwise we would already be naked. Second, you act like it’s been a month when it’s been about ten hours.”
“Yes, this morning. That’s not cutting it anymore. I need you more than that.”
She slides out from under me. “Hence the reason I had to put our sleepovers on a schedule. Dr. Murphy found me sleeping at the desk the other day.”
Shit, I definitely don’t want to affect her career. “I’m sorry.”
She gets up and straightens her sweater, putting on her shoes.
“It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last time someone falls asleep on shift, but I’d rather have the excuse that I worked a double rather than I fucked my boyfriend so many times last night you should be surprised I can even walk. ” She gives me a cheeky grin.
“I don’t know if I respect that last excuse.” I pull her back toward me. “Just tell me no next time, and I’ll go into the bathroom and see to it myself.”
“That’s the problem, I want it just as much as you.” She turns her head and kisses my lips. I don’t even try to deepen it, rather I release her so we can head to Miles and Bryce’s.
I push my feet into my slides and swipe my keys off the counter. Opening the door for her, she gets out first and starts ascending the stairs, and I quickly catch up.
“I might have to meet Dr. Murphy in a dark alley one of these days.”
She hooks her arm with mine, nuzzling into me because the stairway is chilled from the cold front coming in tonight. The decent Chicago weather is about to be over for at least the next five months. “No, you don’t. He’s harmless, just doesn’t want me to get special treatment because of my father.”
“The man deserves to get his ass kicked.”
“Thanks for wanting to beat him up for me. It’s so very high school jock mentality of you, but it turns me on, so don’t do it in real life, but you can keep saying you want to.” She laughs, and I press the doorbell and take her in my arms.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t get all hot if you saw me punch him?”
“I’m pretty sure.”
The door opens, and Bryce stands there, not saying a word. “So weird,” she finally says.
“What is?” Ellery asks.
“The two of you touching like that.” She wags her finger between us.
“Would you rather just see us fuck and get the awkwardness out of the way?” I arch an eyebrow.
“Are you asking my wife for a threesome?” Miles comes over, shaking my hand and then hugging Ellery. “Nice to see the two of you made it out of the cabin alive.”
“And I’ve yet to give you shit for turning off your phones like that.” Bryce’s head tilts, and she gives us both a stern look.
Ellery and I head inside the apartment.
“Were you really worried?” Ellery asks.
They both laugh. “No, we knew it was brewing and ready to be poured out. You guys love each other as people, best friends, and lovers. He wouldn’t leave you.
I’m not stupid.” Bryce shakes her head. “Come on. Damon and Adeline are on their way. Clover had a little meltdown downstairs over dinner, so they’re dealing with that. ”
We walk into the apartment, which is the same setup as mine, except Miles is on the top floor.
When I bought this building, all three units were newly renovated, and they all had access to the rooftop to watch the Colts games.
Since baseball is my second love, I knew it would be a good investment.
Now that I have Ellery and my thoughts keep going to our future, I know this isn’t a forever place—there’s no room for a family here.
A knock on the door says Damon and Adeline are here, and I swipe a chip with salsa from the table since I’m hungry. One good thing about Bryce coming into Miles’s life is we don’t get stuck eating rice cakes and green smoothies anymore when he invites us over.
Miles gets the door while Bryce keeps staring at me and Ellery like we’re an exhibit at the zoo.
“What?” Ellery asks, snagging a carrot stick with hummus.
“It’s just so… I mean, I’ve waited so long for it to happen.” Her eyes look like those cartoon characters with the two giant hearts pulsing.
“That makes three of us,” I say.
“We’re still just Ellery and Cooper,” Elle says, then smiles at seeing Clover walk into the room. “Ah… look at you, big girl.” She squats, and Clover walks unsteadily right into her arms.
Ellery picks her up and holds her to her chest, praising her for her walking.
It feels like a flash of our future—Elle with our own daughter one day in this same position. God, she’ll be a great mom. Her bedside manner with her patients is always loving, caring, and supportive.
“She’s getting way too big,” she says to Adeline, letting Clover down since she squirms in her arms.
“And nosy and defiant and… bratty.” She whispers the last word.
“Sounds like Damon.” Bryce laughs.
“She threw a fit today because she didn’t want to leave the playground at the park. Like threw herself on the ground and wailed. Then she threw sand at Damon when he went to get her.”
All of our mouths drop open. Damon’s definitely the more relaxed parent when it comes to discipline. He thought it was funny when Clover started throwing food, but Adeline put a stop to it.
“I almost lost it in front of a bunch of parents,” Adeline says.
“What did you do?” I ask.
Adeline laughs, handing Clover her snack cup.
Damon looks at Adeline like, “Shut the hell up, it wasn’t funny.” “I went over, picked her up so her back was facing me, and she couldn’t get sand in my eye. I then took her to an empty bench, sat her down, and scolded her.”
“And what did she do?” Miles asks.
“She rolled on her stomach, got off the bench, and went back to the park,” he grumbles.
“You’ve babied her. She doesn’t take you seriously when you try to discipline her.” Adeline shakes her head.
“What can I say, I’m weak for the women I love.” Damon smiles wide.
We all say, “Ahh…” in unison.
“Unless you want a child we’re always being dragged into school about, I suggest we double down on her. I can’t imagine what she’ll be like when she’s two.” Clover walks over to Adeline and takes her sippy cup from her, handing back the snack cup.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
Ellery walks over to me behind the breakfast bar, and I wrap my arm around her, pulling her close as she eats more appetizers. I catch Adeline watching us with a smile on her face. Apparently, we’re the new attraction. She catches me watching her, and her smile grows bigger before turning away.
“PDA alert!” Damon shouts. “Holy hell, that’s about fucking time.”
“Damon,” Adeline scolds. “If her first coherent word is the f-word, I’m writing down how it’s all your fault in the baby book.”
He holds up his hands and turns back to me and Ellery. “So, does it feel different?”
Ellery looks up at me, and we both shrug. “No,” I answer for us.
“It wasn’t weird when you saw each other naked?” He keeps prying.
“We’ve seen each other by accident before,” Ellery says, like it wasn’t a big deal to be totally naked with her at the cabin.
For me, it was at first. To unapologetically be allowed to just stare at her perfect body after imagining it for so many years. It wasn’t weird, it was more like wanting something for so long that when you finally get it, you’re afraid to ruin it.
“Okay, but it had to be weird watching his dick go into you.”
“Damon!” we all shout at once.
“Fine, well, you look good together, but we all knew that years ago. Congratulations on finally listening to what people have been telling you forever.”
“I should get some drinks so we can all celebrate.” Miles walks over to the fridge.
“That’s not necessary. Everyone is making too big a deal of this,” Ellery says.
I say, “Hell yeah, let’s celebrate. I finally have my girl.”
“Bryce and I have news to share, too,” Miles says.
“So do Adeline and I,” Damon says.
All six of us look at one another, trying to decipher each other’s news. Shit, is one of them thinking of retiring after this year? Hell, Damon doesn’t have to work, and I know he hates not being with Clover as much as he’d like during the season.
“Let me pour the champagne, and then we’ll all go around.” Miles grabs a bottle from the fridge, and Bryce goes over to help grab the glasses.
Damon feeds Clover some of the snacks in small pieces, and she smiles up at him. Damn, it’s endearing as hell watching the two of them. Makes me want one of my own now that I have Ellery.
“I can’t wait,” I whisper in Ellery’s ear.
Her forehead creases. “For?”
I nod in Clover’s direction. “One of those. Half you and me.”
Her head whips in my direction, and she’s staring at me with a “What the fuck?” expression.
“I’m not ready,” she says with a finality that scares me for a moment. But we’re only in our early thirties, we have a year or two before we should really look into it. It sours me a little bit that she was against it so fast. I hope that’s not a trend.
“Here you go.” Miles and Bryce pass out the champagne glasses.
We all hold them up.
“First off, I want to say congratulations, you two.” Bryce smiles over at us.
“I speak for all of us when I say I hope you are as happy as we are. You might have taken the longer road to get where you are, but it’s the present and the future that matter the most, not the past.” She raises her glass, and we all clink and take a sip.
“Me,” Clover says, and we all know what she means. She raises her sippy cup, and we all clink it, making her show off those four bottom teeth in her smile.
Damon clears his throat. “It’s been a hard decision to make, and we hate to tell you this, but we’re moving out of The Den.” He looks distraught. “With Clover, we just can’t do it anymore. She needs a yard, and we need a bigger space.”
“Her toys are swallowing us whole,” Adeline jokes, and we all laugh.
“Did you already find a place?” I ask.
“We think so, but we’re waiting to see if the offer goes through. I’ll pay my year here too.”
We’ll figure something out, I’m not worried about it.
“Congratulations! I want to see pictures,” Ellery says to Adeline.
We all clink again, including Clover. She laughs at us.
“That leaves us, babe,” Miles says to Bryce.
I hope they’re not leaving, too.
“You do it,” Bryce says.
“We’re pregnant,” Miles announces with a wide grin.
“Shit, there’s a baby in your stomach?” Damon looks at Miles.
“You know what I meant,” Miles says with a roll of his eyes and tips his glass toward Bryce. “Bryce is pregnant.”
The girls screech and wrap each other up in a hug. Bryce starts telling them the whole story, while I hold my hand out to shake Miles’ and congratulate him on starting a family.
I can’t help but feel a little left behind.
I watch all the women and Clover huddle by the couches, laughing and sharing what’s been going on in their lives.
Maybe Ellery just needs time to get used to us being a couple.
There’s still so much we haven’t endured while being friends that we’ll embark on as a couple.
The last thing I want to do is scare her off.