The next day was a bitter sweet one. Jay and Adam were leaving to go back to work. Ajay always hated it when it was that time again.
She hugged both of her brothers tightly, "I'm glad that both of you got to hang out with us for a few days."
They nodded.
"We'll do it again soon. These two are growing like weeds." Jay grinned kissing Kenzie's chubby cheek.
Ajay caught Adam staring into the kitchen at Aiden feeding Lexie.
"She still thinks she's interrupting our family moment." Ajay frowned, "You going to tell her goodbye?"
He blinked looking around, "Yeah, I guess."
He propped his suitcase up and went into the kitchen. Lexie's golden eyes looked up at him as he approached her mother from behind.
He gently put his hands on her shoulders, "We're leaving."
She turned on the stool she was sitting on to look up at him. Her eyes were like pools of honey, their depth amazed him.
She smiled, "You didn't have to say goodbye."
"I'm not." he said.
Her perfectly manicured eyebrow raised in question, "Then what are you doing?"
"Asking you if I can call you tonight." he told her.
"I thought that this was just a weekend deal?" she questioned.
He bent and kissed the top of Lexie's head, "Its whatever we make it."
She broke into a smile then, unable to help herself. His charm was overwhelming sometimes.
"If you find something more interesting to do rather than calling, don't fell bad, I'll understand." she grinned, looking and sounding genuine.
He brushed the back of his hand across her cheek, looking at her trying to memorize her exotic beauty. He turned and walked out the door. Aiden waved to Jay from her seat. She laughed at Lexie who was already trying to feed herself the rest of her bananas. Aiden had never been involved in a one night stand before. She had never engaged in such a forbidden relationship with such a forbidden man. She stayed awake most of the previous night trying to prepare for the inevitable goodbye this morning. She was afraid of the sting of separation, the sadness of feeling used, but as she continued feeding her daughter the only emotion or state of mind she felt was peace. She was relaxed and confidant, her self image soaring over his desire to want to continue their…relationship? Fling? Several night stands?
Ajay came in and broke up her thoughts, "It sucks when they leave."
"I bet so. They're a lot of fun to be around." Aiden said, surprising herself at how easy it was to talk about them…about him.
The phone rang and Ajay picked up the cordless and looked at Aiden, "Its Alex."
Aiden held out her hand and took the phone, "Hello?"
"Hey…it's me." he said quietly.
"I know." she said.
Silence.
"What did you call for? Did you want to speak to Chris or Ajay?" she asked.
"No, no. I wanted to talk to you. I really want to see you and Lexie." he said sullenly.
She hesitated. She wasn't sure of this at all, especially given their most recent encounter.
"I don't know Alex." she sighed.
"Do you want to go to dinner with me? Anywhere you want to go is good, you pick it'll be my treat." he persuaded.
She was trying to decide, trying to make up her mind but the only thing she could focus on was his treatment of her only a few days ago.
"Please Aiden?" he begged.
"Fine, we'll meet you at Tsunami's at seven." She gave in.
"Sushi and my two favorite girls, sounds perfect." he said sounding overly chirpy on the phone.
"Right…see you at seven." she ended dully.
"Ummm…what the hell was that? You're not going to dinner with him Aiden, and with Lexie too? No way, I don't like it." Ajay frowned.
"I'm not going to keep Lexie from him. It's a public place with valet service. There's no reason to worry." Aiden told her wiping Lexie's mouth and fingers clean with a baby wipe.
"Well I'm going with you." she stated crossing her arms.
Aiden looked up taking the tray off of the high chair, "No you're not."
Ajay shrugged, "Then Chris will."
"I'm going alone. Nothing is going to happen." Aiden reiterated.
Ajay gaped, "Like last time? No way, I can't let you go by yourself."
"You can't let me go eat sushi at a really public place with my husband and daughter?" Aiden asked picking Lexie up and kissing her temple.
"He's your estranged husband now." Ajay said shrilly.
Aiden sighed, "Which is why I need to do this. I'm going, end of story."
Ajay shook he head stubbornly.
"I appreciate that you worry and want to protect Lexie and I but in this situation we really will be fine, I promise." Aiden said tiredly.
She was internally dreading having to see Alex, but no one had to know that.
"Fine.' Ajay pouted, "But you better call or text me with updates."
Aiden agreed and too Lexie up to their room.
Seven o'clock rolled around quicker than Aiden had any desire for it to. She walked into the restaurant with Lexie in her arms. Alex stood up as they approached. As soon as Lexie saw him she started squirming and reaching for him. He lifted her over his head making her take short little breaths and laugh. Aiden glanced at the table seeing an empty bottle of sake and two empty beer bottles. Alex sat his daughter comfortably on his forearm and reached out to Aiden to grasp her chin so he could kiss her lips. She pulled away taken aback slightly.
"She's getting so big." Alex admired as she played with his collar.
Aiden stayed silent, her mercurial gaze trained on Lexie.
"Both of you look adorable by the way." he continued with his waited for a response, "Are you going to say anything?"
She blinked and looked into his dark brown eyes, "Thank you."
"I've really missed the two of you at the house. Its been really quiet." he said looking back at their daughter.
"That's not what I heard, quite the opposite in fact." she replied crossing her toned legs and leaning back in her chair.
Alex's eyes snapped back to her face, "Have you been spying on me?"
Aiden scoffed, "Absolutely no. The neighbors called and wanted to know why WE were having so many people over every night."
"Alright, so I threw a party or two…"he admitted.
"Or four." Aiden corrected.
He glared at her, "Four, but its only because I'm lonely."
Aiden rolled her eyes, "I highly doubt that."
His jaw flexed, "Why the fuck are you being so snotty?"
"Watch your language around our daughter please." Aiden said sharply.
"Seriously though what is your problem? I ask you to come out with me to try and smooth things out and you jump all over my shit. What's up with that?" he questioned downing his third beer.
"Language. I mean it. I think I have a right to act however I want. You're the one who didn't want to spend time with his family in the first place." she warned.
"And you wonder why?" he asked sarcastically.
"You still don't get that its not about me do you? I don't care if you spend time with me or not but I do care if you do or don't with her." she responded.
He heaved a deep breath and sat back annoyed with his wife. He hated hat she was always right and always Miss Perfect. He used to love that about her.
"How has she been doing over there?" he finally asked after he had calmed down.
"She's fine. She likes being around Joey and Kenzie, but she does miss you and her stuff." Aiden answered honestly.
"Then why don't you come home?" he wondered picking up a piece of sushi from the plate they were sharing.
"I think you should know the answer to that." she said spooning Lexie some rice onto a little plate.
He sighed, "I'm sorry about what happened last time. I wasn't thinking clearly."
"That was probably the drugs huh?" she smarted off.
Alex dropped his chopsticks, "I'm trying to apologize to you and you just keep acting like a bitch!"
Several patrons turned to look at their table, Alex could feel the heat from their stares. Aiden continued eating and feeding Lexie as if nothing had happened. After several moments of silence between them, he decided to change the subject.
"So what are we going to do for Lexie's first birthday?" he asked.
"I wanted to do like a hearts theme since it is on Valentine's Day. Red and pink colors, mini cupcakes for the guests and a larger whimsical one for the birthday girl. I already sent out the invitations." she smiled at her daughter.
Alex chewed on his lip, his patience was wearing incredibly thin, "So what did you want me to do, send you a check? Do I even get to come? Were you even going to tell me? She's my kid too! You can't continued to keep her from me." he said leaning across the table to intimidate her.
Aiden reached into her purse and held out a white envelope with little pink and red hearts on it. He opened it and read the card, only Aiden would make designer birthday cards for their child's first birthday.
"When was I going to get this?" he snarled.
"I put them in the mail this morning. You're the first person to have one, is that okay with you?" she questioned.
"How was I supposed to know? It's not like you ever call me to let me know about anything." he shot back.
"Likewise, whether you like it or not, its about Lexie and what's best for her." Aiden told him, growing tired of their bickering.
"So mooching off of our friends and keeping her away from her father is what's best for her?" Alex asked cocking an eyebrow at her.
"It is when he's acting like an irresponsible jerk and making very poor potentially life changing decisions." she fired back.
He sat back and laughed, "I'm so sick of you and your better-than-you attitude. You think you're the perfect mom and that you have all the answers when we both know that you don't. You're human just like me, remember that. One day she may hate you for the choices you're making for her, and you can have fun dealing with that because she'll be old enough to know then how big of a fucking bitch you're being."
Tears formed in her eyes as she began to gather her things.
"This was obviously a bad idea." she whispered as she picked Lexie up and shouldered her purse and diaper bag.
"Don't walk away from me. I didn't get to spend hardly any time with her." He said grabbing her arm.
"No, once again you were too busy insulting me instead of being civil and focusing on our daughter. Please, please, please get your act together before the party, for Lexie's sake. Its her first birthday and I want it to be special." she pleaded.
He shrugged, "Stop acting like a bitch and I might consider it."
He leaned in and kissed his daughter's cheek, "Daddy loves you."
Aiden turned sharply on her heel and went out of the restaurant. Alex sat back down with a smirk on his face. Several patrons were shaking their heads disapprovingly at him.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." he said loudly as he popped another piece of sushi into his mouth.
Aiden buckled Lexie into her car seat and left the restaurant. She was crying softly as she drove around aimlessly. She didn't want to go back to Ajay's this early, and have to answer all of her questions. She would just drive around until Lexie fell asleep or she stopped crying. She was so mad at herself for having such high hopes about tonight's meeting. She wanted so badly for things to go well. She wanted her husband, the man she fell in love with back. She looked in the rearview, thankful that her daughter had already fallen asleep. She drove around the city trying to figure out where things had gone wrong.
She picked up her vibrating cell phone, "Hello?"
"Hey kid, is it safe for us to be talking right now?" Adam asked breezily on the other line.
She faltered, "Oh…umm, yeah its fine. I'm driving around with Lexie."
He heard something in her voice, "What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing." she said sniffling.
"Why are you crying?" he questioned.
Was she that bad at lying? Apparently so.
"Hold on a sec." he said.
She could hear him leaving a noisy room, as the background buzz faded to nothing.
"Okay, what's up? The truth this time please." he said.
She hesitated again, she really wasn't sure if she should or wanted to discuss Alex with him.
"Aiden?" he prompted.
"I went out to dinner with Alex so he could see Lexie and so we could talk." she confessed.
She heard his frustrated sigh and then silence. She sniffed again, she didn't want him mad at her too. She knew she was gullible and naïve, but she really had hoped for the best for Lexie's sake.
"I-I know it was dumb, I shouldn't have been so stupid and hopeful…" she apologized before he cut her off.
"Stop right there. You're not stupid, he is. Listen, I don't want to waste this phone call on him, it just upsets you. Lets talk about something good, something funny, how's Baby Angel?" eh asked.
Aiden looked in the rearview again and couldn't help but smile, "She's oblivious thank goodness. I'm so glad she's not older and able to figure stuff out."
"Me too. So did Ajay freak out that you went to dinner without her?" he asked already knowing the answer.
"Of course, she almost didn't let me leave the house." Aiden replied, "I know she means well."
Adam laughed, "She's very protective of you that's for sure. Nobody messes with Cookie."
"Except you." she quipped.
"Oh, you got jokes huh?" he teased.
"Just an observation." she said.
He could tell she was still upset though she was trying to hide it from him. He could very easily strangle Alex for being such a dumbass, but then again maybe he should thank the guy. If he wasn't such a jerk, he would have never gotten with Aiden in the first place. Maybe he would send him a fruit basket or something.
"Wish I could be there for you." he commented lowly.
"You've already done so much for me and Lexie, Adam." she sighed.
"I could at least be there to get your mind off of him." he told her.
"And how exactly would you do that?" she questioned.
He smirked, "I would start by kissing that little spot on your neck behind your ear that makes you squirm and that would probably lead to you not wearing any clothes."
"That's usually how it goes with you. You're very persuasive when you want to be." she smiled.
"I get that a lot." he boasted.
"Oh really?" Aiden asked, feigning surprise.
"No, not like that, I mean not since you and me, you know we…" he backtracked trying to make up for his blunder.
She laughed finally, "I'm just joking. You don't owe me any explanation. No strings attached remember?"
He blew out a breath, "You had me going there for a minute."
"Sorry. I really was only kidding." she said.
"I'm just glad you're laughing now." he said.
Someone in the background called his name.
"I'll let you go." she said quietly., not wanting to hang up with him yet.
"Yeah I probably should, that was Jay giving me the evil eye." he griped.
"Okay, we'll just talk maybe later." she said trying to sound cheerful.
"Hey, I wanted to tell you, there's not anyone else. You know, I'm not seeing anyone else while I'm with you." he said.
She bit her lip, "You don't have to make that commitment to me Adam, seriously, date whoever you want to, I'm not the jealous type. I don't have any claim on you."
"We'll keep it open, but I wanted you to know I wouldn't do that to you. I don't want to put you at risk like that."
"I don't know Adam, those sound like rules or something." she stated.
"Personal ones…for me. I'm not holding you back, I just know my sister would castrate me if she found out I that we were having sex and that I was double dipping on you." he recovered.
"Wow, I can't believe you just said that." she laughed, not sure what to make of his proclamation.
Adam slapped his palm to his forehead in disgust with himself. How big of a moron did he just sound like? She was probably shaking her head at his idiotic dialogue.
"Right well, that's all I guess, sorry you had a bad night. If you need to talk you can always call me anytime. I don't mind." he told her.
"Thank you for cheering me up. I'll talk to you later." she said hanging up the phone.
He stared at his phone watching her name flash on the screen as the call disconnected. He snorted at himself, she could get him all discombobulated without even trying. He went back into the bar where Jay was waiting. He sat back down unable to stop thinking about Aiden. He knew she wasn't over Alex and his behavior. He was trying to come up with something to make her top thinking about that loser son of a bitch that she was married to when Jay tapped him on the shoulder.
"Don't hurt yourself there. You're thinking pretty hard about something huh, trying to figure out how to make fire again?" he joked.
Adam smiled, turning up his beer.
"And no comeback? Must have been Aiden, she okay?" Jay asked.
He lifted his shoulders, "It was that stupid, idiot prick again."
"That stupid, idiot, prick husband of hers?" Jay smirked raising an eyebrow.
Adam narrowed his eyes at him.
"What? Come on, you know I'm obligated to remind you of these things when you get in over your head. You're practically my brother." he retorted.
"I'm not in over my head Jay, I just hate it that he treats her so bad. It pisses me off when she cries over him." Adam growled.
Jay nodded, "I understand, but are you sure you want to be involved with her while she's still married to Alex? Haven't we been down the road before?"
"This is different. She's different." Adam sighed.
Jay laughed, "She's our sister's best friend, that's not something different."
"We've both been down that road, thank you very much. Aiden is different, she's in her own category in my book anyways." He said signaling the bartender for another round.
"I would love to see that book, just for the record." Jay laughed.
Adam allowed a slow grin to spread across his face. He knew exactly how he was going to make Aiden feel better and take her mind off of Alex.
