Angel’s voice replied, “She says she has a bathroom to scour.”
Shannon yelled, loud enough for Crystal to hear, “I’ve got a bathroom she can scour.”
“Did you hear that? Get over here,” Angel ordered into the phone.
Crystal grinned and rolled her eyes. “Okay. Okay. I’ll be over soon.”
****
Twenty minutes later, Crystal was pulling her car into the garage of Crash and Shannon’s warehouse style loft. Crash had converted an old two story brick warehouse in Oakland to a beautiful loft. On the outside it looked like an abandoned building, but on the inside the loft was cool as shit.
Crystal got on the freight elevator and rode it up to the second floor loft. When she threw back the gated elevator door, she was greeted by Angel, who stood there with a big grin and held out a Bloody Mary complete with celery stalk to her.
“Good Morning, Sunshine,” Angel greeted her.
Crystal reached out, took the drink, chugged back a slug and replied, “What’s so good about it?”
“Ooow, someone woke up all cranky this morning?”
Crystal followed Angel past the pool table on the left to the open floor plan kitchen with its granite island. She took a seat on one of the stools at the bar. Shannon and Mary were mixing up more drinks.
Crystal’s eyes slid over Shannon. She was a tall slender blonde that looked totally put together, even with her hair up in a twist and yoga pants on. “I hate you,” Crystal growled as she bit into her celery.
“Hate me? Why?” Shannon’s beautiful smile faded.
“Because you look like a movie star at ten in the morning.”
Shannon’s smile returned. “Yeah, you’re a real dog with your thick glossy dark hair and those big gorgeous eyes. I really feel for you, girl.”
“Come on, let’s go up on the rooftop with these drinks,” Angel suggested.
They made their way through the loft and up the metal stairs that led to the roof. As Crystal looked around, it was obvious that Shannon had definitely had an influence on the place already since moving in with Crash. Previously there had only been a couple of Adirondack chairs and some wooden crates. Now, the crates were gone, there were cushions on the chairs, as well as two loungers and a nice table.
“Wow. Nice upgrade,” Crystal commented as they all sat down.
“Thanks. I love what Crash did with his loft, but the roof…it needed a little help.”
“You ain’t lyin’.”
“So, how are you doing, Crystal? I haven’t seen you in a while,” Shannon asked.
“I’m okay.”
“You look tired,” Angel noted.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Oh, really? What’s his name?” Mary asked.
“Oh, right away it’s a guy?”
“I’m just saying…” Mary replied in a sing-song voice.
Angel gave Crystal a knowing look. “Shane?”
Crystal huffed out a laugh. “No. Actually Cole told me to steer clear of him. At least until he gets his patch.”
“And once he gets his patch?” Shannon prodded.