Key: Chapter One: On the Floor

Chapter One of Locke!

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Chapter One: On the Floor

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I was running behind. We had plans for the evening. I hated being late, but there was nothing I could do about it. I had yet another interview with the FBI to talk about the Royce King case. This one went longer than I expected. They had been getting shorter. But they uncovered evidence that linked one of the girls in my personal search that hadn’t been connected to him previously. It wasn’t much. Just her I.D. found in a pile of souvenirs. But it was enough.

The girl had been missing for two years.

She was the fifth one from my research. Three of which they suspected, but I didn’t know about that. There wasn’t enough to link them to the case publicly. It stunned me when I was told about the other two.

I understood that they had questions they needed to ask to do their job. There really wasn’t much for me to tell, though. I answered a lot of the same ones repeatedly. Apparently, I was thorough in my investigation from the way they reacted. I thought I could have done better. Jasper said with what I was working with, it was extraordinary.

He teased that if I ever wanted a job at the bureau, it probably wouldn’t have been hard for me to get one. I was smarter than most of his colleagues, and I would have been more fun to look at, in his words. I told him we wouldn’t get any work done if we were in the same office.

My heels clicked against the pale hardwood floor of the place we had been staying in. We were in the Canvas Hotel again, one of his favorite spots. I think Jasper liked it because it’s where he fell in love with me. Those few days were a real turning point in our relationship. The idea made me smile. He was more romantic than he led on.

Awkwardly, I shifted and knocked on the door. It was only a moment before he opened it just a crack. There he stood in blue jeans and a faded gray t-shirt that stretched tight across his muscular chest. My eyes went over him slowly, his expression ever so slightly bemused. Jasper tilted his head to the side to gaze at me in return.

“Did you forget something again, Isabella?”

“Ugh. Yes, sir,” I complained as he took one of the bags from my overstuffed arms, rolling my eyes. I had to run to the store quickly after the interview to pick up some things we needed.

Walking over to the table, he put it down before peeking inside. It was a selection of snacks, toiletries, and medicines. His shoulder wasn’t bothering him as much as it was, but it still ached, and he was taking aspirin for it. Jasper pulled out a small bag of cookies and grinned because he knew they were just for him. He turned it over in his hands for a moment before placing it down gently.

“I swear you’re doing it on purpose. Trying to earn spankings,” he taunted as he continued to pull items from the sack. He had a tiny, pretty smirk on his face. His expression was jovial. Jasper was in a good mood. 

Quietly laughing, I rolled my eyes as I took our new things into the bathroom. Living out of a hotel room was kind of a pain in the ass, but my apartment was too cramped, and he had been too busy to search for a place. It was stressful, and he had enough of that already. It was his money he was wasting, so I wouldn’t say anything. And Jasper’s sanity couldn’t handle sleeping at his parents, even if he loved them dearly. 

“Mm, we both know if that were the truth, I wouldn’t have a single damn thing left.”

He shook his head so that his silky blond hair fell into his eyes, chuckling as he did. Pulling the card from his pocket, he held it up between two of his fingers in front of my face. “Well, if you lose or forget it again, I will.”

“Oh,” I hummed, nodding my head gravely as I took it from him. I eyed the silver card before peering at him. “Really?” I threw it over my shoulder without looking.

Jasper pursed his lips for a moment, not saying anything. His deep blue eyes were sparkling with amusement, but he kept it under wraps. But just barely. “Pick it up, Isabella,” he said my name purposefully as a warning. I had started a game that I was very much looking forward to.

Slowly, I shook my head. “No.”

Smoothing the tip of his light pink tongue over his bottom lip for a moment, he considered what he wanted to do with me. “Pick it up, then put your hands on the bed.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I cocked my hip to the side. “Make me.”

I saw his instantaneous smile before he became serious again, his eyes dark. I had chosen the right time. It would be a fun evening.

Grabbing my arm forcefully, he pointed with the other hand. I didn’t budge. His palm slapped across my cheek hard when I didn’t move. Still, nothing. I would be as stubborn as possible. Jasper’s fingers tangled into the back of my hair. “Are you sure that’s what you want, Isabella?”

“Yes, sir.”

Tugging, he pulled my chin up so I would look at him. Jasper was double-checking to see if it was okay. We had done a scene where he was in charge the day after I had been. We had filled the last week with loads of playing. He had enjoyed my time as Goddess so much that he said it inspired him. But he wasn’t the only one. I was feeling like a brat.

“Pick it the fuck up, little girl,” he growled through his teeth in a low snarl. 

Jerking my arm away, I bent down to snatch it up. While holding his gaze, I tossed it, but onto the table. It skittered across the top, sliding to a stop just before it fell off the other end. Jasper slapped me again, harder this time. “Did I tell you to do that?” I said nothing, smirking at him. “Okay. If that’s how you want it, darlin,” he mumbled before shaking his head. 

Taking my forearm, he dragged me towards the bed. I instantly struggled, but his grip was so firm. His fingers tightened around the fabric of my dress as I pulled back. With a little more force, I yanked. I heard the material rip beneath his touch. My sleeve detached from the shoulder at least three inches across the seam.

We both stopped, staring at the tear for a beat. His expression became red hot. “Look at what you did.”

One second I was upright, and the next I was over his knees as he sat on the edge of the mattress. Blood rushed through my ears, making me dizzy. My feet kicked up in surprise. I couldn’t help it, I giggled.

His hand connected sharply with my ass cheek over the fabric. “Are you laughing right now? Seriously?”

“No, sir.” 

He pulled the skirt over my hips rough enough that I heard it rip again. His palm moved over my thigh. We had already messed it up, and he was going to go for it. He smacked me twice more. “And you’re fucking lying, too. What am I going to do with you, slut?”

“Whatever you want.”

Two hours later, my dress was in tatters on the floor. The sleeve ended up wholly ripped off, and we broke the zipper. I bruised my knees from being on the hardwood so much, and there was a carpet burn on my thighs from the rug. We were lying on the ground beside the table, though I wasn’t entirely sure how we wound up there. We were on the bed at some point, but I think we fell off. 

Panting as he chuckled, Jasper pulled the key card from between my teeth. He had made me hold it for the last thirty minutes as a makeshift gag since I was so noisy. It didn’t help.

“You know, I wasn’t trying to do a scene tonight,” he quipped, examining the bite marks on it as he held it close to his face. He was smirking. “But, I think it’s over now unless you’re not done being feisty.”

Laughing softly, I pushed my sweat-soaked hair out of my eyes. “I’m never done!”

“No.” Laughing too, he flopped back onto the floor. “We’re finished now. I had plans, Bella. I was going to be romantic-”

Twisting over so I could snuggle with him, I laid my cheek on his chest. “Well, perhaps I don’t want romance. Maybe I wanted you to rough me up.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him. “I was having fun.”

His hand wrapped around my back as he shook his head. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“And what’s that?”

I rolled over onto my stomach and put my chin on his torso so I could look up at him with a smile. Playing with a curl, he spun it around his fingers. His other arm went under his head for a pillow. He still covered his shoulder with a bandage, but it was a much smaller one. It was just a tiny square, and he said it was mostly to keep himself from scratching. The one under his arm was all healed.

“Are you ready to get roughed up in Mexico?”

Lifting a little, I gazed at his smiling face. “They signed your medical clearance?” I asked excitedly. He nodded his head quickly. “That’s fantastic! So no more time in the chamber?” They had told him three more sessions, but they had him come in for two more just to be sure.

“They said I’m looking good, and I am cleared for duty once my leave ends on the first of March. But I’ve already put in for a few more weeks of vacation.”

“A few?” I laughed. “I thought you’d be ready to get back to work.”

“Well, I wouldn’t really call that a break.”

“True.” I bit my bottom lip. “Can you afford that?”

Chuckling, he rolled his eyes. “I hardly took any time off before. Trust me, I have plenty of PTO saved up. I could take half the year off right now and be just fine. I need some real rest with no FBI or murder or doctor’s visits.” He sighed softly at the thought. Jasper shifted some, bringing his fingers under my chin. “So, give or take two weeks for a vacation, and then the rest of that can be spent looking for an apartment for me. What do you think?”

I immediately nodded with a big smile. “I think that sounds perfect. Do you really not have any more doctor’s visits?”

Jasper waffled his head from one side to the other. “Well, therapy, and I have a check-up in six weeks. But I expect my therapist would agree that a vacation would be good for me,” he teased, his hand trailing down my ass. He firmly grabbed it. It stung slightly from the beating he gave, my skin still hot.

“I think so too,” I moaned the words, my head falling back against his shoulder.

Squeezing again forcefully, he kissed my forehead. “So, we are over an hour late for the reservations I made. What would you like to do, hm? Do you want to go out for dinner, or would you prefer to order something?”

I finally pushed off of him so I could stand. I needed to get cleaned up. His eyes went over my body as I did, his bottom lip going between his teeth. “Let’s get something delivered.”

“Perfect,” he agreed, slowly sitting up to his knees. Putting my hands on my hips, he didn’t let me walk away. Lightly, he pecked my stomach. “So soft,” he mumbled against it. I giggled as I became ticklish, playing with his hair. 

“Do you want to take a shower with me?” I asked as I kissed the top of his head. Hugging him to my body, he hummed loudly.

Nodding, he continued to kiss his way down. “Yeah. In just a minute. I want to do something first.”

It was another hour before we made it into the bathroom. Jasper was undoubtedly starting to feel a lot better. It helped that he wasn’t on a ton of strong painkillers for his arm anymore.

After dinner, we curled up in bed together. He was rereading my book. He had twice before he gave me all of his notes. This was his third read-through of the second draft with his suggestions. I found it was beneficial, especially to add more details to a lot of scenes I thought needed fluffing. The entire time, he had a grin on his face. He did so on his phone as I wrote on my laptop, his big hand on my thigh comfortingly.

It felt like what I wanted to do every evening for the rest of my life.

When we fell asleep, it was in each other’s embrace just as we had every night since Albany. I was a little scared that my clinginess after the shooting would bother him. Instead, he held onto me as if I really was his teddy bear. With our legs tangled, I slept on the right side. I propped my hand on his stomach, and his left rested on top of it. I realized he needed me there as much I wanted to be in his strong arms.

We hadn’t found our groove yet. I knew that wouldn’t come for a while, at least until Jasper started his new job. But it felt as if we were on the right track. It would be our new normal that was anything but vanilla. 

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Chapter one of Locke!

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Thank to Gina for proofreading this chapter!

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