Locke. Chapter Four: A Kitchen in an Apartment

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Chapter Four: An Apartment in Addison

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It was one in the morning when I got home. The apartment was dark, so I crept in. I was almost to the bathroom when Tanya opened the door and popped her head out.  

“Well, hey there!” She said too pleasantly in the darkness. 

“Hi,” I responded quickly. 

“How was it?”

“Great,” I said awkwardly, wanting badly to hide in my room. But I needed to use the restroom first and check my ass out. It tingled with the memory of what that man did to me just hours before. I wasn’t in the mood to have a conversation with anyone. 

“When is the next date?” She said eagerly, grinning at me. She tossed her strawberry blond hair over her shoulder, leaning her face against the door jamb. It made her seem almost naively innocent. 

“I doubt there will be one,” I replied almost offhandedly, moving towards the bathroom door. 

She reached out for me, putting a hand on my arm to stop me. “But you said it was great!”

I stopped and let out a little breathy laugh. Shaking my head quickly, I tried to think of how to explain it to her. She probably couldn't understand. She had never been rejected before for anything for any reason. "For me. It was great for me. But he was way out of my league. I mean, he was gorgeous, and I hope that I see him again, but-"  

“It’s not like you to be this unconfident!” She chided gently. 

I laughed again, continuing to shaking my head as I leaned against the bathroom doorway. It dug into my back and thighs, the places where he had used his belt throbbing. I crossed my arms over my chest. “It’s not a lack of confidence. It’s a grasp on reality.”

Tanya made a confused face. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Six foot five doctors with abs don’t date women who are my size,” I stated simply. This didn’t hurt my feelings, it was just a fact. I wasn’t going to foolishly get my hopes up, just to get my feelings hurt. It was better to look at it logically. “Even if we’ve got nice tits and a pretty face.”

I realized then that I was going to be like Alice and talk about the super-hot FBI guy for years. And I was okay with that. The evening had been almost magical, and it was a delightful escape from my humdrum reality. I would probably think about it for the rest of my life.  

My roommate was frowning a little, starting to get upset for me. She couldn’t understand how happy I already was. “Did he treat you differently because you’re-”

"Because I'm chubby? No, but even if he did, I would be okay. I like my body. It would be his loss if he did. No, it's not that at all. I'm just not going to hold my breath. He was a perfect gentleman, and he actually complimented me a couple of times, but I think he was just being polite in the moment. I don't know. It's just a feeling that I have," I babbled. 

“He doesn’t have to compliment you to be polite,” she replied. 

“No, but he doesn’t have to call me again either,” I pointed out. 

“Do you want him to?”

I didn’t have to think about the answer for even a second. “Very much so.”

“So why don’t you ask him out again?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m going to wait and see. Maybe I will. I enjoyed spending time with him, but he works a lot anyway. So, it’ll probably be a while before I’d even get the chance.” 

She pouted a little bit and then pulled me into a hug. Gently, she patted my back a couple of times. "You could be a plus-size model." She meant it as a compliment. I smiled to myself. Tanya was trying to comfort me. I didn't need it. I got more than enough from Jasper, and I couldn't expect more. I wasn't a greedy woman.   

“No, I couldn’t. I’m too short,” I answered, scrunching up my nose. 

Tanya huffed. “Pretty is pretty,” she said when she pulled away. “So, what did you do?”

“Um… actually, could you give me a few minutes? I need to go to the bathroom.” And think of what to tell my roommate. I didn’t get that far in the car. My mind was too focused on replaying my evening over and over again in my head. It was a good thing I didn’t drive. 

"Yeah," she giggled. "Edward is about to go. He has to work in the morning," she whispered. "I need to say goodbye to him, anyway." And by saying goodbye, she meant make-out with him a little more.  

“Tell him goodnight for me,” I replied before going into the bathroom. 

I decided to tell her that we saw a movie and had dinner downtown when she inevitably asked again. I checked the cinemas on my phone and picked an older film that I had already seen that was playing at an arthouse. It was indie and would instantly bore her. But she wasn't standing by her bedroom door. 

I thought I was almost home free until I heard the door open behind me. I turned just in time to see Edward coming out of her bedroom. He shut it behind him and turned to leave. When he looked up, his dark green eyes moved over me and smirked.  

“Had a good date I see,” he mumbled to himself. 

“What?” I asked, unsure if I heard him correctly. “How can you tell?” 

“You have a hickey,” he chuckled, pointing to the side of his own neck. I flushed heavily, looking away. “Nothing to be embarrassed about. Good for you.”

“Yeah,” I muttered quickly going into my room. “Goodnight,” I said before I shut the door. 

I slept until noon the next day. I had several messages waiting for me. Most of them were from Alice. She was wondering if I would be willing to help her with a bake sale in a couple of weeks for a fundraiser for the school she worked at. She couldn’t cook, but I could. She would buy the supplies if I donated my time. 

I simply said, “sure. What kind of cookies?”

She replied with, “all of them.” I laughed to myself. She sent a few shrug emojis as well. 

There was also a message from Jasper. "I'd like to sincerely thank you again for joining me last night and for giving me your submission. I enjoyed it greatly, and I hope to do it again very soon if you feel the same." 

“I do,” I replied back with a smile. I bit my lip and considered what I wanted to say next. I didn’t have time because he replied. 

"I would invite you over again tonight, but I'm already on a plane." 

"No! Did you even get a full day off?" I asked in shock. I was with him less than twelve hours before, and I would probably still need another few hours to recover. My ass and legs were sore, as was my back.    

“Not really, no. But it’s okay. How are you feeling?”

I stretched out, feeling every muscle in my body sing with pleasure at the memory of his hands. Everything hurt in precisely the way I wanted it to. "Amazing. I've just woken up, to be honest." 

“Lucky girl. I don’t know the last time I slept in. I was rudely awoken at five this morning.” 

“Oh no! And I kept you up so late,” I said guiltily. He must have been a kind of tired I couldn’t have imagined. He was probably perpetually jet-lagged. “I’m sorry.”  

“You’re kidding me, right? I needed last night like air. Christ, that was better than a week's worth of sleep.” I felt myself blushing at his words. “It’s probably one of the best experiences I’ve had in years.”

“Me too.” It was the best, hands down. Pun intended. There was no doubt in my mind. It was amazing. 

“I hope that means we can play the next time I come back into town?”

“Absolutely.” I flopped back onto the bed, putting the cell phone on my chest as I took a deep breath. A smile stretched wide over my face as I pulled the covers over my head, snuggling deeper into the mattress. 

Two weeks passed from our hotel rendezvous. First, Jasper was in Florida before heading directly to New York, where he stayed for a full week. He got a single day off there in that time period, in Albany, but he slept the entire time. I couldn't imagine how tired he was.  

We chatted every single day, at least a little bit. We talked as if he didn't beat then fuck me, discussing the weather and our work. He helped me pick out the cookie recipes to bake when I couldn't decide. I helped him choose which floral picture he drew would become a card for his mother's birthday. It was purple and yellow lilies, colored with expensive markers.   

Alice came over to the apartment early one Sunday morning to keep me company while I baked all day for the fundraiser. I threw in twenty-dollars towards the cause, getting enough for hundreds of cookies in a few different styles. We went to the dollar store for bags to put them in, and other supplies, the day before. Every surface was covered, and we were ready to work.  

I had finished the peanut butter ones and moved onto the sugar cookies already by the time I heard my roommate and her very handsome boyfriend come out of her bedroom. He stayed the night, a rarity. Chocolate chip cookies would be next in the oven. I had already put its dough in the fridge to rest. The lemon crinkles would be last. Alice sat at the table, DJing and putting the cooled baked goods into bags. They were all tied with ribbon that was curled with scissors. A rainbow of discarded ribbon-bits decorated the table and floor. 

Jamming to Rihanna, I stirred the sticky dough with a big wooden spoon. Tanya came dancing into the kitchen. I offered her a still-warm cookie from the cooling rack, still shaking it. She took it, putting it between her teeth as she got down with me. I backed it up into her, and she playfully smacked my ass.

“Yeah, baby,” I teased. “You know you like it.” She laughed as she smacked me again. I shook my butt her playfully, grinding against each other stupidly.  

“My, what a nice little show before work,” Edward teased from the doorway of the kitchen. He was wearing bright blue scrubs, leaning against the frame. His eyes were hot, going over his girlfriend as she danced with another woman. She giggled, prancing over to him. She offered him a bite of her cookie. He took it from her fingers, humming at the taste. “Almost as delicious as you,” he cooed at her. 

“Oh, gag,” Alice said from the table dryly. I barked out a laugh, looking away as I blushed. Then there was a ding that came from my phone. Edward rolled his eyes and moved back into the living room to finish getting ready to leave for work. “Oh, Bella!” My friend sang my name. “You have a message from Whit. I’m going to read it.”

I giggled to myself as I took a bite of dough off the spoon. "Go ahead." We hadn't been talking about anything too dirty, and if we had, Alice would have loved to hear every single detail. She wouldn't have shared anything with Tanya if it was bad, though. 

“What does it say?” My roommate asked, stealing the spoon from me so that she could bite off some of the pale white sugar cookie dough from it. She sat at the tiny wooden table across from her to gossip.

Alice beamed. “I’m going to be in town tonight, finally. Would you like to meet me?”

“Yes!” I said excitedly, hurriedly going to wash my hands so I could take my phone from her. “Tonight? Seriously?” 

“And you didn’t think he’d want to see you again,” Tanya said happily, waving her dough covered spoon around like a wand.

My best friend clicked her tongue. “He said he had a great time! He thanked me for introducing you,” Alice said in disbelief, shaking her head as she scrunched up her tiny nose. “Why wouldn’t he want to again?”

I shook my head quickly in response, rolling my eyes. “Alice, you of all people-”

"I'll see you later, honey," Edward interrupted me, calling to his girlfriend. She went back to him for another kiss as he stood in the door again. This time he was wearing his leather jacket. He was going to take his motorcycle to his office. "Delicious cookies, Bella. What are they for, exactly?" He asked.  

“Fundraiser for the school I teach at,” Alice informed him. “It’s to help replace the playground to make it more accessible for kids with disabilities.”

“Take a bag or two, if you want,” I offered. 

“Thanks,” he smiled a little. He took two of each, peanut butter and sugar cookies, before pulling out his wallet and handing Alice a hundred dollar bill. “For the playground.”

“Aw, thanks,” she said with a little smile. She put it in her purse. “I’ll put it towards the cause. Thank you for your purchase.” Then she playfully saluted him. He ignored her. Edward thought Alice was weird. She was, but that’s what I liked about her. 

“Thanks for the cookies,” he called to me. Edward gave Tanya one last kiss before heading off to work. I bit my lip as I watched his fine ass go, putting the bags into his jacket pocket for later. 

I finally took my phone from Alice and sat down at the table myself so that I could answer his text. She had read it to me exactly.  

“I would love to,” I replied, my fingers shaking a little. “Are you sure you’ll be up to it, though?” 

“Yes. I need some more air,” he answered. 

"What does that mean?" Tanya asked as she read over my shoulder when she sat again. It actually made me jump, flushing. I felt like I had been caught somehow. She was looking at me innocently, batting her eyelashes as she rested her chin on her knuckles. The spoon was almost clean of dough, but she was she nibbling on it still.  

“Oh, I… I…” I stammered. “Well, I um, kept him up late last time and he got called into work early. And I apologized for it. But he said he needed… well, me… more than rest. That he needed our time together like air.” I laughed a little as my cheeks flushed hotter. “He said it was better than a week’s worth of sleep.”

My roommate fanned herself, handing me the spoon back. “This Dr. cop seems like a real McSteamy if you ask me. That sounds like poetry. I can’t wait to meet him.” 

“He’s more than steamy if you ask me. I’d ride that man like a-”

“Alice!” Tanya chided. She leaned in to whisper, “what does he look like?” I snorted. She was acting like we weren’t alone and grown women. 

My best friend grinned. “Over six-foot, muscular. He works out a lot because he gets bored in the hotels and they always have fitness rooms. Blonde. Blue eyes. Very angular. He looks like one of those hot statues,” she answered dreamily, sighing heavily. “And his hands. Oh...”

“I know,” I agreed with Alice with a little sigh. “Oh, god.” 

“What about them?” Tanya asked curiously. 

“Oh, they’re, um… so strong. They’re huge and extremely soft,” I answered, looking away from her. My eyes went back to the screen, looking at his current picture. It was a photo of what was obviously the belt he had used on me last time, coiled on a messy bed. I didn’t think Tanya could see it well enough to make it out. 

“And he knows how to use them,” she smirked a little naughtily.

“How would you know?” My roommate smirked as well as she glanced over at Alice. 

She shrugged a little. "We went out a few times, but it didn't get too far. Just no spark. For him, sadly. I was on fire." Tanya snorted delicately. 

My phone beeped again. I drew in a quick breath.  

"I have to get on a plane right now, but I should be back in Texas in a couple of hours. I'll send you my room number once I'm all checked in," his next message read. 

“Sounds great. Have a safe flight,” I replied back quickly to him. 

The timer for the next batch of cookies went off, pulling my attention away from my phone before I could panic over it. I still had a full day of cooking ahead of me. Baking was perfect for mindlessly daydreaming about sexy profilers and their belts. I stuck my phone in my pocket though just so Tanya wouldn't read any of my texts.    

“Hotel Indigo, Room 105. Six again?” Jasper sent a couple of hours later. 

“Sounds good,” I replied after I dusted the powdered sugar from my hands. The lemon cookies were just going in the oven.

“Same rules as before, Isabella.” 

“Yes, sir,” I smiled to myself. I was alone with Alice. Tanya had to work, too. My friend giggled at my expression. I leaned against the counter and sighed heavily. My ass tingled with the memories of him. The bruises were long gone, but those would never fade. 

“So jealous,” she complained. I laughed, looking away in embarrassment. 

“Maybe we can arrange a play session with me and you. He could spank us both,” I offered lightly.

“Yes, please,” she said with a big grin. “I’d love to. It would be fun to play again.” 

“I’ll see what I can do,” I said, but I wasn’t going to rush off to do that. I wanted him to myself for a couple more times before I decided to share the experience. At least, I hoped there would be at least a few more times. 

Maybe I was greedy.   

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