Electric Love

Chapter Three

            Once I pulled up to my apartment complex, I parked my vehicle right next to Sydnei’s silver Kia and shut the engine off. I grabbed my bag and hopped out heading to the front door, locking my Jeep with the key fob. Our apartment wasn’t huge but it was a nice size for just the two of us. With two standard-sized bedrooms, one shared bathroom, a spacious kitchen and decent sized living room, we made the place feel like home after a year of living together there.
           I had a kitchen big enough to do all of my baking in and that was enough for me. I had a culinary degree, and my passion was to eventually open up my own bakery but in order to do so, I needed money. I enjoyed bartending and I was good at it, but I wasn’t passionate about it. It was just a temporary thing, and I kept telling myself that once I had enough money put back, I'd look into getting a bakery started up.
            As I walked inside and to my room, I made a mental reminder to go to the grocery store this weekend to get ingredients to make Sydnei and I a pineapple upside down cheesecake. I made my way into my room, removing my jacket and toeing off my shoes as soon as I stepped foot in the door. I dropped my bag by the entrance to my bedroom the moment my socked feet hit the carpeted floor. With a groan, I fell back on my bed with an arm over my face bouncing a little. Two knocks to my open bedroom door, signaled my best friends presence and I removed the arm blocking my face, opening one eye and peering at her head peeking around the door frame.
           “Hey punk, I made dinner.” She greeted. “Come on, lets eat and talk about the day and then you can go to bed. I know you’re exhausted but if I know you at all, I know you probably haven’t ate all day, so get your ass up.”
           “Do we have any wine in the fridge?” I asked sitting up on the edge of the bed.
           “Bring your ass here and look for yourself.” She called behind her as she turned around, heading to the dining room.
           “I love you.” I said hopping up and following her. On the table, she had two plates set out with a lemon pepper chicken breast, broccoli, and orzo taking up every inch of the plates’ surface. In front of each plate was a full glass of moscato and the rest of the bottle sat in the middle of the table between both place settings. “You’re the best friend a girl could ask for.” I chirped, a smile of appreciation on my face as the smell of the food in front of me filled my nostrils. My mouth watered as I sat down and placed my phone and cigarettes down beside me, waiting on her to sit before I dug in.
           “I know, you’re welcome.” She smirked, “Now eat.” She ordered and I happily obliged, cutting a piece of the chicken off and putting it in my mouth.
           The flavor exploded on my tongue and I let out an audible moan at how delicious it tasted. We ate mostly in silence aside from the occasional moan from me or the clinking of our silverware against the plates. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was and way too soon, my plate was empty. I got out of my chair and took our dishes in the kitchen. I rinsed the plates off in the sink before placing them and the silverware into the dishwasher. I went back over to the table grabbing my glass of wine, and cigarettes making sure to take one of the new lighters we'd bought into the living room with me as I took a seat next to Sydnei who was already lounging on the couch with her own glass of wine.
           “Dinner was delicious. Thank you for cooking.” I said, patting my belly in content.
           “Frankie’s been working you to death, sissy. The least I can do is cook for you after an open to close shift. How was it?”
           “It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. It was seriously the easiest double I’ve worked all week, to be honest. I made three seventy-five tonight and Frankie is giving me an extra day off which he’s paying me to take! How crazy is that!?” I exclaimed, “What about you? How’d the drama end up at the shop after I talked to you earlier?”
          “Jeremy was screwing that new apprentice we got last week, and you know how bored he gets of the same woman in his bed for more than a week. I guess he broke up with her last night and she didn’t take it very well. She trashed his entire fucking office, dude! I had to stop in the middle of this neck piece I was working on to kick her ass out. She freaked the fuck out when I told her to leave and then tried accusing me of screwing him now which I told her would never happen in a million years, but she didn't believe me. I guess that pissed her off even more so she took a swing at me and since my mama didn’t raise a little bitch, I handled it and dragged her ass out.” Sydnei shrugged, “same ol’ shit as always sis, no big deal.”
           “Holy shit, Syd! Be careful with that shit, seriously. We’ve already talked about this. I swear if Jeremy could keep it in his pants for more than a few hours at a time, that shop could run so smooth. You wouldn’t have to deal with the aftermath of his fuck ups. Ya'll could have your own reality show with all the shit you all deal with on a daily basis thanks to his dumbass.” I laughed, shaking my head as I stood up to go refill our glasses with what was left of the Moscato, before once again taking my seat on the couch beside her. I pulled out a cigarette each for both us and lit them both simultaneously, then passed one to her.
           “Hey, why’d Frankie keep you there so long after close? Just to give you the extra day off?” She questioned as I inhaled a puff, the menthol taste of the nicotine hitting the back of my throat. I leaned forward and lit the mohogany teakwood candle in the copper candle holder, bringing the ashtray we kept on the living room table closer to us. Flicking my ashes into it, I settled back in my seat before replying.
           “It wasn’t Frankie I stayed to talk to. This guy came in tonight with his associate for a business meeting. His name is Kaine and oh god, Syd.. He is beautiful, like not from this world, ‘should be on the cover of GQ’ gorgeous. His associate left after the meeting, but he stayed and kept me company until we closed. He bought me two shots, which we took together and we talked while I cleaned and did my closing work. He kept flirting with me all the way up until he left.” Syd motioned for me to continue impatiently. “Well, after I locked up and Frankie told me to take that extra day off I was on my way to my car and there he was,” I paused, taking a long drawl from the camel between my fingers, while she leaned forward to flick her ashes.
           I exhaled, the smoke forming a cloud above our heads and continued. “He freaked me the fuck out until he told me that he wanted to take me out this Friday and… I said yes.” I finished, giving her time to process my words. It didn’t take her long, however, before she started squealing, bouncing up and down in her seat. Her messy bun on the top of her head, bounced with her and I rolled my eyes at her excitement.
“So you’re going on a date with this super sexy man on Friday night?! That’s amazing babe! Its been a long time since you dated anyone.. I mean ever since..” she trailed off and I was thankful she didn’t utter his name aloud, afraid of my involuntary reaction to just his name alone.
           Collin Mathers—my ex-fiance. The man who broke my heart a year ago, when I caught him in bed with my little sister. I’d later found out it’d been going on for the last six months of our relationship.. Around the same time I found out my sister was pregnant with his baby. I no longer talked to her or anyone else in my family for that matter. Apparently I was just that fucking stupid, I was the only person who didn’t know they were fucking. They wanted me to look past it and marry his cheating ass anyway. His family was insanely rich and Collin was next to take over his father’s real estate company.
           I’d spent a long time blaming myself for his infidelity and the ultimate betrayal at the hands of my sister. Things had gotten pretty dark for me—after all, I ultimately was more of a parent to Collin than a fiance. He would’ve overdosed at least four times that I was present for, on party drugs at one of the many parties he and his friends threw every month. I think if it weren’t for me, the dumbass would probably be dead. I cleaned him up, made him into the man his parents saw fit enough to take over their company and I despised him more than I ever thought I could. But as time went on, I stopped blaming myself and focused my energy on baking and getting my life together for myself.
           “He just.. He seems different. You know? He flirts without coming off cocky and pushy. He’s sweet, and his eyes almost twinkle when he smiles. Plus, you know I’m an absolute sucker for tattoos and this man in covered in them from what I could see. I'm talking his neck,hands, arms, head, and god only knows where else!” I exclaimed, feeling giddy at just the thought of seeing him again.. seeing if those tattoos reached far beyond what the eye could see. Sydnei smiled at my excitement and we finished smoking, before we both decided to head off to our own rooms for bed.
           "I'm happy for you, Ray. I hope your date ends up being absolutely fantastic. But i'm exhausted and I don't even know how you still have your eyes open right now. Get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow." The moment the words left her mouth, a yawn escaped my lips.
           "Goodnight, Syd. Love you." I murmured before I got to my room, to which she muttered the same to me.
           Once I got back into my bedroom, I shut my door softly behind me and walked over to my dresser.  I stripped out of my clothes from work, down to my underwear and dug through the drawers until settling on a big t-shirt. I put on the shirt and crawled under the inviting covers. I plugged my phone into the charger and saw that I had a text message from an unknown number. My heart sped up begging for it to be Kaine and I smiled as I read what the message said:

               Unknown: I'm so glad I met you tonight. I can't wait for Friday night.. Goodnight beautiful. 😴

I knew then, that it was indeed Kaine, so I saved his number and responded.

               Me: I'm glad you walked into my bar tonight. Just two more days, but I can't wait either. Goodnight, handsome... Sweet dreams.

           I locked my phone screen after hitting send on my reply. I placed the phone back on my nightstand and turned off the small lamp that illuminated the room, before snuggling under the covers waiting for sleep to take over. I loved that space in between being awake and dreaming, the place where you just were surrounded in complete and utter darkness, but I didn’t stay in that place that night. That night, I dreamt of piercing green eyes and thousand watt dimpled smiles.

A/N: Hi! Little double update for ya'll on this dreary monday evening. Hope ya'll enjoy this chapter! I figured I owed it to the ones actually reading this to post another chapter. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring for me, but I will definitely try my best to update again tomorrow night!
Once again, comments/votes/follows are greatly appreciated!
Also, does anyone know of any good Jord Liddell stories on here? I am just finding out about that man and whoa... Where the hell has he been hiding all my life?! *sigh* lol