Love Me, Not My Body

CHAPTER 9

I stood at the stove, cooking myself some scrambled eggs for lunch. I had rose early and Scott had driven me to get some much-needed groceries for our apartment. He had left to head to work as I put the food away and cooked for my rumbling stomach.

A quick knock at the door drew my attention away from what I was doing. I walked over and opened the door to find no one there. Confused, I glanced around and noticed the note taped to our door from our landlord.

I pulled it off and read the official notice our of impending eviction unless we paid our rent within the next two weeks.

I angrily clutched the note in my hand as I stormed inside, throwing the door behind me, and charged toward my phone. I quickly dialed Scott’s number and he picked up within a couple rings.

“Hey baby,” he said happily.

“Why are we getting an eviction notice?” I shot out immediately.

The line went silent for a moment. “What are you talking about?” he finally asked slowly.

“An eviction notice for unpaid rent! They just put it on our door! Why are we getting it? You were supposed to be paying it!”

“We ran a little short these past couple months,” he explained in a low voice. “It’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal!” I exclaimed as I slammed the paper down on the kitchen counter. “We won’t have a place to live if we get evicted, Scott!”

“I won’t let it get to that,” he chuckled lightly. “I’ll handle it, alright?”

“Where is all of our money going?” I quickly asked. “Why do we not have enough? You work a full-time job and I work two jobs. How can we not have enough money?”

“You also owe Dominic money which he takes out of your paycheck,” he pointed out.

I shook my head angrily as I clutched the phone. “It’s not that much money and you know it.”

“I know,” he quickly replied.

“So where is all our money going, Scott? To your drugs?”

“We have other bills, Kendra,” he shot out as though I was dumb. “We have utilities and all those groceries and damn dates cost money.”

My fingers clutched my phone painfully tight. “I never asked you take me on all those dates.”

“I’ll pay it, alright? Just chill out.”

My eyes glanced around our small apartment and the fear of losing it rose inside me. “How are we going to come up with two months’ worth of rent in two weeks?”

“I’ll make it happen baby, just chill.”

---

I picked up extra shifts at Kiki’s and worked a full weekend at Blue Hades and we were still nowhere near two months’ rent, especially when our bank account inexplicitly kept bleeding money that Scott couldn’t explain.

I went to work on Monday for lunch at Kiki’s feeling sorry for myself and pissed off at the entire universe. After busting my butt and scrapping up what I could in tips, I clocked out and headed for the door.

“Hey Kendra!” Jessica cheerfully called as she came in while I tried to leave. “Did you get the message I left for you in the backroom?”

“No,” I replied, not really interested in overly-bubbly, good girl Jessica. She was definitely not what I needed right now.

“Oh, that’s okay,” she smiled broadly at me and I swear sunshine radiated from her smile. “A gentleman came by the restaurant yesterday looking for you. He said you were his cousin.”

I breath caught as I looked at her. My heart pounded nervously in my chest. I had absolutely no relatives living anywhere around here. Who had found me? “What was his name?”

“Preston,” she smiled widely. “He had the most gorgeous hair I have ever seen. It’s even better than mine! I totally had to ask him about his hair routine.” She stroked her long, blonde hair as she spoke.

My heart fluttered at her words. Preston had been looking for me? He had my number; why hadn’t he just texted me? “Did he say what he wanted or anything?”

“No,” she said as she dropped her hair and made a face like she was thinking really hard. “It was so hard to concentrate with all that hair,” she giggled. “I hope you don’t find this awfully rude or anything, but does he have a girlfriend?”

“He’s married,” I snipped out before turning and leaving.

---

I strutted up to the firehouse, excited and curious at what exactly Preston wanted. I recognized the young man who had been with Preston at the boxing match standing outside on his phone.

“Hi,” I called out to him as I approached.

He looked up from his phone with a smile, his blue eyes inspecting me. “Can I help you?”

“Is Preston working today?”

He smirked. “I knew I recognized you. You work at Kiki’s.”

“Yeah,” I nodded my head and extended my hand. “I’m Kendra Edwards.”

“Aaron Rintman,” he said a bit too excitedly as he shook my hand. “It’s a pleasure.”

“Are you always this excited to meet people?” I teased playfully.

“No, I, uh,” he stumbled through his words awkwardly as he dropped his hand. I felt a ping of guilt at making him obviously embarrassed. “Preston’s up in the gym. Come on, I’ll take you up.”

Aaron led me into the firehouse and through the maze of hallways to a closed door.

“Here it is,” he smiled a bit nervously as he pointed toward the door. “He’s in here.”

I nodded as he hesitated a moment before turning and leaving. I grabbed the door handle and slowly pushed it open. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Rock music blasted in the small room filled with workout equipment. Preston laid on a bench on his back, lifting a dumbbell with weights up and down.

I walked over to him and, when he lifted the bar, I spoke up.

“I heard you wanted to see me?”

He looked over at me with shock written on his face as he set the weight onto it’s stand and sat up.

“I did,” he replied as that gorgeous smile which made me weak in the knees overtook his face. His dimples were exposed as his eyes danced over me. His hair was pulled up into a manbun, and his shirt was off, exposing his hard chest and body scattered with tattoos.

“What um…what for?” I asked, trying to remember what we were even talking about.

His smile slowly faded as desire began to take over his face. He stood up and was just inches from me. “A quick fuck.”

My jaw dropped at his dirty mouth as he smiled in delight at my shock at his words. I stared into his green eyes, knowing I should say no. There was something about him that intrigued me, brought me too close to him. I never got involved with my clients. But I couldn’t find the strength, or really the desire, to say no.