Page 34 of Brat Baby
Okay, so, I’m the first one to arrive. That’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that. Maybe they’ve gotten caught up on campus or packing their overnight bags. It’s fine. Everything is fine.
Besides, it’s not like they knew my plan was to come here today, not after Monday. Which is something I can fix, once I get myself settled.
As I make my way farther into the apartment, I keep hitting light switches until all the lights are on. The heavy black curtains aren’t drawn on the dungeon area this time, and there is a faint smell of cleaning products in the air. Do they use a cleaning service?
I snort a laugh at the idea. The first time the service turned up must have been a real eye-opening moment. Damn, it would have been amazing to watch their faces as they realized what they’d be cleaning, questioning whether anyone had actually used it.
The mental imagery leaves me with a massive grin on my face as I head straight to the bedroom, dumping my backpack on the couch as I walk by it. Even in the darkness, I can see the massive bed. Flicking on the light switch, I walk around the foot of the bed, then back up toward the head and into the walk-in wardrobe, hidden behind the privacy wall that acts as the bed’s head.
After making quick work of hanging the dress that I packed in case they want to go out to a restaurant, I gather my toiletries and put them out on the vanity in the bathroom. It’s not much, just the heart perfume, the few bits of makeup that I own, a brush, toothbrush, and toothpaste. Maybe I could ask for one of my remaining rewards to be some skin care products?
With all of that done, I head back out into the living area. Coming to a stop in front of the couches, I take in the quiet apartment, trying to recapture the feeling from last weekend. But it eludes me. It’s just me, alone, in a room with two different personalities—kink on one side and regular apartment on the other.
I suddenly understand Derek’s need to always have noise. Leaning down, I pick up the remote for the TV from the huge wooden coffee table, then fall back onto the leather cushions. Thirty seconds later, I have my favorite reality channel on, and I don’t feel quite so alone.
After twenty minutes of trash TV, I’ll get some studying done. And maybe a little sketching. I managed to squish my old sketchbook and my new one, along with the graphite pencils, between two of the doorstop textbooks.
Honestly, how are there over six-hundred pages in my macro textbook? That thing could kill someone. Also, is this book for more than one semester? Because that is a shit ton of content to remember for one final exam.
Thinking of macro makes Hudson’s icy blue stare from Monday’s class appear in my mind, which causes my heart to squeeze. Closing my eyes, I try to breathe through it. It’s all going to be okay. They’ll be here soon. We can talk and work everything out, then we can spend the rest of the weekend together. Which reminds me…
I wiggle around until I can pull my phone out of the back pocket of my denim shorts. Opening the camera app, I take aquick selfie reclining on the couch and with a little bit of the torture furniture in the background, making sure to stare into the camera with a cute smile. Forcing myself not to check it, I open the group chat and send the pic.
There. Now they definitely know I’m here. All they need to do is show up.
Because they will show up.
I know they will.
They have to show up.
I really fucking need them to show up.
Chapter 20
Emery
I stare at my phone.
Eight-fifteen.
How could they not show up? They know I’m here. I sent them the picture.
Was I wrong? Was the gift giving and the Thai and Xavier checking up on me only about them meeting the terms of our previous agreement?
No, that can’t be it. The dinner date with Darcy was set in the text messages on Monday morning. And Xavier told me about the photo requirement after the contract was signed. And all the rewards, yeah, they’re from the weekend, but they could have just sent me one dollar eleven times. Instead, they are sending me incredibly thoughtful gifts.
And the last one? A heart with a key? A Tiffany heart with a key? As in, I have the key to their hearts?
And they didn’t remove my access to the apartment.
I don’t get it.
Fuck, this is all so confusing. Them and their fucking mixed signals.
Why are they showering me with rewards but not showing up at the apartment? Even just to talk, to figure all of this out. I get it—their jobs are on the line. Possibly even my status as a student at NU. But we have this completely private, very secure apartment that no one can see into or potentially knows about.
We could have worked this out. Kept everything confined to the apartment. No public dates. They could continue to ignore me on campus, but this time, it would be mutual. Not just them tossing me to the side.
