Disclaimer: The characters belong to Guy Ritchie and the setting is an imitation of the one in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"

Part two

Addie was running to Soap's restaurant. Her classes lasted longer than she had expected and she hated to be late meeting him. After four years of intensive training she was still an awful cook and showed no signs of improvement, but the "Soap days" were the highlights of her weeks.

6 p.m. The place was closed for business, as it was every Monday. She knocked on the back door and he opened right away.

Feeling guilty, Addie missed the expression of relief on his face. Half an hour ago Soap started to worry. Five minutes ago he thought of calling the others. One of them always knew where she was. On Mondays it was usually his turn to know. On Mondays she was with him from five till late at night. He started to wait for the Mondays with impatience.

The previous weekend they were in a fancy new club Ed got them in, they were drinking, chatting, looking at people the way they always did and he found himself wondering if he had all the ingredients for the dishes he wanted to prepare with her. The others started to tease him when he wrote on a napkin a list of things to buy for Monday.

"I'm so sorry I'm late. The classes and the tube and the weather…" she stopped when she saw him smiling.

He wasn't upset. If he wasn't upset, everything was all right. She relaxed and smiled back.

If she was all right, he was happy. He smiled hearing her polished accent and cultivated voice. Ed had worked miracles with her.

Soap knew of her crush on Ed. Everyone except Ed knew about it. They were all calm as long as it was nothing more than a childish infatuation, as long as Ed knew nothing about it and did nothing about it. They patiently waited it out, trying to keep her out of harm's way. The vivid debates they had when she had her first boyfriend made J.D. give them the first fatherly advice they ever heard from him.

"Let the girl think with her own head and be prepared to pick up the pieces if something goes wrong. And kill the bastard if he hurts her"

They were drunk enough by then to take the advice.

It was Soap and not Ed the one who picked up the pieces after her first lovers' quarrel. It had been Tom the one that first made her laugh after that. It had been Bacon the one who introduced her second boyfriend and almost got lynched.

~~~~~

8 p.m. Soap's generally sterilely clean kitchen looked like a war zone. The blender acted up and half the ingredients were on the walls and Addie dropped the hot saucepan on the stove. She knew Soap was a maniac for keeping things clean, so she checked his face for any signs of outrage. She only saw concern.

"Are you all right? Let me put some butter on that"

"That's only a myth, you know? It has no real effect…"

Soap's touch felt electric. He rubbed the butter on her burnt hand. His fingers applied a gentle pressure on hers. She tried to pull her hand away, but his firm grip restrained her.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, ever so gentle.

"Mmm…" was all she could utter.

It felt strangely delicious. She regretted when he finally let go of her hand.

"Listen to this" he turned up the music. "Ed says this is going to be the sensation of the year"

*Ed* she thought, while the dizzy feeling generated by Soap's touch was replaced by a dizzy feeling brought on by the mention of Ed's name.

The music didn't have a calming effect either. The insinuating melody only made her dizzier.

"I didn't know Ed had any musical interests"

"There're a lot of things you still don't know about Ed" he teased her.

"I thought we pretty much covered all his past, present and future in the last couple of years"

"It's more to him that meets the eye"

"I bet" she grinned back at him.

Soap came to her and silently invited her to dance. She felt uncomfortably, intensely thrilled in his arms. Their dance was rather a walked embrace. Their bodies were getting closer, moulding on each other in an intimate touch. Instinctively, her hands left his shoulders and worked their way up, caressing his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair. Soap's hold became stronger, leaving her breathless.

His brain short-circuited at her touch. None of the reasonable warning sings came into his mind. None of the self-imposed taboos stopped him from relishing the delight of her caress. He held her tightly for a few seconds, a little afraid that the next move could ruin the beauty of the moment.

Addie buried her head in his shoulder, breathing warmly on his neck. She wanted something, but she was unsure what. She was uncertain whether she wanted it from Soap. Soap was her friend. He wasn't like that. He was probably disgusted by her behaviour. But her reason lost the battle. He smelled so… right… She touched shyly his neck with her lips. She felt his embrace like a shroud of fire all around her. Taking advantage of his silence, she kissed him again, this time higher, on his jaw line. Addie felt him shiver and that was the last conscious thought she had.

Soap couldn't believe what she was doing. Or the way he reacted. He was overwhelmed by the sensations. Nothing like this had happened to him in the last five years. Not since his accident…

Unable to control these new emotions he responded in the way that came natural. When her lips touched the corner of his mouth, he gave in to his impulses. He put one hand behind her head and started kissing her properly. He wasn't a tease. At first, he only stroked her lips, but soon he entered her mouth, tasting her patiently and wildly. She answered just as passionately, his expert kiss arousing her, making her want more. They fed upon each other's desire, ready to go to the next stage, when the annoyingly loud ring of Soap's phone broke them up.

Seeing Bacon's number on the screen of his phone, Soap tried to cool down. He answered in a husky voice.

"Yeah"

"What the fuck are you doing? I knocked on the door five minutes"

"Errr, you're still here?"

"No, I'm calling from the Buckingham Palace! 'f course I'm bloody here. Open the back door, I'm freezing"

"Coming" he hang up. "It's Bacon"

Addie looked quite flustered, but there was no time to say anything now. She watched him leave the room and leaned on the wall. Her knees were shaking, her whole body was shaking. She couldn't understand what had just happened.