Love Thy Neighbor (13 page)

A little too happy.

Yeah, I’m a monster. But at least I know
it.

Endorphins rush through my brain, making my
body feel warm and light as a feather. Knowing I have him
immobilized, I put the sharp blade to his temple, apply some
pressure and slowly, and most definitely painfully, run the blade
down his cheek opening the flesh deeply for approximately four
inches. He shrieks like the pussy he is and my eyes roll back in
ecstasy.

God, that feels good.

The scar that comes from that should be a
good reminder to him to watch who he fucks with.

Cole’s stopped screaming, but his body
shakes in silent sobs. I ask him, “So, tell me what your plans are,
Cole?”

He chokes out between sobs, “Stay away from
Nat!”

I pat his bloody cheek and say, “Good boy.
Old dogs learning new tricks and all that shit. Good for you.”
Looking down at my bloody hand, I cringe and wipe the blood onto
the back of his shirt.

I stand and help him up. The only word I
could use to describe Cole’s facial expression would be horrified.
Still sobbing, he cradles his gaping wound with shaking hands and I
tell him pleasantly, “Take care now, Cole. Always a pleasure.”

Taking the hint, he takes off down the hall
and into the elevator. I snicker. If he took off any faster, he
would have flown. I sigh when I look down to the floor at the large
pool of smeared blood. Luckily, the floor is tiled.

Clean up time.

Heading back into Nat’s apartment, I hear
the bedroom door open. Music blasts as Helena pokes her head out
and looks down at my bloody hands. She looks back into the room,
says something I can’t hear then comes to join me, closing the door
behind her.

I’m surprised as fuck when she doesn’t ask
questions. She just goes under the kitchen sink to get some
disinfectant and paper towels, then walks into the outer hall to
clean up Cole’s blood.

I clean my hands over and over with dish
soap. Blood is hard to clean and the smell of it is rank.

Once I’m certain there isn’t any more blood
on me, I join Helena in the hall. Leaning against the wall, I open
my mouth to explain but she cuts me off. Mopping up the red mess,
she softly says, “Thank you.”

My brow bunches in confusion. I don’t
answer. She mops up more blood before looking up at me. “For caring
about her so much you would do this.” She opens her arms out to the
blood-stained floor. Without looking back at me, she says softly,
“She needs someone like you, Ghost.”

That pisses me off. I spit, “No one needs
someone like me.”

She looks saddened by my admission. She
stands and walks over to me. We stand almost face to chest and she
states firmly, “Nat does.”

Neither of us speaks for a moment. She tugs
my collar and looks unsure as she says, “You just need to let her
in here.” She puts a hand over my heart. “And here.” She places her
fingertips on my forehead. “Don’t believe the things your brain
tells you about yourself. Your worth is judged by what others think
of you, not what you think of you. Just give her a chance. She’ll
surprise you,” she finishes quietly. Then she takes the
blood-stained towels inside and shuts the door behind her.

Sighing deeply, I head back to my place.
Once the door clicks shut, I place my forehead on the back of the
door.

I need a drink.

Chapter
Nine
Swapping spit

Lying in bed twiddling my thumbs, I am
this
close to losing my shit. It’s almost midnight and I’m
still a little shaken by Cole’s unexpected appearance.

I mean, c’mon! Is the guy freakin’
serious?

Did he think I would pretend the whole
I
slapped you so hard you fell off the counter
thing didn’t
happen?

Fuck that!

Once Helena ushered me to my room, she made
me put in my mp3 player. So there I was, devastated and frightened,
listening to Hall and Oates sing ‘I can’t go for that (No can
do)’.

Not exactly fitting music for the situation,
but once Helena realized what I was listening to, she
enthusiastically burst into song and I couldn’t contain my
laughter. We love Adam Sandler and
The Wedding Singer
is one
of our favorite movies. When she finally joined us, Nina decided to
back us up with the singing.

And, as expected, we totally rocked that
shit.

So there we were, singing crazy assed
eighties music, doing some crazy assed eighties dance moves and two
stepping. I almost forgot about Cole til I heard him yell out a
blood curdling scream.

Fucking Cole. He ruined my eighties dance
party.

So Nina did the only thing she could do.
Docked my mp3 player and put the music on full volume. I didn’t
know what Ghost was doing to him and, frankly, I didn’t give a
damn. All I knew is that Cole’s screams could be heard over the
music, and the music was pretty damn loud.

It almost sickens me that I felt
satisfaction bloom in the pit of my stomach.

Almost.

Ghost isn’t a half-in kind of guy. I know
whatever punishment he dealt to Cole would’ve been bad. So bad that
I don’t actually want to know any of the details. I’d probably
ralph. You see, blood and I don’t mix well together.

Helena excused herself from the bedroom
making our trio a duet. She was gone for around ten minutes. When
she came back, I asked her where Ghost was and she said he went
home. I obviously didn’t hide my disappointment very well because
both my sisters jumped to his defense saying he was tired from work
and mentally exhausted from having to deal with Cole, and it was
probably best that he didn’t see me right then. Around ten, I
excused myself claiming exhaustion and went to bed.

Which brings us to now. Normally, sleep and
I are best buddies, but I’ve been counting sheep for the past two
hours. My brain just won’t quit.

This ticks me off.

An idea crosses my mind and like a freakin’
compulsion, I can’t let it go. Huffing out an annoyed breath, I
toss the covers off me. Slipping on my Minnie Mouse head slippers,
I creep to my bedroom door and sneak down the hall. I open the
front door and walk over to Ghost’s door. I close my eyes, take a
deep breath and knock quietly.

Realizing all too quickly that this is a
very stupid idea, I turn on my heel and swiftly head back to my
apartment. I know I’m too late when I hear his door open. “Nat?
Everything okay?”

Busted.

I turn to face him and utter, “Yeah. Sorry.
I didn’t realize what time it was, and by the time I did, I figured
you’d be asleep.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

He leans his body against the doorframe and
crosses one leg over the other. He’s dressed in his regular
sleepwear of his blue pants and white tee. He makes it all too easy
to make plain pajamas look sexy. His eyes search me long and hard
as if he doesn’t believe me. I play with the ring on my finger and
shift nervously, looking around for an escape when he slowly asks,
“Wanna come in?”

Bad idea. Don’t go in. It’s a trap!

But my mouth decides for me. “Sure.”

What the feck, mouth?

Once I step into his apartment, I realize
it’s the first time I’ve been in his place. The lights are off, but
through the illumination coming from the side of the room, I can
see it clearly enough to notice it’s exactly as I thought it would
be.

Bare as the day it was made.

No sofa, no dining table, no TV. A wide
bookshelf full to the brim of books sits in the place where the
sofa should be and the wall closest to the patio has a long table
with, I mentally count,
one, two, three, four
computers and
one laptop. They’re all up and running. Some flashing while others
beep. His apartment is like a freakin’ control room. The only thing
that our places seem to have in common is that we both have a
refrigerator.

I look at him and utter out of the corner of
my mouth, “Not a lot going on in here.”

He glares through furrowed brows. “I like it
just fine.”

Wide eyed and nodding slowly, I respond,
“And that’s all that matters, friend.”

Rolling his eyes, he asks shortly, “Was
there something you needed?”

Okay. Be quick. Get to the point. Then run
like hell.

Nodding once more, I step forward, closing
the distance between us. By the time I reach him, his face has
turned questioning. I explain in a rush, “You know I kind of
realized that you’ve not come to my rescue just once, but twice
now, and I haven’t said a damn thing to you about it.” I turn and
pace, running my hand down my chin to stroke my imaginary beard.
Scoffing, I tell him, “My mom would be so disappointed in me and I
hate to say it, but I know I was really selfish today and just
thinking about myself. And what shit taste I have in men. And how
much I miss Tina and the girls. And how much I wish I could tell
them what happened without sounding like a weak person or victim.”
My eyes start to sting. I breathe in a shuddering breath and go on,
“I just don’t know how this happened. I should’ve seen it from the
start, but I think I was so desperate to connect with someone that
I settled for anyone.” I turn to him and point at his chest.
“
You
saw it. You called him the, quote, angry man, end
quote, and all I did was get defensive. I should’ve known, but I
didn’t and now I feel stupid about it.” My feet still suddenly,
stopping me in my pacing tracks. My eyes shut and placing my
fingertips to my forehead, I laugh a humorless laugh. “So stupid.
Anyways, I just wanted to come over here and thank you for being my
hero. Twice. And I don’t know what you did to Cole, but I gotta
say, I was as happy as a pig in shit hearing him scream like a
sissy girl.”

Ghost blinks. Once. Twice. A wide smile
transforms his beautiful face. He responds softly, “That was a
fucking long thank you, pretty girl, and I’ll take it, but you
should know, I’m more of an anti-hero.”

My face softens and I smile a small smile.
“That’s not true.” I close the distance between us and take hold of
his hand. I feel so tiny next to him. My head only reaches his
shoulder when I’m without heels. His eyes question me. He looks at
my dainty hand holding his large, calloused one. I whisper, “You
didn’t have to come but you did. You helped me even though I really
don’t deserve it. I’m always such a bitch to you.” I dip my face
and confide in him. “You know I like you. You and me, we’re the
same kind. We’re like avengers. Protecting the people we love. It
makes sense for us to be friends, right?”

I look up into his softening eyes and he
nods once.

Relief flows through me, lightening my body.
I squeeze his hand and smile. “Okay. Good. Great. Now close your
eyes, please.”

His eyes narrow untrustingly and I roll my
eyes at him. With a shake of the head, I urge, “Would you just do
it!”

He rolls his eyes right back at me and
laughter climbs up my throat, itching to get free. I bite my lip to
stop it from escaping. He puffs out a breath, puts his hands on his
hips and makes a show of closing his eyes. Once they’re closed, I
lift my hands in front of his face and wave ‘em around like I’m at
a rave party. I’m satisfied he can’t see, but now that I’m in this
position, I don’t know how I’m going to make this work. Looking
around his apartment, I tell him, “Don’t move a muscle.”

I run across the room to the bookcase and
get the two phone books from the bottom shelf. Placing the phone
books on the floor in front of Ghost’s feet, one on top of the
other, I carefully step on my makeshift stepping stool. I bounce up
and down to make sure they’re stable, and once I’m satisfied
there’s no threat of me falling on my ass, I place both my palms
onto Ghost’s hard chest. His body stiffens at my touch, but as I
rub his chest gently, I soon feel him relax under my palms. I take
this moment to get a good look at him.

He’s beautiful.

His new haircut is modern and stylish,
shaved at the sides but still longer up top. It brings attention to
his face and makes him look polished.

My gaze slides down his lean and muscular
body. The white tee he wears is tight against his skin, and I can
make out every ridge of muscle that makes up his abs. His arms are
toned and strong, with veins running through them. I wonder what it
would be like to be held by those arms.

Here goes nothing.

The phone books have almost made me the same
height as Ghost and we’re so close that my breasts are almost
pressed up against him. I slide my hands from his chest, up his
shoulders to curve behind his neck. He tenses when I pull my body
flat against his and hold onto him as if I’m scared he’ll run from
me. Because, in reality, I
am
scared he’ll run from me. My
soft cheek rests against his stubbled one. My fingertips play with
the short hair at the back of his head.

This is intense. There are too many
feels.

Yeah, icky feels.

My heart races and I suddenly feel
vulnerable.

I whisper hoarsely, “Thank you. Thank you so
much for being there for me. I don’t know what would’ve happened
tonight if you weren’t there. I am thankful as fuck that you were,
because I can handle getting knocked around, but I don’t know what
I would’ve done if something happened to my sisters.”

Having said my piece, I feel Ghost’s arms
hesitate at his sides before they wrap around my lower back and
hold me tight. I release the breath I hadn’t known I was holding
and sink into him, feeling secure and protected. I burrow my face
into his neck and breathe him in.

He smells like manly soap and mint. The
weird combination works its magic, soothing me.

I totally need this right now. My sisters
know I’m not the hugging kind so they don’t even try anymore. Today
I really needed contact, any form of contact, but didn’t want to be
that
pathetic girl that asks for it.