The Boy Next Door (38 page)

Chapter Four

Saturday morning dawned brightly since Victoria forgot to close the drapes the night before.  Her margaritas treated her nicer than the red wine, and she stretched her limbs before heading to the kitchen for coffee.

Amber was already in there, and grinned from ear to ear when Victoria rounded the corner.

“So… have any fun last night after I left?”

Victoria laughed, “A little, but nothing like that.  Just introduced ourselves and gave him a peek.”

“So what’s his name?”

“Damian.  Can you believe that?”

“I believe it!  It fits him to a T!”

“Doesn’t it though?  He did seem, ah, interested.”

“Well, with that dress you had on, who wouldn’t be?”

Victoria’s pale cheeks blossomed, “I guess it’s just been a while since someone even noticed, let alone appreciated me.”

Amber patted her hand, “I know, I’m just giving you a hard time.”

“So shall we go grocery shopping today?  I can’t eat out every night.”

Amber agreed, “Yeah, it’s probably a good idea.  How do you want to handle all of that?”

Victoria scrunched her brows together, “I get what you mean.  How about I buy the groceries to make up for the heat and water I’m using?  We can figure out something else if I end up staying here longer.”

“Fair enough,” Amber smiled.

They both showered and headed out to the store.  They were trying to beat the crowd of soccer moms with their screaming kids, but luckily it seemed that most of them were still at said soccer games.

They loaded up the cart with the essentials – more cheese and crackers, more Merlot, extra lemonade, and several meals worth of chicken and pasta and garlic bread.  At the last minute, they decided to add all of the fixings for homemade tacos.  Once they checked out, they swung by the apartment to put everything away, and then headed back out to grab lunch.

“It seems ironic to go out to lunch after the grocery store,” Victoria observed with a smirk.

“True enough, but I don’t feel like cooking,” Amber laughed.

They ended up at a small Indian restaurant that had a wonderful buffet.  After filling up on raita, saag paneer and naan, they went back home and dropped themselves on the couch for a movie marathon.  Luckily, Amber had some popcorn hiding in the pantry, and it turned into a quiet Saturday afternoon.

After the second movie ended, the women stretched and yawned as they realized they had not moved in over four hours.  The two headed to the patio for a glimpse of sunshine and tried not to notice Damian slouched against the railing with his back to them.  Even his back was muscular under his thin white tee shirt, and both women made the “O” face at each other as they eyes drank him in.

After their cigarette, they decided it was about time for dinner.  As they pulled out all of the taco ingredients, Amber realized to their horror that they had forgotten guacamole.  She decided that it would not be a complete meal without that piece, so she grabbed her purse to run to the store.

About five minutes after she left, Victoria started to get everything else ready so that the meal would be just about done when Amber returned.  As she started pulling things out of the refrigerator, she heard a loud pounding on the front door.  Her first though was that Amber had forgotten her house key, but that just did not add up.  She stuck the ground beef back in the fridge, and headed to the door.

As she reached for the doorknob, another louder crash sent the door swinging into the apartment and nearly caught her in the nose.  She found herself staring at her very drunk and very angry ex-boyfriend, Michael.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he bellowed, “No one walks out on me!”

She took a step back and stumbled over her purse on the floor.  In that split second, Michael was in front of her, shoving her the rest of the way to the carpet.  He backhanded her across the mouth, and she gasped as she tasted blood.  Michael dug his fingers into her shoulders and pulled her up towards him.  As he smacked her head back down into the carpet, she groaned.  He pulled his balled fist backwards in preparation to slam it into her face when, to her surprise, she felt his body weight disappear from her.

She rolled to one side in case his fist returned, but as she peered from between her fingers, she saw Damian land a punch directly on Michael’s nose.  Michael screeched and grabbed his face.

“What the fuck?  Are you fucking my girlfriend?”

Damian’s face darkened as his thick brows knitted together, “Get the fuck out of here.  Don’t let me catch you here again.”

Michael hesitated and balked, but as Damian pulled his fist back for another punch, Michael ducked and darted out of the door.  Damian slammed it closed behind him.

Victoria still lay in the fetal position, the cut on her lower lip bleeding onto the carpet.  Damian crouched down next to her and rested a palm on her shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“Y-Y-Yeah,” she whimpered, “it’s been worse.”

The muscles in Damian’s strong jaw twitched in anger and he instantly felt bad when she winced at his facial display.

“Come here,” he offered as he gently helped her up to the couch.

Her face flushed in embarrassment and her eyes welled up with tears.  She was mortified that this sexy guy had seen her that way, especially after the way she had been coming on to him the night before.

“Don’t even worry about it,” he smiled as he read her mind.

His teeth flashed white and she could not help but notice the unevenness of his two front teeth even in her state.  She leaned forward until her forehead rested on his chest.  She felt the solidness of the man and the softness of his rescue.  If her lip was not already swelling, she would have been sorely tempted to kiss him in thanks.

Chapter Five

Damian cupped her chin gently in his thick hand and wiped away the tears with a swipe of his thumb.  He shook his head as he regarded Victoria’s face.

“I should have taken that second swing at him,” he said roughly, letting his anger brim to the surface briefly.

She nodded, “I wish you would have.”

His anger broke with a smile, “I hope I never have to.”

Her skin tingled where he touched her, and she found herself lost in his cobalt eyes.  As sexy as he had been from a distance, he was almost overwhelming up close.  His square jaw was prickled with dark stubble, and his nose looked as though it had seen at least a few breaks.  The thin flat scar above one eyebrow only added to his allure.

Victoria watched as Damian’s eyes took her in.  She knew she must look awful after taking that beating and then crying.  The bruise was still healing around her eye and now her lip was split.  But nothing in Damian’s gaze indicated that he noticed.  She saw dark grey storm clouds swirl around inside the blue but they did not spark fear in her.  She suspected they were anger at Michael but she wondered what exactly they meant.

All the stories she had heard about the town’s bad boy came flooding through her mind, and she pictured him riding off on his motorcycle to finish what he had started on Michael’s face.

She smiled and then winced.

“What is it?” he asked, genuine concern bubbling up in his question.

“Nothing really.  I smiled at a thought, and it hurt to smile.”

“A beautiful woman should never be afraid to smile.”

His voice was heavy and thick, and fell around her like a blanket.  He ran his thumb over her upper lip gently and she shivered to her toes.  His face approached hers but instead of kissing her, he grazed his lips against her jawline, intensifying her shivers.

Just as she thought he was going to try more, the door reopened and Amber can bubbling inside.

“Oh!” the curvy little blonde exclaimed.  “I didn’t realize…”

Damian rose from the couch, leaving Victoria breathless and trembling.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Amber stuttered in her surprise.

“Quite alright.  Apparently your visitor needed a little protection and I was happy to accommodate.”

“Protection?”

“Yes, I was on my patio when I heard your door get kicked in.  I jumped the railing and pulled him off of her.”

Victoria hid her face in her hands.

“Holy shit!  Michael was here?”

“I found him bashing her head into the floor so I bashed his nose.”

Amber ran to the couch and fell down next to Victoria, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.  It was almost worth it to see Damian here punch Michael in the nose.”

Amber laughed as she turned to face the tall muscular man, “Did you really?”

“Damn skippy.  I would have kept going but the asshole ran away.”

Amber wrapped her arms around Victoria and held her close.

“Thank you,” she breathed to her friend’s knight.

He nodded and was gone.

Amber whispered in Victoria’s ear, “God, he’s even more gorgeous up close.”

Victoria laughed, “Don’t make me laugh, it hurts.”

Amber rubbed her back and rested her cheek on Victoria’s head.

“I don’t know what I would have done had he not rescued you.”

“I think you would have needed a coroner.  He was going to kill me.”

Amber stayed silent, the fear stealing the breath right out of her body.

Victoria finally pulled back from Amber’s hug, “How about those tacos?”

“S-S-Sure,” Amber said shakily.

“Should I ask him over for dinner?  To say thanks?”

Amber shook her head, “I’d be too nervous to eat and I’m starving.  You’ll find a way to thank him later.”

With a wink, Amber headed to the kitchen.  Victoria shot her a look of mock surprise, but said nothing since the thought had occurred to her when he was kissing her.

About thirty minutes later, they lay the spread out on the coffee table and picked a comedy movie on television.  The guacamole and queso went perfectly with the crisp tortilla chips, and the taco shells were nearly overflowing with seasoned beef, grated cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and salsa.

It was good old-fashioned comfort food with comfort friends, and the two of them leaned on each other until the warm food chased away the monsters in the closet.

Chapter Six

It was Saturday night but Victoria was not up for anything resembling a night out.  Amber had gotten a last-minute date invitation but was very hesitant to leave Victoria by herself.

“It’s okay, really, I’d hate to deprive you of a night of fun.  You don’t have to babysit me.”

Amber shook her head, “What if he comes back?”

“He won’t.  You should have seen the look on his face when Damian actually hit him.  It was priceless.  Almost worth the visit.”

Amber’s face still looked uncertain, with her brows twisted in a question mark and her mouth clamped into a tight thin line.

“Look, why don’t you just let Damian know that you’re going out?  That way he can keep an ear open or something.”