Love Thy Neighbor (12 page)

There’s no fucking way they cooked all this
food just for the four of us. There’s enough to feed fifteen
people!

I sit across from Nat and take her in while
she chats to Helena. Her eye’s swelling has lessened even more and
she looks in good spirits. Her flaming red hair looks newly colored
and cut, as does Helena’s. They must’ve had a girls’ spa day. I
search her face for some sign of distress but I can’t see any. Her
beautiful green eyes are bright and sparkling, her cheeks are
flushed from laughter and her full lips are pink and delicious.
She’s not wearing makeup and, somehow, it’s turning me on.

Does she look this fresh when she wakes up
in the morning?

My semi-erection swells. I’m so fucking
ashamed of myself. The girl just got attacked by the guy she was
dating, and I’m thinking about her in my bed.

Fuck me. I’m an asshole.

Yeah, I really am.

***

I look across the table at Ghost and my lady
bits flutter happily.

The man’s hotter than Hell, that’s for
sure.

Wearing black jeans, a tight white
long-sleeved tee and steel-capped boots,
sigh
, he looks
gorgeous. Looking closely at him makes me wonder what I ever saw in
Cole. When my eyes reach his, I freeze. His soft brown eyes have
darkened to almost black. He’s looking at me like I’m dinner. And
he’s very hungry.

My mouth becomes drier than the Sahara and
my cheeks heat. I dip my head to avoid his intense stare. After a
moment of hiding my body’s betraying flush, I sneak another peek at
him. My lady boner deflates when I see he’s not staring at me
anymore, just listening to my sisters’ jibber jabber.

Damn. Could’ve really used the ego boost
right now.

I watch in amusement as my sisters load up
Ghost’s plate with food. It’s seriously a smallish mountain and his
look of astonishment is freakin’ hilarious. I chuckle, shaking my
head. Nina and Helena will be pissed if he doesn’t eat what they’ve
put on there for him.

A smiling Nina tells him, “Once you eat your
dinner, we’ve got
Krempita
for dessert. You’ll love it. It’s
like a vanilla pudding slice. There’s pastry on the top and bottom,
and the middle is this thick, smooth pudding. So yummy.”

Helena and I look at each other and yell
out, “Yummeh!”

I bite my lip to stop myself from bursting
into laughter. Ghost looks like he’s having trouble digesting the
fact that Nina just told him to eat his dinner like a good little
boy but quietly responds, “Thank you. This all looks
delicious.”

We watch him like the hawks we are, and he
starts with a small bite of the peas and rice Helena made. Helena
tells him, “That’s called
Rizi Bizi
.” And Ghost almost
chokes on his food. I smile. The pronunciation is funny, okay!

Every time he samples a dish, one of my
sisters explains what it is and who taught them to cook it. Now, I
don’t wanna blow my own whistle, but I’m a damn good cook and it
makes me a little sad that nothing going into Ghost’s belly is
something I made. The guy took care of me last night and I haven’t
given him anything to say thank you. I could’ve at least made the
damn cake!

Now that I think about it, I don’t think I
even said the words
thank you
to him.

I suddenly feel lower than scum and abruptly
lose my appetite. I keep my head lowered in shame, pick at the
things on my plate and listen to my sisters have one-sided
conversations with Ghost.

Everyone has finished eating and I’m
surprised to see that Ghost cleaned his plate. I get up to collect
the dishes, but when I pass him, I feel the urge to do something
ultra-cheesy and too familiar. I hesitate but my hand has a mind of
its own. Running my fingers through his longish, ashy colored hair
I ask, “Good?”

He looks sated and stupid happy. Smiling a
small smile with eyes half-mast like he’s falling into a food coma,
he responds with a happy grunt. I run my fingers through his hair
again and tell him quietly, “You need a haircut.”

Still running my fingers through his hair,
he closes his eyes in bliss. He exhales through his reply, “I hate
getting it cut, they never do it how I want it.”

Okay, so I’m secretly overjoyed that I’m
doing something he seems to like. Not that I’d ever tell the ass
that.

Not that I’d ever tell
anyone
that.

I massage his scalp for a few minutes, place
a small kiss atop his head when I’m done, then take the dishes over
to the sink. I cut the cake and bring slices of it over to
everyone. My sisters have moved over to the sofa, happily chatting,
eating and watching TV. I don’t know where it comes from, but I
suddenly feel a little naughty. Smiling a saucy smile, I sit next
to Ghost. So close that our thighs are pressed together. He leans
back and narrows his eyes in a
what are you
doing
sort of way. I widen my eyes innocently, shrug and pick up his
plate of pudding slice. Using his fork, I cut off a small piece and
place it in my mouth. His eyes flash and focus on my mouth.

The taste hits me like a tornado. Sweet and
smooth. Absolutely delicious.

My eyes flutter shut and I moan low and
long. I chew slowly and swallow. I open my eyes and look straight
into his heated stare. I whisper hoarsely, “You have to try this.
It’s better than sex.”

Cutting another small piece, I move the fork
over to his slightly parted mouth and say, “Open.”

He does, ever so slightly, and I place the
cake into his mouth. His hooded gaze never leaves mine. His lips
close over the fork and I slowly drag it out of his mouth. I smile,
and although he doesn’t smile back, his eyes do. And my core jolts.
His eyes close in bliss as he slowly chews. When he swallows, his
eyes open and he leans forward, right in my face and grins most
charmingly. “You’re right. Damn good, but not better than sex.” The
tip of his nose almost touches mine. I successfully hide my shudder
and close my eyes. He states, “Not sex with you anyways.”

And just like that, I’m burning up.

Holy crap, that’s hot!

I thought I was in charge here, but damn! He
just turned those tables on me. And I like that. I normally hate
when people gain the upper hand, but with Ghost, it’s almost like I
trust him in that position. I don’t do trust very easily. And
though I don’t know that he wouldn’t hurt me, I
know
he
wouldn’t hurt me. I’m a firm believer in trusting your gut and what
never felt right before, suddenly feels right now. I want him.

I want him bad.

I’m suddenly speechless. I’m never
speechless! There’s always some witty, smartass, acid remark on the
tip of my tongue. The tip of my tongue currently has a sign on it
saying
Rubbin’ one out. Be back in five.

Just as I think of something witty to say,
Nina is by my side. She grabs hold of Ghost’s hand and firmly says,
“Up.”

He narrows his eyes at her suspiciously but
he stands. She leads him over to a single chair in the middle of my
apartment and pushes him to sit.

Oh, dear God. I know what she’s doing and I
can’t stop the chuckle from breaking free. Poor guy never stood a
chance.

Once his butt hits the chair, he raises a
finger and opens his mouth to say something, but she cuts him off
with a swish of her hairdresser’s cape. Tightening the cape around
his neck, Ghost swallows hard and suddenly looks very worried.
Before he can say another word, his eyes are forced shut as she
sprays his hair with water and combs it through. She walks around
him and mutters things like “too damn long” and “what to do, what
to do”. Her eyes brighten and she smiles. She combs and cuts at his
thickish hair for only a few minutes before she clips the sides of
his head.

It doesn’t look very appealing right now,
but Nina has a way of making things work.

She puts down the clippers and uses the
thinning scissors on what’s left of his hair. Seeming satisfied
with the results, she removes the cape but tells him not to move. I
shoot him an apologetic look and shrug. He narrows his eyes at me
like this is somehow my fault. I raise my hands in an
I didn’t
do anything
motion and chuckle. Nina comes back with a tub of
goopy wax and takes him into the bathroom. I hear her explaining to
him how to use it to style his new do when the doorbell rings.
Still smiling I head over to the door and answer it.

As soon as I pull the door open, my blood
runs cold.

This seems like an appropriate reaction
because there stands Cole wearing an easy smile, holding a giant
bouquet of pink roses.

I’m petrified. I literally can’t move. My
hands sweat. I lock my knees to stop them shaking and whisper,
“Cole.”

His eyes are rueful and he sighs, “Sorry I’m
late, sunshine.” He nods to the flowers. “I had to get something
special for my girl.” He has the audacity to wink at me, and I
suddenly want to pour hot tar over his head and throw a bucket of
feathers over him.

Immediately Helena is by my side and asks
cautiously, “Who are you?”

He smiles his devastatingly sexy smile, “I’m
Cole. And by the looks of you, I’m going to take a stab and say
you’re Nat’s sister.”

Nina comes out of nowhere, standing on my
other side, flanking me and holding her extremely sharp
hairdressing scissors. She shoots him a look of disbelief then
spits, “The only thing that’s going to get stabbed is you if you
don’t leave right this second. I can’t believe you have the nerve
to come back here after what you did to my sister, carrying a bunch
of flowers, no less.”

Coles smile vanishes and the cruel I saw in
him last night re-emerges. The flowers he holds drop to his side,
his eyes narrow at Nina and he spits, “Mind your fucking business,
bitch.”

Helena takes hold of my hand and very calmly
tells him, “You need to stay away from my sister. So please leave.
Now.”

My throat clogs and my vision blurs with
unshed tears. Just as I open my mouth to tell Cole to leave someone
cuts me off.

“Girls, get in the bedroom. Now.”

Well, today just got real interesting.

***

Rage coils tightly in my gut like a snake
ready to attack its prey.

Cole glances at me and smiles. Definitely
not a
how you doing
smile, more like a
I’m going to enjoy
gutting you
kind of smile. The girls haven’t moved. This is not
a fucking joke. It pisses me off. I boom, “Girls, now!”

Helena gently leads Nat backwards by the
hand and walks her down to her room. I walk to stand behind Nina
who stares up at Cole like she would take immense pleasure in
cutting off his dick. I know how she feels. I place a gentle hand
on her shoulder and whisper in her ear, “She needs you.”

Thank fuck that works. After a few more
seconds of staring, she backs away. Once I hear the bedroom door
close, I suggest, “Maybe you should leave before someone has an
accident.”

Cole, being the big tough guy he is, gloats,
“Just coz I got the girl you want.” He tuts. “She don’t want you,
man. Back off. Leave her to a real man.”

I step closer to him, my voice perfectly
calm, “Let’s talk outside.”

He narrows his eyes at me in suspicion but
backs into the hall. I follow him out and shut the door behind me.
I smile the most fake, friendly smile I can and hold my hand out to
him to shake. He looks confused but takes my hand.

Big. Fucking. Mistake.

Quick as a flash, I flip him onto his
stomach, twisting his arm behind his back at an awkward and
unnatural angle. I dig my knee into his side knowing the pressure
in his kidney will be excruciating in just a moment. This guy is
shorter than me but has more muscle. Muscle can be good, if you
know how to use it. Cole clearly doesn’t.

I lean forward, digging my knee further into
his side. He groans loudly and I hiss into his ear, “You
will
stay away from Nat. I won’t tell you again. Don’t fuck
with me, Cole. You have no idea what I’m capable of.” Using my knee
to balance myself, I use my free hand to take a piece of paper out
of my back pocket. I open it up and read, “Cole Taylor Lewis.
Prescription medication: Antipsychotic, antipsychotic,
antidepressant, antipsychotic and more antidepressants. Five-year
stint in juvenile hall for attempted rape and assault on a minor.
Assault charges up the wazoo.” It’s my turn to tut. “Cole, Cole,
Cole. You’ve been a busy guy, huh? Well, lucky for you, your life
lost some of its busy because you’re not seeing Nat anymore. Get
me?”

Cole hisses through a groan, “You don’t make
decisions for her! She’s my girl!”

I nod solemnly and tell him, “No. I don’t
make decisions for her. But I’m making one for you. You know what
happens if I talk her into pressing charges against you. Which I
can. I’m her friend and she trusts me.”

Cole barks a harsh laugh, “With what? You
got no evidence, man.”

I take out my phone and open the gallery
with the twenty photos I took of Nat’s swollen, bruised face after
she passed out. I put it in front of his face and his body
stills.

Yeah, I got you, fucker.

“You will not attempt to see Nat again. If
you do, I’m coming after you, and only one of us will come out of
it alive.” Cole sniggers, and I smile an acid smile that I know he
can’t see. Reaching into my back pocket, I take out my beautiful
sterling silver handled switch blade hunting knife. I lean forward
and open it right in his face.

He stills and chokes out, “What are you
doing?”

Without stopping, I reply clinically,
“Showing you how fuckin’ serious I am, you rodent.” With the blade
opened, I move my knee into the center of his back, pushing his arm
back so far it should pop out of its socket any moment. He huffs,
puffs and groans an almost scream and it makes me happy.