Love Thy Neighbor (29 page)

Maybe Sheriff was right. Maybe this
is
love.

If it isn’t, it’s pretty damn close.

I push her legs apart and lay on her, my
head on her chest. I listen to her heart race and smile, knowing I
have that effect on her. My chest expands and I feel like claiming
her. So I do.

I wrap my arms around her small waist and
say gruffly in caveman speak, “You woman. My woman.”

She laughs and I listen through her chest,
the vibrations tickling my cheek. Stroking my hair, she replies
softly, “Yeah. I’m yours, babe.”

The thought of her with someone else makes
me irrationally angry. My gut twists and I spit out, “And I do
not
share. Not with any fucker.”

Gripping the longer hair at the top of my
head tight, she pulls my head up to look into my eyes and replies
in complete seriousness, “Me too. So tell Tasha you’re not seeing
her anymore.”

Even though my scalp aches like a bitch, I
smile, “Already did, girl.”

Smiling back, she says softly, “Good.
Would’ve been a shame for me to kick her ass. She seemed nice.”

She loosens her grip of my hair and I lay my
head back in the valley between her breasts. It’s so warm and
comfortable there. I close my eyes and mumble, “It’s different with
you. What is it about you, girl?”

She stills a moment before she resumes
stroking my hair. She says quietly, “I don’t know, Ash. But I love
you. A lot.”

I want to return the sentiment. I really do.
But I’m not there yet. Not quite. I feel strongly for her. Stronger
than I’ve ever felt for anyone in my life and knowing she’s mine
makes me feel like I can do anything. Overcome anything. She took
away the one hold my father had on me. Now I don’t even think about
him anymore. I feel lighter and happier than ever and it’s all
because of her.

Warmth spreads throughout my body. I turn my
face and kiss the inside of her breast. I don’t answer her, just
squeeze her tight. She wraps her legs around me and we stay that
way for a long while, completely comfortable in our silence.

Fuck me.

I think I’m falling in love with my
girl.

***

“Yo, pretty girl, it’s time to go. Get your
ass into gear.”

What?

I shuffle out of my bedroom, careful not to
touch my still wet toenails, still dressed in my jammies. My brow
furrows in confusion and I ask, “What are you talking about, Ash? I
don’t have to leave for…” Checking my watch, I tell him, “…another
two hours.”

He looks so good in his uniform. Those
muscular arms strain his tight black tee and I want to lean against
something and sigh. He wears a pair of black jeans that look as if
they were made for him, encasing his strong legs. His belt buckle
gleams and his black dress shoes look just polished. Shaking his
head, he tells me, “Nuh uh. Called Meems, told her you were comin’
in with me tonight.”

My eyes widen, my mouth gapes and I snap,
“You think you could’ve told me, asshat?”

His face drops as he mutters, “The fuck I do
now?”

Shaking my head, I exhale loudly in
frustration and explain in an almost shout, “It’s a process, Ash!
It takes time to get ready to go clubbing. I haven’t touched my
hair or makeup yet. I don’t even know what I’m going to wear
tonight!”

His face lifts again and he smiles, “The
dress you wore last week was hot. Wear that.”

I scoff in disbelief and tell him, “There
are
rules
for dressing, babe! Number one is do
not
wear the same thing twice in a row.”

His face becomes serious. He stares into
oblivion and he nods slowly as if he finally understands my
predicament. He stalks past me and goes into my room. I hear him
shuffling around and not a minute later he comes back out with
tight, long sleeved red and black checkered dress and a pair of
plain black pumps.

It could be worse.

It’s actually…
not
bad.

He looks at me cautiously through wide eyes
like he’s expecting me to lose it. I roll my eyes. “Not bad,
pinhead.”

He smiles. I’ve never seen Ghost smile like
this. It’s an Asher smile. It’s beautiful. It makes me want to fuck
up the person who took this smile away from him. I tell him
quietly, “You did good, baby.”

It takes me all of fifteen minutes to get
ready. Seriously, a freakin’ record for me. I wear the dress and
shoes Ash picked for me, and when I walked out of the bathroom, he
looked me up and down wearing a stupid smile as if he is proud of
his handiwork.

Halfway to the club, he says to me, “Not
wearin’ your lips tonight?”

I smirk. I was hoping he’d notice. “I will
be. I’ll fix it in the mirror before we head in.”

He has no idea I’m not wearing lipstick
because I have plans to do things with my lips before we enter the
club.

As soon as he parks his panty-wetting muscle
car into The White Rabbit’s parking lot, I wait patiently til he
takes out the keys and turns to me. I climb across the seat and
into his lap. I place my arms around his neck and smile softly at
him. His face softens as he searches me through a tender gaze. We
look into each other’s eyes for a short while and my heart races. I
lean forward slowly and kiss his lips, so soft it’s barely a
whisper. He growls low in his throat and captures my bottom lip,
gently nipping it. Opening my mouth, I push my tongue against his
and moan at the contact.

I love this man. With all my heart. He’s it
for me. I’ll never find another like him.

I press into him, deepening our kiss. His
arms wrap around me, constricting me, making me feel safe and warm.
I reach up and cup his cheek. He pulls back a little and says, “Say
it.”

Confused, I pull back further and look into
his hooded eyes. He repeats, “Say it, baby.”

It dawns on me and with a small smile, I
tell him sincerely, “I love you, Asher Collins.”

Looking pained, he closes his eyes and rests
his forehead on mine. He whispers, “Don’t deserve you. Not even a
bit. But as long as you want me, you got me.”

My eyes close and I whisper, “Don’t leave
me. Ever.”

“Never. You’re my girl,” he replies
seriously.

My heart swells with joy and I breathe a
sigh of relief.

Tonight is going to be a good night.

***

As soon as we enter the club, it’s time to
commence mission
No one suspects a thing.

Basically, Ash and I have to start acting
like our old selves. It’s not something I like doing, but I really
do want this relationship to be just mine and his for a little
longer. At least til he can tell me he loves me. He almost said it
this morning but something is holding him back. I felt the waves of
frustration radiating off of him. It hurt a little, but I know he’s
trying. I’m doing my best to not take it personally. I know what he
went through at home. As far as I’m concerned, I’m lucky he’s
claiming me as his girl. That’s a big step for lil old Ghost.

Just before we enter the club, he kisses me
long and hard. I’d just put on my lipstick but I don’t care. His
lips are drugging. His kisses are mind-consuming. I’m a lucky,
lucky girl.

Now it’s showtime.

He follows me through the door and squeezes
my ass. I turn to him and see he wears his cheeky new happy smile.
I’ve only had the honor of seeing it a few times before. I can’t
help but chuckle at him. The real Asher is actually quite a goofy
guy. Who knew what was hiding under all the broodiness?

It’s early. The club doesn’t open for
another half hour. He leads me upstairs to the VIP area. He looks
over at me and says, “Got shit to do,” then throws a wink my way
and walks toward the security room.

I trot over to the bar to greet Stefan, the
handsome barman. I say, “Howdy, Sheriff.”

He looks up at me and smiles while clutching
his chest. He teases, “Be still my beating heart.”

Chuckling, I tease, “You know, I could
really use a drink. I know you’re busy and all, but I want the most
complicated thing you can muster. Make it a double. And I want a
show, like Tom Cruise in Cocktail.”

He barks a laugh, winks at me and says
quietly, “I ain’t ever too busy for you, beautiful.”

We chat and laugh and just as he starts to
make my fancy drink, Tina appears by my side, hugging me and
bouncing up and down. She looks at Stefan and says, “Yay! I love
when Sheriff puts on a show!”

We whoop and cheer as Stefan flips and
catches bottles. He mixes two drinks and hands one to Tina. We both
look at it like it’s poison being that Tina’s pregnant. Trying my
hardest not to be inconspicuous, I grab her drink and shoot it.
Tina cheers me on and as soon as Sheriff turns around, she mouths
dramatically, “
Thank you, honey
!” and runs a hand down her
face.

I chuckle at her over-the-top dramatics.

Two hours later, we’re all seated at the
booth. Asher is doing a shift of security work so he won’t be free
for a few hours, but I’m having so much fun with my friends that
I’m happy knowing he’s in the same vicinity as me. Max and I flirt,
as per usual. He says some dirty, dirty things that makes even me
blush. I spend most of the night laughing my head off at the
ridiculous conversations happening and watching Nik and Tina
through envious eyes.

I want that.

That carefree relationship. The love. The
comfort of knowing you’re committed to your soul mate. I want it
all.

Max pulls me into his side and I snuggle
him. I love Max. He’s my best guy friend. I feel the booth bench
depress and I turn to see a very unhappy Asher glare at me. I flush
in guilt, straighten and say in perfect old Nat, “What the hell are
you lookin’ at, assface?”

Ash glares at Max, leans closer to me and
whispers into my ear, “Shit’s gonna hit the fan, baby. Brace
yourself.”

For a second, I think he means he’s going to
lose his shit and I’m worried. My worry abates when he nods over to
the VIP entrance and my mouth gapes before I burst out
laughing.

Oh, shitty shit shit. It’s gonna hit the fan
for sure.

When they spot me laughing, everyone turns
to look towards the VIP entrance. Mimi, Tina and Lola whoop in
excitement. Nik, Max and Trick all wear
what the fuck
faces.
And it’s hilarious.

Nik and Max’s sisters, Leticia, Maria and
Isabel stand there all dolled up and waving excitedly.

Here’s the thing.

Isa…she’s only nineteen.

Fucking hilarious!

Rock on!

Chapter Twenty-Three
Coming out

Nik stands and yells out, “Here. Now.”

All three sisters look worried for a second.
You see, Nik was a father figure in his household. His father died
when he was a teenager so he took over those duties. He is, what I
like to call, a fucking champ. I love Nik and couldn’t have picked
a better guy for my best friend.

The sisters putter to the table with wide
eyes. Nik and Max’s sisters are stunning. Leti is the oldest, Maria
is the middle sister and Isa is the youngest…by a lot. Nik is
almost sixteen years older than her.

Leti and Maria look like twins. They have
long, dark, wavy hair. So dark it could be called black, and big
dark-brown expressive eyes like their mama. Isa looks very much the
same but she has big expressive amber-colored eyes like Nik and
Max. And Isa is a hottie for such a tender age. Nik’s going to have
a hernia when she starts dating, if she isn’t already.

Leti, as the oldest tries to pacify Nik. She
places her hand up in a wait motion. “Do you think I would take my
little sister out to get her into trouble, Nikolai?”

He opens his mouth to speak but Maria cuts
him off with a whiny, “C’mon, Niki. Take a chill pill. She’s not
drinking. She’s bored at home all alone.” When she says all alone,
she takes her hand and squeezes Isa’s cheeks and I burst into
laughter.

I love these girls.

Isa shakes off Maria’s hand, dips her chin
and says quietly, “It’s okay, Niki. I can go. I don’t want to be a
bother.”

My heart silently breaks for her but I see
Nik’s is too.

He pulls her into a hug and says, “You can
stay, baby, just as long as you don’t drink. I love you a hell of a
lot, but I don’t want to lose my liquor license over this.”

Isa smiles and looks up at her big brother
like he hangs the stars at night. He looks at her the exact same
way and I suddenly miss my sisters. Tina stands and pulls Maria
down next to her. They chat immediately about some new clothing
that’s come into the store. Mimi hijacks Leti to talk gossip and
smack about anyone and everyone. I see Isa look around the table
wide-eyed. She feels out of place.

I hate that.

I wave her over, and when she gets close
enough, I pull her down to sit on Asher’s side so we’re flanking
him and I ask her about school. Ash smiles like a proud father and
puts his arm around her. I forgot that Isa is like his sister. She
would’ve been only a baby when he came to live with them. She
shoots him a sweet smile before her expression turns exhausted. She
says, “We’re on a break now. Thank God. I don’t know how much more
I can take of it. To think there’s another three years…I think I
could pass out.”

Smiling, I tell her, “My sister is in her
last year of physical therapy and she says it’s worth the long
haul.” She smiles softly and I say, “Hang in there, babe. It’ll be
worth it in the end.”

We all chat for a while longer before Trick
asks his cousin aloud, “So, Isa baby, you dating anyone?”

She flushes bright red, her eyes wide as she
looks across the table at a suddenly stiff Nik and Max. She
stutters, “N- No! I mean, no boys asked me out. They wouldn’t
anyways. I’m not their type.”