The Neighbor's Son 2: Mind Games (The Forbidden Love Series Book 2) (4 page)

“
If you don’t want to watch
that it’s fine. We can go to another theater. Whatever you want,”
Kevin said after seeing how hesitant I was about seeing the movie
Valerie suggested. I was about to ask Kevin to take me someplace
else when Cade cradled Valerie’s face and slid his tongue inside
the airhead’s mouth. The obscene kiss went on for a while.
Afterward, they giggled against each other’s lips, not giving a
crap about the fact that they were putting on a show. I felt as if
my body was going to combust from the rage rippling through me. The
feeling intensified when Cade turned his head and I saw a smug,
vengeful look in his eyes.

It was war from that point on. Since he was
trying to make me jealous as payback for dumping him, I decided to
give him a taste of his own medicine. I should've taken the high
road and not stoop to his level, but I was too angry to think
rationally. I wrapped my arms around Kevin's neck and mimicked
Valerie’s gestures and expressions. “You know what Kevin? I think
we should stay and watch the movie Valerie suggested. I mean, if
she likes it, it must be like a really, really smart movie with
like a really good plot and like interesting characters.”

“
Okay, then. World War Z it
is,” Kevin beamed, looking a little confused because I was acting
all affectionate towards him all of a sudden. Kevin left the group
and went to the box office to purchase our tickets and some snacks.
I was certain I was going to hate every second of that movie, but I
didn’t care. I was determined to show Cade I didn’t give a rat's
ass that he was with Valerie. While Kevin was away, I was treated
to another shameless tongue wrestling match courtesy of Cade and
his dumber-than-a-bag-of-hammers date. My blood was boiling but I
didn’t let their disgusting PDA rattle me. With a fake smile spread
across my face, I kept my cool until we were all inside the
theater.

Kevin and I found two empty
seats in one of the center rows. Cade and Valerie settled right in
front of us, just two rows down. One hour into the movie, I
couldn’t tell you whether it was good or bad. I couldn’t even tell
you who was starring in it because Cade and his date had my
undivided attention. Neither one of them was paying any attention
to the screen either. They spent that first hour sucking some
serious face, whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears and
laughing out loud at each other's jokes. They were being so
inappropriate, the people around them were shooting them dirty
looks. Cade would occasionally crane his head toward Kevin
and
me and flash me a white-toothed
smile.

I felt disrespected and
humiliated but managed to stay calm and look dignified. If Cade
thought I was going to make a scene and storm
out of the theater, he thought wrong. I wasn't going to give
him the satisfaction of seeing me act like a jealous, jilted ex. I
was determined to make it through that movie with my dignity intact
no matter what he did. I kept counting to ten in my head while
taking deep breaths and shoving popcorn in my mouth. Just another
hour, I kept telling myself. Everything was going according to plan
until Cade started groping Valerie. That's when I freaking lost it.
Screw being the bigger person. It was time for sweet
revenge.

Desperate to make Cade as jealous as he was
making me, I grabbed Kevin’s face and awkwardly slammed my lips
against his. I glanced over at Cade to see if he was watching me
pretend to kiss Kevin. Unfortunately, he had his face buried in
Valerie’s neck and didn't see a thing. He didn’t see Kevin slip his
tongue inside my mouth either. That kiss with Kevin was so sloppy
and awkward, it grossed me out a bit. I should've pushed him away.
I shouldn't have let him violate my mouth like that but I did. I
was hoping Cade would look up and see us. He never did. Not even
once.

Kevin deepened the kiss and started moaning
inside my mouth. His hand began to wander over my body. That’s when
it dawned on me I was acting like a pathetic, immature, teenage
girl. I felt a pang of shame in the pit of my stomach, the type you
feel when you hit rock bottom. There I was, a grown, divorced woman
letting a guy I didn’t even like shove his tongue down my throat
just so I could make a nineteen-year-old kid jealous. My hatred
toward his teenage date, a girl who had never done anything to me,
was also out of line. I was too disgusted with myself to stick
around until the end of the movie. I needed to get the hell out of
that theater before I did any more embarrassing things.

“
You know what? I’m not
feeling well," I said after pulling away from the unpleasant lip
lock. "Is it okay if we leave?”

“
Sure. Sure,” Kevin
grumbled in between ragged breaths. “Is everything okay?” he asked,
visibly frustrated that our make-out session ended so
abruptly.

I nodded and gave him a
half smile. “I have a headache. That’s all.” In the middle of a
very loud explosion scene playing on the screen, Kevin and I got on
our feet and squeezed by the other movie goers to get to the aisle.
The entire time, I kept my eye
on Cade to
see if he’d notice I was leaving. He never looked up. With every
passing second, I felt like a bigger and bigger idiot. I sprinted
towards the theater’s exit as if the place was on fire. Kevin was
right behind me.

The ride back home was very
quiet except for the few comments we exchanged about the movie.
Kevin walked me to my door and waited for me to invite him in. He
looked visibly disappointed when I didn’t. I couldn't blame him for
expecting more. I spent that night sending him mixed signals. That
night, I didn't invite Kevin in. I did, however, agree to see him
again. I shuddered remembering the awkw
ard, sloppy kiss we shared in the movie theater, but I
figured he'd get better at it with time. I was not going to give up
on Kevin yet. I still felt no spark but we had only been out on two
dates. There was plenty of time for us to click. That was the hope
anyways.

After giving Kevin a quick,
close-lipped kiss, I sent him on his way and went straight to bed.
Hours later, I was still wide awake. Even though I was very tired,
I couldn’t get my brain to shut down. I kept picturing Cade with
his tongue down Valerie’s throat. I desperately wanted to believe
that kissing was all they did that night, but even I wasn't that
naïve. I knew he probably took her somewhere and fucked her. I
wondered if he was having a better time with her than he did with
me. I wondered if she was able to satisfy him better than I did. Of
course she was. She was young
er, prettier,
and based on rumors I'd heard around St. Francis, more experienced
than me. A shy, sheltered divorcee like me could never compete with
a girl like Valerie Mason. As tears began to dribble down my
cheeks, I cursed the day that pretty boy and I crossed paths. Never
again, I swore, as sleep finally came to whisk me away from my
misery.

CHAPTER IV

Two weeks later, I found
myself in front of my dresser mirror, getting ready for a
barbecue party one of my neighbors was throwing.
I love going to barbecues in the summertime. They're a lot of fun.
But I wasn’t looking forward to this particular one. In fact, I was
on the verge of calling the hostess and telling her I couldn't make
it. Why? Well, this barbecue party was being held at Cade’s house.
His mother Celia, in an effort to get to know her neighbors better,
decided to organize a get-together in her backyard and invited
everyone on our street.

A week
before the party, Dana and I ran into Celia at the
supermarket. I almost dropped the watermelon I was holding when I
saw her coming around the corner with a cart full of groceries.
Prior to that meeting in the produce aisle, I had only seen Celia
Fisher from afar. Dana, on the other hand, knew her from church and
was already on a first-name basis with her.

C
oming face to face with the mother of my one-time, barely
legal fling was unsettling to say the least. I didn't know if she
knew about my affair with her son or not. There had been whispers
around the neighborhood about Peter showing up drunk at my house
that night, but none about Cade being there too. Still, I didn't
know how much anyone knew about that night or whether any rumors
about Cade and I had reached Celia's ears. I was afraid she'd
accuse me of corrupting her son and shame me in front of my friend
and the other shoppers.

Once
Dana introduced us, I realized I had nothing to worry about.
It was obvious Mrs. Fisher didn't know I had slept with her son.
She didn't even know I was one of her neighbors. When Dana
mentioned I lived on the same street as them, Celia invited me to
her party. I should've rejected her invitation on the spot knowing
that her son was going to be there, but I froze. By the time I came
up with a decent excuse not to attend the barbecue, Celia had
already left the supermarket.

I really didn't want to see
Cade.
I spent that week agonizing over
what I'd say or do once I had him in front of me again. I hadn’t
seen him since we ran into each other at the movie theater and felt
like I was starting to get over him. I was afraid that seeing him
again was going to undo all the progress I had made.

I wanted to bail
on the party, but Dana begged me not to and I
didn't want to be a bad friend. Dana's husband was away on a
business trip and her two young nieces were spending the weekend at
her house. She was a little overwhelmed taking care of five kids
under the age of seven all by herself. She really wanted to go to
Celia's party, but there was no way she could go unless I went with
her. She also argued that since both Cade and I had moved on to
other people, there was nothing wrong with me showing up for a
party at his house. I still thought it was a bad idea but I
couldn't back out of it.

“
Coming,” I hollered
w
hen I heard the doorbell. After adjusting
the straps of my flower-patterned summer dress and running a quick
hand through my hair, I rushed downstairs to let my date in. Since
I couldn't get out of going to the barbecue, I asked Kevin to go
with me. I realized that if I was going to get through that party
without making a fool of myself like I did at the movies, I needed
Kevin there by my side.

I had gone out with Kevin
several times since the movie fiasco and he had continued to grow
on me. He was not the most exciting man in the world by any means,
but he was a genuinely good, unpretentious guy. Besides being age
appropriate, unlike Cade, and treating me with respect, unlike
Peter, the mild-mannered insurance adjuster was also very patient.
Even though he was eager to take the relationship to the next
level, he sensed I wasn't ready
for that
and didn't pressure me into anything. I was still waiting to be
swept off my feet but I wasn't worried. I knew that day would come.
I felt the relationship had a lot of potential and was willing to
invest the time necessary to make it work.

“
Wow. You look incredible,”
Kevin beamed when I swung the door open. A slow smile formed on his
face as his eyes raked over me.

“
Thank you,” I mouthed with
a grin. After stepping out to the porch, I turned my back to him
for a second so I could lock the door. When I swung back around,
his lips ambushed mine, overwhelming them with a restrained but
passionate kiss. Thankfully, he had gotten better at the kissing
thing. He wasn’t making my toes curl the way Cade did yet, but he
was no longer awkward and sloppy. Progress.

“
You’re welcome,” he
whispered after pulling back. His eyes fell to my cleavage,
lingering there for a few seconds. When he realized what he was
doing, a bashful grin curled his lips and his eyes flew back to my
face.
Hey, I said the man was patient. I
didn't say he was dead. "Ready to go?" he asked. I nodded while
slinging my bag over my shoulder. His arm snaked around my waist
and led me down the driveway. “So, who’s this woman whose barbecue
we’re going to?”

“
She’s a new neighbor. I
don’t really know much about her other than she's a widow and has a
son who's in college. She's throwing this barbe
cue party to get to know her neighbors better. I hope it’s
not too boring for you.”

“
Are you kidding? I love
barbe
cues. They’re fun. Besides, I could
never be bored when I’m around you, Sidney.” He smacked my temple
with a playful kiss as we crossed the street. I let out a nervous
giggle to hide how much I was dreading the whole thing. I had a bad
feeling about that barbecue. In the distance, I could see Cade’s
house. The closer Kevin and I got to it, the louder the thumping
inside my chest got. A cold chill ran down my spine when we reached
the driveway. Part of me wanted to feign an illness so I could
scurry back to my house and not have to face Cade. But doing that
would've been very childish and lame. Instead of fleeing like a
scared little girl, I took a deep, calming breath and climbed the
porch steps.

Before we could ring the
bell, the front door swung open and Cade’s mother stepped out to
the porch. Even though we had only exchanged a few words prior to
that afternoon, she greeted me with a warm smile and even gave me a
quick hug. Celia Fisher seemed like a nice, caring woman.
The tragic and unexpected loss of her husband
must have been devastating for her, but she seemed to be coping
well. Another thing that struck me about Celia was how pretty and
young she looked. I could see the resemblance between her and her
son. She and Cade had the exact same eyes.