Double Dare (A Neighbor from Hell Book 6) (23 page)

Coming in 2016

Prologue

Dear Reese,

              I’m sure you’re wondering why the locks have been changed and all of your stuff is gone.

              Well, it’s really all your fault. If you’d come home last Sunday like you said you were going to, you would have found all of your furniture and things nicely piled outside and ready for you to take away, but you decided stay down in Florida for an extra week for your asshole brother without telling me. If you’d shown up like you said you would then your shit wouldn’t have been stolen. I did manage to save a few of your things that they didn’t want and fit them all in the box that I left on the floor.

              Roger thinks I should just get to the point. He’s anxious to catch our flight. Oh, I probably should tell you that Roger and I are madly in love and that we’re flying to Vegas to get married. He says he’s sorry. He’s really sweet, isn’t he? He feels really bad about this and if it makes you feel better all that sneaking around behind your back was really, really stressful on both of us. I almost had problems sleeping at night and you know how important my twelve hours of beauty sleep are to me.

              Anyway, I really don’t think I should feel all that bad about cheating on you since it really was all your fault. When you told me that you weren’t interested in sex I thought you were just kidding. Had I known that you weren’t then I never would have gone out with you. I know you proposed and all, but I feel like you wasted a year of my life. Well, maybe not a year since I didn’t make it a week before I started sleeping around, but again that’s your fault! If you took care of me like you were supposed to then I wouldn’t have had to sleep with your best friend.

              While I’m writing this letter I have to tell you that I think it’s really weird for a 27-year-old guy to still be a virgin. All the girls at the shop, work and at the grocery store and even some of the guys that you work with think so too and they think that you were using me to cover up for other problems, which I have to tell you right now that I don’t appreciate one bit. But I’m a big enough person that I suppose that I should forgive you.

              Also, I thought I’d tell you that I don’t like your family. No, not at all. Their obsession with food is weird and I just don’t like them, especially your cousins who ignored me. Plus, their kids are little brats. My cell phone still isn’t working right and I think you should pay for it, but Roger said to just let it go. For him I will, because he’s so kind and sweet and brings out the best in me. He makes me such a good person.

              I was going to give you back your engagement ring, but then I decided that you kind of owe it to me for such a stressful year. I sold it so that Roger and I can have a wonderful week in Vegas. I would say I’ll call you when we get back, but why bother?

Hugs and kisses,

Missy

P.S.

I feel kind of bad about having to tape this note to the door, but you didn’t have any envelopes in your desk.

One Year Later…

              “How many men?” Kasey asked as she dumped another bag of ice in the old red cooler that had seen better days.

              “Three,” was Sara’s, her best friend since eighth grade, no nonsense response.

              “Women?” Kasey asked, running a hand through her short spiky hair as she opened the refrigerator and considered their options.

              “Three women.”

              “Children?”

              “Seven, all under the age of twelve, but they’re inside with the women,” Sara said, keeping a vigilant eye on the newly rented beach house next door. As the only permanent resident on this strip of beach, Kasey felt it was her duty to know what was going on next door, for safety reasons of course. Sara, being the good friend that she is, felt that it was her obligation to help in this endeavor. They liked to refer to themselves as “The Neighborhood Watch.” It was a tough job, but it needed to be done.

              Deciding that they would definitely need sustenance for this particular job, Kasey grabbed several of the large whoopie pies that she’d bought down at Karl’s Grocery last night and tossed them in the cooler along with a six-pack of Coke and a six-pack of beer. She shared a look with Sara and realized that they’d put off their responsibility any longer. With a nod, she closed the cooler and carried it towards the back door where Sara waited with a solemn expression as she held the door open for her.

              Without a word, they walked over to the old picnic table that sat at the edge of her property, which just happened to be right next to the neighboring cottage’s driveway, and placed the cooler on the table. It was in a nice shady spot, but most importantly, it afforded them a great view of the activities that they really needed to keep an eye on.

              Folding her arms over her chest, she approached one of the large shirtless men carrying a suitcase. She noted his good looks, perfectly tanned body and the tattoo of “Zoe” written across his left peck. Not too bad, she thought as she approached him.

              “We need to speak to your wives or girlfriends, or whoever they are,” she informed him.

              For a moment he could only frown down at her, shifting his gaze between her and Sara until finally one of the other men joined them.

              “What’s going on?” the newcomer asked, and of course Kasey noted that this one was also devastatingly handsome with a perfect body and that bad boy look that she really enjoyed.

              “They want to talk to our women,” the first man explained, still frowning.

              “For what?” the second one asked with a frown of his own as he looked them over.

              “Guys?” she said, drawing their attention. “We really don’t have much time here. So if you could just go get your wives we’d really appreciate that,” she said, noting the wedding bands on both their hands as she gestured for them to get on with it.

              With a shrug, the men walked off following the third man, the much larger and hotter of the three men, she’d like to add, into the house. When two women stepped out of the house a moment later, she had to hide her surprise. She’d actually expected the men to have supermodel wives, but this was definitely a nice surprise.

              The two women were a few inches shorter than her. The first one, the one smiling sweetly, wore glasses, and had long brown hair pulled up into a messy bun and was adorable in a vixen kind of way. The other one was cute and had long brown hair pulled into a ponytail and was a little on the chubby side, but if the look the man with the “Zoe” tattoo was sending her ass as she walked towards Kasey was any indication then her husband had no complaints.

              “Hi, I’m Haley,” the woman with glasses said as she held her hand out. Kasey shook her hand as the woman gestured to her friend. “This is Zoe and you’ve met our husbands, Jason and Trevor.”

              “I’m Kasey. I live next door and this is my friend Sarah. We’re here to ogle your men while they work, but if that’s a problem for you then we’ll go back to ogling them from my window, but we’d rather not since the view’s not as good,” she explained with a shrug.

              “It’s true. The view isn’t as good,” Sarah agreed on a sigh.

              The women’s lips twitched just as their husbands let out twin snorts of disgust while they sorted through the bags in the back of one of the SUVs.

              “And do you do this often?” Haley asked, sounding amused, which was always a good sign.

              “No,” Kasey said, sighing. “This is an honor we only bestow on our neighbors two, maybe three times a summer.”

              “And how many times a summer does this cottage get rented out?” Zoe asked, looking equally amused.

              She shared a look with Sara before she answered, “Two or three times.”

              Both women laughed. “And what if the guys are old or overweight?” Zoe aske with a teasing note and an amused sparkle in her eye.

              “Then we’re obligated to add catcalls to our ogling,” Kasey explained.

              “It really goes a long way to helping with their self-esteem,” Sara added solemnly.

              “It really does,” Kasey agreed with a shrug. “We perform a public service of sorts.”

              “They’re not going to let you ogle us,” Jason pointed out as he walked past them carrying a large box.

              “They’re very possessive,” Trevor said, shooting another hungry look at his wife’s ass.

              “No, we’re not,” Haley said with a shrug.

              “You can stare all you want,” Zoe added.

              “How could you betray us like that?” Jason demanded. “I thought you loved me?”

              Kasey grinned hugely as the woman shrugged indifferently, earning another gasp of outrage from Jason. They were a very entertaining family. She liked that. Too many times over the years she’d got stuck living next to some real jerks. This was going to be a nice little treat for her.

              “If you’d like to join us in our ogling we have Coke, beer and the best whoopie pies in the area,” she said, gesturing to the picnic table.

              “Whoopie pies?” Jason and Trevor asked in unison, shooting a hungry look towards the cooler. She noticed that the third man just kept on working, not bothering to stop and say hello or wipe that scowl off his handsome face.

              “I’m sorry, guys, but they’re only for the spectators. But, if you win our competition we’ll give you one,” she explained as she walked back to the picnic table and sat down. Sara sat down on her right and she was pleasantly surprised when the two other women joined them.

              Sara handed out drinks while Kasey got comfortable and prepared for the gruesome ordeal ahead.

              “You’re going to judge us?” Trevor demanded, folding his arms over his chest as he glared at them.

              “Of course,” Sara said with a shrug as she handed Kasey a Coke.

              “It is our civil duty to figure out which one of you is the hottest.”

              “You’re going to let them do this?” Jason demanded of his wife.

              Haley nodded as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I think it’s a good idea...unless you’re afraid you’ll lose,” the woman said with a mischievous little grin.

              “Lose? To him?
Puhlease
, my little grasshopper. That would be a cold day in hell before I lose to-”

              “Damn straight you’re going to lose, you bastard. There’s no way-” Trevor began, but she felt that it was time to cut them off and get them to focus on working so that they could properly stare at them.

              “Yummy is in the lead,” she felt obligated to point out.

              Both men frowned down at her. “Who’s Yummy?” Trevor asked.

              She shifted to the side to point at the glowering man as he grabbed a large suitcase and threw it over his shoulder. “Him. He’s at least five points ahead of you now.”

              “I’d say six points,” Sara said, adding, “He’s got a nice ass,” when both men turned their glares on her.

              Both men opened their mouths, probably to argue, when their wives said, “He really does.”

              “
How could you
?” Jason demanded in a hoarse whisper.

              Haley shrugged. “He does and if you want to win I’d suggest you get moving so we can see the goods in action.”

              “I’d give him two extra points for that Celtic tattoo on his shoulder. It’s hot,” Zoe said before taking a sip of her soda.

              Trevor gestured wildly to his tattoo. “How the hell can you think that’s hotter than this? It’s your name!”

              Zoe shrugged. “I’m just saying....”

              “Guys,” Kasey said, drawing back their attention because really, she did have other things to do today, “if you could get back to work I would really appreciate it.”

              The men simply stood there glaring at her.

              Deciding that perhaps the guys needed a visual, she reached back into the cooler and grabbed one of the large, overfilled whoopie pies and held it up. The men’s glares instantly disappeared and were replaced by desperate need. They licked their lips hungrily as they took a step towards her.

              “Sorry, guys, but you need to win these and remember the winner gets a bag of these,” she said, giving them a shooing gesture to get back to work.

              Jason snorted at that, seeming to come to his senses. It probably didn’t hurt that she’d dropped the whoopie pie back in the cooler and out of sight. “We’re not whores that you can buy with a few delicious looking baked goods.”

              Trevor shrugged. “I am,” he said, leaning down to press a swift kiss to his wife’s lips. “I better get an extra point for being willing to whore myself out for this competition.”

              “Two points,” Sarah said and when Haley and Zoe murmured their agreements Jason stormed off, muttering something about home wreckers and a bad little grasshopper.

              For the next ten minutes they watched the two men doing their damndest to win. When they awarded points for best set of abs Jason shoved Trevor into a bush. When they awarded points for best hair, Trevor put Jason into a headlock and brought the man down to the ground where an amusing fight took place and they ended up awarding points to Trevor for best fighter. That of course caused Jason to tackle Trevor to the ground and they decided to call it a tie on best fighter.

              Whenever they awarded points for Yummy, and Kasey couldn’t help but wonder if the third woman watching the kids in the house belonged to him, Jason and Trevor glared at him, but he didn’t acknowledge them in any way except of course that little tic that went double time in his jaw when he won. He really was a yummy specimen and she wouldn’t mind a summer fling with him, but he was also grumpy and grumpy equaled too much work for a fling. So, she reluctantly focused all of her attention back on the two men glaring at her as they carried more bags inside the house.

              “These really are good,” Zoe said, practically groaning in ecstasy as she took another bite of her whoopie pie.

              “They really are,” Haley agreed as she went to take a bite, but suddenly found her baked good ripped out of her hands. All four of them looked up to find Jason holding the whoopie pie.

              He scowled down at his wife as he took a huge bite out of the delicious baked treat. After sending her one last glare he stormed off. Trevor stormed off after him, after he’d snatched Zoe’s treat and Kasey’s cooler.

              “I guess they realized that Yummy was winning,” Kasey said, laughing with the other women as they all stood up and stretched.

              “I have to get back to the office,” Sarah muttered unhappily as she fixed her platinum blonde hair and smoothed down her blouse and skirt. She looked at Haley and Zoe as she said, “Thank you for the best lunch break ever.”

              “You’re welcome,” Haley said, grinning hugely as she looped her arm through Zoe’s and the two women followed after their husbands.

              Kasey waved goodbye to her friend as she grabbed all the empty cans and wrappers. Just as she finished picking up the last empty soda can she looked up and found a pair of deep green eyes watching her from the driveway. She sent him a wink as she walked away.

              “See ya later, Yummy.”

              “The name’s Reese,” he said in an erotically deep voice that sent goose bumps down her spine.

              She looked over her shoulder and ran her eyes over his damp bare chest, rope after rope of golden muscles and shook her head. “No, you’re definitely Yummy.” With that she walked back to her house and prepared herself for a long night of work ahead of her.

About the Author

Writer, Facebook stalker, mother of two and hot cocoa addict, R.L. Mathewson lives life to its fullest.