Love Thy Neighbor (10 page)

What the feck?

He holds a piece of paper in his large
hands, a deadly expression on his face, his once warm eyes now
colder than ice. I don’t know what it is he’s found, but my hands
start sweating. Cole looks scary and I’m suddenly frightened.

I make a move to slide off the counter but
he pushes me back. Hard. My shoulder jars and my eyes widen in
shock. He looks me in the eye and growls, “Want to explain this to
me?” He flings the paper right in my face.

What the fuck? Where has my sweet Cole
gone?

With trembling hands, I take the note and my
stomach flips. Of all the damn notes he had to find, it had to be
the one Ghost left when he brought me coffee that morning. I have
to admit, it looks bad. Cole doesn’t wait for an answer. He
snatches the note from my shaking hand and reads aloud in dead
calm, “Sorry I kept you up last night. I think you’ll need the
coffee this morning. I got you a muffin to say thanks for breakfast
yesterday.” He nods slowly. “Looks like someone’s been a busy
girl.”

Oh shit! No!

This is not how I planned my evening going.
I planned an awesome evening of Cole, sex, sex and more sex. Maybe
stopping in-between to eat, but definitely ending with more
sex!

The expression Cole is wearing says I
shouldn’t lie about this. So I don’t. I try my hardest to steady my
voice. “Honey, Asher from next door doesn’t have a TV, so he comes
over sometimes to watch with me. That’s what he meant by keeping me
up. I swear Cole, it’s nothing to worry about. We’re friends,
that’s all.”

Cole looks at me through scorching eyes and
answers through gritted teeth, “Don’t. Fucking. Lie. To. Me.”

I pull myself back from him. Voice shaking,
I tell him, “Cole, you’re scaring me.”

He leans forward into the space I’ve created
for myself and puts his nose to mine. He asks, “This is what you
were doing last night, huh? He’s your
friend
? Yeah, right.
How long have you been fucking him?”

I choke out, “We’re not sleeping
together.”

He roars right in my face, “Don’t lie to
me!” Spittle speckles my face and I flinch.

Trembling hard, I whisper, “I’m not lying to
you, Cole.”

A deafening slap fills the room and before I
register what’s happened, I’m lying on the floor with a pounding
head, a throbbing eye and an aching wrist.

Cole paces back and forth in my kitchen.
He’s visibly upset. He runs a hand through his hair and whispers
over and over again, “Fuck.”

I may be hot-headed, but my father taught me
a number of things in life. Pick your battles was one of the many
important things he taught me. Sure I could use my badass boxing
skills on him, but there’s no way I could knock him out, which
would leave me with a very angry, unstable man.

Not good.

Cole is twice my size. If I try to fight
him, I know I’ll end up badly injured or even dead, so I do what
any person in my position would do. Using my feet, I slide myself
as far away from him as possible. Distance is what I need right
now. My vision blurs as tears fall freely down my cheeks.

I start to hyperventilate. My chest tightens
and I feel as though I’m going to faint.

Cole stops in his tracks and looks over to
me. His face has softened and he looks remorseful. He starts,
“Sunshine, I-”

But I cut him off on a hoarse whisper,
“Please, Cole. Just go.”

He places a hand on his hip and nods
solemnly, agreeing. “Okay, I’ll go.” He walks over to me. I use my
feet to push myself back but hit a wall. I whimper as he kneels
down to me. He touches my cheek gently and says softly, “Look at
what you made me do, sunshine.”

I lift my face to look him in the eye.

Is this fucker for real?

It’s hard but I restrain myself from clawing
his eyes out. He smiles at me. “We’ll try this again tomorrow,
okay?” His hands cup my cheeks and he lowers his gorgeous face to
mine, kissing me gently. I don’t kiss him back. My mouth is lax and
useless. This makes him angry. Using his thumb and forefinger, he
holds my chin in his palm and grips my cheeks hard enough to make
me yelp. His rage-filled glare bores into me. He demands, “Kiss me.
Like you fucking mean it.”

Who the hell is this man?

I purse my quivering lips and he lowers his
face to mine. I do my best at attempting to kiss him like I mean
it. That’s actually quite hard to do when all you really want is to
bite through his lip. Seeming satisfied, he pulls back and smiles
at me. “That’s better, sunshine.” He sighs as he stands. “I’ll let
myself out. You think about what you’ve done. I don’t want a repeat
of this tomorrow.”

Never taking my eyes off him, I watch as he
opens the door, turns to me smiling, blows me a kiss and shuts the
door behind him. The realization that something super bad just
happened in my home hits me and I scramble to stand. I steady
myself as much as possible and shuffle on wobbly legs to the front
door. I lock the dead bolt and chain with shaking hands. Unable to
think about anything else right now, I send a text message to
Tina.

Me: Hey, Sorry for the late notice but I’ve
got the flu! I’m alternating sweating like a pig and freezing my
ass off so I won’t be in tomorrow.

I re-read this message about ten times
before I’m satisfied it sounds like me and press send. A few
minutes later, I hear my phone ping.

Tina: Oh honey! I hope Tatiana didn’t get
you sick! :( Of course, take as much time as you need. Cecelia is
watching her tomorrow so I’m back in. Want me to send anything over
for you?

The thought of her seeing me like this is
enough to make me burst into tears. I’ve always been the strong
one. I couldn’t bear for Tina to see me like this. I compose myself
enough to write a reply.

Me: Thanks, babe. I have everything I need
right here. Love you. I’ll let you know how I’m feeling tomorrow
afternoon.

Tina: Okay, honey. Feel better. We love you
too! Xx

There’s only one person I trust to help me
in this situation.

***

Rather than stay at home to hear the
concerto of sex coming from Nat’s apartment, I decide to hang out
with the guys. It a long time coming, but we’re finally having a
Trick intervention.

“Things are looking like they’re pretty
serious with Lola. You know you gotta tell her soon, man. She
thinks you’re not into her anymore.” Nik directs this to Trick.

Trick responds without heart, “I know, bro.
I know. I just don’t know how.”

Trick, for lack of a better term, looks like
shit. He’s a fraction of the man he was a year ago. With bags under
his eyes and his constant bad mood, anyone could tell something was
up with him.

“Just be straight with her. She loves you.
She’d help out. You know she would,” Max says.

Trick scoffs, “I know she would, Max! The
question is why should she have to? I want her more than anything,
but I can’t commit to her without her knowing what comes with
having a relationship with me. It’s not too late. She’s young. She
can find someone who doesn’t carry a shitload of headaches with
them.”

I shake my head and try to reason with him.
“You can’t decide for her, Trick. You should just lay it out and
let her make a choice.”

Trick rests his elbows on his knees and
covers his mouth with his hands. He looks defeated. If there was
any way I could help him, I would, but this isn’t something I can
help with. Trick runs his hands down his face and responds quietly,
“What if she leaves me?” I look around at the guys. No one says a
thing so Trick continues, “This has been the hardest time of my
life. Even worse than losing my dad. If I lose Lola, I don’t know
what I’ll do.”

I reach out and grip his shoulder. “You’re
gonna lose her if you don’t tell her, regardless. She already
thinks you’re keeping secrets, bro.”

Nik tells him, “You know mom and the girls
will help as much as they can. We’re family. We’ll do anything we
can do to help out.”

My phone is on silent but it vibrates in my
pocket. I check the display. My eyes widen in disbelief.

What the hell?

I check the text message and my blood runs
cold.

Nat: Can you please come home?

Something’s wrong.

Chapter
Seven
We are sisters of the Kovac convent

Knock-knock-knock

“Who is it?” I ask hoarsely.

Holy crap! Is that my voice?

I sound like a fifty-year-old devoted
smoker!

Ghost replies firmly, “Open the damn door,
Nat.”

My stomach drops and my palms sweat. I
really don’t want him to see me like this, but I don’t really have
a choice. It’s either him or Tina, and there’s no way I’d let Tina
see me like this.

With shaking hands, I unlock the front door
and open it a few inches. Hiding most of my face, I say quietly,
“You can’t freak out, okay?”

He rolls his eyes heavenward and sighs but
nods his head. I turn my face away from him and open the door fully
for him to follow me inside. I hear the door shut softly. Ghost
asks, “What’s the problem, Nat?”

With my back still to him I whisper again,
“You can’t freak out, okay?”

Silence. Then he answers softly, “Okay,
pretty girl. I promise. Now tell me what’s wrong.”

I take a deep breath to steady myself, close
my eyes and turn to face him. His eyes widen before flashing in
anger and he steps away from me. His breathing intensifies and he
balls his fists by his side. I understand his reaction. I saw
myself in the bathroom mirror.

In the past half hour, my eye has swollen
shut and my bottom lip has puffed to double its size. My cheeks
have purple bruises from where Cole pinched my cheeks together to
make me kiss him. My wrist has also swollen quite a bit and is too
sore to move.

Ghost swallows hard before backing further
away from me, jaw set and eyes full of hate. Through gritted teeth,
he whispers, “Be right back.”

He walks backwards through the door leaving
me feeling confused and so lonely. A muffled roar shakes me.
“FUCK!”

When I hear the distinct sounds of things
being thrown around hard and glass breaking next door, tension
fills my chest, making it hard to breathe, and tears blur my
vision. Blood roars through my ears. Lifting a hand to my chest, I
walk backwards til I hit wall and slide my sore, tender body down
to the floor. Overcome by immense sadness, I cover my face with my
hands and sob silently.

Someone just put their hands on me in anger.
I never thought I’d be one of
those
women. And that really
fucking sucks.

Strong arms come under my knees and arms.
I’m being carefully lifted into a hard body. I gasp, then moan as
pain throbs throughout my entire body.

Even my nails are sore. I didn’t know a
person could get sore nails.

“I’m sorry, pretty girl. I don’t really know
how to do this without hurting you. I promise I’ll be as gentle as
I can,” he says softly.

Ghost lays me down on my bed, careful to not
touch me anywhere he doesn’t have to. He asks, “Can you open your
good eye for me, pretty girl?” Every time I open it, it flutters
closed. Ghost uses his fingertips to gently pry it open and gets
enough of a look to make a judgment call. He quietly explains, “I
don’t think you’re concussed. I’ve seen enough to know, but I’m not
taking any chances with you. I don’t want to move you right now and
cause you any unnecessary pain, so what I’ll do is sleep on the
sofa and wake you every hour just to be sure.”

So tired.

I want to sleep and just as I start dozing,
Ghost props me up. I open my good eye up as much as possible. Ghost
has a bottle of water and some Tylenol. Wearing an obvious
expression of concern, he pops two of the pills into my mouth then
lifts the water so I can drink. “I’m sorry, girl. I’d love to give
you something stronger, but that’s all I can give you til I’m sure
you’re not concussed. Try to stay awake for me, okay?”

I swallow the pill and even that’s hard. My
head swims. My ears throb. There’s no way I can force myself to
stay awake. On a weak whisper, I reply, “I don’t think I can, Ash.
So tired.” I’m fading fast.

He sits with his back to my bed’s headboard,
pulling me into his body. Wrapping his arms gently across my waist,
he tells me, “The adrenaline has worn off, that’s why you feel so
tired, girl. Stay with me. Tell me what you did today.”

I sink into his chest but wince when his
chin touches the bump on the back of my head. Ghost stiffens before
moving my body forward and gently touching the egg-shaped bump on
the back of my head. Confused, he mutters to himself, “What the
hell?”

He gently pulls me back into him, rubbing my
upper arms with his large hands. His lips touch the outer shell of
my ear and he whispers, “Tell me what happened, girl. From the
start.”

So I do. I slowly and quietly tell him how I
was pretty excited about Cole coming over tonight. How he came to
see me at work today and everything was fine. How I spent hours
getting myself ready for him and that he lost it when he found the
note in my fruit bowl. I explain that he slapped me so hard I fell
off the kitchen counter, banging my head on the floor and spraining
my wrist. During the time I explain this, Ghost’s body has become
strung so tight I’m afraid he’ll take off like a rocket.

Obviously confused, Ghost asks, “Why would
he get upset about a note?”

Without thinking I tell him, “It was the
note you left when you brought me coffee that morning. He thought I
was fucking you.” My heart aches and I breathe in a shuddering
breath. “He just wouldn’t listen to me. I told him over and over
that it was all a misunderstanding. It was like he was possessed,
Ash. He just lost it.” The tears I try to hold in escape, trailing
down my cheeks. I whisper, “I was really scared, Ash. I thought I
was a goner.”