Love Thy Neighbor (6 page)

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Great.

I have no idea why I’m so relieved. When Nat
told me we should avoid each other all those months ago, I was
pissed.

And a little hurt.

That one passionate time with her was enough
for me to think we had potential to be casual, but she obviously
thought I was only worth a one-time thing. So when she demanded we
stop talking, I thought
screw her
. But seeing her at the
club and not being able to even sit close enough to hear her voice
was wearing on me. I won’t ever admit it to her, but somehow, she
soothes me. I used to sit next to her in the booth only to sit
back, close my eyes and let the sound of her voice penetrate me.
The sweet, smooth sound would banish any memories of my dad. So
when she started dodging me, I was up at night a lot more than I
used to be, and the only other thing that would help would be
finding a random girl and screwing her til my mind was so exhausted
all I could do was sleep, if only for a few hours.

Something about Nat makes me crazy. I can’t
quite put my finger on what that is.

She’s something else.

I’ll tell you one thing, since we fucked,
all I’ve wanted to do is get another shot at her. After losing that
chance, I promised myself if I ever got the opportunity again, I
would take it nice and slow. I’d savor the experience. The last
time was rushed, explosive and fierce. I wouldn’t change it for
anything though. She came twice just from my cock. That’s never
happened before.

It was phenomenal.

Just thinking about it makes me hard.

And… you’re getting hard.

Fuck. That’s just great.

Now that I think about it, there is one
thing I’d change about that night.

I’d kiss her.

***

Ghost shuffles around on his chair.

“You okay there?” I ask.

He replies a choked, “Yeah. Fine.” He looks
kind of flushed.

“You need some water or juice?”

He looks grateful as he splutters, “Water!
Yes, water. Perfect. Thanks.” I place the water on his side of the
table and finish up my breakfast. I pop the last piece of French
toast into my mouth and moan.

How great is food?!

I look up just as Ghost swallows hard and
gets up and walks stiffly to the bathroom.

What a strange man!

I love food. There’s a type of food to deal
with any emotion.

Depressed?

Fried food.

Happy?

Baked goods.

Content?

Ice cream.

I could make a whole chart up.

Ghost exits the bathroom and trying to make
conversation, I ask, “What are you doing today, friend?”

He grins. “I don’t really know. It’s the
only day off I get, so I try to cram a whole lotta crap into
it.”

I nod in agreement. “Me too. I need to go
grocery shopping though. You would’ve noticed this morning when you
broke into my apartment to steal milk that I only had a drop
left.”

He chuckles. “Yeah. You need more milk.”

“You need anything from the store?” I ask
cautiously.

He looks shocked at my offer. I mean,
I
am pretty shocked at my offer. Ghost has been back in my
life for about twelve hours, but in that time, he’s revealed more
about himself to me than what he had in a year. And I want to know
about him.

That’s my reasoning and I’m sticking to
it.

He finally responds, “Yeah, I do have to get
groceries.” He looks unsure but asks, “Can we just go together? I
normally browse around because I don’t write a list.”

He doesn’t write a list?

Sacrilege!

I’m kind of excited about going grocery
shopping with Ghost. “Sure. No problem.” I shrug and respond in a
bored tone.

He says to meet in the hall in a half hour.
In that time, I shower and dress.

Then we’re off.

***

Nat tries to get us to drive to the store in
her car.

Not happening.

No offence to women, but when I’m in a car
with any woman, it could even be her car, I’m driving.

Might have something to do with the fact
that my car is my baby. I worked my ass off and saved any spare
cash I had to put towards doing her up. My 68 Chevy Impala. Black
exterior with matching black custom interior. Leather sent over
from Italy. Some would say I’m stupid to have spent so much on it,
but fuck. She makes me happy.

After arguing for ten minutes, I stroll over
to my car, start it and drive over to her. I have to hide my
smile.

She looks so damn cute.

She wears a scowl. Her body is stiff. She
has her arms crossed over her chest and she’s wearing a huge
pout.

I beep the horn and she jumps in fright. I
can’t help but chuckle. Finally, she rolls her eyes, gives in and
we’re off.

She doesn’t talk to me til we get to the
grocery store, and even then she only asks, “Want to share a cart?”
I nod.

She takes us straight to the fruit and
vegetable section and puts random items in the cart: strawberries,
half a cantaloupe, carrots, tomatoes, celery, apples and avocado.
She looks over to me. “What produce do you need?”

I’m confused.

I need produce?

I’m pretty sure I’ve been living just fine
without them. I take the cart and steer it into the meat section. I
hear Nat mutter, “Okay, no fruit and veg. Check.”

Looking around the meat section, I see Nat
pick up two types of ground beef. She looks back and forth between
them for a whole minute. I take them both out of her hands, put one
in the cart and put the other back on the shelf. She scowls at me
but I’m ready for her. “What? It’s just beef!”

“It’s not
just beef
! One has five
percent less fat! And lucky for you, that’s the one you put in the
cart.”

I roll my eyes and mumble, “Whatever, lady.”
I stock the cart with four different types of meat.

Okay, so I’m a typical bachelor.

I like meat. Nothing beats a good steak. I
could eat steak every damn day. I think that’s what’s on tonight’s
menu and I’m already looking forward to it.

We go aisle by aisle and the cart is filling
up. I add the essentials; potato chips, chocolate, ketchup, peanut
butter, jelly, chocolate sauce and full fat milk. Nat adds things
I’ve never even heard of; quinoa, whole wheat crackers, hummus,
udon noodles, two percent milk and vegeta. I’m just about to ask if
she’s a health nut when she puts chocolate spread, three different
types of ice cream and bacon into the cart.

That’s better.

God, I hate when women starve themselves. I
like my women curvy. Ever since Nat, I’ve been avoiding curvy women
and settling for slender instead. There’s no comparison so why even
try.

We head down the pharmacy aisle and I stop
right in front of the condoms. I look at Nat to find her looking
right back at me.

It’s a stare off.

We stare at each other for almost a minute
before I grab two boxes off the shelf. I put them in the cart. “One
for you and one for me. You’ll probably need it with your new guy
around.”

I’ve been trying to work him into a
conversation somehow.

“Oh, I hadn’t even thought about that.” she
replies quietly.

It sounds genuine. So I prod. “What? You
mean to tell me you don’t sleep with who you please?”

She turns slightly and avoids my eyes when
she responds, “Of course I do.”

False.

She’s lying.

I can read people well and I’d bet my life
savings that Nat doesn’t sleep around which makes me wonder why she
let me pull her into the conference room that night.

That makes me happy. Even though I have no
right to feel happy about that.

“So, when are you seeing the angry man
again?”

She immediately jumps to his defense. “He’s
not an angry man! He just thought you were coming on to me, and his
name is Cole, by the way. I’m going out with him tomorrow
night.”

I can understand that. If someone came
between me and my woman… I mean, if I was with Nat and some guy
came on to her in front of me, I’d want to break his skull. But
something about him isn’t right. I’ll have to use my resources and
look into him.

Looking at the shelves, I tell her, “You
need to get me a last name, pretty girl. Something about that boy
ain’t right. Too jittery.”

She frowns, but I see her eyes blankly focus
on the shelves, which makes me believe she thinks the same thing I
do. She concedes on a nod. “Okay. Any more weird stuff, and I’ll
let you check him out. And I’ll be honest with you about it. But if
I see he’s just a normal guy, you
will
butt out.” She holds
out her hand and I take it in mine. We shake then continue
shopping.

From this one experience, I can tell I’ll be
happy to shop with her again. I like the way she walks around the
cart, brushing past me. She talks to herself too, and I feel my
body relax and my mind calm. I could listen to her talk all day.
Half an hour later and we’re done, checked out and in my car
driving home.

We both take bags full of groceries up to
our apartments, and just as I’m about to say goodbye, Nat stops
suddenly and blurts out, “Do you want to watch TV with me
tonight?”

She wants to spend more time with me?

We’ve spent all morning together, and I’m
actually really pleased she isn’t sick of me yet.

“Um- Ah- Uh, yeah. I guess. I mean, it’ll
have to be here though. I don’t own a TV,” I stammer.

She gasps loudly and puts a hand to her
chest. She whispers loudly, “You don’t own a TV?”

I would expect this reaction if I told her I
had a bionic heart.

I smirk. “Nope. No, I don’t.”

She puts a hand on my arm and whispers
again, “What is wrong with you?”

I lean my head back and burst out
laughing.

Nat’s face softens, her lips tilt at the
corner and she speaks full of awe, “Wow.”

Still chuckling, I ask, “What?”

She shifts from one foot to the other, looks
to the ground and says softly, “That’s the first time I’ve heard
you laugh.” She nervously plays with a ring on her finger. “That’s
one of the nicest sounds I’ve ever heard, Ghost. You should do it
more often.”

And then she’s gone.

Warmth spreads through me, causing my chest
to expand and I smile.

Well hell.

I take my smile and strut like a peacock
back to my apartment.

Chapter
Four
The date

Last night was actually pretty great.

Ghost came over just after seven. When I say
he came over, I mean he broke in through the patio sliding door and
waltzed right in like he owned the place. We sat on opposite ends
of my ridiculously comfortable sofa and watched TV.

He came dressed in sweats, a tee and
barefoot. Of course, he looked amazing.

He
always
looks amazing.

I had already showered and was wearing my
pajamas. I decided to put a bra underneath my tank. I usually leave
the girls free, but I didn’t want to give him a free show and
all.

I found it hilarious that I had to explain
reality shows to him. He didn’t really like reality TV, so we
flicked through channels and settled on a show about baking. He was
actually watching the bakers in awe. He would make quiet comments
like, “Would you look at that?” and “That looks great.” I found it
so adorable that I burst into laughter a few times. I couldn’t help
but ask, “Why don’t you own a TV?”

He shrugged before explaining, “Never really
understood sitting down and watching someone else live their life
when we should be living ours. I watch things on the internet, but
I’ve never sat down for entire episodes of a TV show before. But I
like cooking channels.”

So we spent almost five hours watching the
cooking channel.

And, surprisingly, I enjoyed it.

We ate ice cream out of the same tub and
would chat on occasion, but really, we just enjoyed each other’s
company in silence for the most part. When I peeked at the clock
and saw it was almost midnight, I told Ghost to go home. He looked
disappointed, so I told him he could stay til his cooking show was
finished. I think I surprised us both when I kissed the top of his
head and went to my room. I heard him leave about ten minutes later
through the back patio way.

I wondered how he locks that door from the
outside. I’ll have to ask him.

Within minutes, I was catching Zs.

This morning, I woke to the smell of
coffee.

Confused, I got out of bed and saw a large
coffee and a brown paper bag on my kitchen counter. I walked over
to it and saw a note paper poking out from under the paper bag. I
unfolded the paper and read to myself.
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.
I’m smiling like an idiot. I fold the note and put it in my fruit
bowl, then I get ready for work.

***

Today is going to be a good day.

I woke to the wonderful smell of coffee, had
a delicious blueberry muffin for breakfast and tonight I’m going on
a date with a hot guy.

Eeek!

I’m excited!

I didn’t bother waxing my vajayjay. If I
did, it would be as if I’m expecting to get laid tonight, and I’m
not. Tonight is going to be two people getting to know each
other.

I feel like I’ve got the best of both worlds
right now. Ghost is my newest friend and Cole is my hottie
non-boyfriend.