Bully next door, p.10
Bully Next Door, page 10
“Sit down. Pacing isn’t going to do you any good, and believe me, we’re only going to find out the news when we’re allowed to.”
Verity wanted to shout at him, but instead, she sat right beside him, her legs bouncing.
“I don’t know how you can be so calm,” Verity said.
“I know Hector. I am terrified inside, but I also know he doesn’t appreciate those kinds of feelings being displayed.” His head was rested back against the wall and his eyes were closed.
To any onlooker, he appeared tired.
Verity didn’t like this.
“The doctor wanted him to avoid stressful situations,” Sean said. “What he had wasn’t a heart attack per se, but … it was a similar sensation.”
She listened as Sean told her everything. How Hector didn’t want to go the medicinal route, especially if it was something he could cure with relaxation himself.
Verity could just imagine Hector exerting his requests, telling others exactly what he was going to do with his life. She smiled and tears filled her eyes.
“You know he’s in love with you, don’t you?”
Looking at Sean, she pressed her lips together and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t … I … what has he told you?”
“Everything, or as much as he wants to tell his only friend.” He sighed. “I know he’s in love with you. He told me all about the whole cursed-house thing. Did he mention that to you?”
“Yeah. What do you think of it?”
“It could be true, but personally, how could finding the love of your life even for a second be cursed?” he asked.
She tilted her head to the side as she thought about it. “I guess you’re right.”
“No, I know I’m right. After Hector told me about those houses, I did some digging, and did you know all of the neighbors that have gotten married in that place have all stayed together?” he asked.
“They have?”
“Yep. Not a single divorce from as far back as I could go. Kind of cool if you ask me. Hector was always a lucky son of a bitch.” Sean turned, and Verity followed his gaze, seeing the doctor had come out to join them.
“Hector will see you now,” the doctor said.
“Is that good news?” Verity asked.
“It means that Hector has already been given the news and he’s awake.”
Sean took the lead, heading through the double doors and going to Hector’s room.
The man himself was sitting up, glancing through some leaflets as they entered.
“You have got to stop fucking scaring me like that,” Sean said.
Hector chuckled. “You know me. I’m all about keeping you on your toes.”
Verity stared at him, and there was no indication of a man who had a heart attack. He wore a hospital gown, and his face was a little pale, but other than that, he wasn’t hooked up to machines. Nothing to show there was anything wrong with him.
“What happened?” Verity asked, moving closer.
“Another … moment,” Hector said. “He wants me to stop trying to do so much. I’ve been asked to continue with my vacation time as he does feel it was working because my heart doesn’t show signs of any lasting damage, but he … it has been too close together, and he wants me to take it easy.” He held up some of the leaflets. “These have some of the medication stuff on them. I don’t like it.”
“Does he think you are going to have to start taking medication?” Sean asked.
“It might be an option I have to consider.” He shrugged. “It depends on … my future plans.”
“I can do the work,” Sean said.
“You’re not doing that,” Hector said. “Can we talk about that … some other time? I want to talk with Verity.”
She looked toward Sean, not wanting him to leave.
“Sure. I’ll go and get some coffee. “We’ll talk soon. Real soon.”
“You can count on it.”
Sean left the room, and she was alone with Hector. She didn’t want to be alone with him.
“I hope I didn’t scare you,” Hector said.
“If you weren’t in the hospital right now, I would have totally … hit you,” Verity said. “Other than the time with my mom, I can’t remember being so scared. Why didn’t you tell me that you were here because of … your, you know, health reasons?”
“Because that would have been sexy?” he asked.
“It’s not about being sexy, Hector. You … ugh, you’re so infuriating.”
“You would have treated me differently, Verity, and this thing, the doctor said that it might not be so serious.”
“You’re in the hospital for the second time, and you’re looking at leaflets for it. It’s serious.”
He held them up then dropped them back down. “I can take care of myself. What I want to know, Verity, is if you love me,” he said.
“Don’t ask me that.”
“Why not?”
“You’re in the hospital, and I don’t have a good track record with these things.”
“I know you’ve got an issue about the whole cursed-houses thing, and I get that, I do. I really do. It fucking sucks to think that our life is dictated to because of some cursed-houses thing—”
Verity pressed a finger to his lips. “Shut up.”
“I wasn’t finished.”
“I know. You have a whole lot to say and I get it, I do, but not right now. Not about this.” She leaned in close and brushed her lips against his. “Yes, Hector Carter, I am in love with you. This past month, not being near you, it has been a horrible nightmare. I don’t want to ever experience it again.” She cupped his face as tears filled her eyes. “And you are not returning to work, not until you can learn to handle stress a lot better.”
He had already dropped the leaflets onto the bed, and his hands were on her arms. One of them slowly slid up, sinking into her hair and pulling her close. “I can handle a whole lot of stress.”
“You’re going to have to prove it.”
He pulled her in close, and his lips captured hers.
Verity wasn’t lying. She had been wanting to go around to Hector’s place to be able to tell him exactly how she felt, how he made her feel, but each time she tried to, she was frozen in place.
Today, opening the door to him, hearing his words, and feeling him collapse against her, it was like she was being sent a warning. She didn’t believe in signals or anything like that, but at that moment, she had this overwhelming feeling of loss. Like she had missed an opportunity of a lifetime to be happy.
“Marry me,” Hector said.
Verity jerked back. “What?”
“You heard me. I want you to marry me. I want it all with you, Verity. Kids. A family. A future. To go on book tours with you.”
Tears filled her eyes, but these were not ones of sadness. They were happy.
“Say yes. I love you, Verity, and today, I met a crazy lady. Actually, I didn’t meet her today, I met her a few weeks ago. She’s the one who told me about the crazy house. She said some things that made a whole lot of sense. Some that didn’t. I’m not going to lie, but she did know what she was talking about. Life is too short. You know that. I don’t want to miss another moment of our lives together. I love you so damn much.”
“I love you too.”
“Say it again.”
She chuckled. “I love you too. I love you so damn much that it scares me.”
“I’m going to want you to keep on saying that.”
“You are?”
“Yeah, for the rest of our lives.”
“That’s going to be a long time,” she said.
“I know.” He pulled her close and kissed her hard.
Verity wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his neck and breathing him in. She had missed him so much. Their time apart had only taught her one thing—she couldn’t live without him.
“Cutie has missed you.”
“And I’ve missed her too. You feel so damn good.”
She smiled.
He felt so damn good as well.
Epilogue
One year later
“I’m not sure about this,” Verity said.
Hector looked up at their two houses. They had moved out of their places a month ago. For the last ten months, this was where they had lived. Between the two houses, Verity worked on her cookbook, and well, he worked on his health. He refused medication, and instead, offered to go to regular checkups. When his doctor asked him to start taking on light work from home, he had done so.
So far, he’d returned to part-time work, and his health seemed to be in check. It helped that Verity was a fusser, and he loved her for that. Of course, she had worked harder than anyone he knew. Not only had she been able to produce a cookbook, it was close to release day, and she was nervous.
Holding Verity’s hand, he ran his finger across the wedding band. They had gotten married, and then he pulled her into his arms, resting his hand on her slightly swollen stomach. They were also pregnant with their first child.
Their homes were no longer needed. They’d moved out one month ago, and only put them on the market then, and the new owners were moving in today. In his home was a mom with a teenage daughter. The girl was in her senior year, and he didn’t know the full details of what was going on, but he believed the mother was married, and the father was working abroad, and this was the place they were staying until their daughter picked a college, or something like that.
“What’s not to love?” Hector asked.
“Did you not see the guy moving into my house?” Verity asked.
The guy in question came out of Verity’s house, his sleeves rolled up, showing off some impressive ink.
“What did you say he did again?” Hector asked.
“He’s a teacher at the local high school.”
“Oh, crap, you don’t think that … do you think houses could break up relationships?” He hadn’t considered that option.
Hector watched as the teenage daughter suddenly slipped on something. It wasn’t cold or icy. The sun was shining down, and he didn’t for a second understand what the girl had slipped on, and from the look on her face, neither did she.
The teacher put his box down and went to the girl.
“Oh, shit,” Hector said. “You’re thinking the teacher and the … you know.”
“Hell, yeah.”
Hector turned to see the older woman, Elizabeth, suddenly appear. “Now this one is going to be good.”
Verity looked at him with a frown.
“It’s a long story. One I will tell you about on the way home.” He helped Verity into the car, and Elizabeth raised a brow. “Call me if anything happens.” He nodded to the house.
Hector wanted to know what the houses had cooked up for that because he couldn’t deny that he wasn’t happy. He was.
Pulling out of the street, he held Verity’s hand and knew whatever the future held for the new people moving in, the houses knew what they were doing.
The End
www.samcrescent.com
Facebook Reader Groups:
www.facebook.com/groups/466389657105501
www.facebook.com/groups/295030114286077
Other Books by Sam Crescent:
www.evernightpublishing.com/sam-crescent
If you enjoyed this book, you may also like:
Possessive King by Winter Sloane
Dre’s Desire by Lila Fox
The Partner Dilemma by Jade Marshall
EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
BONUS SAMPLE CHAPTER
CAPTURED NANNY
The Nannies, 9
Sam Crescent
Copyright © 2022
Sample Chapter
“Give me back my fucking daughter!”
The chair hit the glass for what had to be the hundredth time, and like all the other times before, it dropped to the floor without success. The woman on the other side didn’t give up.
Wolf Jackson wasn’t impressed. The woman screaming for her kid wasn’t the problem. No, the issue he had was with the men who’d accidentally captured this woman and her five-year-old child.
Never in all his years had he known of such a fuckup.
“She won’t stop,” Mitchell said. “She has punched and bitten anyone who has gotten near her. Ralf had to go to the doctor.”
“And you don’t understand why?” Wolf growled as he spun toward the man who’d been his right hand for the past five years. “That right there is a mother. Look at the way she is dressed. She is not some fucking bitch off the street with no life and no one looking for her. This is a woman with an identity, with a life.” He shook his head and glanced back at the mirror. She couldn’t see two men watching her, but he could see her, and what a woman he was looking at.
He’d been around desperation for so long, he had forgotten what a woman with everything to lose could fight for.
The women who were normally purchased and sold were addicts. Women who came from the streets offering their bodies for payment for their next hit. They were never missed. Often, their loss was seen as a blessing because the cops wouldn’t see them on the streets, shot up with whatever shit they were craving.
Running a hand across his face, he left the room and walked several feet to his office where the little girl sat on the floor. She was on her knees, her coat still wrapped around her, tights covering her small legs. This child wasn’t homeless or uncared for. She was loved, taken care of, and pampered. Even her hair was pulled back into one of those French plaits he had no idea how they were done.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he said.
The girl looked up. “Where’s my mommy?”
“She’s doing fine. Just a few more questions to deal with,” he said, approaching the table and crouching down.
He wasn’t a good man. Most saw him as a monster, evil. He’d killed men and women with his bare hands without batting an eye. Death didn’t bother him. He’d driven through the city streets plenty of times with blood coating his clothing and hands, and he didn’t care one bit.
What many didn’t know was he had rules. The people he killed were not good. They were evil, and so there was no reason to feel guilt.
He’d never killed an innocent or a child.
That woman back in the room was innocent. This child, she didn’t deserve death.
“So, do you want to tell me your name?” he asked.
“I’m not allowed to talk to strangers.”
“Wolf Jackson,” he said, holding out his hand. “Now I’m not a stranger.”
The girl frowned at his hand and put the crayon she’d been using down. “But … those men. I watched them hit girls, they were bad men.”
He ground his teeth together. This girl had already seen too much, and so had her mother.
“That’s why I had to rescue you. Nothing will ever happen to your mother or you. You’re safe.”
The girl tilted her head to the side and then held up her little finger. “Do you pinky swear?” she asked.
He chuckled. “Of course.” He put his pinky to hers, and the little girl smiled.
“If you pinky swear, it means you have to keep your promise.” She nodded. “Mommy always said a pinky swear was sacred. No one could break them, and you could trust in a pinky. I’m Evelyn.”
“Evelyn, nice name. What about your mommy?”
“Rain without the e. She is always telling people it’s without the e.” Evelyn smiled at him.
“Last name?” he asked.
“Thomas.” Evelyn picked up her pencil and started to color again. “Rain and Evelyn Thomas, two strong women about to make a life for themselves. It is what Daddy would have wanted.”
He frowned but figured Rain had said it enough times for Evelyn to copy it.
“You carry on coloring, and I’ll be back in a little while.” He left his office, flicking the catch on the lock. “I want every single little detail on a Rain Thomas right now,” he said to Mitchell.
The man ran off, looking like death was chasing at his heels, which it would be if Wolf wasn’t satisfied.
Having to handle this fuckup was an embarrassment. He walked back toward the room and saw Rain hadn’t given up. This time, she was kicking at the door. Her face was red, and perspiration dotted her brow. The only reason he’d caught sight of her was all the fuss she’d been making.
The men who’d taken her and brought her to the docks. When they unloaded the women, they had seen their mistake and tried to take her child away. The moment they did that, a monster had been truly unleashed.
She had attacked.
So much fire. So much passion.
He couldn’t just wait any longer, he needed to put a stop to this … nonsense.
Going to the door, he flicked the lock and opened it just as Rain was about to charge at it. This time, she ran straight into his arms. He caught her, wrapping his arms around her waist, thinking he’d have a few seconds of surprise, but Rain shocked him again. The moment she was touched, she started to attack, flinging her arms at him, trying to use her legs, anything that would get her free.
“Let me fucking go, you piece of shit. I want my baby. I am going to kill you.” She yelled each word.
Wolf had no choice but to grab her hands and haul her up against the wall. She was strong, but no match for him. There was no way she’d ever be able to overpower him. Still, she wriggled, and he couldn’t believe how much he liked having her so close to his body.
Rain was all soft curves, and the feel of her full tits was enough to distract him for the merest hint of a second, but then he was back in focus, keeping control of her.
