I can’t reach him. I can’t scare the rats away. There’s nothing I can do to help him.
The man scoffs at the three of us before kicking dirt up into my face, and then finally, he walks away. He opens the door, letting in a glimpse of sunlight which tells me it’s still daytime, before slamming the heavy door and sliding the lock into place.
My eyes grow heavy as the blood loss starts to affect me. “I’m sorry,” Ben says, utterly defeated.
I suck in a shallow breath. “Don’t be,” I tell him moments before the darkness claims me.
----------
“Fuck,” I shriek as I jump straight out of bed and search the room for a threat. My heart rate rises as I’m instantly thrown back into the past. It only takes a moment for me to realize I’m back in my home, not there, and what woke me was the sound of music.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and fall down to the edge of my bed. Leaning forward on my elbows, I hang my head as I try to calm myself. Every time I have that dream it always takes me a moment to bring myself back as the guilt and pain still linger deep within me.
I guess I have my infuriating neighbor to thank for waking me with her awful music.
Taking a few more calming breaths, it hits me. The music seems just a little too loud. It’s almost like it’s coming from inside my house, but it couldn’t be. I have a killer security system and if she had snuck in here, my alarm would not have missed it.
I stand up and look right out my bedroom window into hers to find her window pushed wide open with the speaker sitting on the ledge and pointing towards my house. If it was happening to anybody else, I’d find it funny, but when it’s me losing sleep, it’s suddenly the most irritating thing known to man.
As I walk over to the window, I realize what song she has playing. ‘Gives You Hell’ by The All-American Rejects. How fucking appropriate. I grab my window with a scowl heavy on my face and slide it open before leaning out and trying to reach the damn speaker. My fingers are so close, but it’s just out of my reach. I want nothing more than to grab the speaker and smash it into a million tiny pieces so we can put this bullshit to rest.
Don’t get me wrong, I got a complete thrill sneaking in yesterday morning and returning the favor. I didn’t even consider how wrong it was until I’d returned home and heard her stomping around her house in anger. I don’t usually make a habit of sneaking into women’s homes while they sleep, but she deserved it. When you think about it, she asked for her power cord back. I was just doing my civil duty and helping her out.
I push myself back through my window and figure out how the hell I’m going to shut that noise up and get revenge at the same time when a grin takes over my face. If it’s a battle she wants, then it’s a battle she’ll get. I look around my room and find nothing I’m prepared to part with before ducking into the bathroom and picking up a roll of toilet paper. I cringe at it, but it will have to do.
I walk back into my room and right over to the window before throwing the toilet paper as hard as I can into the speaker. It clatters to the ground with a heavy thump and I pat myself on my back before walking out of my room. Part one of the plan, complete.
I practically skip through my house as I head out to the living room. Bending down, I get a good look at the cutest little boy in the world. “Good morning, Gerald,” I smile at my snake before getting him his breakfast. “Do you feel like playing a little game?”
I know he’s a snake, but I swear he smiled at me just now.
I go off and get myself showered and ready for the day while giving Gerald a chance to eat his breakfast. I wouldn’t want him making new friends with a hungry tummy. I mean, that’s just bad parenting.
Opening his enclosure, I pull him out before hooking his heavy body over my neck. I can’t resist running my hands up and down his long body. He’s a good boy and despite what people think, he’d never hurt anyone. I’ve had him since he was just a baby and he’s become my best friend. Hell, if I could put him on a leash and take him for walks, I would.
With Gerald around my neck, I head out the front door and around the side of the house to where I can easily reach her bedroom window. I lift Gerald up and let him slither on in to explore her place while I proudly walk back around to my front door and back inside the house.
Don’t get me wrong, if I thought that Gerald would even look at her funny, I’d never send him in there. But, I trust him completely, and even though I’ve just let him loose in another house, I could spend my day out at Rebels and come home to find him curled up on top of his enclosure.
I go back to my bedroom and lean against the window to watch the show. The speaker has since been picked up. I still hear the music playing from within the house, only it’s at a reasonable level and not playing songs that let on just how much she hates me.
I look around her bedroom and I have to admit, I’m impressed. She’s only been here for two full days so far and she’s done a lot, especially for a woman doing it all by herself. She’s doing an incredible job and by the dedication she’s already shown to her project, I don’t doubt the place is going to look amazing. Honestly, it’d be great if I didn’t have to wake up and look at that dump every morning.
I only takes a few minutes for the high-pitched scream to come tearing through her window and flow freely through mine. I chuckle to myself and get comfortable on my couch. I have no idea what she’s going to do here, but I’m excited to watch how it all plays out.
She has three real options here. She can either handle it herself, go to the neighbor on her other side who is a single mother with three little boys, or she can come to me. I know which option I’d take if I were her, but she doesn’t seem to do things like normal people do.
My only problem is if she actually has the balls to handle it herself. If she somehow manages to get him in a bucket or box, then I’d have to step in before she gets a reptile guy out to take him. That would just ruin all my fun.
So, I’m not disappointed when I hear violent knocking at my door, followed by her screams. “Hurry up, you big asshole.”
I laugh to myself as I leisurely get up from my couch and make my way to the door. Her knocking doesn’t cease until I have the door wide open before her. “Can I help you?” I say in a less than enthusiastic tone as I take her in. Just like the first time I saw her, I’m blown away. She’s absolutely gorgeous.
“There’s… there’s a massive s-s-snake,” she tells me with wide eyes.
“What?” I gasp, feigning shock. “A snake?”
“Yes,” she pants as her hands shake in front of her. “Please. Please, you have to get it out.”
I shake my head. “No way,” I tell her, acting as though the very idea terrifies me. “You’re on your own.”
An angry scowl sets itself over her face. “Seriously? You’re just going to leave me with this? Can’t you stop being a jerk for one minute and help me. I swear, I won’t use my speaker anymore.”
Fuck yeah.
I let out a frustrated huff. “Fine,” I grunt as I walk through the door. I storm over to her place with her glued right to my back while she attempts to peek around me. It hits me that I don’t know her name yet, but I don’t ask. It’s better this way.
I walk straight through the door like I have so many times before, but at least I was sort of invited this time. “Where is it?” I grunt.
“Main bedroom,” she practically shrieks.
I nod and make my way down there. “I’m going to need a pillowcase or a bucket that has a lid.”
She frantically nods her head before running over to the side of her living room and ripping her pillow out of its case. She thrusts it right into my hands. “Here,” she says quickly before going back to her spot behind my back.
I walk slowly to her bedroom, making a show of looking for her intruder.
Rounding the corner into her room, I immediately spot my special little guy laying in a corner. “Fuck,” I gasp while jumping back. “That
bastard is huge.”
A low moan comes from her throat and I grin to myself, pleased that I have my back to her. “Wait here,” I say, putting my hand up and stopping her from creeping into the room behind me.
I creep slowly towards Gerald, who doesn’t have a care in the world. I kind of feel bad for the poor thing. He didn’t really get a chance to explore.
Gerald moves and I pause while sucking in a loud breath, purely for her benefit. I look back at the bedroom door and find her hidden behind the wall with only the top half of her head peeking around into the room.
“Good snake,” I say as I creep towards him while opening the pillowcase. Keeping my eyes on Gerald, I bend and put the pillowcase down in a position that would make it easy to put him in.
I get a hold of Gerald’s tail and I lift him up. “Oh, fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” my irritating neighbor groans to herself.
Due to his size, his head is still happily on the ground, so I slide my other hand up his body and get him off the floor. He stretches his body out in the opposite direction and I look down at the pillowcase. “Um… I’m going to need our help.”
“Oh, fuck no,” she says. “Just toss him out the window.”
“No,” I say with wide eyes, horrified at her suggestion. “He could get into my place.”
“So?” he grunts. “At least he wouldn’t be in mine.”
I give her a blank look. “Get your ass over here and help me get him in the bag.”
She cringes but surprises me as she walks forward and slowly bends to grab the pillow case at my feet. She keeps her eyes trained on Gerald while holding the pillowcase with the very tips of her fingers, making sure to keep it as far from her body as possible. “Hurry up,” she begs.
I put her out of her misery and expertly slide Gerald down into the pillowcase before twisting the top and grabbing it out of her hands.
A world of relief comes over her. “Thank you,” she breathes.
“Don’t mention it,” I tell her before walking towards the door. “What are you going to do with it?” she asks as she hurries after me.
I shrug my shoulders. “Don’t know. I’ll probably find him a home.”
She gives me a tight smile and quickly nods her head. With that, I disappear out the door and chuckle to myself as I head back to my place.
Job well done.
Chapter 5
Lexi
I look around the bare living room feeling very accomplished. My carpenter has been here all day today and yesterday and I feel like I’m getting somewhere already. He assessed the framing in the bedroom and declared it still good. All he had to do was put up the new walls. So, after putting up the crown molding and baseboards, all I’ll have to do is a little more sanding and I can start painting.
Though, I still need to head out today and order the flooring for all the rooms, which I’ll do as soon as I clean up all this mess.
I get right on it, but find I can’t go anywhere without searching for stupid snakes. What if it was a mommy snake? What if it had babies all over this place and I’ve just been too preoccupied to notice?
I was happily dancing around the house. I had already messed with my neighbor for the day and was pretty proud of my achievement. I put a lot of thought into the song I chose to play for him, and I know it worked when the speaker thumped to the ground and I walked in there to find a roll of toilet paper had been thrown right at it.
I had a little giggle to myself and retrieved my speaker before putting it in the living room and getting sucked into my work. What I’d forgotten was to close the damn window and that ginormous snake slithered right in, probably wondering what the hell was going on in here.
How long was has he been here? Have I been living with that big bastard over the past few days? I walked in the room and I swear, my heart leaped right out of my chest. The snake was huge, like really huge. It just looked at me as I backed out of the room and screamed for my life. The neighbors down the street probably heard me.
I’ve never been so terrified in my life, but I don’t know what possessed me to go to him. Maybe it’s because he’s the closest person and his truck was still there, or maybe it’s because he’s some kind of alpha man who probably couldn’t resist playing the hero. Either way, it’s another thing I owe him for.
Maybe I’ll knock off the music tomorrow and let the guy sleep in. Who knows? He did save the day and managed to get rid of the thing before it ate me in my sleep. I swear, I should have just burnt the house down. At least that way, I’ll stop peeking around every corner when I walk through the place.
I grab a pile of rubble off the living room floor and stack it as high as possible so I don’t have to make a second trip. Unable to see very clearly, I crash into a few corners as I attempt to make my way out the front door to dump this crap in the big dumpster.
Stepping outside, I step out and trudge through the massive mud puddle that’s been left after the rainfall the other day which that seemed to last forever. I try to look around the rubble to see where I’m going, but it’s near impossible. So, I take each step with caution, right up until I slip out from under myself.
I go crashing down into the muddy puddle with the pile of rubble coming down on top of me. “Fuck,” I gasp as I hit the ground with a hard thump.
The pain rocks right through my ass and deep within my body.
“Shit,” I hear from the house next door. I look across to see Mr. Asshole staring at me in my puddle of gooey mud as I make an absolute fool of myself. Great. Of course, he was there to witness it.
He dashes across his lawn and over the pebbled garden that separates our homes before he’s right there taking me by the arm and helping me to my feet. “Are you alright?” he questions in a rare display of kindness.
“Yeah,” I cringe as I look down at my mud covered clothes. “That’s going to bruise.”
“Nah,” he says with a scoff. “It didn’t look that bad. It will probably hurt for a while though.”
“No,” I tell him with a knowing sigh. “It’ll definitely bruise. I have a blood disorder. The factors within my blood that help it to clot are extremely low, so I bruise really easily,” I explain.
I’ve been living with hemophilia B since before I can remember. Usually, it’s pretty manageable with a drip that delivers a concentrate of the missing factor from my blood straight into me. I’m able to do it myself at home a few times a week and it only takes about twenty minutes. It’s annoying, but it’s just a part of life.
Other women wash their hair every few days while I hook myself up to a drip. After not having done it yet this week, I should probably be heading inside to get it done now. Otherwise, this bruise is going to be really nasty.
“Seriously?” he questions. “I’ve heard about that. It’s pretty dangerous, huh?”
“It can be,” I tell him. “If I don’t look after myself or I take a serious fall, it could be life-threatening.”
“Shit,” he grunts.
“Yep,” I agree. It’s something I know all too well. Say, like four miscarriages so far, each one of them harder than the last.
“Alright, well, if you’re ok, I’ll get going,” he says as he starts to back away.
“Hey,” I find myself calling after him as I pick up the rubble off the ground. He turns back with a raised, questioning eyebrow. “I um… thanks for the whole electricity and snake thing. I know I didn’t deserve that.”
“It was my pleasure,” he says with a secretive grin that leaves me wondering what he could possibly mean by that.
Unable to figure it out, I get back to picking up the rubble as he gets in his truck and pulls away. I toss the rubble and head inside to get a look at the damage I’ve caused to my ass.
“You all good?” my carpenter, Mick, asks as I head down the hallway. “I saw you take a bit of a tumble.”
“I’m fine, thank you,” I smile at the old man who has become a great friend over the last few years. “Just need to sit with my drip for a
bit.”
“Of course,” he says, before getting back to work and giving me a bit of privacy. I duck into the bathroom first as I can’t help but take a look at my ass. There’s already an ugly bruise forming so I get myself hooked up to my drip and do my best to get out of my muddied clothes. But, with the drip, it’s not the easiest thing to do.
Half an hour later, I’ve got myself sorted and say goodbye to Mick as I head out to go chose a nice carpet.
Hauling myself up into my truck, I try to get myself comfortable on the seat. I finally give up on the impossible task, and admit to myself that I’m just going to have to deal with the discomfort for the next little while. After dealing with it for a lifetime, it’s something I’m easily accustomed to.
I find the flooring store, and after consulting with the salesman for about twenty minutes, I walk out feeling pretty good about my choice. As I climb back in my truck, I can’t help but notice the hair salon directly across the street from where I’ve parked. It’s the sign out the front advertising a special on a shampoo and blow out that really catches my attention.
After getting mud all through my hair with the fall and feeling completely and utterly dirty after the last few days of demolition, I decide a little pampering sounds like a great idea.
Hopping down from my truck, I head across the road. I look up at the sign, declaring this place Charli’s Salon, and take a look around. It’s an impressive little boutique with an area dedicated to makeup and beauty.
The place is busy and looks welcoming, instantly making me feel like I want to spend the rest of my life here. I’m hit with that familiar smell of being in a salon and I breathe it in. “Hi there,” a chirpy brunette says from the front desk. “Welcome to Charli’s Salon. How can I help you?”
Her smile is intoxicating and I glance down at her name badge. Zara. “Hi,” I smile in return. “Just wondering if you have time for a shampoo and blow out?”
“Of course,” she says. “Come straight through.”
I follow Zara deeper into the salon and she ushers me into a chair. I cringe as I take a seat, but I find the chair extremely comfortable and I don’t even notice the pain in my ass. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but we’re having a special on shampoo’s and blow out’s today.”
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