The Boy Next Door: A Standalone Small Town Romance (Soulmates Series Book 3)

by Hazel Kelly

  “Yeah.” I pulled my sunglasses from where they were hanging in the front of my shirt and slipped them on so I could look at her without being bothered by the glare off the lake.

  “I guess I’d have to be happy for her,” she said, throwing another piece of bread. “I mean, she is a wild animal.”

  I laughed. “I don’t know how wild she is. Wasn’t she watching TV with Helly when I brought you home yesterday?”

  Laney shrugged. “I don’t think that makes her domesticated. I think that just means she’s lazy.”

  I watched Laney pop the last bite of her sandwich in her mouth. She was wearing a baggy tank top and shorts that were so short the pockets poked out the front.

  “We should probably head back,” she said. “I haven’t done any of my homework yet, and math always takes me six times longer than I think it’s going to.”

  “It’s not because you’re stupid, ya know?” I said, sitting up and putting our picnic snacks back in my bag. “It’s because you stop in the middle to do your nails and call Amber and watch American Idol.”

  “Not true.”

  “If you say so,” I said. “But I bet if you did your math homework at my house while I did mine, you’d get it done in at least half the time.”

  “As if I could trust you to not distract me.”

  I pulled her close and she straddled my lap, twirling her fingers through my messy pile of blond hair.

  “I suppose you’re right,” I said, kissing her. “But I’d leave you alone for at least a few minutes because you’re so cute when you concentrate.”

  “I am not.”

  “You are.”

  Waddles splashed in the shallow water, and we both looked in her direction.

  “What’s that?” I asked, pointing near a piece of drift wood on the sandy bank.

  Laney craned her neck in that direction and stood up. “I don’t know.” She kicked her flip flops over, slipped them on, and walked over to the item in question.

  I watched her crouch down and dig around it.

  “It’s a bottle,” she said.

  “No kidding.”

  She squinted at me.

  I craned my neck back. “What?”

  “There’s a message in it.”

  “What are the chances?” I asked, feigning surprise as best I could.

  “Pretty slim since I can see all around the lake from here,” she said, pulling it out of the sand with two hands. “So I doubt it’s from a shipwreck.”

  “Can you tell what the message says?”

  “Something tells me you can,” she said, cocking her head. “Even from so far away.”

  Fuck. Why did she have to be such a smartass? I stood up and walked over.

  “I can’t get the cork out,” she said, pulling it with her fingers.

  “It must’ve been buried there a long time.”

  She made a skeptical face and handed it to me.

  I pretended it was more difficult to open than it was before finally twisting the cork out of the clear glass bottle.

  She tipped it over and reached a small finger inside to try and snag the note.

  “This is so exciting,” I said.

  “I hope it’s a map to buried treasure,” she said. “Then I won’t have to go home and do my homework.”

  She wiggled it out, dropped the bottle, and unrolled the homemade scroll.

  I watched her mouth curl into a smile as her eyes scanned my invitation to prom.

  “If only I knew who left it here,” she said. “So I could give them my answer.”

  I groaned and rolled my eyes.

  “Just kidding, babe,” she said, draping her arms over my shoulders and pressing her lithe frame against me. “Of course I’ll go to prom with you.”

  “Well that’s a relief,” I said, giving her a kiss. “For a second there I thought I’d have to rebury the damn thing and hope someone else came along.”

  “Good one.”

  I shrugged. “I try.”

  “We should celebrate.”

  “What did you have in mind?” I asked, slipping my hands under her shirt.

  “Hmm.” She looked around. “I’ve always wondered what was on the other side of that bush over there.”

  “That’s so funny,” I said, lifting her up. “So have I.”

  She wrapped her legs around my waist and held on tight as I walked into the tall grass and laid her down.

  And if I wasn’t already delighted she’d said yes, I certainly was ten minutes later.

  Chapter 23: Laney

  I felt giddy and smitten, and that was completely inappropriate considering the fact that I was a homeless person who was supposed to be recovering from a breakup and looking for gainful employment.

  Instead, I was indulging in nostalgia by poking around Connor’s room after having cheeky sex in his parents’ house in a spot we’d never done it before.

  It was surreal.

  “I can’t believe you still have them all,” I said, running my fingers along the spines of the Choose Your Own Adventure Books.

  “Why wouldn’t I?” he asked from where he was sitting on the end of his bed.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “My parents always threatened that they were going to get rid of my stuff, but I guess it was never a priority.”

  My eyes dropped to the next shelf where a row of cheap little league trophies stood in a row. “Most Improved?” I asked, holding one up.

  “They got sick of giving me MVP.”

  “Wow,” I said, setting the trophy back down. “That couldn’t have made you popular with the other kids.”

  “The kids were fine with it,” he said, leaning back on straight arms. “It was the parents who took issue.”

  I walked over to his desk. It looked smaller than I remembered, but the ticket stubs I’d paper clipped to the lampshade were untouched. “I forgot we saw some of these movies.”

  “Some of them were forgettable.”

  I looked over my shoulder at him. “The vodka we used to sneak in probably didn’t help.”

  “It helped us find the comedy in movies that weren’t supposed to be funny, though.”

  “It’s a miracle we only got kicked out twice,” I said. “By that old usher guy- what was his name? Something with an S.”

  Connor nodded. “I forgot about him. God he used to say the craziest shit to us.”

  I laughed. “I think he had some kind of Tourette’s.”

  “He’d never get away with talking to kids like that now. Kids are too precious these days.”

  I turned around. “I don’t understand how they’re supposed to grow a thick skin if they’re not allowed to rock climb over pavement and get cussed at by strangers.”

  “They’re not. They’re supposed to get coddled forever.”

  I shook my head. “But that’s how you end up with college students saying they don’t want to be graded anymore because it puts them under too much stress.”

  “I know,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. We’ve created an entire generation that can’t cope with feedback.”

  I leaned against the desk. “I suppose we were lucky in some ways.”

  “No shit. I asked Dave the other day if he’d ever spanked any of his kids, and he laughed until he cried.”

  “Because it’s so out of the question?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not all for corporal punishment or anything, but I got spanked and I turned out okay.”

  I craned my neck forward. “You got spanked?”

  He nodded. “Twice”

  “For what?”

  “Once for kicking my babysitter in the shin.”

  I raised my eyebrows.

  “I had my cleats on, and she said something mean about Dave’s older sister and he just stood there.”

  “And the other time?” I asked.

  “I put firecrackers in my teacher’s mailbox.”

  I furrowed my brows. �
�What?”

  “It’s not like he was anywhere near it when I set them off.”

  “So how’d you get caught?”

  He laughed. “He was watching from the window. Saw the whole thing. My dad knew before I even got home.”

  “Shit.” Connor knew better than to ask if I got spanked. He knew more about my childhood than even Helly, though I’d told her a lot about it over the years. Still, I would’ve traded some spanks for the verbal abuse I got at that age in a heartbeat. “Is that where you learned it then?”

  “What?” he asked.

  “The spanking?”

  He leaned an ear towards me. “What are you talking about?”

  I folded my arms. “I’m talking about the one you gave me twenty minutes ago.”

  His face turned red. “I can honestly say that had nothing to do with my dad- or my childhood- and everything to do with the fact that I was so excited to see your ass after all these years I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

  “Well, like you, I certainly learned my lesson.”

  “Good,” he said. “Because I won’t hesitate to smack that ass again if I need to.”

  It was my turn to look at the ground and blush.

  “Speaking of which, is your back okay?” he asked.

  “My back? Yeah, why?”

  “Because I think I might have sustained some minor carpet burns on my knees,” he said, reaching forward and covering them with his hands.

  I laughed. “That’ll teach you to fuck on the landing.”

  He shrugged. “It hadn’t been christened yet. Besides, I didn’t know whether I should turn towards this room, where we used to always hang out-”

  My eyes swept the ceiling. I could’ve drawn this room from memory and gotten everything in its rightful place.

  “Or my parent’s room, but being with you made me forget that it was mine now.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” he said. “As long as you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine,” I said. “Way finer than I should be considering the circumstances anyway.”

  “Well, that’s all most of us can hope for, isn’t it?”

  The doorbell rang a moment later, and Sarge came bounding out of the room down the hall and thumped down the steps.

  “Where’s he been?” I asked.

  “Sleeping,” he said. “He likes a little nap after his first feed of the day.”

  “Who doesn’t?” I asked. “You expecting someone?”

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  I followed him downstairs and watched him toss a tennis ball towards the back of the house before opening the door.

  “Helly,” Connor said. “Hi.”

  Helly looked from Connor to me to Connor to me. “Laney. I thought you were still sleeping.”

  I descended the rest of the stairs. “I just popped over this morning to tell Connor… that I remembered something I forgot.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Your shirt’s on inside out.”

  “Oops,” I said, wanting to disappear. “What’s up?”

  “I’ve been working quietly in the garden so I wouldn’t wake my precious granddaughter.” She shot me a look. “And I’ve just found some newborn kittens behind the shed.”

  Connor raised his eyebrows.

  “They look healthy enough to me,” she said, turning to Connor. “But I thought maybe you could give them a once over in case any of them needs anything their mother can’t give them.”

  “I’d be happy to check them out,” Connor said. “Give me a few minutes to let the dog out and grab my stuff, and I’ll be right over.”

  “Thanks so much,” she said. “And sorry to bother you.”

  “It’s no bother, Helly,” he said. “I’m glad you asked.”

  “Okay then. I’ll see you shortly,” she said, stepping back off the stoop. “And it’s probably a good idea if Laney stays here,” she said, failing to suppress a smile. “You know, so you don’t get lost on the way.”

  Chapter 24: Connor

  “She’s on to you,” I said after I closed the door.

  “Is what just happened written all over my face?” Laney asked, pulling her shirt off and turning it inside out.

  I grabbed her and pulled her to me. “Are you sure you want to put that back on?” I asked, pressing her back against the banister. “I could make it worth your while to keep it off.”

  Her chest rose and fell in front of me, and I felt her nipples pucker through the thin fabric of her bra.

  “I’m sure you could,” she said. “But didn’t you take some kind of oath?”

  “I did, yeah, but I can’t seem to remember why at the minute.”

  “Quit while you’re ahead,” she said, pushing me away.

  I stepped back, a sly smile still on my face. “That must be the shittiest advice ever invented.”

  “Unless you’re gambling,” she said, pulling her shirt on the right way. “Then it’s great advice.”

  I headed towards the back door where Sarge was chewing a rawhide bone. “When was the last time you gambled?” I asked, opening the door to let him out.

  “I gambled on going out with you last night,” she said, walking towards me in bare feet.

  Seeing her in my kitchen with her blonde bed head framing her blue eyes made me feel too much. It hurt bad enough the other day, but now that I’d had her again- now that I knew she was sweeter and sexier than ever- it hurt even more.

  Why did she have such a hold on me? After all the women I’d been with, why was she was still the one who made me want more, crave more, need more.

  “That wasn’t really a gamble, though,” I said, pulling my house call bag out of a closet by the back door and setting it on the counter. “You knew we’d have a good time.”

  “No I didn’t,” she said. “It could’ve been totally awkward and painful.”

  “Painful?” I opened the bag and sifted through it with my fingers to make sure I had everything I might need to examine the kittens.

  “You could’ve dug stuff up and thrown it in my face.”

  I lifted my eyes to her. “Like what? The fact that you broke my heart? That would’ve made for a shitty night out.”

  “I would’ve deserved it though.”

  “I disagree,” I said. “Besides, you already know that, and I’m not sure what you’ve been telling yourself over the years, but most of our memories are good ones.”

  “I know,” she said, lowering her voice. “Trust me, I know.”

  “Plus,” I said, closing the bag. “I care about you, and the last thing you need right now is me piling on when you can’t change the past anyway.”

  “Right.”

  “Regret is pain relived,” I said. “Not pain relieved.”

  “So true.”

  “And you might have regrets, Laney, but I don’t.” I turned to look out the picture window behind me. Sarge was sniffing along the back fence, his tail wagging like it was hooked up to a motor.

  “You don’t have any regrets?” she asked.

  “Not about what happened with us,” I said. If anything, I was proud of how I handled myself. It would’ve been regrettable if I’d left without telling her how I felt, but I’d laid it all on the table.

  I figured nothing good could come from hiding my feelings away. Love always seemed to me like the kind of thing that needed fresh air, the kind of thing you should give away every chance you get.

  As far as I was concerned, that was the only way to live if you ever wanted it to come back to you.

  And perhaps the fact that I’d given so much love to Laney all those years ago was why she’d crossed my path again. There was no way of knowing.

  Regardless, part of me really wanted to ask if she had any regrets about us, about the way she handled it, about the blow she dealt that changed the course of our lives.

  But I said I didn’t have regrets. I never said I didn’t have denial.

  And if she was happ
y with her actions, I sure as fuck didn’t want to hear about it.

  I just wanted to see her smile, make her laugh, and if luck was on my side, make her come again.

  Because that brief encounter was like reliving all the best nights of my life at once, and I was desperate for my next high.

  A few minutes later, I called Sarge inside, gave him his bone back, and headed over to Helly’s with Laney.

  “Oh there you are,” she said when she saw us. “I was beginning to worry Laney might have started remembering and forgetting again, and it would’ve taken you another half hour to make it over.”

  Laney gave Helly a hug and spoke softly in her ear. “You’re hilarious, you know that?”

  Helly craned her neck back. “There’s nothing hilarious about me, young lady. You’re the one who’s so silly you need the boy next door to help you get dressed.”

  “Like you’ve never accidentally put a shirt on inside out,” Laney said.

  “Of course I have,” Helly said. “Which is why I don’t appreciate being bullshitted.”

  “So where are these kittens?” I asked.

  “Behind the shed there,” Helly said, pointing before turning back to Laney. “All I’m saying is that if you want to sleep out, at least have the decency to let me know so I don’t worry.”

  “I didn’t sleep out,” Laney said. “I went over this morning. Connor-”

  I turned to look over my shoulder.

  “Tell Helly I only stopped by this morning.”

  “It’s true,” he said. “She only came by this morning, and I can assure you she did absolutely no sleeping at all.”

  Laney groaned.

  “That’s what I thought,” Helly said, looking back at her. “No sleeping at all.”

  “I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Laney said. “I don’t have to tell you when I wake up and if I need to go to the bathroom in the night and what time I’ll be home.”

  “No,” Helly said. “Of course you don’t. But as a guest in my home, it sure would be thoughtful of you to say good morning when you wake up instead of sneaking around like a sixteen year old girl.”

  I knelt down by the kittens, afraid that if I looked back, I might get called out for my crooked grin.