by Lauren Wood
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Forever Mine
A Bad Boy Next Door Romance
FOREVER MINE: A BAD BOY NEXT DOOR ROMANCE
“She was a girl from my past. The girl of my dreams and I wasn’t going to rest until she was in my arms again”
The moment I saw her, I thought she looked familiar.
The woman moving in next door looked like someone that I had known a long time ago, but Angela wasn’t around here anymore.
She moved during our senior year.
She never said good bye.
She was the only person that had ever broken my heart.
When I found out that it was the old love that had hardened me, I had a plan to get her back. I knew how to get her where I wanted her. She wanted sex as much as I did and I knew just how she liked it.
Angela was even prettier than before. Her blue eyes called to me from day one and now I was unable to ignore it. I had to make her mine once again. It was fate. She was right next door and there was nothing to stop me.
She would fall for me again. I would make her beg for it as she had so many times before. I was going to make her feel it all over again and then I was going to bounce, just like she had done to me.
But could I turn away, once I had her back in my arms? Could I ever walk away from her as she had to me?
***
Chapter 1
Marcus
This woman was going to be the death of me. I didn’t want to argue with her anymore. All I wanted to do was get her to leave. She refused though. It was like she wanted to see how far she could push me and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when she did. I had reached my limit after about an hour into this latest argument. I am not even sure what it was about anymore.
“I told you that I didn’t have anything to do with him Marcus.”
“And I told you that I didn’t care. It doesn’t matter what you say, I have heard it all from everyone else. I know what you did at the party and it doesn’t even matter anymore. I could go stomp his head in, but you know what, he can have you because you are just not worth the trouble.”
She was crying. Melissa was always crying and most of the time it would upset me to see her that way, but today I had no mercy. I wanted her to leave and this was becoming more than I was willing to deal with. Women were so much more complicated because I couldn’t handle it like I wanted to. I wanted to throw her out, but this was not to be.
“You are willing to throw this all away, everything that we have made together?”
I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but I was done with it. “Yes, I want to end this. You need to leave. I packed your stuff while you were gone. It’s by the door. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
I had tried unsuccessfully to end the conversation several times, but it was like Melissa just didn’t want to hear the truth. It was over and she was going to have to get used to the idea. It was her fault for cheating, but it was my fault for even letting her move in. I don’t know what I was thinking and now I was paying for it.
“You can’t just walk away.”
I turned to her with my hand on the door. “Yes I can. Watch me. You need to be gone when I get back Melissa.”
She yelled something at me and I heard glass crashing and breaking against the door. I didn’t want to know what it was that she had thrown. I told myself that I didn’t care. I was going to have a hell of a mess when I came home, but as long as I was alone, that would be alright with me. If that didn’t work, I could always just bring home another woman just in case. Then it would be impossible for her to not get it.
I smiled at the neighbor that was taking groceries in and he kind of grinned at me. “How are you doing Marcus?”
Melissa was still yelling in the house behind me and I was surprised at how loud she was. “Good, how are you?”
“Getting some meat for the barbeque. Are you coming?”
“When is it?”
“Tomorrow. It’s Anise’s birthday.”
“I will try to come by.”
“You bringing Melissa?”
We both looked towards the house that could have been in the middle of an exorcist as far as I was concerned. I didn’t want to bring her and by the look on my neighbor’s face, he didn’t want me to either.
“No, she is moving out today.”
“And you are leaving?”
“Yeah, I can’t take it anymore.”
“You know she is going to trash your house.”
I sighed and I could hear something else breaking in there. “Yeah, I know. It is going to be worth it if she is gone when I get back.”
He nodded like he understood, but I didn’t know if he did. Kevin and his wife never argued. I had lived next to them for several years and not once had I heard any kind of yelling and screaming like what was going on at my house at the moment.
“Sorry about this.”
“No problem Marcus. We thought that she was the one for you. I think this is the longest one to stay.”
I didn’t need the reminder. I should have kicked her out a while ago, but something would happen that would rope me back into her. Not this time though. I was determined not to let it happen like that this time.
“Nah, not the one for me. I don’t think that there is one for me Kevin. I think there is a right-now girl out there with my name on her.”
“Well we got someone new moving across the street.”
I looked to the empty house that he was talking about. My luck it wouldn’t be anyone that I would want as a neighbor. Several families and individuals had come and gone. There was no telling who would be next.
“How do you know?”
“Anise signed them up and took the deposit for the electric. She told me when she got home last night.”
I shrugged, not really caring. I was too worried about getting the woman out of my house before I worried about anyone else moving in.
“Hope they aren’t as uptight as that last family. I thought that the cops were just going to stop answering that woman’s calls.”
“I think that she just gave up because they did. Dozer scared her more than you did.”
She was petrified of my pit bull and though he was harmless, I let her think whatever it was that she wanted to think about it. “Glad she is gone. We will have to cross our fingers that we get a good neighbor this time.”
Kevin agreed and I told him I would see him later. “Come by for a beer if your lady is still there. Don’t get into it with her. She will just get you in trouble and you know it.”
“I know, why do you think I am leaving?”
“With that one, it is probably a good idea.”
Waving to him as he walked in with the paper bags from the grocers I got onto my bike and looked back to the empty house one last time. Whoever it was, it couldn’t be worse than Melissa. The neighborhood was due a little peace and quiet after her.
***
I got back later that evening and I was a little nervous about all of the lights being off in my house. I didn’t know if that meant that Melissa was sleeping, like a dragon in its stolen lair or if she had left. Hell, she could have left it empty and there weren’t even light bulbs left. Either way, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I went inside. I didn’t care what was left there. I just wanted that crazy woman to be gone.
I parked the bike and stayed standing on it for a few moments listening. I needed to go ahead and see. I almost wanted to see Kevin and then I would know is she was there or not. I had to prepare myself for the madness that most likely would be awaiting me when I opened the door.
The place was quiet as I walked up to it and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There was movement in the house across the street. I looked back quick
ly and saw a figure in the un-curtained window. But I didn’t have time to think about that. I had to worry about the madness that awaited me and the woman I hoped was gone. That was all I wished for as I tried the door knob.
I don’t know why I thought I was going to be able to just go in. Maybe I thought that she was going to take everything and just leave it all unlocked, but the opposite was true. I wasn’t prepared for the entry to be locked. I had a set on my keyring, but I had left that in my rush. I hadn’t wanted to pass her to get the ones off the counter, so I had grabbed the extra set that was by the door. That meant that I was stuck outside of my house and the only option was to break the window. The door wasn’t going to come in and even though I knew the house was empty now, I was too aggravated by Melissa that I didn’t even care that I would have to fix the window later.
Looking around to see if anyone was out, lights were on in the empty house and I wondered who our new neighbors were. It didn’t matter, I told myself. I just needed to get into the house, so that I wouldn’t have to stand out here. It took only a minute to decide which window to break. I broke the one in the front because it was easier to get into for fixing it.
When I got inside, it was exactly how I knew it was going to be. The place was trashed and anything that was of value was gone. It looked like I had been robbed, even though I knew it was just the spite from my ex. Melissa was always that way and I just ignored it because the sex was great. I should have known that she would do this.
Turning on the lights, the flood of seeing made it worse. I was surprised that I had light bulbs left. I just wanted to go to bed without dealing with everything, but even that was taken from me. Seemed about right and I called Joel to see if I could crash in one of the empty apartments at the complex. Some of the places were furnished and that was exactly what I needed right now.
By the time I got off the phone with Joel, I was ready to get out of there. I would deal with all of this tomorrow. Tonight I just wanted some sleep. It had been a long day and I was done dealing with Mellissa and her storm. That woman was like a damn hurricane.
There was a hard knock on the door and then I heard wood splintering off as someone kicked it in. The police made themselves known and I put my hands up as several guns were trained on me.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“We got a call that there was a break-in in this house.”
I told him that it was an ex that was leaving, but they didn’t believe me. The place was empty and I looked like a criminal. The cops didn’t want to hear anything that I had to say about it. I was going to jail and I knew that Melissa would be happy if she knew.
As the cop pushed my head down to get into the backseat of the car, I looked over at the house with lights on and I saw a brunette in the window. She must have seen me because she was gone after a second. Did my new neighbors call the police? It made sense and I had to just laugh. I guess there were worse neighbors than the last ones. These guys were starting out early.
Why did that woman in the window look so familiar?
Chapter 2
Angela
I moved here to get away from all of the drama in my last city. I came home to get away from all of the crime and I think that I was going right back to a place like that. New Orleans was the town I had grown up in, but my first day back I had to call the cops because the house next door got broken into. It didn’t seem right.
A few hours later, I was still putting things away and there was more movement at the house. The man that the police had picked up and carted off was back and again he had to break in to the house. It was then that I realized he wasn’t a burglar. He was my neighbor and the first thing I had done on this block was call the police. I knew that I was going to have to apologize in the morning. I wouldn’t have called if I would have known. I was just trying to help.
Sighing to myself, I picked up the last box that I was going to mess with today and went towards the kitchen. The house was small compared to the one I shared with Jimmy, but it was mine so it was enough. I wouldn’t have to argue with him anymore. This was the first time since high school that I was single and I was sure that was why I wasn’t able to sleep. How could I sleep with everything going on? It was only when I was too exhausted to move that I was finally able to lie down and shut my eyes. It had been so long, but even now being back in my hometown brought up all kinds of old memories that were hard to shake.
***
I was up later than usual. Usually I would get up at five or six and run for about an hour. It was the one time of the day that the silence would take over and I was able to think. I wasn’t trying to remember why I was there or where I was going next, I just wanted to think about the now. Now I was back home and needed a job. There weren’t many choices, but I was going to find something.
When I got back, I saw the door open to the neighbor’s house. I should have went over there and apologized for what happened, but I didn’t know who lived there and I didn’t know if he was going to be mad. He went to jail because of me, even if it was only for a couple of hours. I knew how some people felt about the police and those that called them. I didn’t want to be one of those people.
Instead I went inside and made some lunch. Cleaning the house up took up a little more of my day and only when it was about four in the afternoon that I went outside again. The man from the night before was outside working on a motorcycle and I figured that it was my chance to make things right. I hadn’t meant to cause any trouble and I wanted him to know that. I wasn’t going to be that kind of neighbor.
As I made my way across the street, I had to wonder if he even knew that it was me. Maybe I could just pretend that I didn’t do it and everything would be fine. It would have been easier than having to admit it to his face that I was the one that had caused it.
I almost turned around when I saw the man’s bare back covered in tattoos. He didn’t look like the type of guy that would be happy to hear what I was going to say. But I was already there and I wasn’t going to just walk away now. So what if he looked a little rough around the edges. That didn’t mean anything, right?
“Sir?”
There was music blaring outside from the garage and I had to get closer to get his attention. I was almost close enough to touch him and I stopped when I saw something that made my heart skip a beat. “Angie-Always Loved.”
It was silly. I knew that I didn’t know him and that Angie was a very common name, but it was the last part that threw me off. I hadn’t heard that in so long. It made my mind go instantly to the man that I knew when I was a teen. He had told me that for months before I left. It was the sweetest thing that I had ever heard then and since. It was good to know that I was always loved by him. It didn’t end the way I wanted it to, young love rarely ever did, but it was a point in time that I couldn’t forget.
“Sir?!”
I said it a little louder, but there was too much drums going on in the music playing. I could have touched his shoulder to get his attention from whatever had him hunched over the bike in such a way, but I didn’t. I didn’t think that I should. Instead I went to the garage and turned the stereo off. The quiet that took over was deafening and I almost wished that I hadn’t just done that. It felt different now and the man cursed and stood up.
“Stupid ass stereo!”
He stopped when he saw me and my heart stopped when I saw him. “Marcus?”
It was the man from my past and the tattoo was not a coincidence. The fact that he was standing there had to be. This was the man that I hadn’t seen since I left school my senior year. I put my hand to my chest, making sure that my heart was still beating. I couldn’t breathe and I was immobile, everything that I was there to tell him about last night had run out of my mind. I was stuck looking at him with a smile on my face, but everything else inside of me threatened to crumble. What the hell was wrong with me? The second question was about the universe and its sense of humor. Of all the people, down all of the street
s of this city, him, really?
“Angie?”
The voice was different and his body was different, but those dark green eyes were the same. He had a few more freckles that I noticed and he was taller, but it was the same guy I had known so long ago. That was my name on his back and I had to wonder why it was there. He towered over me and I was left unable to speak. What was I supposed to do now?
“Wow, what are the odds?”
He was confused and I pointed to the house on the other side of the street. “I live there now since last night. I take it that you live here?” The odds were never in my favor. I had just put down first, last month’s rent and deposit. It wasn’t like I could just walk away from the place. Why did it have to be next door to him?
“You live there now?”
I shook my head that I did. It was strange to be right there in front of him and even the ten feet between us didn’t seem like enough all of a sudden.
“Yeah, I moved in yesterday pretty late…” I was here to tell him that I had called on him last night, to apologize to the neighbor, but I hadn’t expected to see Marcus. Of all of the people that I thought I would run into while I was back home, it didn’t occur to me that he would still be here. Not after he talked about going out west so much. He wanted to go to the west coast and I always thought he would go. I expected him to be in California.
“I saw you last night, but I didn’t know it was you. Someone called the cops on me and I got taken in. This place hasn’t changed much than when we were younger, nosy ass people always getting in the middle.”
He sounded so casual and I didn’t understand it because all I could do was shake on the inside and hope that I didn’t pass out right where I stood. How could he be so cool?
“Sorry about that. I saw you break that window and I thought that you were a robber. I know how the crime is on the other side of the city. I was the one that called. I am sorry. I was coming over here to tell you that and offer to have you over for dinner to make it right with you.”
