Monroe, Marla - Nina's Neighbor (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Marla Monroe

  “I’m fine, though. Got the cut and some bruises, but nothing bad happened to me, Charlotte,” she assured her.

  “They talked about witness relocation, saying I might never hear from you again,” Charlotte told her.

  “I was a little worried about that myself. They tell me they got all of…of the gang.” She wasn’t sure she should say Reaper’s name or not. “So I shouldn’t have to worry about it.”

  “So, when are you coming back to work?” she asked.

  “Next week. I’m taking the rest of this week off.”

  “I would have thought you would take next week, too.”

  “I need to get back into my old life, Charlotte. I don’t want to sit at home and think about it too much.”

  “I guess I can understand that.” She put a hand on her shoulder. “Have you heard from Jack yet?”

  Nina pulled out her cell phone and switched it back on. She checked her messages, and there was one. She listened to it and it was from Jack.

  “Hey, baby. Look, Freak got shot, and I’ve been at the hospital with him. I still have some stuff to wind up at the police station, so I’ll check with you again later.”

  She wasn’t sure what she could and couldn’t tell Charlotte.

  “He just said someone we knew had gotten shot, and he’s been there with him. He’s still in Dallas. He has to stick around and tie up some loose ends there,” Nina said.

  “Hey, he called. That’s something,” Charlotte told her.

  “Am I that obvious?”

  “Just to me. I know you care about him. Especially having spent so much time with him over the last couple of weeks.” Charlotte gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Let’s get lunch at Bristole’s today.”

  “Yeah, sure. I need to run some errands anyway. I’ll meet you there at noon,” Nina said.

  They exchanged good-byes as Nina walked out to her car feeling lost. Jack hadn’t said anything about when he was coming home or about how Freak was. She knew Freak would end up in jail, but she for one would testify on his behalf. She was sure Jack would. She was still afraid of him, but he had helped her and Jack and protected her. It was the least she could do.

  At noon, she met Charlotte at Bristole’s for lunch. She settled on a grilled chicken salad. After nearly a dozen meals consisting mostly of hamburgers or pizza, she was ready for something different.

  She kept checking her phone to see if it was on. Surely Jack would call soon

  “Nina, he’ll call. It may be tonight, though. You said he had to wrap up things with the police. That could take all day with something as major as what you were in.”

  “I know.” She shifted in her seat. “I’m just antsy to know what is going on is all.”

  They finished up their meals with Nina managing to get half her salad and most of the meat down. Charlotte hugged her good-bye, and they parted company at the front of the deli. Nina returned home where she walked the floors.

  Finally, she gave up and tried calling him. It went straight to voicemail. She hesitated but finally left a message.

  “Just checking on you and Freak. Let me know.” She hung up and tossed the phone on the couch.

  She would sit outside and get some sun. She had spent so much time in hotel rooms she no longer had much left of her fledgling tan from her sunburn earlier. It made her think of Jack and how they had first met. That led to thoughts of how he’d pleasured her. She changed into shorts and a tank top and took a glass of fresh lemonade outside with her. She was sick of beer.

  Nina couldn’t help but wonder where Jack was right then. Was he at the hospital checking on Freak, or was he at the police station “winding things up,” or was he somewhere else and really didn’t want to see her again? The thought of never seeing him again hurt. Oh, she would see him around since they lived next door to each other, but if he didn’t want her anymore, what would she do?

  Did he feel the same way about her that she felt about him? She loved him. She knew that now. Somehow in all the mess of Reaper and Slick and Freak, she had fallen in love with a biker. She moaned and leaned back in the lounge chair to daydream about him.

  She imagined feeling his hands on her skin, warm from the sun’s rays. He would pull her tank top over her head and drop it to the patio. Then he would unhook her bra and spread it as he took in the sight of her breasts, pale from never having seen the sun. His mouth closed over one nipple. He nipped at it then laved it with his tongue. His hand teased her other nipple, pinching, pulling on it until she was moaning and holding on to his wrist. It felt so good to have him touching her, licking her.

  One of his hands snaked down to unbutton her shorts and slide in between her panties and her skin. When his fingers made it to her mound she pushed her pelvis into his hand. He continued to suck one nipple then the other as his fingers breached her pussy lips and found her slit. They teased it, never really entering her until she shoved her cunt upwards into his hand. He laughed at her and pulled back to circle her clit. Nina grabbed his head and held it to her breast as he tried to come off of it.

  “No, no. Don’t tease me,” she cried out.

  His fingers slipped inside her, two of them, pumping in and out just like she liked it. It wasn’t enough, though. She wanted more.

  “More.”

  He chuckled and removed his fingers only to return with three fingers this time. She cried out at the pleasure-pain of his fingers spreading inside her, looking for that spot that would send her flying. His thumb applied light pressure to her clit in a slow rhythm as he rubbed inside her with his fingers.

  One of his fingers hit the spot, and she hissed. He began brushing over it lightly at first, then heavier. When she was ready to come, he pressed harder on her clit at the same time as he rubbed roughly over that spot and sent her flying. She nearly screamed in her backyard as he continued to rub and press and suck. Finally, she came down, and she looked over toward her back door to see Freak standing there with his cock in his hand.

  Nina jerked awake. She had one hand in her shorts and the other on her breast. She’d masturbated in her sleep again. She had never done that until she met Jack. A lot about her life had changed when she met him. She realized she was getting red and took her untouched lemonade back inside with her. The ice had long since melted into the liquid.

  She cleaned up and dressed and decided she needed to get out where she could think about something other than Jack. He was dominating her every thought now, and that wasn’t good. She grabbed her purse and keys and headed to the grocery store. It wasn’t until she’d gotten all the way inside that she realized that she’d left her cell phone at home on the couch.

  * * * *

  Jack huffed out a breath in aggravation. She wasn’t answering her cell phone. Was she okay? Had something happened that she couldn’t answer the phone? He left another message and went back inside the hospital to wait for visiting hours. He was next in line to see Baxter. The others all seemed to think he would look bad, hooked up to the machines and all. They’d been in enough hospitals that they would know. He’d rarely visited a hospital so wasn’t sure what to expect.

  Thirty minutes later, they called visiting hours and Jack filed back with the rest to the hand-washing station. When he walked in the cubicle where Baxter was, he nearly walked back out again. He hadn’t been as prepared as he thought he was for the sight of his friend lying motionless on stark white sheets, which only emphasized the paleness of his skin.

  He had a tube running from his side to a container and tubes running from all over his body. Then there were the wires hooking him to some machine that beeped. He looked for all the world as if he was dead except for the rise and fall of his chest, and Jack wasn’t too sure that wasn’t controlled by one of the many machines.

  It took a lot of courage for him to walk all the way into the room and approach the bed. Maybe even more courage than it had taken him to walk back into the gang that had nearly killed him years before. Baxter’s hands were resting abov
e the covers with tubes running out of both arms at the inside of his elbows. Jack walked up and laid his hand on top of Baxter’s for a few seconds to assure himself that it was warm.

  “Hey man. It’s Jack. I hope you can hear me in there. You look good.” His voice nearly cracked at the lie.

  “Nina is home and fine. Thanks for helping me take care of her. I’ll owe you for that for the rest of my life.”

  The machine that beeped picked up some. He wondered if he was doing something wrong and looked behind him half expecting one of the nurses to come run him out, but no one walked in.

  “You know you have a place at my house to recuperate when you get out of this place. And the job offer is still open.” Jack drew in a deep breath and let it out in a hiss. “Look man, I don’t like seeing you this way. You’re too big of an ass to lie here like this. Wake up, man, and let them know you’re okay in there.”

  The machine started beeping faster, and this time a nurse came in and checked him.

  “Do I need to leave?” Jack asked.

  “No, you’re stimulating him, so keep talking to him. His heart rate isn’t too high yet. Listen to the beeping.” She pointed to a machine with numbers on it. “See those numbers? As long as they don’t go over one hundred, you’re fine. If they do, just hush and let him settle back down,” she said and left.

  Jack watched the numbers for a long time. When they had been at sixty-two for a while, he started talking again.

  “Anyway, I probably need to leave and let you rest some. I just wanted to tell you thanks and be sure you knew you had a place to come to when you blow this joint. I’ll check back with you when they let me. You’ve got a department of people showing up.” The beeps went up to seventy but didn’t go much higher, so he figured he was doing okay.

  “Later, Freak.” Jack walked out and didn’t stop walking until he’d made it to his bike.

  It wasn’t right that Baxter didn’t have anyone special to be out in that waiting area wanting to see him. He had told Jack that he didn’t have any family, which was why he was made for undercover work. No means for retaliation and no one to worry and fuss over him about being gone for months, sometimes years, at a time.

  “Well, you’ve got me rooting for you, Freak. Me and Nina.”

  The ride back to the precinct wasn’t long enough as far as he was concerned. He needed more time to recover from what he’d seen of his friend. He circled the block a few times until he thought he had himself under control then parked in back. He walked into the station and was checked at the desk before they let him back to where the ATF’s offices were.

  “Hey, Jack. They just sent word that they rounded up everyone out in California. The Devils are no longer riding,” one of the ATF guys told him.

  “That’s great. There won’t be anyone left to mess with Nina or Frea…Baxter.” He had to get it through his head that his name was Baxter.

  Freak wasn’t right on him anyway. He was in no way a freak. Baxter was a better man than he was. He had gone into the law as soon as he graduated from high school. Jack had joined a gang. Baxter had made a difference in the world. Jack had caused problems in the world. Yes, Baxter was a far better man than Jack.

  Did he even deserve Nina? Probably not. He might not deserve her, but he loved her, and he hoped that would be enough for her. He was a retired biker and a business owner who just happened to have a past now tied to her. Maybe she wouldn’t want to think about that again. Maybe she wouldn’t want Jack around to remind her.

  He couldn’t think that way. He wouldn’t give up on her, on them until she told him face–to-face she didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Then he would worry.

  “Hey, Jack. Boss needs you,” someone said.

  He was immersed in the case and trying to tie up all the loose ends. With Baxter in the hospital, they were depending on his account of things to put the pieces together on what they could do with Reaper, Slick, and the others. He told them that Baxter would have more information on their dealings recently, but he could tell them about the past if they wanted that. They all studiously avoided talking about him being in the gang before. He was their sole witness if Baxter died, and they were going to use him as much as he would let them. He’d let them all they wanted if it would keep Nina out of some of it.

  He stepped outside a little while later to try Nina again. He found her voicemail to him and groaned. He’d never turned his phone back on from being in ICU with Baxter. He listened to it and smiled. She was asking about Freak, too. She might be afraid of him, but she knew he’d helped them and was worried about him.

  He tried her phone and got voicemail again. Frustrated, he hung up without leaving a message. He wasn’t leaving any more messages. He would keep calling until he got her. Leaving voicemail was only making things more difficult for both of them. He planned to go home the next day. He would talk to her then. She would be relieved to know that Baxter was a cop and not the scary gang member she knew, and he was glad he could finally stop keeping things from her.

  * * * *

  Once the groceries were all put up, Nina checked her phone again for the second time since she had gotten home. It was on ring and sitting on the bar so she would hear it if it rang. So far, it hadn’t. Just to be safe, she checked messages, but there were none.

  Frustrated, she checked the clock and figured Charlotte would be over as soon as work was over with. She had two hours. She might as well cook dinner for them. Charlotte’s favorite meal was spaghetti, so she gathered the ingredients and started the meat sauce to simmering. Then she cleaned the kitchen for the third time that day. Still no phone call from Jack. Maybe he didn’t care about her after all.

  Two hours later, right on the dot, Charlotte knocked on the door and came bursting inside. She was always so full of energy. Nothing got her down. She lived life to the fullest and pulled everyone around her along for the ride.

  “Something smells perfect! Do you have wine, or should I run get some?” Charlotte asked.

  “I’ve got a bottle of red. It’s in the fridge chilling.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “You can help me by buttering the bread,” Nina told her.

  Charlotte grabbed the butter from the refrigerator and began buttering the garlic bread.

  “So, have you heard from Jack?” she asked.

  “No, not since the last voicemail.”

  “Have you tried texting him? He could be in meetings or you mentioned the hospital. They frown on cell phones, you know,” Charlotte offered.

  “No, I haven’t. I think I’ll just wait until he comes home. I don’t want to bother him if he’s really busy.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  Nina popped the bread into the oven and checked the noodles again.

  “So, how do you really feel about him, Nina?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Yes, you do. You’re avoiding saying it.” Charlotte took the spoon out of Nina’s hands.

  “What if he doesn’t feel the same way? I don’t know how I can stay here seeing him day after day if he doesn’t,” Nina confessed.

  “The man went back to a bad situation to get you out. He risked his life for you,” Charlotte pointed out.

  “He felt guilty because he’d gotten me into that situation.”

  “You didn’t see him when he was getting ready to come for you. He was crazy with worry. I saw it in his eyes. He more than cares about you. I believe he loves you.”

  “But what if he doesn’t, Charlotte?” Nina asked in a whisper.

  “Then you pick up and go on. That’s what I’ve done. I don’t let that bastard I was married to know that he broke my heart. You don’t either.” She stuck her hands on her hips.

  “It will, you know, break my heart. I love him, Charlotte. God, help me. I love him.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jack pulled into his drive at one thirty the next afternoon. He’d gone by the hospital and seen Baxter agai
n. Nothing had changed. The same machines were still hooked up to him with the same steady beeping of the machine that varied when he talked to him. He believed the big man was in there somewhere. He just couldn’t give up.

  He looked next door to Nina’s house, but her car was gone. He wondered where she might be. It was Friday. Had she gone back to work already? Surely not. She needed some downtime before she tried to get back into the swing of things. He climbed off his bike and stretched. Between long hours sitting in the ICU waiting room and longer hours sitting at the precinct, he was stiff and antsy. He needed some downtime himself.

  Nothing looked any different inside his house, though he was sure the ATF had been though it with a fine-tooth comb. They wouldn’t have taken his word that he wasn’t affiliated with The Devils. They would have done their own investigation. He was sure they had gone through his shop with the same comb. He needed to call Joel and set things back up for the store and shop.

  There was still no sign of Nina’s car when he looked out the window a little later. He needed a nap. He could go down for maybe an hour and then go next door. Surely she would be back by then. He stretched out on the couch, thinking he’d wake up in an hour easy.

  Instead, he woke up groggy and disoriented and found he’d been asleep for nearly twelve hours. Shit. He looked out the window and sure enough, her car was back. He walked outside to see if any of her lights were on, but they weren’t. He wasn’t going to wake her up. She needed to rest. He would catch her in the morning.

  Instead, he flipped through the channels on TV and thought about her. If she didn’t care for him as much as he loved her, he would make love to her until she couldn’t say no when he asked her to marry him. Jack couldn’t imagine life without her in it now. If she turned him down, he’d have to move. He wouldn’t be able to live next door to her and see her date other men. Hell, if she married another man, he would likely go off the deep end and strangle the guy.