Bully Next Door

The smell didn’t linger, and he walked a few more feet. He rounded a corner and bumped into a brown-haired woman.

“Shit, I’m so sorry,” he said.

“Oh, no, it was me. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” She let out a little chuckle.

Cutie barked as if to gain her attention.

“She is so cute,” the woman said.

Within seconds, her hands were on Cutie, giving her a stroke.

“Anna-Beth, I’ve told you not to walk too far ahead of me. Rix wouldn’t like it.”

Hector looked behind the young woman to see an older woman, walking to catch up. He noticed the leather jacket the woman wore, and he tensed up, aware of certain gang wars occurring between MCs. From the look of the insignia on the jacket, the old lady belonged to an actual club.

“Rix wouldn’t like it? You’re the one who wanted to come and check out how the houses are doing,” Anna-Beth said, stepping back.

He had no idea what the women were talking about. “Sorry for bumping into you,” Hector said.

“Who are you?” the old lady asked.

“Elizabeth, that’s no way to talk to strangers.”

“I know everyone in this town. I may live in that clubhouse of his, but I still come here for breakfast, and I don’t know this man at all. Where are you living?” Elizabeth asked.

She looked at him so intently that for a second, he felt he’d done something wrong.

“I live at the house at the bottom of the street.” He pointed behind him to where his and Verity’s house stood side by side. They were beautiful homes. When he saw them, he’d been tempted to buy both of them, but something in his gut told him not to.

“Aha, I knew it.”

“Elizabeth, don’t do this again.”

“Well, that dangerous-looking guy married his neighbor. Rix claimed you, and as memory serves, you’re happily married. The curse is still in place.”

He had no idea what these ladies were talking about. “I better be heading back.”

“Is that your dog?” Elizabeth asked.

“Er, no, it’s my neighbor’s.”

“It’s happening.”

He looked toward the younger of the two. “What’s happening?”

“The curse,” Elizabeth said, as if that answered all his questions.

“I’m sorry. It’s … look, there is this long kind of … I don’t know how to put it. Some call it a curse, others call it a gift that is connected to those two houses.”

“I haven’t heard any ghosts or anything,” Hector said.

Anna-Beth laughed. “No, it’s not a ghost.”

“You are going to find your soul mate in that house,” Elizabeth said. “I have watched so many couples come and go. Each one falling for the other just as hard and just as fast. Some consider it a curse, others a fairy tale. You are falling for your neighbor. It means she is meant to be yours, and some special force is bringing the two of you together before you waste any more time.”

He needed to get back home. “Right, okay. Well, it was nice to meet you. Have a nice day.” Next time, he was going to leave the house drinking a whole load of coffee because no part of that conversation made any sense to him.

“No, wait,” Anna-Beth said, stopping him from leaving. “I can see you think we’re crazy people, and maybe we are, but you have got to understand. Elizabeth has lived here for a long time. She has seen people come and go. It is … insane. I didn’t believe it, but the love of my life, he was my neighbor. We moved in roughly at the same time. If not the same day. I can’t remember all the finer details. Have you not felt drawn to your neighbor? Wanting to know what she is doing every single day? Just being close to her? Imagining a future with her?”

“It’s just a house.”

“Exactly, it is just that and because of the look on your face, I’m going to assume you do know what I’m talking about and I’m not talking crazy. You’re finding it a little creepy. Trust me though, every single couple that has been in those houses, they have left them together, and are still together. I even heard that a threesome fell in love. Two guys and a girl, and all of that. I’m going to leave that with you. I’ve got to be heading back.”

Hector watched the woman go.

The crazy old lady was still watching him.

He looked down at Cutie, who stared back at him. “What do you think of that? Do you think that is crazy? Yeah, me too. Come on, let’s go back to mommy.”

He paused as in his mind, he got a flash of something hopeful. Verity, pregnant with his child, and then he saw a couple of kids dancing around his feet.

He shook his head.

“No, that’s too crazy. It’s not happening.”

****

Ever since Hector got back from his walk with Cutie, he’d been acting a little strange.