Just Kidding (SWAT Generation 2.0 1)

My apartment in San Antonio looked like a dump compared to this place.

“Rent is eight fifty a month,” she said as she continued. “You can either sign a year contract, or you can go month-to-month. The only thing with month-to-month is that if there’s a new increase in the rent, you’re gonna have to pay it.”

That sounded fan-fucking-tastic to me.

Mostly because I was planning on buying a house. I wasn’t sure when. I wasn’t sure where.

But I knew that was one of my goals.

My parents had shouldered my education expenses. My car was paid off. I didn’t buy anything I didn’t need.

Which in turn meant that I had enough money to do what I wanted—like buy a freakin’ house.

I just had to make sure that the job that I’d accepted would work out, first. Then I’d go house shopping.

Until then, I would wait and live month to month when it pertained to rent.

Score!

“Month-to-month sounds great,” I said. “Do you need a background check on me or anything?”

She was already shaking her head.

“Nope,” she said. “All I need is some paperwork filled out. Then the first and last month’s rent. Then you’re good to move in.”

I was starting to feel absolutely giddy.

“Deal!”Chapter 6I don’t get the ‘zero fucks given’ thing. I have a ton of fucks. Fuck you. Fuck off. Fuck this. Fuck that. Fuck them. Fuck me.

-Dax’s secret thoughts

Dax

The next morning I woke up to a loud racket coming from the front of my duplex.

Popping one eye open, I realized that my alarm was about five minutes from going off.

I found myself hurrying out of bed as if I had gotten a full eight hours of sleep instead of the two that I’d been allowed after a SWAT call from hell.

I’d set my alarm for about half an hour before I would need to leave to pick up Rowen, but it was more than obvious that I hadn’t needed to.

Hell, I’d gone to sleep thinking about her the night before, and now I’d woken up doing the same thing.

What was it about the woman that had me tied in knots?

Hearing what sounded like the door next to me closing, I frowned and began to move toward the front window in order to peer out.

Did I have a new neighbor?

I knew it wouldn’t be long.

The place that I was living in was a freakin’ gold mine. Plus, it was one of the safest places in Kilgore thanks to all of the officers that were calling Shady Shores Duplexes, home.

My eyes lit on a familiar red coupe, and my heartbeat started to accelerate.

Frowning hard at the car, I watched and waited for the car’s occupant to come back.

She did long moments later, pulling a box out of the front seat of the car before turning around and bringing it back inside.

Excitement started to pour through my veins at the thought of her living next to me.

But what if it wasn’t her living next to me? What if it was a friend of hers or something? And she was just helping them move?

Unable to stop my curiosity, I walked back to my bedroom and picked up the first pair of pants I found—a worn and battered pair of blue jeans I’d worn to mow the yard in the day before.

I’d had about an hour in between getting up and having to go get my mother that I’d used to mow the small yard.

When I was done, I’d thrown my dirty clothes in the corner of my bedroom in my haste to get to the shower.

Glancing down at my blue jeans, I considered changing them, but then thought better of it when I heard another car door slam.

I didn’t like the idea of her pulling boxes in all by herself, even if they were light.

Mind made up, I hurried outside and made my way to the duplex next door.

After studying the yard and the curb, I decided that the person moving the boxes, and the only car there belonging to the one woman I couldn’t stop thinking about, likely meant that it was Rowen moving in and not a friend.

Just as I took the stairs to her porch, I raised my hand to knock only to have the door ripped open right in front of me.

“Oh!” Rowen said, her hand flying to her chest. “You startled me.”

My eyes went to her chest, and I tried not to stiffen.

She was wearing a black tank top with a bright pink sports bra underneath. There was also a tiny postage-sized square of fabric covering her ass and thighs. Meaning she was wearing shorts that just begged for me to rip them off.

Fuck. Me.

“H-hey,” she said. “So I was going to tell you as soon as you walked out here. I put a note on your truck window just on the off chance that I missed seeing you before you left. I brought donuts!”