Bully Next Door

“Or they were always there to begin with?” Hector asked.

“Huh?”

“I, er, I knew my neighbor before we were, you know, together.” He forced a smile to his lips. “We don’t have the best past, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have the best future together.”

Anna-Beth looked over her shoulder and shook her head. “I agree with you, and I seem to have found my little problem running around.”

Hector glanced over his shoulder to see the older woman with her leather jacket firmly in place.

“You’re still living in that damn house?” Elizabeth asked. He finally remembered her name, or did Anna-Beth call her that?

Damn it, the pain in his chest was hurting.

“Yeah, I still am.” He winked at her.

“I don’t get these kids today,” Elizabeth said. “They always think that time will wait for them. Like the magical clock is going to stop for them so they can wait around to be with their precious one. Time doesn’t stop for anyone, son. It only keeps on moving forward, and you have got to make a choice, to enjoy the ride or to jump right off of it.” Elizabeth shook her head. “Waiting around to tell the woman you love her because you think you’ve got plenty of time left.”

Hector hated how the woman made sense. Time was way too precious. He hated to admit it, but it was so very true.

“It was nice to meet the both of you.” He held his hand up while keeping another firmly on his chest.

This wasn’t good. The pain was exactly like before. He’d only felt it the once, but right now, this was a second time.

What stress could he be feeling exactly to warrant this kind of feeling?

His fingers were also starting to feel a little numb, which was unusual.

Moving back toward his home, he looked at their two houses. They were so perfect. The sun was shining down on them, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it was a sign.

I don’t do fucking signs.

I don’t do warnings.

As if on cue, his chest squeezed a little tighter.

Fuck. He had to get to the hospital.

Hector moved forward, but rather than go to his home, or to his car, he went to Verity’s.

Slamming his fist on the door, he didn’t know what compelled him to do this, only that he had to see her, to talk to her.

Elizabeth, the crazy old lady, made so much sense. Time was so easily wasted because everyone thought they had so much time. No one knew what the future held for each other, or for themselves, but what they did know was that each of them had a time limit. A moment when the heart stopped beating, and it was their time.

Life was so damn short.

It was a blessing and a curse.

He’d already wasted one opportunity to be with Verity as a kid back in high school.

Hector had noticed her. Not completely, not as a besotted high school kid, but an appreciation of her.

It was so long ago and such a fleeting feeling. She’d been in the library with Sean, and he, himself, was flunking biology, but he’d not had the heart to ask his nerdy best friend for help. He’d gone to study himself. Pretending to make out with a girl with his jock friends. He’d watched Verity.

He had seen her sitting there, the pencil in hand that she occasionally rubbed across her lips, chuckling at some comment from Sean, and he didn’t know what it was, the sun, feeling out of place, whatever, but he’d thought she was the most beautiful girl he’d seen.

The dust from the books had clearly gotten to him, at least, he thought it had, and he’d snuck right out of the library, complete with the biology book he’d needed to study. Once he aced that test, he’d snuck the book right back into its place.

He’d stolen a few glances from that moment forward, but they hadn’t even been worth thinking about.

Verity opened her door, and he stared at her now. So beautiful. So sexy. His neighbor, and the love of his fucking life.

“A curse or not, I am in love with you, Verity Hill. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Hector, you don’t look so good.”

He held his chest tightly. “And one day, you are going to marry me because you are going to see what a catch I am. Call Sean. I need to go to the hospital.” And then everything went dark.

****

“He has a heart condition?” Verity asked, pacing the floor of the hospital.

“It’s not an actual condition, well, not. It’s complicated.”

“Well, uncomplicate it for me.”

Hector had collapsed in her arms. She hadn’t been strong enough to hold him up, but she had done what she could, trying to keep him safe. He hadn’t hit his head as she’d nestled him to the floor.