Lovely Neighbor (Lovely 1)

“Come on, with the way that man looks at you? There’s something there.”

“He’s crazy hot, crazy rich, and crazy dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” He’s always in all black and has a ton of tattoos, but I don’t think that makes him dangerous.

“Yeah, to my sanity.” She grabs Lucas’ backpack then brings it over to the sofa. “This is my life.” She unzips the backpack and pulls out a folder. “I don’t have time for hookups and he’s my boss. I’m not risking my job.” She pulls some papers out before signing them and putting them back in the folder. I get what she’s saying, but she has to live a little.

“But what if he’s looking for something serious?”

She snorts. “He thinks I’m the cute and snarky coffee girl who lives a carefree life. He thinks he knows who I am, but he doesn’t. If anything, he makes my life harder when he’s barking orders at me about how I close the shop. Somehow I don’t lock things right, or says we should close earlier, or that I shouldn’t work alone.” She stares at me. “I could go on.”

“I get it.” I hold my hands up.

I’m not going to point out that all those things are about her safety. It sounds to me like he cares about her and not necessarily the shop. But I can tell this is a touchy subject and I’m going to leave it be. Anyone who wants to be with Jenna has to know she comes as a package deal with Lucas. I bet Reed has no idea about Lucas and Jenna wants to keep it that way.

“We are going to drop him off at school and then I can help until about noon. Kindergarten is only half a day here.”

“Let me get dressed.” I go to the bathroom to change and keep it simple with yoga pants and a sweater. I don’t know how much I’ll have to help the movers, but I want to be comfortable. I pull my hair up into a ponytail as I come out and Lucas is standing there waiting on me.

“Are you staying over again?” Lucas asks, looking hopeful.

“I’m sorry, little man, I fly out tonight.” I barely got to see him. “Next time I’ll make sure I stay longer, I promise.” I give him a hug because I’m going to miss the hell out of them.

We drop Lucas off first then go to my place. “You okay?” Jenna asks, looking over at me.

“Yeah, I’m a little anxious.” A knot has formed in my stomach with the anticipation of seeing the apartment.

“I get it. Someone was in your space and that shit would freak anyone out.”

I nod in agreement. “I just want to get it over with and put it behind me.”

Jenna pulls into the parking lot of my apartment building and I can see the moving truck is already here. I get out of the car as my phone chimes and I see a text from Devin telling me he misses me. I miss him too.

I should have let him come with me, but I also felt like this is something I should handle myself. He has his own stuff to worry about and I don’t need to drop my crap on his lap too.

I meet the movers and talk to them about what I’ve got and about how long we have. I motion for them to follow me up to my floor as they grab their gear and Jenna is right beside me. I unlock the door with the new key the landlord sent me and I stand there shocked.

“Wow.” Jenna looks around the room. “Whoever did this was angry, Erin.”

I was thinking the same thing, but I don’t understand why. I didn’t give anyone a reason to be angry with me. I keep to myself and it’s not like I have crazy ex-boyfriends. I rub my eyes, unsure of where I should begin

“Let’s get the big stuff first.” Jenna points to the sofa.

“On it,” one of the movers says as they get to work.

“If it’s destroyed, just throw it out,” I tell them, reaching down and picking up a shattered picture frame. “Just make sure you pull the pictures out please,” I say as I take the one of Grams and me out of this one.

“Let’s do your room.” I follow Jenna into my bedroom.

“I don’t even want any of this stuff. It feels tainted.” I stare at my bed, seeing the sheets are a mess and I know it wasn’t from me. I make my bed every morning. There’s no point in destroying my place and not taking anything. None of this makes sense and I need to stop trying to understand why. It doesn’t matter because I’m getting out of here.

“You don’t have to keep any of it. You can put it all in storage or throw it out. You don’t have to decide today.”