The Neighbor - Don't Hate Me

Sure, she was beyond stunning but that didn’t mean a damn thing. In the sunlight, her hair looked like milk chocolate that had been kissed by fresh strawberries. And her ass? I would have killed to curve my hand around her peach-like round bottom.

I pressed my hand to my face and chuckled at myself. Dammit. I really was exhausted. The woman was annoying. It was like having a teenager living next door, and she most definitely wasn’t a teenager.

I pressed the button, and my garage rumbled as it closed. I walked around the side of my house, unable to ignore the woman screaming so loudly next door that I could hear it in my yard. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if I could hear it had I been inside my house.

Asshole this. Fucker that.

I hated to be that guy, but was there anything I could help to move things along quicker? To get her out of the neighborhood so it could go back to the nice, quiet place it once was. Hell, if I could afford to move because if I could have, I would have done so after Courtney left us.

All I knew was that I needed that woman gone. And if I had to do something to move things along, then so be it. She started this war, not me.

If she would have been a good neighbor, things would be different.

Her front door opened and she walked out to the car parked in the driveway. The only thing separating us was the three and a half foot tall wooden fence.

She took out a suitcase and stopped moving when she saw me looking at her. Her head tilted, and a scowl grew on her face.

“Can I help you with something?” she asked.

“No,” I replied. “But if there is any chance you can get your friend to screaming her lungs out, that would be good. I have a nine year old inside, and I’m pretty sure she can hear every unpleasant word.”

The woman stared at me for a long moment. It seemed like she was considering tearing my head off.

“Not that it’s any of your business,” she said, her eyes widening, “but she just left her husband and is kind of going through some shit.”

Been there.

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s not any of my business. And it’s not the business of anyone else in the neighborhood, but yet here we all are listening to it. I just don’t want my kid to hear the words coming out of her mouth. Is that really too much to ask?”

“Your daughter probably hears far worse at school,” she said with a huff.

All the kindness, admittedly, wasn’t much, dropped from my face. “I doubt that. Look, lady, she can say whatever she wants but if she doesn’t lower her voice and stop disturbing the peace, I’m going to have to call the police.”

The woman snorted.

“Lady? Disturbing the peace?” She looked me up and down. “Give me a break, grandpa. I don’t even hear her. Maybe you just need to mind your own business and stop being a nosy neighbor.”

Was this woman for real?

“Lady—”

“Hope. My name is Hope. Stop calling me lady. It’s rude.” Her eyes sharpened. Flames shot upward over her long eyelashes. She looked like an evil crow staring back at me, trying to decide if it wanted to poke out my eyeballs. “You know what? I don’t need this today.”

“I don’t need this any day,” I responded.

She grabbed her bag and turned her back to me. I stood there with my mouth hanging open, watching her as she walked back toward her house.

My body shuddered with the slamming of her front door.

She might have an amazing backside but the woman was an absolute nightmare. I needed her gone.

3

Hope

“You guys are not going to believe what just happened. My neighbor is a huge dick,” I said. Olivia was struggling to catch her breath. “What’s going on?”

“She’s hyperventilating,” Tori said. “I think that’s what it is.”

Olivia’s eyes were round and glassy. Both hands were pressed to her chest. “I… can’t… breathe.”

“We need to get her to the ER,” I said. Worry rushed through my veins like hot coals.

“No,” Olivia choked out. “Can’t… afford… it… now.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll pay for it,” Tori said as she put her arm around Olivia’s shoulders. She glanced over at me… her face stretched with seriousness. “I’ll take her and call you as soon as I can, okay?”

I frowned. “No, of course, that’s not okay. I’m coming with you.”

“Hope, no. That’s not a good idea. You need to stay and get some sleep. I don’t want to be there waiting for both of you to get seen,” Tori said.

“Are you sure?” I asked. It wasn’t like I was going to be able to sleep with Olivia at the ER.

“I’m positive,” Tori replied.