with me because it’s a necessity. They need it more than they need to breathe.”
“How long were you together?”
“Since college. We shared the same friends. It just…made sense, you know? Reid was a part of my life for the big things, and I think, at some point, we drifted apart and didn’t even realize it.”
“So, what, you decided to leave him and move away? Start a new life?”
She fidgets, uncomfortable with my line of questioning. “I guess in a way, yes. I wanted a fresh start after the breakup. Somewhere I didn’t have any previous ties. I wanted to feel independent.” She seems to shake it off and runs her fingers through her hair nervously. “Anyway, that’s enough about me. How long have you lived here?”
“About two and a half years.”
Her brows jump into her hairline. “Wow. This place looks…incredible. Much better than mine.”
I roll my eyes. “Unlike you, I know what I’m doing.”
She mock gasps. “What makes you think I don’t know what I’m doing?”
I pointedly look over at her house, and that’s all the answer she needs. I get wanting to be independent, but at what cost? If I had the parents she did, I’d take advantage of the help, not push it away.
“Want a tour?”
She freezes, and her cheeks pinken. “A tour? Of the…garage?”
I smirk. “My house.”
“I feel like I’m in an alternate universe, if you’re willingly inviting me into your home. Especially after what happened in there.”
“We may very well be,” I mumble under my breath, pushing up from the bucket. We walk inside, and I give her the tour. It feels odd having her in my space, yet a small part of me feels almost right having her here. And I don’t like it. I feel myself locking up, closing in to focus on what’s important.
I did my part. I apologized for being an asshole. I don’t need to go any further. We’re on positive terms now. I need to leave it at that and be done with this.
“You’re very…clean…for a bachelor.”
“When you grow up the way I did, it’s not hard to keep your space clean. I grew up in a shit trailer, then an even worse apartment that was never clean. Vermin, dust, a dingy shithole I refuse to ever be stuck in again.”
“Is it weird that I want to hug you right now?” she whispers, trying to lighten the mood, but I see the sadness glimmering in her eyes. The pity. I’ve always fucking hated that look in people’s eyes.
We finally move on to the bedroom and here she has a clear view into her own room, though she tries to avoid it. Tries to pretend she doesn’t already know that, but I do. I’ve seen just enough to know my neighbor isn’t the sweet girl she pretends to be. In fact, she’s quite dirty. And if my circumstances were different, I’d absolutely take advantage of that.
Because my neighbor? She’s a walking, talking wet dream. She’s a complication I don’t need, and one I certainly will never be able to have. Nevertheless, I still want her. Having her in my space, it’s taking everything in me not to strip her down and fuck her, right here, up against the wall, in the bed—
She clears her throat, her cheeks now fire engine red. Her thoughts must be running in the same lane as mine. My suspicions are confirmed when she glances toward the bed, then hurriedly averts her eyes.
“I should probably get going. I have work in the morning, and I’m sure you do, too.”
I nod slowly, wading through the thick tension between us. “Night, Olivia.”
She pauses, surprise flitting across her features, once again. “Good night,” she says quietly. Just before crossing the threshold, she pauses and glances at me over her shoulder. “And Rome?”
“Yeah?”
“You deserve to have your little brother back. Because all this?” She glances around us at my house. “This is amazing. You are the parent he deserves. Don’t ever second-guess that.”
She turns, before I can reply, and pads her way down the steps and across our lawns back to her house.
The entire way I watch her go, there’s a tightness in my chest. Expanding and spreading, bubbling through my veins.
I loathe it.
And secretly treasure it.
“Alone with You”—Kito ft. AlunaGeorge
I start thinking about Roman and his little, brother the second I wake the next morning. All night, I berated myself for how stupid I was. What if I cost him his only chance?