Moving Day

(Violet)

“You could back out of this,” Victoria said as she handed me a mug of coffee. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

I sighed. I looked around her crammed apartment, the last remaining boxes near the door. Just a couple of hours ago the boxes were floor to ceiling. I was lucky enough to have a few of the guys from the restaurant bring their pickup trucks and help me move. They were waiting outside for me to say goodbye to the apartment.

Such silly stuff, but it meant something to me. An apartment that me and Victoria split together while we grew our idea into something real. She was going to stay, able to cover the rent by herself, the place fitting her as long as she was alone. Together, we were totally crammed. And I never had a place of my own. My parents would never step in and tell me what to do, but I could tell by the tone of their voices the last time we talked that they wanted something better for me.

I finally got it.

I sipped the coffee. “No. I’m not backing down.”

“You got fired from your job,” Victoria said.

It wasn’t easier to absorb. Not that I had some special job. But it wasn’t fair that I got fired. Of course, there was nothing I could do about it. I planned on living off my savings, the money from the investment, and just work my butt off. I could grab another part-time job at another restaurant if I needed to.

It would all work out.

I stood up from the table. “No. Nothing is going to ruin today. Nothing can. This is what I want, Vic. What we both want. We’re going to kick some serious ass.”

“Then you better get going,” she said with a smile. “I have to get to work. Sorry I can’t help.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “I want to do this on my own. Really figure this out.”

I’m sure I looked like some big eyed girl, fresh into the real world, ready to conquer. And I was sure that I was going to take my hits. Have my bad days.

But at least I’d have an apartment. My own place.

What I didn’t know was that my neighbor was the biggest jerk ever.

* * *

The door was open and I only had ten more boxes to shuffle in. I told the guys from work - my former job - to drop and go. I wanted time alone to appreciate the empty apartment before I filled it up. When you first walked into the apartment you were basically right in the heart of it. The living room, the windows, it was perfect. A kitchen off to the right and the bathroom and bedrooms off to the left. It wasn’t massive, but it wasn’t some hole in a crime filled part of town either.

I was in love. Instantly in love.

I organized the boxes as I took them inside, putting them into the room where I’d eventually unpack them. I ordered takeout and planned on sitting on the floor with a box as my table. My little TV on the shaky stand, watching some repeat of a home makeover show.

Living the dream.

I grabbed a box by the side and turned. When I did, I felt something slam into my arm. The box went flying out of my hands, hitting the side, and out poured some personal stuff. Tampons, pads, toothpaste, zit cream, a couple random bras, and a little vibrator that was given to me by Victoria as a joke. She wanted me to get my body ready for the real thing. I never used the toy, but there it was, in the middle of the hallway.

To make matters worse, when I turned my head, I was staring up at six-foot-six of hot, dripping sex. He stared at me with pissed off eyes, a pissed off scowl on his face, and it was like he didn’t even know me. But I instantly remembered him as the guy from the restaurant who had defended me.

His words echoed in my memory.

“You owe me one. Violet.”

“Hi,” I said. I sounded like a one year old baby that knew one word.

He looked down at the mess on the floor and then back at me. He raised an eyebrow. Judging me. Not moving. Making me feel so uncomfortable.

“I’m moving in,” I said. “To this apartment. Do you…”

He stepped toward me. I turned sideways, giving his mile wide shoulders room to slip by me. He stepped right over the box that spilled everywhere. I caught the smell of him. His t-shirt. His skin. A hint of old cologne. His arms were huge. His back pressed against his shirt like he was going rip his shirt just by flexing.

“Nice to meet you again,” I muttered.

That’s when he stopped.

I had tempted the beast.

Slowly, he turned around. He nodded at my open door. “That’s your place?”

“Yeah.”

He grinned.

Those dimples…

I blew out a breath as my body started to feel really warm. This man was big, sexy, and overpowering without saying a word. Maybe it was because he had protected me from that asshole with the raw chicken. Or maybe it was something else. That wild fire inside me… the most basic of needs that demanded attention…

A guy like this would probably take care of that and then leave without a word.

We stood in silence in the hallway.

He finally put a hand to a box and said, “You have a lot of work to do here.”

“Yeah. I don’t mind though. It’s exciting to have my own place.”

“Exciting. Right. Good luck. Don’t spill everything in the hallway.”

“You could offer to help,” I said, my feeble attempt at flirting.

“Not my style, babe,” he said. “You’re on your own. You already got one from me.”

“Yeah, about that… I hope that didn’t cause too much trouble…”

“Just a night in jail,” he said. “Legal fees. A possible lawsuit. Pending charges. Nothing too much.”

I gasped. “I didn’t… I mean… you didn’t have to…”

“I know,” he said. “I didn’t have to hit that guy and help, just like I don’t have to help you move all this shit out of the hallway.”

“How kind,” I said.

“Kind? You want kindness? Want me to bake a fucking cake because you moved in? Bring you some flowers? Give you the gossip on the building?”

“You live in the building?” I asked.

Duh. Of course he does. Why else would he be here?

Now I was blushing. Because I was acting stupid and this guy was a total ass. He punched that guy not to defend me, but because he felt like punching someone. Even still, I felt bad that he was going through legal stuff because of me.

I licked my lips. My mouth was bone dry.

“I could talk to my old boss…”

“Old boss?”

“I got fired for what happened.”

I saw his lip curl a little. Then he sighed. He kicked his left foot forward and swatted away a few of the tampons. His huge black boot moving the green and white feminine products out of the way was quite the sight. But he only did that to fully uncover the little vibrator.

Holyshitholyshitholyshit…

“I, uh, that’s not, uh…”

He put the tip of his boot right against it. “I’d make sure to wash this real good, Violet.”

He remembers my name. He said my name again.

“They don’t clean the hallways like they should,” he said. “You don’t want to get sick. You don’t want to be dirty. Then again, I don’t mind dirty.”

He winked at me.

He turned and walked away, leaving the mess on the floor. Technically, it was my fault for not knowing he was right behind me when I turned around. Then again, it was his arm that smashed into the box and spilled it.

And he wasn’t going to help me.

The hero was suddenly the asshole.

Big shocker.

And people wondered why I was still a virgin.

“I never got your name,” I called out.

He pushed at the door to get to the stairs. “It’s Mason.”

Then he was gone.

The door clicked shut.

Mason.

Of course it was a sexy name. To match the sexy man.

My new neighbor opened their door and out walked a woman with short grey hair and a fancy pantsuit. A bag over one shoulder, a purse over the other.

I gave a weak wave. “Hi. I’m…”

“I hope the noise will quiet by the time I get back from my meeting,” she said. “And the hallway will be clean.”

“I’m moving in,” I said.

“Congrats.” She looked down and saw the mess. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the vibrator.

Why was it still on the floor?!

“Wonderful,” my new neighbor muttered.

She walked away.

I was back to where I started.

Alone, with boxes to move.

I moved the boxes into the apartment. I cleaned up the box that had spilled, vibrator and all. I plopped that box on my bed. I grabbed the vibrator and held it up. I ended up tossing it into the trashcan in the bathroom.

So far, I had met the neighbor on one side of me. And I met the hero-turned-asshole. Now I just needed to meet the person on the other side of me. I hoped it was some nice person who baked cookies, told great stories, and was nice.

I was way wrong.

* * *

I sat there and fought with chopsticks to grab some lo mein noodles. The plastic fork was next to me, constantly tempted me to use it. I managed to get two noodles on the chopsticks and considered that a victory.

On TV, the hosts were about to rip out a wall to find out if there were going to be electrical issues or not. Of course, just as they found out what’s happening, it cuts to commercial.

I shifted focus to my laptop, wanting to get some work done.

The app launch was on track. My job now was to figure out some of the background coding for tracking purposes. The ins and outs were mostly boring, but it was very exciting to imagine the app actually taking off. No matter what, both Victoria and I had already gotten paid for the work we put in. Everything after that was going to be extra icing on the cake.

I was typing with my left hand and I reached back with my right hand for my wine glass. Chinese food and wine? Totally classy, right? The back of my fingers touched the glass just as a loud thud hit my front door. I swung my hand and the wine glass spilled.

“Shit,” I yelled.

I jumped up and saw the blood red wine rolling across the hard floors.

I dove back and did some kind of crazy ninja move, ripping through a box for paper towels. I hurried to wipe up the mess. I stared at the front door the entire time.

I heard another faint thud, coming from inside my bedroom.

My heart leapt from my chest like in cartoons when someone fell in love.

Figures, I thought. My first night in my new place and someone would break in or something.

I poked my head up from the boxes and knew there was no way in hell someone could be in the bedroom.

What about the window?

Someone could have scaled the side of the building and climbed through my bedroom window. But that didn’t explain the front door slam noise I heard.

I grabbed my wine glass and stood up. I would use that as my weapon.

First, I checked the front door. I looked through the peephole and nothing was out there. Then I slowly crept to the bedroom. The window was shut. Locked tight. No signs of anyone.

Then another slam hit the wall.

It wasn’t someone breaking in. It was someone on the other side of the wall.

Hitting the wall.

I sighed in relief and left the bedroom.

I should have finished my food. I should have finished my coding. Instead, I went to the door, figuring it was a good time to meet the other neighbor. I knew for sure there was a grumpy pantsuit wearing woman on one side. Now the other side had a woman or man that liked to smash nails into the wall at the weirdest times.

That still didn’t explain my front door though.

I exited my apartment and turned to the right. I didn’t realize I was still holding my empty wine glass until I had already knocked on the door. I heard some noises, voices yelling, then a few more thudding sounds.

I wondered if I should have called the cops instead of poking my nose into someone else’s business. Maybe it was a couple having a fight.

I started to back away, contemplating playing ding-dong-ditch.

That’s when the door was ripped open.

It was him.

It was Mason.

He stood there in nothing but jeans that were unzipped. Sweat glistened his immaculate body, a holy shrine to everything sexy, wrong, dirty, and beautiful all mixed into one. Every cut of muscle was so perfectly defined, my eyes were rolling as I tried to force myself to meet his eyes. His stomach muscles were thick squares going all the way up to his chest.

When he realized it was me, he grinned.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I heard noise,” I said.

“And you brought me an empty wine glass?”

“I didn’t mean to do that. I thought something was wrong. You live here?”

“Where did you think I lived?”

“I don’t know…”

“You need anything else? You want to come in and join the fun?”

“Mason, who is it?” a woman’s voice asked.

I peered beyond his heavy cut strong shoulder and saw a woman wearing nothing but a bedsheet. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were drunk with lust as she stared at Mason.

“Just my neighbor,” Mason said, his eyes locked to mine. “She was worried about all that noise.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t…”

“I’ll pull the bed away from the wall,” Mason said. “Unless you like that sound. At least you know what it is now. Sorry that we started up in the hallway. I sort of bumped into your door.”

His smile was evil. He did that on purpose. He hit my door to scare me. To get my attention.

“If you clean up your dirty toy, you can use it,” Mason said. “Just give a knock on the wall when you’re done coming so I can finish up.”

I gasped and covered my mouth.

Okay, this guy went from hero to asshole to simply vile.

“You’re disgusting,” I said.

“You’re right,” Mason said. “I’m filthy. And that’s just with my words. Imagine what my tongue can do.”

“I’m leaving. Sorry I bothered you.”

Before I could get away, he stepped out of the apartment and slid a hand behind my back. I tried to lean back and brought my hands up. My left hand held the wine glass. My right hand barely touched his warm and sweaty skin.

God, he’s so fucking built and sexy.

My mind and my heart knew better. But between my legs, I was a mess for him.

“Tell you what,” Mason whispered. “I’ll go down on her and I’ll write you all the nasty things I want to do to you with my tongue. The more she screams the dirtier my writing is.”

“Get away from me,” I said.

Mason stunk of man sweat and another smell. I assumed it was sex. That messy, sweaty kind of smell.

Mason let me go and I fell back and crashed into the wall.

“Have a good night, Violet,” he said and shut the door.

I stood there, jaw dropped.

My heart racing. My wine glass empty. And my panties were more than slightly damp.

I hated myself for that.

But more than that, I hated him.

I hated Mason already.

And we were just getting started.