Jeremy
I shut the door and switched my music back on low. I didn’t want to piss off the neighbour again. At least not tonight. Opening the window in the living room, I sat on the ledge and lit a cigarette—a filthy habit I picked up in prison—and leaned outside. There was strictly no smoking in these apartments, and I didn’t care enough to go downstairs and onto the street.
Kenzie was feisty. I liked it. The few times I’d seen her when she visited my sister at the roadhouse, she intrigued me with her devil-may-care attitude and the way she didn’t take crap from anyone. She was strong and held her own. I respected that. Plus, she’d been a good friend to my sister when I was a piss weak excuse of a brother. The fact that she was sexy as hell was just a bonus.
Harper was going to flip when she found out we were neighbours.
She’d warned me to stay away from her friends when I made an offhand comment about the sweet little brunette chick, what was her name…? The one with the angry boyfriend covered in more tattoos than I had. “Just because you’ve been locked up and are finally out doesn’t give you the right to hit on my friends. They’re all taken and have integrity. Play somewhere else.” I laughed and told her I had no interest in her friends.
It was true.
After eight years in prison, you’d be forgiven for thinking the first thing I’d want to do was get myself a girlfriend or at least make up for lost time, but the thought hadn’t even occurred to me. I was just glad to be out and not have to share a cell with that lowlife Allen or listen to him recount his life story. The man was lucky I didn’t drown him in the toilet on numerous occasions. Only thing that stopped me from ending his life was the prospect of early parole. I didn’t belong in the pen. And I didn’t belong in protective custody with all the rapists, pedophiles, and wife and kid bashers.
So, the first thing on my mind when I got out wasn’t chasing tail. It was getting as far from that hellhole as possible. I wanted to get my life on track, some stability, and then I wanted to find my sister. And I did that. It took an entire year of moving from place to place, working wherever I could, picking up odd jobs here and there, and sleeping in dodgy motels or the back of my car, but it paid off. I got myself sorted, found a stable job not far from Blackhill, and was able to move closer to my sister. She was my whole life. Always had been.
She just didn’t know I’d moved out of the roadhouse yet. Her boyfriend Nate had taken her away up the coast for a week or so before she had to return to uni and finish her nursing degree. And I may have conveniently forgotten to tell her I was looking for places to live on my own, because I knew she’d try to make me stay with Uncle Johnny. I needed my own space. I’d lived in close quarters with hundreds of men for eight years. I wanted the freedom and privacy of my own place.
And I found it.
The apartment was huge by my standards, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen with a small living area. It was like a penthouse suite after living in a six-by-eight-foot concrete box. I didn’t have any furniture except for a sofa that folded out into a bed, a TV, and a stereo. But that was all I needed.
The icing on the cake?
Kenzie right next door.
I didn’t know what came over me. Calling her “babe” was a douche move. But it was true, regardless. She was a babe. And storming in here pissed as hell in nothing but a flimsy tank top and shorts that barely covered her ass did things to a man’s imagination.
My blood ran cold. What if I’d been some psycho? A criminal—well, a dangerous criminal—and she waltzed around the building dressed like she was? What the hell was she thinking? What if her ex had been creeping in the shadows?
Harper had filled me in on that train wreck of a relationship and how Kenzie’s ex had been stalking her. Then she went and wandered the apartment building in the middle of the night practically naked. She was asking for trouble.
I stubbed my cigarette out on the windowsill and decided to get some sleep if I wanted to wake in time for work. The job wasn’t great, and the drive took about thirty minutes, but it paid the bills and meant I got to be near Harper again. I’d missed out on too much of her life already and wanted to make up for lost time.
***
My alarm went off too early. It was still dark out, and four or five hours of sleep wasn’t enough, but I rolled out of bed and got ready for work. As I was leaving my apartment, the door beside me opened, and something thudded on the floor.
“Crap,” Kenzie muttered. I looked over to see her struggling to pick up her bag from the floor while holding her son, who was still asleep against her chest.
“I’ll get it,” I said and rushed over to grab her bag.
She pulled her door closed and turned to look at me. “Uh, thanks,” she whispered and shifted her son in her arms so she could reach for her bag.
“I got it. I’ll walk you out.” I nodded toward the stairs. Still clutching her bag in my hands, I walked off, leaving her no choice but to follow.
We walked silently out to her car, and I waited while she strapped her son into his seat. He didn’t even stir.
“Where are you going so early?” I asked, wondering why she would be dragging her son out before the sun came up.
“Work.” She shut his door, and I handed her bag back. “Thanks for that. Overslept, so we’re running late.” She narrowed her eyes and scowled at me. “Someone kept me awake all night.”
“Hey, don’t blame me, babe. I kept my music quiet after you stormed in and told me off.” I raised my hands in defence.
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I’m not your babe. We discussed this already.”
“I don’t know, hospital scrubs look pretty sexy on you.” I winked. She raised her eyebrows and bit her bottom lip, most likely to stop herself from saying something she’d regret, a slight flush appearing on her cheeks.
What the hell was I saying? I knew I shouldn’t be talking that way, but I couldn’t help it. There was something about her that made me want to get her all worked up. In more ways than one. Shaking that thought from my head, I stood back as she opened the driver’s side door and climbed in, ignoring me completely.
“Have a great day.” I shut her door and smiled, proud of myself for refraining from calling her babe again, but I couldn’t deny I liked the way she blushed.
I stopped at the diner on the way to work to get a coffee. Julie looked exhausted, drained, and Johnny was on edge, cursing in the kitchen and making a racket with the pots and pans or whatever out there.
“Everything okay?” I asked, pulling up a stool at the counter while she made my drink.
“Of course.” Her smile was forced and didn’t reach her eyes.
“You sure?”
“Just tired.” She pushed the coffee into my hands, and I took a welcome sip. I’d become addicted to coffee since staying here.
“Tired?”
“We’re getting old, Jeremy. This place is just taking its toll.”
I coughed out a laugh. “You’re not old, Jules.” And she wasn’t. Neither was Johnny. They were in their early fifties. Not old by a long shot.
“We just need a break. A holiday or something. Some time away to recharge our batteries.”
“So, go. Take some time off. You deserve it. You’ve done more than enough for me and Harper over the years. Take care of yourselves.” Harper had packed her bags and moved halfway across the country two years ago to live with Johnny and Julie.
That was when I was going through a bad time. I was climbing the walls in prison trying to stay out of trouble, and Harper would visit every day. She wanted to be there for me, and while I loved seeing her, I also saw what it was doing to her. She put her life on hold for me, when I should have been the one to look out for her. I knew if she kept visiting me, she’d hold on to the past and would never fully move on and be happy. So, I did the only thing I could think of. I turned her away and told her not to come back. She left in tears and tried for weeks to visit me, and each time, I refused.
Then one day she didn’t show up. She didn’t show up the next either. I felt hollow, like I’d lost a part of myself. The part that was keeping me together. Every day, I waited and hoped she’d come back, at the same time praying she took my advice and got as far away as possible. Johnny called me three weeks later to say she showed up at the roadhouse and was staying with him. It was the most relief I’d felt in years. I knew she’d be okay without me if she had him to rely on.
“Wish we could, but this place won’t run itself.” She sighed and began filling the napkin dispensers.
I wanted to help but didn’t know how. I didn’t know the first thing about running a roadhouse or any sort of business. But I had to do something. They’d been so good taking Harper in when she had no one, when I deserted her, and then letting me crash here while I found my own place. They deserved the break. And I would figure out a way to make it happen.
“We’ll find a way,” I told her and stood to walk around behind the counter. I kissed her cheek. “Hire some more staff or split the workload somehow to give you both a break. We’ll figure it out.”
“Oh, don’t be silly, darling. You have to worry about yourself. We’ll be fine.” She ushered me away with a glance at her watch, knowing it was time for me to hit the road if I wanted to make it to the garage on time. With a shout to Johnny, I left.
Work dragged on. It was a quiet day, so I busied myself with meaningless tasks to make the time go faster. It did nothing to stop me thinking about my new neighbour. I was curious about her, wanted to know more, but I knew Harper would kill me.
I’d gotten to know her a little over the few weeks I’d lived in town. She was always at the roadhouse visiting Harper or hanging out with the others—not that I paid them any attention. But Kenzie was the sort of person you couldn’t ignore. Combine her attitude with her looks, and you had a fascinating piece of artwork you couldn’t take your eyes off.
My phone rang as I climbed into the car.
“Hey.”
“Do you have something you want to tell me?” my sister asked without even saying hello.
“No. I just finished work,” I said as I put the key in the ignition but didn’t turn it. Never would I drive my car while talking. It wasn’t worth the risk.
“And?”
“And I’m going home. I’m beat. I need to sleep,” I told her, resting my head against the headrest. I wasn’t going to admit I’d lost sleep last night thinking about a certain pair of bright green eyes and long tanned legs barely covered by short shorts.
“Home to the roadhouse?” Harper asked with an edge to her voice.
I cursed. She knew. Kenzie told her. There was no other way.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When? Before I came home? After you’d sweet talked your way into my best friend’s bed? Huh?”
My eyebrows lifted as I imagined rolling around in Kenzie’s bed with her. “I was—”
She cut me off. “Did you already know you were moving before I left, or was it a last-minute thing?”
“It was—”
“And did you know you were moving in next door to Kenzie or—”
This time I cut her off. “Will you let me answer?”
“Fine,” she huffed.
“I was looking for a place before you left but didn’t want to tell you until I found somewhere. I didn’t want you to get upset or worry about me being on my own. And I had no idea your friend lived in the next apartment until she banged on my door last night complaining about my music.”
Harper laughed. “Sounds like her. So, why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’re meant to be relaxing and enjoying your holiday. I found the place after you left, and it was available immediately, so I took it. Relax. I’m a big boy, and I can look after myself.”
“I’m still not happy about it, and I really don’t like you living next door to Kenz.”
“I promise I won’t bite…hard.”
“Jeremy!”
I laughed. It was too easy. Though the image of sinking my teeth into her soft skin was hard to ignore. “Relax. I’ll behave.”
“You better. She doesn’t need anyone messing with her. Chace has done enough.”
“I know, okay? Think about it this way. I can look out for her and the kid. Make sure that dick doesn’t come around when he’s not wanted.”
The phone went silent.
“Harper?”
“I’m thinking.”
I groaned and tilted my head back. I just wanted to get home, have some dinner, and go to sleep.
“Okay, fine. I guess that’s one good thing about you living right next door. She won’t have to call Ryder every time she gets scared.”
Ryder. That was her brother’s name. I’d remember it one day. Wait, she got scared?
“She gets scared a lot?”
“I suppose. Sometimes. Chace has shown up a few times, drunk, banging on the door and demanding to see Cole.”
“Who’s Cole?”
“I swear you only hear what you want. Cole is her son.”
“Right. Well, you know with me living next door, one look at me, and that Chace dude would probably shit himself.”
Harper laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Just hands off the merchandise, yeah?”
“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I gotta go. I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Bye, Jeremy.”
I hung up the phone and threw the truck into reverse and backed out of the parking lot.