The Boy Next Door

Chapter Fourteen

The Boy Next Door-

It's a bit later than I planned on it being up and the only excuse that I have is that I had to rewrite half of this chapter in order for the story itself to go in the direction it needs to.

Chapter Fourteen:

Colton, so distracted by the thoughts whirling through his mind that he might have-somehow-thrown Samara under the bus by insisting she have lunch with her mother, nearly missed the date on the calendar as he passed it by. Hell, he had told Samara the date earlier and he had not even realized…

Stomach sinking, the math comes together in his head, bile attempting to burn its way up his esophagus. 

He had forgotten. How had he forgotten? How do you think dumbass? 

So, that was a stupid question. He knew exactly how he had forgotten the importance of today, Samara. When he was around her, he was lucky to even remember his own name let alone that today just so happened to be the ten-year anniversary of-

“My mother is a lovely person!“ 

The shouting interrupted his thoughts. Thankfully.  As annoying as the man’s voice was, Colton was grateful for the distraction Jimmy’s squawk provided him. Not that he would ever admit that aloud, of course.

He did not want to think about it. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had thought about it and that was surprising. Especially considering he had thought of little else in the ten years-how had it already been ten years- since…. Until he met Samara.

 Wait, no. Scratch that.

He had not thought about it-or her-since the day he had caught Samara’s scent on the street and followed it back to the building in which he now lived. A little stalker-ish perhaps but as soon as the wolf in him had recognized that the scent belonged to its mate it had not mattered. Moving into the apartment next to hers was nothing compared to what some shifters did when they found their mate.

 It was tame compared to what his own father had done-But debating whether his behavior could be legally described as stalking wasn’t the point. In fact, he could no longer even remember what his point had been. 

Thinking about Samara’s reaction if-when-she found out she was the only reason he had moved into this apartment distracted him. Like thoughts of her often did.

So much so, actually, that he grabbed his keys, locked the door behind him and left, not noticing the little diaper clad boy sitting in the middle of the hall until he almost stepped on him and the child wailed loud enough to burst his eardrums-if his mother hadn’t already.

Colton jerked to a hard stop, his “gigantic sasquatch” feet, as his mother liked to call them, mere inches from the little boy’s head. He grimaced, casting a guilty look around to se if anyone had noticed the almost accident before he squatted down in front of the child, wracking his brain for his name. 

Leo… something, was it? He could not remember, but he had seen Samara with the babe enough to know who his parents were.

Using the low, soothing murmur he had only ever used with Samara, he ruffled the dark curls atop the little boy’s head. “And just what are you doing out here all alone, little one?” He flicked a glance to Jimmy and Leanne’s apartment, grumbling under his breath when he saw the door was cracked open just enough for the boy to crawl out into the hall.