Neighbors

Chapter Eighteen: My Mistake

“So you’re leaving?” I groaned as Ian folded his clothes into neat piles, stacking them into his suitcase. “How long?”

“Just three or four days to meet with Anna, my publisher, and I also have to meet with some other boring people about book covers, launches and more fun stuff,” Ian retorted. “The book is finished. Now it just needs a bit of TLC.”

I let out a sigh. “The book isn’t the only one.”

“Maybe you should ask your new friend, Chris,” Ian chuckled as he zipped his bag up. “He follows you around like a love sick puppy.”

I grabbed one of Ian’s pillows and shot it at him. He caught it, shooting it back onto his bed. It was painfully obvious that Chris had a thing for me and everything else that moved. I didn’t mind the attention. He was a cool guy and I liked spending time with him.

“I should - he’d probably have no problem with me topping him,” I retorted as Ian let out a groan. He tossed his suitcase to the ground, walking slowly towards me. He gripped his chin in my hand, bring his lips to mine. I pulled him onto his bed with me, resting my hands on his ass as I pushed my tongue into his mouth. He ran his fingers down my chest as I reversed us, pushing Ian underneath me, as I brought my lips onto his neck. A grin appeared on his face as I began unbuttoning his shirt.

“I can’t, Ryder,” he said grabbing my hands and stopping me from continuing. “I’ll miss my train if I don’t leave in the next two minutes.”

“I can be quick,” I retorted planting more kisses on his neck. Before Ian could respond, his cell phone chimed. He sat up, quickly answering it as I rolled onto the other side of his bed.

“Yes. Of course,” Ian said quickly. “I should be there in less than three hours. See you then.”

He quickly hung up, planting a kiss on my forehead as he grabbed his suitcase from off of the ground.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” Ian said as he exited the front door, hopping into the taxi that was waiting for him. “Take care of Hercules.”

I waved as the taxi sped off down the street, leaving me all alone at Ian’s place. I had told my mother that I was staying at Ian’s place while he was gone to look after it and take care of Hercules. She thought that it was wonderful that I was taking so much responsibility and even commended Ian for putting trust in me. If only she knew that I was just using Ian’s house as an excuse to eat and sleep whenever the hell I wanted.

Ian had only given me three strict rules for his place – no parties, no alcohol and no visitors. All of which I had followed perfectly for the first two days. That is until Chris caught me walking over to Ian’s place in the evening. He had been sitting outside on the stoop of his yard, after getting into an argument with his mother. They butted heads a lot. Her shouting could be heard by the entire street and for some reason, she always threw pans around. Now I understood why Mrs. Bloom never brought up her family.

“Hey,” Chris called out to me as I grabbed the key from underneath Ian’s mat. “What are you doing?”

“I’m looking after Ian’s house while he’s gone,” I replied as Chris walked over towards me. I chewed on my bottom lip as he appeared in the light, a fresh bruise on his face.

“Oh that’s awesome,” he grinned. “So you stay there all night?”

“Yeah,” I replied with a little hesitation. I opened the door and he, of course, followed me inside. I couldn’t say no to him either. I felt bad for him. I closed the door behind me, as Hercules rushed to the door, jumping on me and licking my face. Chris laughed at me until Hercules did the same thing to him.