THE NEIGHBOR'S SON by Rakhibul hasan (fb2 epub reader TXT) 📕

Cade just stood there, motionless, speechless. His gaze flickered to the money in my hands for a second before returning to my face. His lips curled as if he was going to say something but no words ever came out. Instead, he grabbed the money out of my closed fist, picked up his sneakers off the ground and slowly made his way back to the deck. I could hear him gathering his tools but didn't turn around until I heard the kitchen door open and close. That's when I knew he was gone.

I let out a sharp breath and went back to the house to change into dry clothes. I was furious with myself for being so reckless and promised myself it would never happen again. From then on, I was going to avoid Cade Fisher at all costs. If something around the house needed fixing, I was going to hire someone else. The moment Cade and I shared in the pool was incredible, better than any fantasy I ever had about him, but it was wrong and should never happen again.

My reputation was very important to me, and so was my job. I was a high school teacher at a private, religious school. If anyone at the school or the parents of any of my students found out I was fooling around with someone young enough to be one of my students, it wouldn't have ended well for me. I knew of a teacher there who had an affair with one of her former students.

He was of legal age and their age gap was a lot narrower than mine and Cade‟s. But none of that mattered. She was shamed and fired when some of the parents complained. I couldn‟t let that happen to me no matter how gorgeous Cade was or how badly I wanted him in my pants.

CHAPTER V

Later that same day, I found myself on a date with Kevin Reese, the guy my friend Gloria had set me up with. Fifteen minutes into the date, I knew I shouldn't have agreed to it. It was, without a doubt, one of the most boring dates I had ever been to. The guy was not a creep like some of my previous blind dates and I was thankful for that. Unfortunately, Kevin was, like I had suspected, very dull. He talked about his insurance job like it was the most exciting thing in the world. Just when I thought the conversation couldn't get any more boring, he switched to talking about his bowling league. I pretended to listen. I smiled and nodded politely at his lame anecdotes, but in my head, I was counting the seconds until I could get the hell out of there.

Boring conversation aside, Kevin seemed like a very decent, honest guy and wasn‟t hard to look at. His dirty blond curly hair looked good on him and so did the full beard he was sporting. His eyes were an interesting shade of blue. They didn‟t make me want to go swimming in them the way Cade‟s did but they were pretty and so was his dimple- free smile. That being said, I didn't see a second date in our future.

While Kevin spoke enthusiastically about his high bowling score, all I could think about was Cade. I kept replaying the pool encounter in my head. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't erase the memory of his heavy, calloused hands roaming all over my body. My skin was still burning from the feel of his lips branding every inch of it. I also kept picturing the hurt, confused look on his face afterward when I humiliated him and threw him out of my house. I was always going to hate myself for that. However, I still believed putting a stop to that affair before it started was the right thing to do.

"Hey! Easy there," Kevin quipped when he saw me gulp down my second glass of chardonnay of the night. "Save some room for the food." He was right. I was drinking too much. We hadn't even had our entrees yet. But the conversation was so boring, I had to dull my senses out with alcohol to make the evening more bearable. I forced a smile and fought the urge to look at the time on my phone again. Kevin looked nervous and I think he sensed I was not enjoying myself. “You know... I‟m so glad you finally accepted to go out with me."

"You are?"

"Yes. I was dying to meet you. Gloria has been saying so many great things about you, I was starting to wonder if you were real."

“So...did I live up to the hype?”

“Yes," he replied enthusiastically. "But I must say, Gloria actually undersold you. You‟re a lot more beautiful than she described.”

“Thank you,” I mouthed.

"I just wish you were having a better time."

I felt bad for Kevin. He was trying. He was making an effort. The least I could do was make an effort too. Perhaps Kevin was the guy I needed to be obsessing about instead of Cade. Kevin was age appropriate, had a good job, and seemed like an all-around good guy. So what if I didn't feel butterflies in my stomach? Maybe those would come later. Maybe not everyone was

meant to feel the whole butterfly in the stomach thing. Maybe I was one of those people. "I'm having a good time. I'm sorry if it looks like I'm not. I'm just a little distracted about work."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded and changed the subject. "Gloria tells me you have a son..."

"Yes. His name's Charlie." Kevin pulled his phone out of a pocket on his jacket and showed me a picture of the adorable toddler. Once he started talking about the boy, he wouldn't shut up. I thought that was cute. We also talked about our exes and the challenges of being newly divorced. He, too, was having a hard time getting back on the dating scene after his divorce. We bonded over that. As the night went on, I felt at ease and even found Kevin's geeky-ness sort of endearing. In the end, the evening did not turn out to be a total disaster.

After dinner, Kevin drove me home. We decided to skip the movie because I had a lot of papers to grade that night. He walked me to my door and I was grateful he didn‟t attempt to kiss me. I was starting to like him, but I wasn't ready to kiss him ye t. I did agree to go on another date with him. I figured he‟d continue to grow on me and I needed someone to help me get my mind off Cade Fisher.

CHAPTER VI

After saying goodbye to Kevin, I took a nice, long, relaxing shower and slipped into a pair of pink pajama shorts and a white tank top. I dried my wet hair with a towel and threw a short silk robe over the shorts and tank top ensemble before making my way to the kitchen.

There, I made myself a cup of green tea and opened a box of cookies. I was dead tired from not being able to sleep well the night before, but I couldn't go to bed just yet. I had too much work to do.

An hour or so later, I was still sitting at the dining room table, drinking tea, munching on oatmeal cookies, and reading through history papers. I still had two or three papers to grade when the doorbell rang. I craned my neck to gaze at the wall clock behind me. It was a quarter after eleven. Thinking that it might be a neighbor in need, I rushed to open the door.

My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I pressed my eye to the peephole and found Cade standing on my porch. With his hands stuck in his jeans‟ front pockets, he stared at the ground while shuffling his feet. I thought about not opening the door. I figured he'd go away if I stayed really quiet. But then I realized he probably knew I was home because all the lights in the house were on. Damn it. I started pacing back and forth in front of the door, not knowing what to do. Cade wouldn't leave. He kept ringing the bell non-stop. After a while, he switched to knocking, loudly and repeatedly. Afraid that one of my nosy neighbors would see him on my porch in the middle of the night, I decided to open the door.

“What are you doing here, Cade?” I whispered, stepping out onto the porch. My eyes flickered back and forth between his face and the dark street behind him. After making sure no one was watching us, I focused my attention on the beautiful man-boy.

“I need to talk to you,” he said, the somber look on his face matching the even tone in his voice. I couldn't help but notice that he looked extra yummy that night. His thick, dark hair was no longer falling on his forehead. It had been loosely spiked up and looked extra shiny and very stylish. He was wearing a tight, black t-shirt and a pair of loose jeans that were snug enough in the right places. He looked gorgeous. I wanted to do things to that boy, things I had never dared do to a man, things I had only heard or read about. But he was still forbidden fruit standing on my porch in the middle of the night. I needed to get rid of him before people saw us and started spreading rumors.

“We have nothing to talk about,” I said, my tone cold, unwavering. “It‟s late. You should go home.”

“It'll just take a second. Please.”

I let out a sharp breath. It was clear he wasn‟t going to leave until I let him talk. So I stepped aside and motioned with my head for him to come inside. He smelled as good as he looked. A delicious mixture of cologne and sweat wafted through the air as he stepped around me to get inside the house. He looked so tall, so imposing strolling through my living room, it was easy to forget he was just a nineteen- year-old kid.

“You better make this quick. I need to get back to work,” I said after shutting the door. I stood in front of it, facing Cade. With my arms folded over my chest, I stared at my feet. I

couldn't look him in the eye. I kept picturing him naked in my pool, kissing me, touching me, making me feel things I had never felt before. I was getting wet just by listening to the sound of his goddamned voice. I was afraid he‟d see how badly I wanted him if I let him see my eyes.

“I just wanted to apologize for my behavior this morning,” he breathed. I snapped my head up and my gaze met his. My mouth hung open. That was not what I was expecting him to say. “It was wrong of me to kiss you and touch you the way I did. I‟m sorry. I‟d also like to come back and finish the work I was hired to do.”

I drew in a deep breath. “Thank you for apologizing, Cade. But I don‟t think you working for me is a good idea. I will hire someone else to finish the job.”

Cade closed the distance between us while grabbing something out of the back pocket of his jeans. “Well, in that case, I have to give you your money back.” He pulled several bills out of his wallet and handed them to me.

I shook my head while staring at his hand. My arms stayed folded in front of me. “No. It‟s okay.