Neighbours in Love 2: Trusting the Enemy Next Door

JESS

˄FOUR MONTHS LATER˄

The taxi comes to a halt in front of my house, and I can’t help but feel a pang of sadness as I take in the sight of the empty driveway. Kristy and Logan are off on a romantic escapade to the Dandenong Ranges, a trip they’ve been planning for a while, and they won’t be back until Sunday. The days when Kristy would eagerly pick me up from the airport, unable to contain her excitement after our long separation, are long gone.

Our bond used to fill a void in both our lives. But now, Kristy has Logan and his friends. And I’ve been grappling with this growing fear that I’m losing her, that she’s slowly drifting away from me.

What will happen when she learns about the incident in London? Will she despise me as much as I despise myself right now?

I have to tell Kristy about what happened in London before Adam gets a whiff of it and spills the beans. If that happens, Kristy might decide she doesn’t need me or my friendship anymore. The mere thought of it makes me nauseous.

Kristy has been my rock for so long. I can’t afford to lose her.

I hand over the fare to the cab driver, along with a tip, and then help him unload my luggage from the trunk. Once all my bags are on the ground, I flash him a smile.

“Thank you…?”

“Howie.”

“Have a nice day, Howie.”

He grunts and nods, a stark reminder of how off my game I am. Normally, I would have spent the thirty-minute ride engaging him in conversation, asking about his life—charming him, as Kristy would say. I would have found his name within the first minute and used it.

But today, I could barely manage a few polite words. And even those felt forced.

As Howie drives away, I grab my suitcase and head toward the door, taking in the vibrant garden on either side of the path. It’s clear that Kristy, Logan, and their friends have been busy, tending to the garden and planting flowers. The thought of them here, without me, stirs up a wave of jealousy.

Kristy has a man, a job she loves, and friends. And me? I don’t even know what I have anymore.

While I was in London, loneliness got the better of me, and I made a terrible mistake. I hurt people. It seems Adam Granger was right about me after all—about the ugliness he claimed was inside of me.

How often has that thought haunted me these past few days? The man who despised me from the moment we met knew me better than I knew myself. I ruined everything with one mistake, and even though I probably deserve to lose everything because of it, I don’t know how to deal with my life falling apart.

As I reach the wall next to our front door, I pull out the red brick where we hide our spare key. My heart races as I find the space behind the brick empty.

“Shit. Where did you put the key, K?”

Just as I’m about to check the back of the house for an unlocked door or window, a deafeningly loud muscle car pulls into Logan’s driveway next door. Adam Granger. His eight-cylinder Holden shakes every house on the street, but the sight of him shakes me even more.

He’s the last person I want to see right now. In fact, I’d be happy if I never saw him again after our last conversation.

The disdain Adam had for me four months ago is still evident in his eyes as he steps out of the car and looks me over. His dark hair is hidden under a baseball cap pulled snugly over his head. He’s dressed in blue jeans, a black leather jacket, boots, and a white T-shirt.

The slight stubble on his jaw gives him a somewhat unkempt look. But compared to me, he’s got nothing. Right now, I’m the epitome of disheveled. My face, which has landed me countless makeup campaigns and perfume ads, is far from its best, leaving me feeling vulnerable and exposed.

I should have taken the time to freshen up in the airport bathroom like I usually do, but I was too desperate to get home—to escape the rest of the world and hide from the media storm I know is coming my way.

“Quiet, Cricket!” Adam yells at Logan’s fence, drawing my attention to the dog I hadn’t noticed until now. It must be Kristy’s dog I hear whining. Adam is probably here to feed him while she’s away. But why is the dog at the empty house next door instead of at home?

“Jess,” Adam says, approaching me.

“You’re the one looking after Cricket while they’re away?”

“I drew the short straw.”

“If it’s a hassle for you, I can take care of him until they get back tomorrow. It’ll save you a trip.”

Cricket used to belong to my aunt and uncle before they gave him to Kristy seven months ago. He knows me, and I won’t have any trouble taking care of him. More importantly, it means I won’t have to see Adam again this weekend.

A smirk plays at the corner of his mouth. “Kristy didn’t tell you, did she?”

“Tell me what?”

He shakes his head, a warm smile on his face. That smile is for Kristy, not me. He’s always had a soft spot for her. Logan once told me so, not that I needed him to—it’s obvious.

“My lease ended a month ago, and Logan suggested I rent his place instead of looking elsewhere. It made sense. He and Kristy are happy living together; it’s wasteful for a perfectly good house to sit empty.”

“You’re my new neighbor?”

My voice comes out choked, which isn’t surprising considering my heart is pounding. My ears are ringing, and I feel like I might pass out any second. Logan and Kristy are settled in the house that I am still—technically—leasing with Kristy.

That I was prepared for. That I was okay with. But Adam living next door? I’m not okay with that.

And I’m not okay with the fact that Kristy didn’t mention it before, either. I know my return home was sudden and unexpected, but she should have said something. Sure, every time Kristy brought up Adam while I was away, I stayed silent or tuned out. But she still should have told me.

Adam’s dark-blue eyes reveal his amusement at my discomfort. “Aren’t you going to welcome me to the neighborhood by inviting me in for tea and scones?”

“No way.” I shake my head. “I’m not even sure how to get in. I thought Kristy would leave the spare key in the usual spot.”

“Actually, she gave it to me.”

He opens his hand, revealing the key. So, that’s where it went.

I look up at him, puzzled. “I told her I’d let myself in.”

“She wanted to welcome you home herself, but their trip got in the way.”

“So she sent you instead?” I can’t help but laugh.

“Absurd, right? We can’t stand each other, yet she thinks I’m a good stand-in for a welcome wagon.”

Before he accused me of going after my best friend’s boyfriend, I wouldn’t have said I couldn’t stand him. I avoided him, sure. I was uneasy around him, wary of his presence. But now, I dislike him as much as he dislikes me.

“So why did you agree?” I ask, taking the key from his hand.

A spark of electricity zips up my arm and down my spine as my fingers brush against his palm. Who knew hate could cause such a physical reaction?

I ignore the erratic rhythm of my heart and quickly turn to unlock the front door.

“Kristy has this weird idea that if she forces us to interact, we’ll end up being friends.”

I can hear the affection in his voice when he talks about her. After opening the front door, I glance back at him. He’s wearing that same affectionate smile from earlier.

“She’s dreaming,” I say.

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“I could never be friends with such a total jerk.”

“And I could never be friends with someone who would go after her friend’s boyfriend at the first chance.”

I’m jetlagged, my world has been turned upside down this week, and I’ve just discovered the man who hates me is my neighbor. All I want to do is walk into my house and slam the door in his face. After telling him to go fuck himself.

But I can’t. Not now. There’s too much at stake. I need Adam to back off for a bit. I need time with Kristy—time to tell her about everything that happened in London before she hears it from someone else.

Fighting the urge to snap at him, I take a deep breath and step into the house, then turn back to face him.

He crosses his arms, looking completely closed off. I need to make him understand how much my friendship with Kristy means to me.

“Did you know that when I was sixteen, my parents died in a car accident?” I ask, swallowing past the lump in my throat and blinking back tears.

“I’m sorry,” he says, his expression softening a bit.

Thank God. He’s not a robot.

“The year after that was the worst of my life,” I continue. “My aunt offered to take me in, but she didn’t really want me. She’d just had my cousin, and he was sick. She didn’t have the energy to take care of a sixteen-year-old girl.”

I can see the questions forming in his eyes.

“When Kristy told her parents what was happening, she begged them to let me live with them while I finished high school.”

“And they agreed?” he guesses.

“They’d always liked me, but it was a big ask. It wasn’t like I’d be staying for a week, or even a month. But they said yes. They took me in. For the last year and a half of high school, and even longer, Kristy shared her home and her parents with me. Do you get what I’m saying, Adam?”

“So now you expect her to share her boyfriend with you, too?”

I’ve just shared the most painful part of my life with this man, and he’s deliberately misunderstanding me. His hatred for me is a mountain too steep to climb. Especially when I’m so tired and out of energy.

I start to close the door. “Goodbye, Adam.”

He blocks the door with his foot, stopping me from closing it completely. “I’m sorry,” he says, sounding reluctant. “I wasn’t expecting all that, and I was…insensitive.”

“You think?” I snap. I’m never rude to people, ever. But Adam gets under my skin like no one else. “Kristy is more than just my best friend. She’s my sister, my family in every way that counts. I’d rather die than hurt her.”

“So you’re saying you’d never act on your feelings for Logan?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

He smiles, and it takes me a moment to realize why he’s so smug. He’s caught me. Trapped me in his web. In my exhaustion and desperation to prove I’m not a threat, I’ve just admitted to having feelings for Logan.

As far as I know, Adam never told Kristy about his suspicions about Logan and me. But what are the chances he’ll keep quiet now?

If I lie and try to backtrack, he’ll never believe me. The truth is out, and I’m vulnerable, at his mercy. I can only hope that if I give Adam the truth—if he sees me being honest and I explain I’m over it—it will buy me enough time to talk to Kristy first and tell her everything, including why I left Melbourne in the first place.

I force myself to meet Adam’s gaze and silently ask for courage. “I never pursued him. I would never have made a move on him. Ever. It doesn’t matter how much I liked him. And yes, I’ll admit I liked him. I was attracted to him before I left the country, but I’m over it now.”

While I was away, I realized it wasn’t Logan I wanted so much as the closeness and intimacy he shared with Kristy. But I’m over it.

There’s a reason I’ve always kept my distance from men. I don’t want intimacy. Even if the idea of a relationship appealed to me for a brief moment, that’s not the case anymore. Especially not after everything that happened with Grant in London.

“Really?” Adam raises both eyebrows. “Just like that? Your feelings are in the past?”

“Yes. And now that I’ve bared my soul to you, despite the fact you’ve never given me one good reason to, or said one kind word—”

“Do you need kind words from me, princess? I figured you got plenty of those from everyone else.”

“Forget kind words, then. Maybe you could just try to be civil.”

“I think I’ve been very civil this morning, don’t you?”

“If questioning my loyalty to my friends is civil, then yes, I guess you have been.”

“See?” He shrugs. “Totally civil.”

“Adam, could you maybe…” I rest my hand on the doorframe, grappling for the right words. “Could you possibly trust me a little? Can we make an effort to be civil? For Kristy’s sake?”

Adam’s gaze is piercing as he gives me a small, noncommittal nod. “For Kristy’s sake,” he echoes. “But if I see anything that suggests you’re playing with Logan’s feelings…”

“I understand,” I respond, my tone icy. “You’ll be keeping tabs on me.”

His grin is broad—a grin he’s never flashed my way in all the time we’ve known each other. “Lucky me. I’ve got the perfect spot to keep watch.”

With that, he strides back to what I guess I should start referring to as Adam’s house—formerly Logan’s. He tosses a final, knowing glance over his shoulder before he unlocks the door and steps inside.

I close my front door and lean against it.

Adam Granger is my next-door neighbor.

Honestly, I’d prefer having the devil as a neighbor.