The Neighbor's Son 2: Mind Games (The Forbidden Love Series Book 2) (3 page)

I collapsed on the couch
and rubbed my temples. I just sat there, stewing in my self-hatred.
I wanted to bang my head against a wall for being so reckless,
selfish
, and plain old stupid. I shouldn't
have let Cade in the house, especially after what happened between
us at the pool earlier. Not only did I jump into bed with the new
neighbor’s barely legal son, I hurt his feelings too. And to make
matters worse, my scumbag ex-husband knew all about it. I was in
hell.

Too sad to even finish
grading my papers, I dragged my guilty feet back to the bedroom and
threw myself on the bed. The sheets were still warm. They still
smelled like him and our lovemaking. I got up and changed them
thinking it would help me forget everything that had just happened
in that room. It didn’t work. I closed my eyes and could still see
his fiery blue eyes, his gorgeous dimples, and his glorious, naked
body coated in sweat. I could still feel his hands wandering all
over my body and his lips doing wonderful things to my most
intimate places. The memories sent a delicious shiver down my spine
and made other parts of my anatomy throb with need. My body was
already aching for his touch and he'd just left. I knew I was going
to have a very h
ard time forgetting him,
but I had no choice. Both my body and my heart needed to accept the
fact that he was forbidden fruit, a mistake I couldn't
repeat.

That night, I made a promise to myself that
I would stay away from Cade Fisher for good. For his sake and for
my own, we needed to forget the other existed and we needed to keep
as much distance between us as possible. With a battered spirit and
a sore body, I crawled back into bed hoping I could keep that
promise.

CHAPTER II

The next day after work, I
accompanied my friend Dana and her three adorable kids to the park.
We settled on a bench while her five-year-old son Dylan and her
three-year-old daughter Emily ran off to play on the monkey bars.
"Keep an eye on your sister, Dylan," Dana hollered before checking
up on her seven-month-old daughter, Eliza
,
who slept peacefully in her stroller. “You won’t believe who showed
up at my door last night…,” I said before shoving a spoonful of my
Sundae Cup in my mouth.

“Your piece of shit ex-husband,”
Dana quipped without taking her eyes off her kids.

I snapped my head toward my friend and
stared at her through my sunglasses. “How do you know?”

“
Honey, the whole
neighborhood knows. He was out there a long time, yelling at the
top of his lungs."

"Wait...How do you know that? You were
home?"

"Yep."

"I thought you were spending the night at
your in-laws."

"Eliza got sick so I decided to stay home
with her. Was Peter as drunk as he sounded?”

“
Yes,” I groaned with a
heavy sigh.

“
What did he
want?”

“
You won’t believe this,
but he said he was sorry for cheating on me and wanted to get back
together.”

“
Asshole,” Dana scoffed,
shaking her head. “The nerve of that man. After all the crap he put
you through. What did you tell him?”

“
What do you think I told
him?” I said with a sarcastic chuckle while scraping the bottom of
my ice cream cup. “I told him to get lost. I have no interest in
getting back together with him. I don’t love him anymore. Heck, I’m
not sure that I ever loved him.”

“
Good. You’re too good for
him.” Dana tore her eyes from her kids and fixed them on me.
“Anything else happened last night?”

I shrugged and cleared my throat. “No. I
mean, Peter was a little aggressive but I kept things under control
and eventually got him to leave.”

“
What about your other
visitor? When did he leave?”

My heart dropped to my stomach. “What other
visitor? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I blurted, the
squeak in my voice giving away just how much of a bad liar I was. I
kept my eyes on the playground while my pulse raced. I don’t know
why I lied. It was obvious Dana knew all about Cade.

“
Come on, Sidney. I saw him
go into your house last night and never saw him leave.”

I dropped the empty ice cream container on
the ground between my feet, buried my face in my hands and muttered
“Oh my God” over and over. I was mortified. If Dana saw Cade enter
my house in the middle of the night, there is a good chance other
equally nosy neighbors saw him too. Great, I said to myself. Now
the whole neighborhood knows just how much of a shameless,
desperate cougar I am. I was definitely in hell now.

“
Did you sleep with him,
Sidney?”

I still couldn’t look my friend in the eye.
The day before, I shamed her for ogling the neighbor’s kid, only to
get in bed with said kid just a few hours later. “I…I had a lapse
in judgment. It was wrong and it will never happen again.”

“
Look, I’m not judging you.
The truth is, if I were single and a kid that gorgeous wanted to
get in my pants, I would have gone for it without giving it a
second thought. I just want you to be careful. I won't say a word
to anyone about it but other less discreet people may have seen him
go in or out
of your house last night. You
know how easily a reputation can be damaged in this
town.”

I met Dana’s gaze. “I know. I know. It won’t
happen again. I swear. Thank you for not telling anyone.”

“
No problem, honey," she
said with a smile while reaching out to rub my shoulder. "You know
I'll always have your back. Did Peter see Cade there?”

“
Not only does Peter know
Cade was there. He got his ass kicked by him too.”

Dana let out a dramatic gasp. “Jesus,
Sidney! They had a fight? Why? What happened?”

“
When Peter showed up, I
asked Cade to stay hidden in the bedroom. He did…until he heard me
scream.”

Dana's eyes bugged out of her head. “Why
were you screaming?”

“
Peter slapped me when I
wouldn’t let him grope me. I screamed. Cade heard me, ran
downstairs, and punched Peter in the face.”

“
Holy shit. Are you all
right?”

I nodded.

“
What a piece of work that
ex-husband of yours is.” She placed a hand on my knee. “I’m glad
you’re okay. That must have been so scary for you. Next time that
scumbag shows up at your door, don’t let him in. Call the police
and let them deal with him. Regarding Cade, my advice to you is: If
you want to have a fling, have a fling. Live your life. Just be
careful and make sure he’s worth the headache.”

“
Mommy!” Emily screamed
from the other side of the playground. Tears streamed down her
face.

“
I’m coming, honey!” Dana
hollered before getting on her feet and rushing to Emily's side. As
I watched my friend tend to her little girl’s knee scrape, I
thought about her last words. She was right. Cade was a gorgeous
sex god and by far the best I ever had. But a fling with him was
not worth ruining my reputation over. Thanks to Dana, I was more
convinced than ever that I had made the right decision by putting
an end to that reckless, dangerous affair.

CHAPTER III

Two days after my chat with Dana, I found
myself on a date at the local movie theater. After what happened
with Cade and Peter, I decided to give Kevin a call and ask him
out. I was more determined than ever to make things work with him.
He was nice, employed, age appropriate, and available. On paper, he
was perfect and I desperately needed to move on from Cade
Fisher.

Kevin sounded very surprised and thrilled on
the phone. When he picked me up at my house for the date, he
confessed he thought he had no chance with me because our first
date didn't go too well. He thought he’d blown it so he never
called again. I assured him he hadn’t. That was not a complete lie.
That first date started out as a total disaster, but half way
through it, the geeky, awkward man started to grow on me.

It was Kevin’s idea we go see a movie. I
wasn’t much of a moviegoer but I figured a movie theater was the
perfect place for a low pressure, stress-free second date. With
Kevin by my side, I strolled around the theater lobby trying to
decide which movie I wanted to see among the ones playing there
that night. The pickings were slim to the say the least.

“
Are you kidding me?
Another Spider Man movie? Hollywood has officially run out of
ideas,” I remarked, staring at a poster for yet another superhero
movie remake. Big budget remakes and sequels made up the bulk of
the films playing that night in that theater. “No wonder people
have stopped going to the movies,” I added.

“
Do you want to go
someplace else?
” Kevin asked, eager, too
eager, to please. “There’s a small theater on the other side of
town that screens a lot of Indy and foreign films. Perhaps you’d
like the movies there better.” I was mulling the decision of
whether to sit through another lame, predictable blockbuster film
or go someplace else when someone behind me shouted my name in the
most annoying, shrill way possible.

“
Ms. MacDougal?” The
voice
asked. I swung around and my heart
skipped several beats. There he was, the man of my fantasies and
dreams, the reason I couldn’t sleep at night. My beautiful mistake,
the impossibly gorgeous Cade Fisher stood before me with his arm
draped over the owner of the screechy voice that had just called my
name out. They say God has a wicked sense of humor. I agree. I also
feel He can go a little too far sometimes. This was one of those
times. I was out on a bullshit date, desperately trying to make
things happen with my rebound guy. The last person I needed to see
that night was Cade. Why did I have to run into him looking all
relaxed and happy while on a date with a ridiculously good looking
blonde who's half my age? It just didn't seem fair.

I plastered a fake smile on
my face and pretended I wasn't fuming with jealousy. “Valerie? What
are you doing here?” I
asked, imitating
the stunning teen's phony, shrill tone. Did I mention Valerie was a
student of mine? Sigh. Like I said, the fella upstairs has a
perverse sense of humor.

Valerie Mason was your
typical high school popular girl: Pretty, every boy’s fantasy,
captain of the cheerlead
ing squad, and not
a very good student. She was a ditz. There. I said it. Growing up,
I hated girls like Valerie but never really understood why. I got
over that hatred once I graduated high school and went to college.
But seeing Valerie with her skinny arms wrapped around Cade’s waist
made my disdain for perky, popular girls come back with a
vengeance. I wanted to gouge her pretty little blue eyes
out.

“
I’m on a date and it looks
like you are on one too,” Valerie giggled while flipping her long
blond mane back. She unwrapped her arm from Cade’s waist and
extended her hand to Kevin. “Hi. I’m Valerie. I’m one of Ms.
MacDougal’s students over at St Francis.” Kevin shook her hand and
introduced himself as my date. Valerie clung to Cade’s waist once
more and kissed him on the cheek.

Hate.

“
This totally gorgeous guy
here is my date
, Cade. Cade, this is Ms.
MacDougal, my history teacher at St. Francis, and her date Kevin.”
She couldn’t stop giggling and batting her eyes at Cade while
pressing her body against his. It was obvious she knew what a great
catch Cade was and was very proud of herself for landing
him.

Cade kept staring at Kevin
as if he wanted to bite his head off. The two men shook hands first
and then Cade extended his hand to me. We both pretended we were
meeting for the first time and exchanged insincere “Nice to meet
you’s.” He and I just stood there, staring into each other's eyes
in silence, while Valerie and Kevin chatted about the movie she and
Cade were going to see. The weight of Cade's gaze boring into me
from under his mile-long eyelashes was making it difficult for me
to breathe. There was so much resentment and hurt behind those
pretty blue eyes
; I felt bad for him. But
then I glanced over at Valerie in her leggings and barely-there
crop top and realized Cade couldn't possibly be too heartbroken
about me.

“
That one sounds fun. What
do you think, Sidney?”

“
What?” I replied, snapping
out of my Cade-induced trance.

“
Do you want to see World
War Z? It’s an apocalyptic movie that’s supposed to be really good
according to Valerie here.”

“
I already saw it
but
I, like, want to see it again,"
Valerie babbled, wide-eyed, her voice growing more and more grating
with every word she uttered. "Cade hasn’t seen it yet so, like,
that’s what we’re watching tonight. It’s like really good.” While
she spoke, I wondered how Cade could listen to that voice and not
want to rip his ears off. Then I caught Kevin sneaking a peek at
the fake Double-D’s threatening to pop out of Valerie’s top and got
my answer. Men didn’t care what Valerie sounded like as long as
they got to stare at and play with her fun bags.

"So, Sidney. Do you want to stay and see
that one?" Kevin asked again.

I started to stammer while thinking of an
excuse to bail. The thought of having to endure two hours of a
crappy movie with Cade and his date in the same room turned my
stomach. I needed to get away from them as soon as possible. I
didn’t know how much longer I could keep my irrational jealousy in
check.