The Neighborhood Series (The Neighborhoood)

by Tarrah Anders

  “Can I come back here tonight?” I ask.

  “Of course,” she nods. “I would love that.”

  “I’m going to head home. I want to make sure that I’m showered. Fuck that makes me sound like I’m getting ready for a date. I mean-.” With a hand on my chest and a smile, she shakes her head.

  “I know what you mean. I’ll see you when you get back and you can tell me all about it,” she prompts.

  “You bet your ass, I will.”

  I stand, lean down, with my hand under her chin, I kiss her cheek.

  “I’ll text you when I’m on my way over. I’ll try to not be late, but I can’t make any promises.”

  “If it gets too late, the spare key is under a fake rock in the flower bed,” she stands and follows me to her front door.

  “Wish me luck.” I say as I open the door, turn around and look at her.

  “You don’t need it. Everything will be fine.” She assures me.

  And I hope that she’s right.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The diner has patrons scattered throughout the booths, some families, a few couples and a few individual people enjoying a meal.

  I walk in and spot Noah sitting alone at the very back of the booth area. He looks like he hasn’t slept in the week since we last saw each other. His eyes are sunken in, his skin is pale and his usual happy-go-lucky aura looks a little dark.

  I walk up to the booth and slide in across from him.

  “Hey man. Thanks for calling.” I say folding my hands in front of me.

  “Sorry it took me longer than a few days. This was… something unexpected to have to wrap my head around.”

  “I’m sorry that Missy blurted it out like that, she didn’t know that you didn’t know and-.”

  “There’s no need to explain. Honest mistake.” Noah says cutting his hand through the air.

  The waitress comes by and takes our order, we both order a burger and then once we are alone again, it’s quiet.

  I’m not sure who should begin the conversation, so I wait for him to begin.

  “Did he visit you guys?” Noah asks.

  “At least once a month. Growing up, I was told that his life was complicated, and that’s why he couldn’t be with us all the time. I didn’t know about you until he passed.”

  “My mom kept all my yearbooks and you aren’t in any.” Noah states

  “I was homeschooled. My mom did what she could. I didn’t go to public school until college.” I explain.

  “And you guys never questioned where he was when he wasn’t with you?” Noah asks finally looking me in the eyes.

  “My mom knew, she knew since she found out she was pregnant, but not before. But no, not me.”

  “My mom didn’t know. She said that he went out of town once or sometimes twice a month, but she said he always had some valid place that he was going to, so she didn’t question it, ever.”

  “I’m sorry. I know that this information changes a lot, everything actually.” I offer.

  “None of this is your fault. I get this is a tough conversation to start. Sure, you could have said something to me when we met, but this isn’t either of our fault. We are the son of a man who cheated, a man with two separate lives. And it seems that he,” Noah coughs and clears his throat, “did what he could to grant us the best life that he could.”

  “I wanted to say something to you the day that I stepped foot into the bar, but when I did - you assumed that I was there for the job. So, I played along. I lost my nerve and then hadn’t gotten up the courage to say anything. Like I said, it’s not something that one can say lightly.” I shrug.

  “I get it. I really do. Now, I’m sitting here with you, knowing that you’re my brother and not just my friend and employee.”

  “I’m sorry man. I should have said something sooner.”

  “I talked to Val about this and asked her if she thought anything would have been different if you did, and I think that it would have been just the same. She put it all into perspective. I can be an asshole and I know that it must have been killing you to be working alongside me, hanging out with me and just being a friend to me and holding this information back. I’m sorry that our dad was a shit and kept his lives separate. I’ve had a bit to adjust to this, and I want you to come back to work. I want to learn more about the dad that you knew and I think it would be good for you to learn about the dad that I knew. Our moms should officially meet; I know that mine has a lot of questions. And I don’t know man; I guess we take this one day at a time.”

  “Really? I still have a job?” I ask.

  “Of course, I’m not a complete dick. I think that it would be bad form for me to fire my brother, don’t you?” Noah cocks his head to the side and smiles.

  The key was exactly where she described, however what Missy didn’t tell me was that there were a lot of rocks in that flower bed. It took me about ten minutes to go through all the rocks and find the fake one. Once I let myself into her dark home, I quietly took off my boots and left them by the door, and then I walked carefully through the hallway to where I noticed the light shining from the living room. She laid on the couch, nestled under the covers of her couch blanket. The television flickering lights from the program on highlighted the features of her beautiful face. I looked at her from the edge of the couch in fascination.

  Back in college, she was beautiful, but a different kind of beautiful. She was more so the kind of woman that one would need to work hard to even get a greeting. But this Missy, she is different. She doesn’t seem to have an impenetrable bubble surrounding her. Her emotions are natural and from the time we’ve spent together, I know that she’s genuine. She is real. She wasn’t the fake person that I somehow became friends with in college.

  Why did she even become friends with me back then? I wasn’t like any of her other friends, I was far from it. But that’s a question for another time.

  Right now, she looks angelic. Her face lacks make-up and she looks to be at ease, then again, I never watched her sleep as if I am. I shake my head and realize that if she was to open her eyes right now, it would look creepy. I turn off the television and bend to pick her up to carry her to bed.

  She nestles into my neck and hums in content as I walk through the dark home to her bedroom. I place her on her side of the bed evidenced by the way her blankets are arranged and then begin to remove my clothing on the other side of the bed.

  I haven’t slept over her house since the night we drunkenly hooked up, but I wanted to be with her tonight, I needed to be.

  As I settle beside her, she moves and turns to face me; she squirms over to me, wiggles her knee in between my legs and wraps her arm around my waist. I pull her in closer to me and kiss the top of her head.

  While I may be the bastard brother of Noah Baker, I at least have a brother officially now. And the woman that I pined for in college, is currently in my arms.

  A warm hand is lightly tracing my stomach and while it feels good, I cannot ignore the fact that I have someone touching me while I sleep. When the hand goes lower, my eyes open and I watch with eagerness, Missy is sitting up with eyes wide as her fingertips dance alongside my skin. Her fingers breach the waistband of my boxers and I take in a sharp breath as I prepare for whatever she has in mind.

  She notices that I’m awake, and while her hand only freezes for a moment, she continues with her path. Her head turns slowly; she licks her lips and then smiles.

  “I hope you don’t mind, I woke up wrapped around you and your, um your cock looked like it needed some attention,” she explains as her hand wraps around my shaft. She moves and strokes me up and down. On the uptake, she twists her hand and then she is moving so her other hand can release me from my boxers. She pulls the waistband down, my cock springing out, standing to attention when her hand envelopes it again. I breathe out loudly and my hips involuntarily move with her hand pumping me.

  She leans down, gently places a kiss just under my belly button, and the
n licks the head of my cock. Sending electrifying currents through my body. She opens her mouth and my cock is disappearing into the warmness. The tip of my cock hits the back of her throat, she doesn’t react only pulls off and then opens her mouth wider and takes me in again. One of her hands has begun to lightly touch my balls, then travel to my ass and back again in a teasing manner. It’s taking everything in me right now to not put my hand on the back of her head and make her take all of me.

  She bobs on my cock with her hair falling over her face shielding my view. I pull her hair up and wrap it in my hand as she continues remembering our drunken night together that kickstarted this relationship. I watch her perfect mouth around my cock and feel like I’m getting harder and harder watching it disappear each time. She moans and with her hand pumps me. She pulls off me, her lips rosy red and her eyes wild.

  “There’s condoms in that drawer over there,” she angles her head to the bedside dresser. I reach over and my fingers fumble around until I feel the familiarity of a condom wrapper. She sits astride me and pulls off her top, baring her perfect ivory tits to me, her pert nipples begging for me to nibble on. I sheathe myself quickly and she grabs my cock and hovers over me. She slides down my shaft slowly, her mouth open and her eyes fixated on me.

  “Is this okay?” she asks tentatively once she’s full seated.

  She feels heavenly and I’m not a hundred percent certain that this isn’t a dream. My hands fly to her hips as I grip her and aid her in the tempo that I can manage right now, without completely looking like a teenage boy and blowing my load in less than a minute. Once she’s seated and before she moves again, I hold her in place and take a deep breath.

  “I need to reign it all in. Just give me a moment, please?” I ask.

  When she nods, I lean up and take one of her nipples into my mouth and relish in the moment. She holds the back of my head to her breast as I lavish both sides then return to the laying position. I release my hold on her hips and then she moves over me. She glides, pushes and pulls. Slides in and slides out all while moaning my name. Her fingertips dig into my chest as my thumb finds her clit and rubs it as she moves on me. She throws her head back and I feel her pussy clamp down on my cock. While I want to release myself into her, I want to prolong morning sex and make sure she comes at least twice. Once her head lolls back and she relaxes a little, I take the lead and flip her to her back. I fist my cock and guide myself back to her entrance. I watch my cock enter her inch by inch, as she is laid out wanton on the bed watching as well.

  “You okay?” I ask her, my voice gruff.

  “Better than okay. But I need you to fuck me now,” she nods.

  I pull back and then push back in, with a gasp from her and her hands flying to the back of my arms.

  “Harder,” she pleads. “Harder, Miles. I need you to fuck me like you’ve been wanting to fuck me for years.”

  “That shouldn’t be hard.” I expel and again pull back. This time thrust myself into her; rapidly I repeat my movements to exclamations from her. As I drive into her pussy and take no mercy, my hands are on her hips as I hold her onto the bed and push myself in and out of her.

  I grunt and she gasps.

  It’s not long before my orgasm spreads through my body and I’m pushing myself harder and deeper into her emptying myself into the condom as she clings to me.

  Fuck.

  I push into her again, arch my neck and blow out a shaky breath as the aftershocks of my orgasm ripple through me.

  Fuck.

  Why have I not been doing this with her this entire time? Why n was I taking things slow again?

  I apprehensively pull out of her and walk into her bathroom, wash my hands and return with a washcloth. I gently clean her up and then return the cloth back to the bathroom to her hamper. She’s sitting up in bed when I return with a lazy smile on her face as she reclines.

  “So, I take it that you guys had a good conversation?” She asks.

  “We did. But can we bask in the fuckery that we just did. I mean, shit. That was, that was…”

  “It was great, want to come back to bed?” She pats the space beside her.

  Chapter Twenty

  We spend a few hours of the morning catching up with sporadic touching and kissing. I was hovering over her when my phone began to chime. I turn and reach for the phone and see that my mother is calling which is an instant boner killer as I return to my side of her bed and lay on my back.

  “Hey Mom, what’s going on?” I answer.

  “Hello, I found this number as an emergency contact, is this Miles?” a female voice asks.

  “This is, is everything okay? Where’s my mother?” I sit up.

  “My name is Mary-Lou Rubens; I am a nurse at Hollybrooke General. Your mother was involved in a car accident. She looks to have a broken leg and some contusions. The doctors are resetting her leg right now, and she should be fine. Are there any medical issues that we should know? Any allergies?” the voice asks.

  “She has MS and is allergic to aspirin.” I reply robotically.

  “Thank you, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I end the call and turn around to see a concerned Missy staring back at me.

  “Everything okay?” She asks.

  “My mom is in the city, she was in an accident. I need to go.” I stand and start pulling on my clothes. Missy rushes to her dresser and begins to dress herself. As I’m pulling my t-shirt over my head, she’s already at the door waiting for me.

  She has jeans and a sweatshirt on, her hair is tossed in a messy bun and she’s ready to leave the house. She’s looking at me, as I’m the one holding us up.

  “You don’t have to come with me,” I say to her.

  “You’re not going alone, I can take the day off of work and do some stuff from the city when we get to the hospital. That’s a bonus that I have for being my own boss and working from home.”

  We drove the forty minutes to Hollybrooke General and once we rush into the emergency room, my head swivels left and right to find the direction that I need for information. Missy grabs my hand and we turn the corner and see the check in counter. Two women in scrubs sit behind, both looking back and forth between the clipboard in their hands and the screen in front of them. They both look up as I plant my palms on the counter.

  “My mom, Diana Hennessey was brought in from a car accident less than an hour ago.”

  “Yes, sir. May I see some ID please?” I pull my wallet out of my back pocket and pull my ID out to show her. When she’s satisfied, she clicks around on her screen and then stands. She looks to Missy and offers her a sad smile.

  “I’m sorry, only family,” she says.

  “She’s my girlfriend, can she just-?” I’m stopped by Missy’s hand on my forearm and I turn to her.

  “Go to your mom, I’m fine. I’ll call Valerie to have her tell Noah that you will be likely not in tonight.”

  “Are you sure?” I ask her.

  “Of course. I’ll be out here.” She smiles.

  I follow the woman guiding me to my mother quietly. My eyes scan each bed and each face until we walk into a single room. My mother lays on the hospital bed with her eyes closed , her whole leg is in a cast, and so is her arm.

  My mom doesn’t drive much, but maybe every other week she insists on getting out on her own. She rarely goes far from the house, granted Mercy is a small town and you can walk everywhere. Everywhere, except the church.

  I take a seat beside her bed and pull her hand into mine. Her eyes open and she coughs.

  “What are you doing here? What happened? Where am I?” she asks.

  “You got into an accident, busted your leg and your arm. Where were you 'Ma?”

  “I went to church.” She says as if it answers everything.

  “Do you remember anything?” I ask her.

  She blinks in confusion and tries to adjust her position with a grimace on her face.

  “I remember trying to back out of the parking spot. I left the hall
earlier than usual because I felt a little bit of vertigo. I didn’t want to make a scene in front of the congregation. I put the car into reverse, I think and that’s it.”

  A knock at the door brings my attention to the side of us. I see a young doctor walk in with his tablet and clipboard.

  “Good afternoon. Mrs. Hennessey, how are you feeling?” he asks.

  She blushes and pats down her hair with her free hand. “Oh doctor, I’m well and you?”

  I roll my eyes. I look at the doctor, and inwardly groan as my mother flirts with him.

  He turns to me after a moment of back and forth banter and holds his hand out to me.

  “I’m Dr. Mattias, I tended to your mother when she was brought in by the medics. We had to reset her tibia, so she will be in a cast for about six weeks with that. She also fractured her ulna from what I’m assuming is the whipping of the vehicle and was unconscious when she first came in, but the on-call neurologist ruled out any issues with a TBI through an MRI right away. The medics stated that her vehicle was covered in vomit from the driver’s seat and that witnesses stated that her car was in reverse to which it went through a shed, rear ended a few other vehicles and ultimately from some of the whipping of the car back and forth, it slammed into a utility pole. It sounds worse than it is, but that is what the reports are stating. I understand that she has multiple sclerosis?” he asks.

  “Yes, sir. Some of her medications make her nauseous. But she also suffers from vertigo with some of the side effects of her MS.” I nod.

  “And Ma’am, how are you feeling now?” he returns his attention to my mom.

  “I feel fine, a little sore.”

  “Your medications, prescribed by your neurologist, I presume?”

  “Yes sir. Dr. Contreras. I haven’t seen him in a year or so, but he was the one whose helped me the most. Also, I want to say there was a Dr. Rodney too.”