All Mine: The Complete Series Box Set

by Lauren Wood

  “I think that she just gave up because they did. Dozer scared her more than you did.”

  She was petrified of my pit bull and though he was harmless, I let her think whatever it was that she wanted to think about it. “Glad she is gone. We will have to cross our fingers that we get a good neighbor this time.”

  Kevin agreed and I told him I would see him later. “Come by for a beer if your lady is still there. Don’t get into it with her. She will just get you in trouble and you know it.”

  “I know, why do you think I am leaving?”

  “With that one, it is probably a good idea.”

  Waving to him as he walked in with the paper bags from the grocers I got onto my bike and looked back to the empty house one last time. Whoever it was, it couldn’t be worse than Melissa. The neighborhood was due a little peace and quiet after her.

  ***

  I got back later that evening and I was a little nervous about all of the lights being off in my house. I didn’t know if that meant that Melissa was sleeping, like a dragon in its stolen lair or if she had left. Hell, she could have left it empty and there weren’t even light bulbs left. Either way, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I went inside. I didn’t care what was left there. I just wanted that crazy woman to be gone.

  I parked the bike and stayed standing on it for a few moments listening. I needed to go ahead and see. I almost wanted to see Kevin and then I would know is she was there or not. I had to prepare myself for the madness that most likely would be awaiting me when I opened the door.

  The place was quiet as I walked up to it and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There was movement in the house across the street. I looked back quickly and saw a figure in the un-curtained window. But I didn’t have time to think about that. I had to worry about the madness that awaited me and the woman I hoped was gone. That was all I wished for as I tried the door knob.

  I don’t know why I thought I was going to be able to just go in. Maybe I thought that she was going to take everything and just leave it all unlocked, but the opposite was true. I wasn’t prepared for the entry to be locked. I had a set on my keyring, but I had left that in my rush. I hadn’t wanted to pass her to get the ones off the counter, so I had grabbed the extra set that was by the door. That meant that I was stuck outside of my house and the only option was to break the window. The door wasn’t going to come in and even though I knew the house was empty now, I was too aggravated by Melissa that I didn’t even care that I would have to fix the window later.

  Looking around to see if anyone was out, lights were on in the empty house and I wondered who our new neighbors were. It didn’t matter, I told myself. I just needed to get into the house, so that I wouldn’t have to stand out here. It took only a minute to decide which window to break. I broke the one in the front because it was easier to get into for fixing it.

  When I got inside, it was exactly how I knew it was going to be. The place was trashed and anything that was of value was gone. It looked like I had been robbed, even though I knew it was just the spite from my ex. Melissa was always that way and I just ignored it because the sex was great. I should have known that she would do this.

  Turning on the lights, the flood of seeing made it worse. I was surprised that I had light bulbs left. I just wanted to go to bed without dealing with everything, but even that was taken from me. Seemed about right and I called Joel to see if I could crash in one of the empty apartments at the complex. Some of the places were furnished and that was exactly what I needed right now.

  By the time I got off the phone with Joel, I was ready to get out of there. I would deal with all of this tomorrow. Tonight I just wanted some sleep. It had been a long day and I was done dealing with Mellissa and her storm. That woman was like a damn hurricane.

  There was a hard knock on the door and then I heard wood splintering off as someone kicked it in. The police made themselves known and I put my hands up as several guns were trained on me.

  “What is the meaning of this?”

  “We got a call that there was a break-in in this house.”

  I told him that it was an ex that was leaving, but they didn’t believe me. The place was empty and I looked like a criminal. The cops didn’t want to hear anything that I had to say about it. I was going to jail and I knew that Melissa would be happy if she knew.

  As the cop pushed my head down to get into the backseat of the car, I looked over at the house with lights on and I saw a brunette in the window. She must have seen me because she was gone after a second. Did my new neighbors call the police? It made sense and I had to just laugh. I guess there were worse neighbors than the last ones. These guys were starting out early.

  Why did that woman in the window look so familiar?

  Chapter 2

  Angela

  I moved here to get away from all of the drama in my last city. I came home to get away from all of the crime and I think that I was going right back to a place like that. New Orleans was the town I had grown up in, but my first day back I had to call the cops because the house next door got broken into. It didn’t seem right.

  A few hours later, I was still putting things away and there was more movement at the house. The man that the police had picked up and carted off was back and again he had to break in to the house. It was then that I realized he wasn’t a burglar. He was my neighbor and the first thing I had done on this block was call the police. I knew that I was going to have to apologize in the morning. I wouldn’t have called if I would have known. I was just trying to help.

  Sighing to myself, I picked up the last box that I was going to mess with today and went towards the kitchen. The house was small compared to the one I shared with Jimmy, but it was mine so it was enough. I wouldn’t have to argue with him anymore. This was the first time since high school that I was single and I was sure that was why I wasn’t able to sleep. How could I sleep with everything going on? It was only when I was too exhausted to move that I was finally able to lie down and shut my eyes. It had been so long, but even now being back in my hometown brought up all kinds of old memories that were hard to shake.

  ***

  I was up later than usual. Usually I would get up at five or six and run for about an hour. It was the one time of the day that the silence would take over and I was able to think. I wasn’t trying to remember why I was there or where I was going next, I just wanted to think about the now. Now I was back home and needed a job. There weren’t many choices, but I was going to find something.

  When I got back, I saw the door open to the neighbor’s house. I should have went over there and apologized for what happened, but I didn’t know who lived there and I didn’t know if he was going to be mad. He went to jail because of me, even if it was only for a couple of hours. I knew how some people felt about the police and those that called them. I didn’t want to be one of those people.

  Instead I went inside and made some lunch. Cleaning the house up took up a little more of my day and only when it was about four in the afternoon that I went outside again. The man from the night before was outside working on a motorcycle and I figured that it was my chance to make things right. I hadn’t meant to cause any trouble and I wanted him to know that. I wasn’t going to be that kind of neighbor.

  As I made my way across the street, I had to wonder if he even knew that it was me. Maybe I could just pretend that I didn’t do it and everything would be fine. It would have been easier than having to admit it to his face that I was the one that had caused it.

  I almost turned around when I saw the man’s bare back covered in tattoos. He didn’t look like the type of guy that would be happy to hear what I was going to say. But I was already there and I wasn’t going to just walk away now. So what if he looked a little rough around the edges. That didn’t mean anything, right?

  “Sir?”

  There was music blaring outside from the garage and I had to get closer to get his attention. I was almost close enough to
touch him and I stopped when I saw something that made my heart skip a beat. “Angie-Always Loved.”

  It was silly. I knew that I didn’t know him and that Angie was a very common name, but it was the last part that threw me off. I hadn’t heard that in so long. It made my mind go instantly to the man that I knew when I was a teen. He had told me that for months before I left. It was the sweetest thing that I had ever heard then and since. It was good to know that I was always loved by him. It didn’t end the way I wanted it to, young love rarely ever did, but it was a point in time that I couldn’t forget.

  “Sir?!”

  I said it a little louder, but there was too much drums going on in the music playing. I could have touched his shoulder to get his attention from whatever had him hunched over the bike in such a way, but I didn’t. I didn’t think that I should. Instead I went to the garage and turned the stereo off. The quiet that took over was deafening and I almost wished that I hadn’t just done that. It felt different now and the man cursed and stood up.

  “Stupid ass stereo!”

  He stopped when he saw me and my heart stopped when I saw him. “Marcus?”

  It was the man from my past and the tattoo was not a coincidence. The fact that he was standing there had to be. This was the man that I hadn’t seen since I left school my senior year. I put my hand to my chest, making sure that my heart was still beating. I couldn’t breathe and I was immobile, everything that I was there to tell him about last night had run out of my mind. I was stuck looking at him with a smile on my face, but everything else inside of me threatened to crumble. What the hell was wrong with me? The second question was about the universe and its sense of humor. Of all the people, down all of the streets of this city, him, really?

  “Angie?”

  The voice was different and his body was different, but those dark green eyes were the same. He had a few more freckles that I noticed and he was taller, but it was the same guy I had known so long ago. That was my name on his back and I had to wonder why it was there. He towered over me and I was left unable to speak. What was I supposed to do now?

  “Wow, what are the odds?”

  He was confused and I pointed to the house on the other side of the street. “I live there now since last night. I take it that you live here?” The odds were never in my favor. I had just put down first, last month’s rent and deposit. It wasn’t like I could just walk away from the place. Why did it have to be next door to him?

  “You live there now?”

  I shook my head that I did. It was strange to be right there in front of him and even the ten feet between us didn’t seem like enough all of a sudden.

  “Yeah, I moved in yesterday pretty late…” I was here to tell him that I had called on him last night, to apologize to the neighbor, but I hadn’t expected to see Marcus. Of all of the people that I thought I would run into while I was back home, it didn’t occur to me that he would still be here. Not after he talked about going out west so much. He wanted to go to the west coast and I always thought he would go. I expected him to be in California.

  “I saw you last night, but I didn’t know it was you. Someone called the cops on me and I got taken in. This place hasn’t changed much than when we were younger, nosy ass people always getting in the middle.”

  He sounded so casual and I didn’t understand it because all I could do was shake on the inside and hope that I didn’t pass out right where I stood. How could he be so cool?

  “Sorry about that. I saw you break that window and I thought that you were a robber. I know how the crime is on the other side of the city. I was the one that called. I am sorry. I was coming over here to tell you that and offer to have you over for dinner to make it right with you.”

  “But now?”

  Now I found out who it was and wanted to move again. I had run from Marcus before. He had been trouble ten years ago and looking at him now, he looked like even more trouble now. Now he looked like he was the king of it and I could already feel the draw to him. I always had a magnetic pull for the bad boy and Marcus still fit the bill, though we weren’t cutting class in school any longer, so desperate to see each other.

  “Now I see that it won’t be necessary Marcus. We go way back, right?” It was the understatement of the world, but he didn’t yearn for me like I had for him. If he had, I might not of left, but I knew that it was a one way street.

  “Yeah we do Angela.”

  “So that tattoo…”

  He looked away for a moment and I wished then that I could read his mind and hear his thoughts. What was behind that look that he gave me now? I shouldn’t have brought it up, but how could I not when it had been staring up at me.

  “It was a mistake. Some broad I met a couple of years back.”

  “I see you stuck with the same line Marcus. It was a good line.”

  Marcus’ green eyes flared and if I didn’t know any better, I would have said that he was mad at me. I don’t know what I did wrong. The tension in his jaw was prominent and I could see the jump as he clenched his teeth together.

  “Yeah it worked well in getting those panties to drop, didn’t it?”

  My face turned red at the reminder and I groaned inwardly. I should have just let it go. I could have gone weeks, months even without seeing the neighbor up close and having this conversation with a ghost. My propriety had made me come over here and I was cursing what I now started to see as a character flaw.

  “Yes it did. I was young and not very bright back then.”

  He chuckled and I felt his eyes on my body. He was looking me up and down from my head to my toes and even though I shouldn’t, I really wanted him to like what he saw. I certainly did. The years had been kind to him and he was even more handsome now that he was a man. Attraction had never been the problem with us. It had been the big stuff that had ruined it all.

  “I see you still have your claws. I always liked that side of you.”

  “Yeah? I seem to remember you hated that side of me Marcus. But time has a way of making us remember things a little differently, doesn’t it?”

  “No, I remember everything just the way it was. Damn it has been a long time Angela.”

  I wanted to get away from the nostalgia talk. I asked him about his bike and what he was doing to it. Machines had always been his hobby and if it happened to go fast, well it was all the better for it. I missed the slight smell of grease when I would kiss him after working on something. Back then it was an old Chevelle that he worked on more than he drove. He loved that car and I still could see the baby blue paint in my mind.

  “What about the Chevelle? You still have it?”

  It was the first car that we made love when we were dating. He was my first and was my only for several years. I had some very fond memories in that car and I would have loved to see it again.

  “Not here, but it is around.”

  “That was a great car Marcus.”

  “Yeah it was.” He had this faraway look in his eyes when he looked my way. It was like he was seeing me, but not really seeing me. What was going on in that head of his?

  “It is good to see you again Marcus, but I got a few errands to run.”

  “Where is your car?”

  “I don’t really drive and since I moved back here I didn’t think I would need it, so I sold it before I came.” After a bad breakup, I had to sell the car to get home, but that wasn’t information that I was going to offer up. He didn’t know about that. I wanted Marcus to think that everything was okay. He didn’t need to know anything more than the basics. I can’t get roped up with a man like him again. It almost broke me last time.

  “If you ever need anything Angela, don’t hesitate to ask. We are neighbors now and I would like to catch up one day soon.”

  I agreed that I would and we should, but I walked back across the street knowing that we can’t. I can’t get involved with him again. I barely made it out of it the first time and it had always been impossible to say no to Marcus.
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  Chapter 3

  Marcus

  I watched her walk back across the street like it was nothing. Angela was back and she was acting like there wasn’t some unfinished business between us. We go way back, she said. That was something I would say to a girl that I had a one night stand with. What me and Angela had was the realest relationship that I had ever had. She was the one that had turned me hard against love, because I knew that no one else would ever be enough. If I couldn’t have Angela, then I didn’t want anyone at all. She was all I could think about, all that I had needed. Now she looked at me as if I was a stranger.

  It took me a while to pull myself together enough to turn the music back on and get back to changing the oil in the bike. It was due and the sun was out. Now I wanted to go inside into the darkness and drink away any feelings that wanted to bubble up inside of me. I didn’t want to feel them. I didn’t want to feel anything that had to do with Angela. Melissa was looking like a saint next to Angela. At least Melissa couldn’t really mess me up. She took some things and broke even more, but that was nothing. Everything was replaceable, but the half of my heart that that woman carried off with her when she left was not.

  My phone rang and it was Lucas calling me in. I was happy for the distraction and jumped at the chance for some work. It had been slow lately ever since we got a new player in the city. Lucas wanted to keep things quiet for a while and I hoped that the call meant that things were going to change. I didn’t care who was new and trying for territory, we had been here a long time and the Devil’s weren’t going anywhere.

  The time away also meant that I would have something to occupy my time besides Angela. She had gotten enough of my thoughts and time over the years and she had had enough. The woman didn’t even act like it mattered what happened back then. I was going to have to pretend the same. It felt impossible when I even mentioned it to myself, but it was what had to happen. It had been too long and she was different now.