Love Next Door

by Jerry Cole

  “You want to see Maria, I take it?”

  “Yes. Is she in?”

  “Yes…” Ross smirked. “She’s just a little...occupied right now.”

  “Oh?”

  Ross waggled his eyebrows and sat back down.

  “Go and have a look.”

  “While she’s occupied? Do you think I have a death wish?” Reese glanced towards the closed door at the far end of the room. “What is she doing?”

  But Ross simply grinned and picked his cell phone up from the floor, whistling as he went back to what he was doing. He was going to be no help. Reese rolled his eyes and headed to Maria’s office. He was going to have to interrupt her; Reese wanted to get back to David. He had been called in unexpectedly a few hours before after someone had called in sick, and Reese wanted to make sure David was not going to be targeted again.

  He didn’t need to worry, he knew that. David was a security guard. He had been trained just like Reese, and David was certainly a big, intimidating man when he wanted to be. But Reese felt like he needed to be close in case some harm came to David. If the anonymous phone call the night before was anything to go by, David was going to be the target of an attack next.

  Reese knocked. But there was no answer. He knocked again. Was Ross messing around with him and Maria was out. Then he heard something. It sounded like a soft moan. Then there were some hushed words.

  Was that…?

  Reese turned the handle and found it wasn’t locked. He went in and jumped back with a surprised shout. Maria was sitting on her desk, her skirt bunched up around her thighs, with Max standing between her spread legs. His hands were under Maria’s blouse as he kissed her mouth and neck. Both sprang apart at Reese’s exclamation, and Maria started trying to tug her clothes back into place as she stumbled off the desk. Max simply grinned at Reese.

  “Hey, Reese.”

  Reese didn’t know where to look. Max was standing there proudly with his erection very evident in his pants. He was making no move to hide it. Reese found himself looking at the ceiling.

  “For God’s sake, Max, would you cover yourself? I don’t want to see that.”

  “What’s wrong with it? You have one yourself.”

  “Max, stop it.” Maria hissed. She was adjusting her bra, glaring at Reese. “Haven’t you learned to knock, Reese?”

  “I did. Twice.” Reese looked between the two flushed faces. “Clearly, you two were temporarily deaf. And I thought you said no sex at work, Maria.”

  Maria’s face flushed even more.

  “This wasn’t sex!” She protested.

  “It was damn close.” Max added, adjusting himself. He still didn’t look embarrassed. “Would’ve been if you hadn’t come in.”

  “Maybe lock the door next time.” Reese gave Max a pointed look. “And wait until there’s a bed in a house before you think about seducing my boss. I don’t think she needs her employees to see what’s under her mask.”

  Maria muttered something under her breath as she buttoned up her blouse. Her hair was mussed up, and she tried to smooth it down, but it didn’t work.

  “Just go, Max. I’ll call you later.”

  “Sure.” Max leaned in and kissed her cheek, giving Maria a look that had Maria blushing again. “I’m up for carrying this on later.”

  Maria swatted his shoulder. Laughing Max walked away and headed for the door. Reese closed the door behind him and turned to Maria, aware of Max whistling as he walked through the office.

  “I was beginning to wonder when you two were going to give in. He’s been chasing you for months.”

  “I know.” Maria slumped into her chair. She was still very flushed. “He was just showing me how much he had been chasing me.”

  “That part I saw for myself.” Reese sat opposite, trying to bite back a smile. “I thought you wanted to keep him at arm’s length. And what happened to no sex in the office?”

  “Max is...very persuasive.” Maria cleared her throat and straightened up. “Anyway, you didn’t come here for that. What are you doing here, Reese?”

  Reese rubbed his hands on his thighs. This felt like he was going for a job interview again.

  “I thought I’d come in person and say that I’m willing to get back to work once I’ve gone through all the security checks.”

  “Really?” Maria’s eyes widened, her mouth dropping open. “You want to come back to work?”

  “Are you that eager to get rid of me?” Reese smiled. “Only a short while ago, you were eager for me to come back. Now you don’t sound so happy about it.”

  “No, I’m happy.” Maria sat forward. “I’m just surprised. You didn’t have any enthusiasm to working at all when we last spoke.”

  Reese shrugged.

  “Let’s just say I’ve had a new injection of life. I’ve got something to work towards, and that’s given me the motivation.”

  “I see.” Maria paused. “Dare I ask what sort of injection you had?”

  “You’d better not. I don’t think you’d appreciate the...intimate details.”

  Reese laughed as Maria’s face went as red as a tomato. For a woman who barely got flustered, seeing her embarrassed was a novelty. Maria cleared her throat.

  “I suppose not. I…” Squaring her shoulders, she reached for her reading glasses. “When do you want to come back?”

  “As soon as possible, if you can.”

  “Okay.” Maria picked up her diary and flicked through it. “It’s going to be a good fortnight before you get back on the books for active work. Your paperwork needs to be up to date and all the security checks done again.”

  “I’m good with that.”

  Reese was still smiling. He was happy with that. In fact, he was happy with most things right now. Just a few hours in David’s company, and he was beginning to feel more like his old self. Things were looking brighter, bursting with color. It was surprising how just one night with someone could do that to anyone. Reese never thought it would happen to him.

  David had certainly thrown the switch.

  “Reese?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You drifted off there for a moment.” Maria smiled. “Whoever’s put that smile on your face should be applauded for bringing the light back into your life.”

  Reese winked.

  “In more ways than one.”

  “I don’t want to know.” Maria scribbled something in her diary. “Get going and come back in first thing Monday morning. We’ll get going from there.”

  “Okay.” Reese stood, flashing Maria one more grin. “You don’t want to discuss you and Max?”

  Maria groaned and pointed at the door.

  “Out.”

  Chapter Eight

  “How are the cameras on your side?” David asked as he looked up from his work station. Adam was at the other counter eyeing up the multitude of cameras.

  “Looking good. Can’t see anything wrong.” He sniggered as he focused on one screen. “Although I’ve got a bird’s eye view of your neighbor outside the bookstore.”

  David groaned. Reese had texted him to let David know he was in the mall and he would hang around until David left. David had pointed out that he was in all day and they were running on just over half the staff they needed on a Saturday, but Reese had appeared not to care. He had set himself up with a book and a coffee outside the bookstore near the staff only door, and from what David could tell he hadn’t moved for the last two hours.

  “Would you stop gawking at him, Adam?” David slapped Adam’s shoulder. “If Reese sees the camera pointed in his direction, he’s going to think I’m the one who’s eyeing him up.”

  “Scared I’m going to steal him off you, are we?” Adam chuckled.

  David rolled his eyes and flipped his colleague the bird. Adam laughed.

  “Don’t worry, you know I’m straight. I’m just curious, that’s all. You two have been communicating a lot today.”

  As if on cue, David’s cell phone buzzed in his po
cket. David bit back a sigh. Reese was being overprotective. If the anonymous caller was going to come after him, it would be at home, not at work. He was in a public place, and nobody other than the security team could get into the offices where David was working. He trusted the guys he worked with and even when they had four people off-sick so they were understaffed, David believed he was safe with them. Reese was getting a little too worried.

  But David had to admit he liked someone worrying about him. Whenever he was concerned before, James had sighed and told him to get over it, he was a big boy. Reese actually paid attention to David’s welfare. Even if it did look like he was being a little too protective of David.

  David could humor him. As long as he got his own back later.

  “David?”

  David jumped. He had wandered off into his own mind again. Adam was looking at him oddly.

  “Sorry?”

  “Get your mind out of the gutter, please. I don’t want to know my supervisor is thinking about a room that’s not the one he’s currently sitting in.”

  David rolled his eyes.

  “Adam, Reese is my neighbor and you know he works at a security firm himself. With all the stuff that’s happened to me lately, he’s merely concerned.”

  “Oh, really?” Adam waggled his eyebrows. “Concerned that his new plaything is going to get hurt?”

  “Now who’s got their mind in the gutter?”

  “Sorry.” Adam sat back and stretched out his legs. “God, I should be at home right now. Melissa wasn’t happy that I had to come in and miss our daughter’s soccer game.”

  “There’s nothing we can do about it when two are off-sick and a third simply walked out on us.”

  “Do you know why he walked out? The day hadn’t even started yet.”

  “I have no idea.”

  But David was going to find out. Once his bosses found out about this on Monday, there was a good chance that the guard who had simply walked away from the job wouldn’t work with them again. He would be lucky to get a similar job in the area; news travelled fast in Sioux Falls.

  “Oh, great.”

  “What is it?”

  Adam was looking at a camera to his left. He used the camera joystick to zoom in. David leaned over and saw he was focused on a drugstore. A woman with a toddler in a buggy was leaving, carrying a clear plastic bag on the handle of the buggy. It was full of the products from the store. David could even read the names of the products on the boxes.

  That was so brazen. David had never seen anything like it.

  “Oh, great. Now we’ve got children involved again.” He searched the cameras, picking up his radio when he saw one of his other colleagues patrolling the north side of the mall. “Tony, go to the drugstore on the south side. We have a shoplifter. Woman, early twenties, dark hair pushing a pink buggy.”

  “Received.”

  Shoplifting on a Saturday was not uncommon, but David hated it when children were involved. Thieves used them to try and cover up, gain some sympathy because she was a mother. It just made the situation more embarrassing for the thief. David gestured to Adam and then at the door.

  “Go and join him. They’ll be heading towards the exit right below us. I want to make sure that woman doesn’t drop the stuff.”

  “Got it.”

  Adam headed out of the room, the door closing behind him. David sat back and stretched his arms above his head with a loud yawn. He was worn out. If he had known he was coming in on his day off, David would have got some sleep. Instead, he had spent the night exploring Reese’s body.

  And damn, that was a gorgeous body. Reese certainly didn’t disappoint. David could get used to waking up next to him. If Reese was up for it.

  From the way he had been last night, Reese had been more than up for it.

  There was a knock at the door. David looked around. He hoped to God it wasn’t his boss coming in for a spot check. He still needed to figure out what to say about the lack of personnel. They were all going to get into trouble.

  But it was Laura who came into the room. David sat up.

  “Laura?”

  “Hello, David.” Laura closed the door and leaned against it. She was still in her uniform. She must have sneaked off her patrol route again. “I caught the door before it closed when your colleagues came down. We shouldn’t be disturbed for a while.”

  “Disturbed?” David started to get up. “What are you…?”

  Then he froze when Laura brought out her gun and pointed it at his chest.

  “Sit down. And don’t you dare get up.”

  ***

  Reese’s backside was numb. He had been sitting in the same chair for close to two hours and he still had a while to go. Not even a trip to the bathroom had made his seat feel any better.

  Why did he decide that he was going to stay in the mall? David was right; what harm could he come to when he was in a security room at his job when he was surrounded by former police officers and ex-soldiers. If anyone was going to get to him at work, they would not only have to know the code to get into the staff only area, but they would have to be pretty brazen.

  And David trusted the guys he worked with. That was something. Reese didn’t think it was one of them. What would these big, hulking men get out of going after their supervisor? David hadn’t said anything about trouble at work other than Laura coming in to bother him, and Reese knew David would have said something.

  David was adamant that it was either James or Laura. Reese had his money on Laura. She had taken James from David, and now she felt under threat that she might be losing him. Why she was so focused on David, Reese didn’t know, but James must have said something about David that Laura believed. It would explain why she kept following him around and turning up when she wasn’t supposed to.

  For someone who was meant to be a member of the police force, she was unhinged. Reese wondered how she got past the psychological exam. Someone should have picked up on this.

  Hopefully, Laura would back off a little soon. Although Reese’s gut said that Laura wanted David out of the way so she felt less threatened. What she would do, Reese had no idea, but David was going to bear the brunt of it.

  All over a guy who wasn’t even worth it. Reese was still trying to get his head around that.

  “Reese?”

  Reese looked up. James was standing by his table. He was in jeans and a red flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, shuffling from foot to foot like he had been caught nicking sweets from his mother’s purse. Reese put his book aside and straightened up.

  “What do you want?”

  “Well…” James hesitated. “Look, I wasn’t planning on searching for you. I was just doing some shopping.”

  “At the place where your ex-husband works?”

  James winced.

  “I know how that sounds. Can I talk to you for a moment? I’m not here to fight.”

  From his body language, James looked worn out. He didn’t look like he was in the mood to fight. And Reese was wondering what James had to say. Not that it would make David feel any better.

  “You’ve got two minutes.”

  “Thanks.” James looked relieved as he pulled out the seat across from Reese, sitting down heavily. “I’m a thick-headed idiot.”

  “You don’t need me to tell you that, James.”

  “I’m beginning to realize that now. With David…” James rubbed at his eyes. “I thought I could win him back. I thought he would allow me to come back into his life, that we could start over. But David is so stubborn.”

  Reese snorted.

  “Come on, James, you hurt him badly. You hadn’t even been married a year and you did that to him. You know David doesn’t give second chances.”

  “I know.”

  James looked morose. Reese could almost feel sorry for him. Almost. He sat forward, glancing at the camera pointed at them in the opposite corner of the lobby. Was David watching them now?

  “If you wanted to get back with
him, you should’ve broken up with Laura first and made it clear that you were going to be with David and only David. That’s what hurt him the most.”

  James flinched. He shifted about in his chair. Reese wondered if he was wishing he had never started this.

  “I did love David, Reese.” James spoke as he stared at the table. “I still do. But it was incredibly intense, more than I ever experienced, and that’s what scared me. I think I tried to distance myself from it without losing David, just to get a bit of breathing space. And I got it wrong. Badly.”

  Reese stayed silent. He didn’t need to say anything to that. While James’ justifications weren’t making his case any better - or even making much sense - at least he was finally holding up his hands and admitting that he had been completely at fault. Before, he had laid part of the blame at David’s door. Now he wasn’t doing that.

  Reese had to respect that.

  “It took the divorce for me to realize that David wasn’t going to let this slide.” James went on. “It just hit me like a ton of bricks. I had lost my husband, and I wasn’t going to get him back. I tried to move on, but I couldn’t ignore the fact David was still in the city. If he had moved away, out of the place we had moved into together, I might have been able to get over it all. But I couldn’t.”

  “You had Laura.” Reese pointed out. “She could have helped you now she had you all to herself.”

  But James was shaking his head.

  “I ended things with Laura shortly before the divorce was finalized. She wasn’t remorseful about what she had done, and I couldn’t stop looking at her without remembering that day.”

  Reese sat up. Had he heard correctly? James and Laura weren’t together? How had nobody mentioned that? Surely, it would have come up at some point.

  “You haven’t been with her for three years?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “David thought you were still together. Laura is constantly telling him this. She’s been harassing David over it. Your fellow cops are constantly sneering at David, seeing him as the evil one in the three of you.”