Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2022 Sam Crescent

  ISBN: 978-0-3695-0611-5

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Audrey Bobak

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  BULLY NEXT DOOR

  Sam Crescent

  Copyright © 2022

  Chapter One

  Since when did Verity Hill become fucking gorgeous?

  Since when did he become a stalker? Checking out his neighbor in the backyard as she weeded her rose bushes? He’d never done anything like this before. Hector Carter never stalked. He never needed to. Women were always falling all over themselves to get close to him. This wasn’t the kind of man he was. Certainly not for a woman who threw a drink on him the first day they moved next door together.

  But here he stood in his back bedroom, which he’d turned into an office, staring at the woman he’d once bullied throughout high school. This was his punishment. The geeky, awkward girl he remembered from way back then was nowhere to be found. Instead, she was a curvy-as-fuck, beautiful, raven-haired siren, and she had him gawking out of bedroom windows just to get a look.

  Even now dressed to work in the yard, those full tits of hers were on display. The depth of her cleavage alone made his mouth water. He’d always been a tits man. Ever since he knew what breasts were, he’d loved them.

  Verity.

  Damn it.

  This wasn’t fair.

  He came to this fucking house in a small town to get away from all kinds of stress. Not to have more added to it. Running a hand down his face, he tried to clear his thoughts, but all his dick wanted to do was go out to her, strip her naked, and fuck her.

  This was punishment.

  “You do realize you’ve groaned at me three times in the space of five minutes,” his business partner and best friend Sean Logan said.

  “Look, when did she get so gorgeous?”

  “Verity was always gorgeous. She was nice as well,” Sean said.

  He’d called Sean the instant he’d gotten a drink thrown at him. Of course, Sean would remember her. His friend knew a great deal about the beauty. She had gone to culinary school for a couple of months until she dropped out, traveled around Europe with her mother, and in the process of doing so, built up a strong social media following with her cooking and traveling. Her audience adored her. From what Sean told him, Verity had taken a break to work on her first cookbook. From time to time, she still posted videos of her cooking, but not as many as she once did.

  He couldn’t believe how amazing she was.

  There had been many nights when he watched through some of her videos, laughing along with her. She knew how to engage. As the years had passed, her confidence had grown. In the beginning, she always hid behind oversized shirts and pants. Overnight, it was like the woman found herself, and now they lived next door to each other.

  Verity lifted up, put her hand to the base of her back, and wiped the sweat from her brow. It was boiling out.

  He wouldn’t be doing any yard work. It was what he paid people to do, but one look at Verity and he might be willing to offer his services to do all of her work.

  “Nah, sorry, I don’t see it.”

  “Dude, you wouldn’t have seen it. Back then, all you cared about was the easy lay. You and I both know that. You didn’t even talk to me back in high school, remember? Not when anyone was looking.”

  Hector groaned. “Don’t remind me what a dick I was.” He hated that about himself. He’d succumbed to peer pressure. Since they were kids, he and Sean were neighbors. They were the best of friends. He’d become athletic while Sean had been more the books and computers. Not once had he ever bullied Sean. They just had an agreement. Neither of them talked in school.

  “Hey, I was just as much a dick, remember? I didn’t want you talking to me either. I’d have gotten a bad rep and all that,” Sean said.

  He sighed. “So, what’s new?”

  “What’s new is you’ve got to rest. We can wait for you, man. We’ve got plenty to keep us going. I don’t want you … well, you know.”

  “Dying on you.”

  “Don’t say it, man. If there is anything, I will come to you straight away, but we’ve got this. We’re a team.”

  “Thanks,” Hector said.

  “Do that meditation stuff. Read a book. Watch some movies. Just … relax.”

  “Will do.”

  They said their goodbyes, and Hector looked out of the window to see Verity already clearing away. Her garden looked perfect. She spent a lot of time outside. He’d seen her sitting there, legs crossed, looking through notebooks and what appeared to be folders as well.

  He had to stop stalking. It was creepy. This wasn’t how he intended to spend his vacation.

  Moving away from the window, he tossed his cell phone onto the bed and made his way downstairs. Before he realized what he was doing, he was out of his front door and knocking on Verity’s.

  What the fuck are you doing?

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. There was no way he’d be able to take off right now. That shit was for kids, and he wasn’t a child anymore.

  Seconds passed, and when he thought he’d given it a shot and she clearly hadn’t heard, the door opened. She had a towel in her hand, rubbing at her damp hair.

  “Hector,” she said.

  He loved her voice. It was rough, husky, and it made his dick ache. That was new.

  “So, er, the way I figure it is that we need to learn to get along. It’s a coincidence that we’re living next door to one another and all that, but, how about I cook you dinner?” he asked. “I want us to make this … hospitable.”

  She stared at him, lips pursed. “You’re right. I don’t want to be worried about our paths crossing like I did back in high school. Dinner tonight.”

  “Great, I’ll cook some st … tofu,” he said.

  Verity chuckled. “You watched me?”

  “Er, yeah, I saw that you’d gone vegan. You tried it for the month and then stuck at it, right?”

  She smiled, and he was completely blown away. Verity hadn’t smiled at him once since they’d moved in next door to each other a few weeks ago.

  “Truce?” he asked, holding his hand out for her to take.

  She hesitated and then nodded. “Fine. Truce.” She put her hand within his, and Hector didn’t know if she felt it, but he certainly did. It was like a spark shook through his palm, going up his body. She pulled away first.

  “Seven, tonight, my place,” he said, pointing at his front door, and wanting to wince at how cheesy he sounded. He wasn’t this kind of guy.

  “See you then, Hector.” She closed her door, and he didn’t move for several seconds.

  Shit. Fuck. Shit. Fucking fuck.

  He didn’t have the first clue how to cook. This was a disaster.

  Hector ran back into his house. The best he knew to do was takeout. Why did he have to ask her for dinner at his place? He could have quite easily asked her out to dinner to a restaurant.

  This was going to be bad.

  So very bad.

  He grabbed his phone from the bed, pulled up the internet search, found her website, and typed in tofu. A long list of dishes loaded, and he picked the first. There was a list of ingredients, which made his life so much easier.

  “Thank you for the net,” he said, going back downstairs, grabbing his car keys, and heading out. Within seconds, he was in his car, on the road toward the supermarket. A shop he hadn’t been inside since he was a teenager and helped his mom out from time to time.

  “I can do this,” he said, parking and glancing at the large store.

  It would be a piece of cake.

  Cell phone in hand, he grabbed a cart and headed inside. The shop was a maze. He’d never … it was … there was no layout that made sense.

  The shopping list made sense, but the shop, he was so far out of his depth. He was determined to not screw this up. With a winning smile, he approached the first worker he came to, and within thirty minutes, he had everything he needed and was back in his car, returning home.

  Feeling rather proud of himself, he waved at several passing neighbors, only to get outside of his home and to panic once again.

  If the shopping was a job, now he had to … cook.

  With the bags of groceries in hand, he walked through the door, going to the dreaded place in his home. All he had in the cupboards were cereal and pickles.

  “I can do this. I’m going to do this.” He wasn’t a quitter.

  There was nothing he hadn’t done in his life that he hadn’t set his mind to. Dinner for two would be perfect.

  ****

  Dresses were out.

  Verity stared at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. Dinner with Hector shouldn’t be this hard to dress for.

  “What do you think, Cutie?”

  Her small Jack Russell Terrier looked up from her cozy position on the bed. That was all Cutie was going to do for the entire evening—rest. She adored her dog.

&nbs p; “You’re a beautiful woman. You don’t need anyone to tell you how amazing you are. People will break you down if you let them. Get that bubble, embrace yourself, and become the stunning woman I know you to be.”

  She smiled thinking about her mother’s words from just before she died. All her life, her biggest supporter had been her mother, and it was because of her that she was writing her first-ever cookbook.

  Rather than hide her curvy body like she had, feeling ashamed of her curves, she’d learned to embrace them. Sometimes she had comments on the internet telling her to put her tits away, but she didn’t care. They were never on display. The shirts and dresses she wore showcased them, and she loved her body. No one was going to tell her what to do with it. Not anymore.

  She settled on a pair of jeans and her favorite red shirt that sank in at the waist, flared out at the hips, and made her feel comfortable. She left her long hair down, the natural curl giving it life.

  No makeup.

  Glancing at her bed, she sat down and picked up a picture of her mother. She adored her mother and missed her. Her mother had passed away three years ago to cancer. At least she’d seen the success of her channel.

  The cookbook was going to be dedicated to her mother.

  She checked the time and winced. Only a couple of minutes until seven o’clock, and one thing she couldn’t stand was tardiness. There was no room for it in her life.

  Shoving her cell phone into her pocket, she walked downstairs and picked up her keys. She wasn’t in the habit of leaving her door unlocked, so she flicked that into place before walking down her path, turning, and walking up Hector’s path.

  Of all the things to happen to her, living next door to one of the people who bullied her back in high school was just unlucky.

  She rang the bell at exactly seven. Her hatred of tardiness never disappeared.

  Tapping her fingers on her thigh, she was tempted to glance behind her to see if this was a prank. They were both thirty years old, but she knew some people never changed.

  Hector, back then, would make it a habit of entering class late, and then he’d mess around. Hassle the teacher, and she honestly thought he was a dick.

  The man himself opened the door, letting out smoke.

  Verity stepped back at the sound of the smoke alarm.

  “Come in, quickly,” he said.

  She stepped into his home and was met with the smell of grilling.

  “You need to stay with that,” she said.

  “Crap, yes, of course, follow me.” He was already running back to his kitchen.

  Verity followed him inside and saw his laptop open and one of her videos on pause.

  “Ah, you’re doing the marinated tofu?” she asked.

  “Er, I am trying to.”

  “Did you presume that I would say yes to a date?” Verity asked. Marinating tofu required at least twenty-four hours.

  “Fuck no! I never assumed anything.”

  Verity frowned and quickly glanced around his kitchen. “Oh, so this was all last minute?”

  “Yeah, I er, I didn’t read the instructions.” He pointed at the computer. “I’m so sorry.”

  There was no way she was going to feel sorry for this guy, but he looked so pitiful and out of his depth.

  “Have you ever cooked before?”

  “Never. Not in my life. Are you laughing?” he asked.

  “Just a little bit.” She held her fingers up near each other for effect.

  “This isn’t funny.” He pointed at the ingredients. “It’s ruined. It tastes awful.”

  Verity couldn’t believe she was standing in Hector’s kitchen and that she actually felt sorry for him. He looked so lost as if he truly didn’t know what he was doing. It certainly was a step far away from the jock who was mean and cruel just to get a few laughs with his friends.

  “Fine. This is all fixable.”

  Hector held up a piece of tofu, looking highly doubtful. She had to wince at the poor food. It didn’t look good.

  She took the tofu from him and broke off a piece. Other than the extreme chargrilled marks, there was no taste.

  “Yes, I believe this is all fixable. Tofu is not the enemy, but you’ve got to know what to do with it, and trying to infuse flavor this fast on a marinate isn’t going to work. However, I know what I can do. Do you have a spare apron?” she asked.

  Hector handed her a purple-looking one, and she slid it over her head, tying it behind her back. She grabbed a band from her jeans pocket and secured her hair back at the base of her neck.

  “Put all the tofu you’ve cooked onto a spare plate. We don’t need it right away, and I want to see how much you’ve cooked.” She went to the sink and washed her hands.

  I can do this.

  I can be in my ex-bully’s house, cooking dinner. Showing him how it’s done.

  She dried her hands on the towel closest to her and turned to see at least one large block of tofu had been cut.

  Glancing at the vegetables, she grabbed a knife and got to chopping. She started first with a bunch of onions, followed by some peppers. Next were some carrots, which she sliced into strips, and put them to another side. She put Hector to work on the mushrooms, and then she measured out some rice for them.

  “I’m thinking a quick sweet and sour sauce with these vegetables, over rice. What do you think?” she asked.

  “Er, I … I only have a frying pan.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Everything is doable.” She had made it her mission to prove that you could cook whatever you wanted with as minimal products as possible. Putting the frying pan on the highest heat, she got to cooking the vegetables, getting them to have some char marks, which was what she loved to eat.

  As she cooked the main, she got Hector cooking up the rice. She looked through his cupboards, finding what she needed to make a quick sweet and sour sauce. Throwing the sauce into the pan, she added in the tofu, which she quickly sliced into thin strips along with the carrots.

  After adding the rest of the vegetables back in, she cooked it for a couple more seconds, and then she was done.

  The rice, of course, had absorbed all the water. She used the spare plates and dished them both up.

  Hector carried their food to the table, but he quickly disappeared back into the kitchen to come back with a couple of beers.

  She kept her apron on, picked up her fork, and started eating.

  “Anyone ever tell you that you’re magical in the kitchen?” he asked.

  Verity chuckled. “It’s funny you should say that. It’s how my career started. You were watching my videos, and it was because my mom said that I’d make one hell of a television chef. She was convinced of it.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear about … your mother?”

  She felt a tightness in her throat. “Thank you.”

  “I bet you miss her a lot,” Hector said.

  “Yeah, I do. She was a great … supporter. She always had my back, and to be honest, she helped me figure out what I was doing half the time.” She wasn’t about to tell Hector that she’d started to work on this cookbook, and the truth was, she had about five recipes, and everything else sucked.

  Her mother had always told her that she’d make one hell of a cookbook. This was her first and possibly only chance to make that a reality, and she couldn’t think of a single recipe to cook.

  For as long as she could remember, all she had to do was think it, cook it, and it worked. Just lately, she couldn’t do it.

  Her deadline wasn’t close yet, but with each day that passed, fear gripped her. She wasn’t going to tell Hector that the best meal she’d cooked in weeks was this one.

  It was one of the many reasons why she’d left her city apartment and found a small place, in a small town, to try to escape the pressure. The daily life.

  “It must have been nice to have a rock at your back.”

  She found his words strange. “Didn’t you have a rock?”

  He opened his mouth, closed it, and then sat back.

  She guessed it was a topic that was very much closed.

  Chapter Two

 

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