Nightmares Of Ecstacy | 18+

Welcome To The Neighborhood III

PART III

Camden knew her life was like a broken record.

party, drinks, meaningless hookups, repeat.

The routine was her safe escape, her way of keeping herself distracted from the family mess she'd left behind. It was better than thinking, better than feeling.

Two weeks had crawled by since that little stunt she pulled...putting on a free show for the most insanely attractive man she'd ever laid eyes on. She'd been so sure it would grab his attention, maybe even make him crack a smile or, at the very least, stop ignoring her.

But Roman, as she'd heard the neighbors call him, had stayed as cold and unreadable as ever. He didn't even flinch when she'd tried smiling at him in passing, waving, even making polite conversation in the hallway. Nothing. It was like he was determined to act like she didn't exist.

She scoffed, remembering the way he'd looked that night, though.

Men.

They could be so predictable. He'd looked right at her, taken it all in, then acted like nothing happened.

Still, there was at least some progress elsewhere, she'd finally unpacked some things, and her apartment was starting to feel like home. But even with her independence, she was struggling with the heavier boxes. A few were still scattered around, half open, waiting for her to muster up the strength to get them sorted.

She was just about to deal with one when the doorbell rang. She frowned, caught off guard, wondering who it could be.

She propped herself up and walked to the door, mind racing as she ran through the list of who could possibly be visiting her. Friends? She didn't have any here. Family? That was a dead end. Romantic interests? Nonexistent. Neighbors stopping by? Definitely not—

Her thoughts screeched to a halt as she opened the door and was met with the same pair of dark, intense eyes staring back at her. Tousled hair, a hint of sweat glistening on his skin, sweatpants riding low on his hips, and a t-shirt clinging to his chest and shoulders in all the right ways.

Camden gulped, her mouth suddenly dry. "H-hello?" she managed, mentally cursing herself for the stutter.

He raised an eyebrow, looking at her with an unreadable expression. "New neighbor, huh?"

The way he said it...so matter-of-fact, like he hadn't been completely ignoring her for weeks made her want to roll her eyes.

Obviously, she thought, barely stopping herself from saying it out loud.

"Yes," she muttered, trying to keep the sarcasm in check.

He — Roman, she remembered from the neighbors conversations — let his eyes roam over her, the same assessing look he'd given her that night through the window. His stare was unapologetically slow, making it feel both invasive and thrilling, like he was trying to picture exactly what she looked like without a stitch on.

When his eyes finally moved past her, they drifted over the entryway of her house, where boxes and random items were still scattered in a chaotic mess.

"Fucking mess in there," he mused, crossing his arms with an annoyingly smug expression.

Camden's jaw clenched, and she fought the urge to shut the door right in his face. "Thanks for pointing that out. I'll be sure to roll out the red carpet for my next unexpected visitor."

Roman didn't flinch, though she thought she saw the ghost of a smirk tug at the corner of his mouth. "You don't look like the red carpet type," he said, glancing over her shorts and oversized t-shirt. "You don't really seem like the DIY type, either, judging by...all this." He nodded toward the mess.