Love Thy Neighbor

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I circle the list of jobs and start making phone calls about jobs just to find out that they have been filled. Putting my phone down, I put my head in my hands. "Shit." I say knowing my job hunt isn't getting any better. All of a sudden my phone rings. I see it's my dad so I answer. "Hi daddy." I say as I answer. "Hey baby. Did you get things figured out?" he asks. "I think so." I tell him. "Have you found a job yet?" he asks. "Sort of. I'm figuring things out." I tell him. "What do you mean sort of?" He asks. "I am helping the neighbor out with his boys and he's paying me." I tell him. "It's at least something I guess." he tells me and I can hear the disappointment in his voice. "I should go Daddy." I tell him. "Yeah." he says simply before hanging up. I put my phone down and the tears start to fall. Nothing I do will ever be good enough for him and mom. Why am I even trying?

I move to the couch and I am just sitting there, the tv on for noise when my phone rings. "Hello?" I ask when I see it's Jax. "Hey babe. You at home?" he asks. "Yeah. What's up?" he asks. "Wendy is keeping the boys so I thought I'd crash at yours tonight." He says. "That's fine. I'll make dinner." I tell him. "You okay?" he asks. "Yeah. I'm good." I tell him and I hear the noise in the background stop. "Talk to me babe." he says. "I'll be okay. Just got a call from my dad and seems nothing I do is good enough for him." I tell him. "What happened?" he asks. "I'm sure you're busy. I'll fill you in tonight though." I tell him. "You sure?" he asks. "Yeah. I'll see you tonight." I tell him. "Okay. I'll be there about seven." he tells me. "I'll have dinner ready." I tell him. "Okay babe. Call me if you need me." He says. "Jax, I'm not calling you when you're working or with the club." I tell him. "You heard me." he says and I sigh. "Okay." I say before we end the call.

Ten minutes until seven I hear a knock on the door. I open it to see Jax standing there. I move to let him in and when he comes in, I close the door and he pulls me to him. Kissing me softly he says "I've been wanting to do that all day." I smile softly and he kisses me one more time. I take his hand and lead him to the kitchen. "Sit." I tell him. I make his plate of lasagna and cheese bread all made from scratch. I hand him his plate and put mine on the table too before grabbing both of us beers. "This looks amazing babe." he says. "I hope so. I made it all from scratch." I tell him. "Seriously?" he asks. "Yeah. I used to love to cook. And I made homemade apple pie for dessert with homemade ice cream if you still have room." I tell him. He just looks at me and I shy away. He leans over and kisses me softly. "This is amazing baby." he says softly. "Thank you." I say before we start eating. "How was your day?" I ask. "Good. Had a few things to do with the club but other than that, it was uneventful." he tells me and I know that he's not telling me things about the club and that's fine. "How was yours?" he asks. "Good. Did some applications online and made some phone calls. Hopefully I'll find something soon." I tell him. "Now, you want to tell me about your phone call with your dad?" he asks and I look down at my plate. "He called me to see if I got things figured out and I told him I thought I did. When he asked if I found a job, I said sort of and that you were paying me to watch the boys until I found something." I tell him. "So why were you upset?" he asks as he takes another bite. "My parents didn't want me to go to college. They wanted me to stay home and be a housewife like my mom. They wanted me to marry who they wanted and give up everything I wanted to live out their dream for me. I wanted to help people. I worked my ass off and paid for college myself and saved up to move out here from Georgia and put the down payment on this house. So nothing I do is good enough for my parents because it's not what they want me to do." I tell him. "Did you ever think about getting married and having kids?" he asks. "I did. Hell, I still do but it's not in the cards for me. Another reason that my parents are disappointed in me." I tell him. "What do you mean?" he asks. "I was seeing this guy and he was abusive. He'd hit me, tell me how worthless I was. He was cheating on me and telling me that it was my fault that if he weren't so disgusted with me that he wouldn't have to cheat." I tell him. "Well, that's bull shit." he says and I just look at him. "You're an amazing woman. You're good to me and you don't give a shit about the patch on my back." he says. "That's the thing. I respect your patch because I respect the man wearing it. Since I've been living here, you've never been anything but nice to me. You and Tara both. You know my dad had a heart attack about a year ago and I was going to fly out to see him and my mom told me not to bother, that he didn't want to see me." I tell him as I stand to take my plate to the sink. He stands and walks over to me and pulls me close. "It's their loss. I'll never hurt you. I see the beautiful woman you are. Hell, I've thought about you all day long. Do you know how long it's been since I've thought about a woman and not been stressed or pissed off?" he asks and I shake my head no. "It's been a long time. Too long." he tells me as he cups my face and places a soft kiss to my lips. When we pull apart, he holds me a couple of minutes before I say "I'll get the kitchen cleaned up. Why don't you go shower?" I ask. "Okay babe." he says before kissing me one more time.

After cleaning the kitchen, he walks back into the kitchen as I am finishing up and he's in nothing but his jeans, no shirt and I still can't believe how hot he is. I shy away again and he walks over and puts his arms around me from behind and I can't help but lean into him. Kissing my neck, he whispers "Let's go to bed." I turn to face him and take his hand and lead him to the bedroom. "Why don't you find a movie while I change." I say and head to my closet. I change and head back to the bed to see him already laying in bed. I get under the covers and he pulls me to him. I lay my head on his chest and he starts the movie.

Halfway through the movie, we start talking. "So, tell me more about you. I know you're good with your hands but what else is there to you?" he asks. "I love to sing. I used to sing karaoke when I was in college and a friend talked me into doing a karaoke contest. They disqualified me because they said I was a ringer and that they didn't allow professionals to enter. I laughed. I told them I was a college student and even showed them my student ID and they still disqualified me." I tell him. "Really?" he asks and I nod my head yes. "So, you cook everything from scratch, including the ice cream with dessert. You are a masseuse. You're beautiful and a great kisser. How are you still single?" he asks. "I guess I was just waiting on the right person to hire me." I say and lightly poke his chest. "Smart ass." he says before pulling me closer. I lay my head on his chest and we talk a little more before finally falling asleep in each other's arms.