Page 42 of My Ruthless Neighbor

The sight rouses more anger than I felt a second ago. My body begins to shake with rage.

“Release my friend. NOW!” I scream at the top of my lungs.

He twists his head and watches me and my raised baseball bat with a bored expression.

River gasps.

I march to him and lift the bat. “Put her down. Or you die.”

He thinks I am bluffing.

“I will beat the shit out of you. I mean it. I won’t let you kidnap my friend. I will fight till my last breath if I have to.”

When he snorts, I swing my bat. With all my might, ready to hear the crunch of his skull but instead nothing happens.

What the hell just happened?

I blink twice and stare at my hands. The bat is missing. What?

Then I look up and find the bat in his hand. River is now on her feet and her husband is towering over me. The hard lines on his face are tightened as he pins me in place with his black eyes, a thunderous look shadowing them.

“You could’ve hurt my wife.” He growls and I pale. I glance at River. Her eyes are round and she is trembling.

“N-no. I was trying to hit you!”

He takes a threatening step toward me. “You are intoxicated.” He says with disgust. “While it was amusing that you think you could tackle me, your bat was inches away from my wife’s face.”

I swallow hard. His unnerving eyes are trained on me. This isn’t the first time someone intimidated me. So I don’t show it that he scares the shit out of me. I focus on my friend. “I’m so sorry, River.”

She shakes her head and tries to reach me but her husband pulls her back. He gets in my face. “If my reflexes weren’t quick, she could’ve gotten hurt. And you don’t want to know what I do to people who hurt my wife.”

“I suggest you back away from her.” Another deep tenor voice makes me still. My skin prickles in response. Recognition of that voice floods me and I turn my head to the side.

Archer pushes away from the doorway and walks in our direction. A shiver shoots down my spine when he faces River’s husband. “Back. Off.”

Chapter Eleven

Either I am drunk as a skunk or my mind is playing a trick. Because Archer and River’s husband are nose to nose.

The man who kicked me out of his building. The man who insulted me and tried to kick me out for thesecondtime in Hawaii is defending me.

This has to be a dream. I reach up and pinch myself and wince. Nope. Definitely real. He is here. Archer is here.

He is wearing a white fitted t-shirt and gray sweatpants.

I gawk, unable to ignore the way his sweats are hanging off his narrow waist. His hair is disheveled. Like he just woke up. He also smells divine. Like he showered before going to bed.

Wait a second.

Wait a goddamn second.

If this isn’t a dream. And Archer is indeed here looking like he just got out of bed. That means heliveshere.

All this time, I was living next door to him and I didn’t even see him.

River mentioned a neighbor who kept to himself and barely interacted with her.

The silent neighbor I never crossed paths with is… Archer Kim?

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