Page 54 of Enemies to Lovers

There was a narrow strip between the house next door and mine, about six feet in width, and then the other house began.

I could literally lean out my window and stare straight into Audric’s.

Though, I’d observed Audric moving out of the house yesterday, carrying his things from the one he’d been in to the next one down, so I wasn’t even sure that he was in the house close to my house anymore until I’d caught sight of the note on my door this morning.

The note had been short and sweet, saying that if I needed him, he was now two doors down.

I had half a mind to walk with him and ask what the deal was, but his face had been pretty thunderous when I’d spotted him this afternoon walking to his bike, so I’d chosen to leave him alone.

The sound of a motorcycle driving down the road had my heart pounding.

I’d never actually gotten to ride on the back of Copper’s bike, but I’d heard it start up multiple times before.

I also knew what it sounded like driving down the street, and this one was getting closer and closer, making my mind start to make up all kinds of things that would never be happening.

Like, Copper being the one on that bike, and rolling to a stop right outside my house. Getting off and walking up my driveway like he had every right to be there. Him walking right in, heading straight for my bedroom, and stripping his clothes off before climbing into bed beside me.

The sound of the bike shut off somewhere about mid-street, and my heart sank.

I hated that my mind liked to play these kinds of games.

I also hated that I wanted something that I couldn’t have.

It was weird.

For years and years, I’d had Joey.

But the feelings that I had for Joey seemed almost as if they were in black and white compared to the feelings that I had for Copper. The way my insides lit up with color only thinking about Copper made what I had with Joey seem almost insignificant.

I mean, we had a kid.

I’d spent nearly half my life with him.

When I’d left, I hadn’t spared him a second thought.

But leaving Copper?

I still felt like I’d taken a kick to the stomach.

I felt like something was missing, something so insurmountably huge that sometimes it was hard to think past the feeling.

A light flashed past my window, and I got up to glance down the long length of the house just in time to see the tail end of a motorcycle drive past the house.

My heart softened.

It had to have been Audric, not wanting to wake Holt up.

He’d been thoughtful and had turned off his bike mid-street so that he wouldn’t drive past my thin-walled house and wake my sleeping kid.

I sighed and went back to the bed that was directly across from the window, the view once again wide open.

It wasn’t like anyone would see me.

It being the second of July, I lay on the bed in only a sheet, wishing that affordable electricity was a thing.

When I’d first gotten here, I’d had two whole weeks with the air conditioning at what I wanted it before the bill came.

When I’d noticed how astronomically high it was, I’d immediately bumped the air conditioning up to eighty and left it there.

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