My Cousin Next Door

CHAPTER 2 (FIRST MET)

I'm not worried about waking anyone else up. The only house nearest to ours is our aunt's house. Those thin walls cannot handle those dirty noises!

"Jay, open this door!”

I don't know why I'm doing this exactly. Banging on my aunt's front door to issue a noise complaint at two AM isn't usually my style, but I feel the need deep within me to do this. To prove to myself that I'm not a f*****g doormat. I will not be walked over by another man again for as long as I live. I promise that!

"Jay! This is your cousin! I will tell everything to Aunt Nora if you will not open this door!”

I wish Aunt Nora and my mom were here to see Jay and what he was capable of. Well, my mom and Aunt Nora are now in the Province, managing some of our small businesses there. That's why I am alone at home, even Jay.

His front door swings open, revealing what, quite frankly, is s*x on legs. He's thrown on some gray sweatpants in his haste to open his door, and nothing else. The stomach that greets me is perfect in every way, dipping and carving in all the right places. He even has one of those V's that seems to point towards his! Dammit!

Confirm! He has an erection in front of me. What a nice greeting for my long-lost cousin! Is this the right time and place to see him? Really!?

I quickly lift my gaze in an attempt to unsee his p***s, and I am gifted his gorgeous face upon doing so. A face I recognize.

"Jay?" My tone is far softer this time.

He squints and reaches for his glasses, locating them in a bowl he keeps beside his front door.

"Rachelle?"

He already knew me, hah?

Suddenly, something flashes in my mind. This cannot be happening. I refuse to believe that my new cousin, who is now a police trainee officer, arrested my thief neighbors two weeks ago. The situation seems so unlikely. To be honest, I was so broken that day that I failed to notice someone stealing my phone while I was walking home. The fact that I've seen him at my most vulnerable feels strangely intimate as if I've known him my entire life.

"Hi." His voice is barely a whisper.

We stare at each other, entranced by whatever situation this is. Dirty blonde hair sits in a mess atop his beautiful head, ruffled beyond repair. I've seen him twice in my life, but never in this light. Never been exposed like this. I love that, up close, he appears bigger. Stronger. Not that this benefits me in any way. Jay and I aren't friends. We're simply acquaintances. Cousins.

Nothing more.

“What's up? "

For real?

“A what? "I repeat, bewildered. "Jay, you're having loud s*x, and it's two AM! I cannot stand hearing you every single night! ”

His eyes, the color of lush grass, regard me closely, casual in their descent. He shamelessly checks me out, and I'm suddenly regretting not covering up before storming over here. Today was the hottest day on record in the UK, and I'm only in a pair of sleepwear that lost its life about fifty washes ago.

He stops at my chest and smirks. "I like your sleep shirt."

It’s so embarrassing when he’s stuck on my breast reading those printed words. I know that I am gifted with my breasts because they are naturally big. But this gift is the gift I don't want. My life is so hard because of this.

I look down, mortified at what it says.

"Hi, I have two balls."

It was a gift from one of the nurses at the hospital last Christmas. Every year, we do a Secret Santa, and the rule is that the more inappropriate the gift, the better.

My eyes land on the girl behind her. Am I dreaming or can I see Jenny’s blond hair? I can't believe it! She's having s*x with my cousin. I knew they were cheerleaders at my school!? And, to be honest, I don't like them. They were spoiled brats. I can't believe Jay already took them into bed with just one click.

"Can you please keep it down?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.

He can see my n*****s through this thin top.

"I'm not the one making all the noise," he defends, positioning both of his hands on the door frame above him.

Holy s**t!

His muscles grow about an inch in size, and I swear I can smell his aftershave from here.

"Well, can you at least be bad at it, so she doesn't enjoy it so much? I mean, ‘THEY’!”

He laughs, and it's a nice sound. A combination of masculinity and boyish charm. Given the circumstances surrounding our last two meetings, I've not had the pleasure of hearing him laugh. Come to think of it, I haven't seen his smile until tonight. Not a real one, anyway. When I was nursing his brother back to health after sustaining a nasty injury, everything was very stoic. Very serious. Now, hearing him laugh for the first time is so refreshing.

So beautiful.

"Look, Ana-

"Rachelle," I correct, feeling he hasn't earned the privilege of calling me Ana just yet.

If he doesn't stop having annoyingly loud s*x, he may never earn it.

"Rachelle..." he corrects, smirking.

I match his expression, and in doing so, something shifts. That smirk alone charges the very hallway we're standing in. Perhaps it's because I haven't smiled in almost a month. Or maybe it's because he looks so good doing it. Either way, it sparks something between us. Something I'm not even going to begin to try and understand.

"I'm sorry, I'm keeping you awake."

This is progress.

“You are lucky Aunt Nora is not here, and my mom is not here either.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know that. No worries, I'll be quiet next time.” A smile forms on his lips as he looks at me from top to bottom. "But you're very welcome to join us."

I slam the door in his face, embarrassed.

Not because what he said was inappropriate or unnecessary, but because his suggestion tugged at my stomach in ways it shouldn't.

“He’s sick!”

I tear through my house, angry at myself again. Only, this time it has nothing to do with my past and everything to do with how I handled things. I usually pride myself on being calm and adopting such a diplomatic approach. Tonight, there was none of that. Tonight, I was a hot, liquid mess. I tell myself it's anger. That's a lie. There's something else there too.

Something else resembling arousal.

Is he my cousin? Cause I’m not going to accept it! For sure Aunt Nora will be surprised by his behavior!

***

I wake up to the sound of my alarm, still reeling from last night's two AM interaction. My eyes are heavy as I attempt to resurface, knowing I have a to-do list the length of my arm. I throw together a bowl of cereal and squirm when the taste of sour milk reaches my tongue. The rest ends up in the bin and I grab my keys, on a mission to source some fresh milk. I'm locking up behind me when Jay's front door opens, revealing the face of the woman responsible for all that noise.

"Last night was fun, let's do that again.”

I pretend I don't hear.

"See you around, Jay."

She leaves, shooting me a small smile when she passes. I return the favor, not particularly feeling it, but not wanting to be hostile either.

"Morning, Trixie," sings Jay, bending over to retrieve his doorstep milk.

“Who’s Trixie? I’m Rachelle for the second time.”

“Oh, Rachelle,” he repeats.

Probably Trixie was one of her f**k mates.

"How do you get that?" I ask, figuring a milk delivery service would be pretty damn useful for me.

I'm always forgetting to pick some up.

"Fill in a form, I guess?"

It makes sense the complex would offer a service like this. I found it through work. It's privately owned, though the landlord Dan has some sort of contract in place that states he can only let his properties out to people who work for the emergency services. I guess even he understands how forgetful we can be sometimes.

"What form?" I asked.

"Leave it with me."

I nod, shoving my keys into my purse and heading for the elevator.

"Rachelle?"

I turn and face him, half expecting him to apologize for last night.

"Tell the balls I say hi."

Asshole!

I throw him my filthiest look which only seems to make his already huge grin grow even further and wait for the elevator doors to close before I let slip my smile. Strangely, I like how Jay is handling the situation. He isn't making out I'm some delicate flower in need of protection. He knows things about me. Things that even my closest friends at the hospital don't know. Yet, he isn't holding my past against me.

I like that.

I have the strongest urge to break down those inner barriers because despite him knowing a lot about me, I know very little about him. And I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about him every day since I first met him at the hospital last year. Back then, he was a kind of strange delight amongst my darkness.