I bite my lip.
Maybe that wasn’t a good idea. What if they’ve got something going on in there and they get arrested? I don’t want them to get arrested, I just want them to shut the hell up.
I watch as Riggs walks out, two women by his side. My heart hurts, and I grit my teeth as I watch him and wish to god it was me with him.
God, I’m pathetic.
He talks to the police, waving his arms around a few times. They are there for a solid twenty minutes before the cops finally leave and the music stops.
Riggs looks right over at my window, and I quickly jump away.
I rush back to my bed and throw myself under the covers, like that’ll make any kind of difference. A minute or so later, the pounding at my front door can be heard echoing through the house. He’s angry, of course he’s angry. I just called the cops on him. I too am angry because he is treating me like a piece of shit on the ground, and I’m not having it.
He won’t drive me out of this place.
He can try as hard as he likes.
I try to ignore the pounding but, when he starts shouting, I know he’s not going to go away. I climb out of bed, act like I just woke up and open the door, pretending to be all groggy. “Riggs, what do you want?”
“You know exactly what I want, don’t pretend you just woke up. I saw you at the fuckin’ window.”
“Your eyes must need checking, you are getting on in age. Have you considered getting them looked at?”
He storms past me and into my apartment, then spins around. I feign a yawn and blink slowly at him. “Why are you here looking like someone punched your puppy?”
He stalks toward me and I stand my ground. “You called the fuckin’ cops on me. You could have gotten me into all kinds of fuckin’ trouble. What were you thinkin’?”
“Firstly, you wouldn’t get into trouble if you weren’t doing anything wrong, I thought I might just point out that rather obvious fact and secondly, I didn’t call anyone.”
“They told me it was a complaint from next fuckin’ door, I’m not stupid.”
I cross my arms. “Okay fine, so what if I did call them? You have been purposely driving me crazy for the last two fucking weeks. You’re making noise, disrupting my business, and you think I wasn’t going to react. It’s clear we can’t be neighbors, Riggs, and it’s clear both of us aren’t willing to leave, so unless we can come up with a better option then this will go on and on until one of us snaps.”
“It won’t be me that fuckin’ snaps, you have my word on that.”
He’s angry.
Like super angry.
“Why are you so angry? You’ve ignored me for two weeks and now you’re here all wound up. I know you’re not scared of a few cops, so what’s the problem? Not enough girls in your bed last night? Your penis is breaking down? You got an STD? Oh, you got one of them pregnant, didn’t you?”
He growls low and then lunges at me, putting his hand around my throat and slamming me against the closest wall. He doesn’t hurt me but he certainly shocks me. I blink, mouth dropping open slightly. He leans in close and growls, “You are pushing my buttons. I’m goin’ to fuckin’ explode if you don’t stop.”
“You are the one who has been tormenting me for the last two weeks. If you want me to stop, then you need to stop. You ran off like a sad little girl when I confronted you about what is going on here ...”
“There’s nothin’ fuckin’ goin’ on here, Evelina. Can’t you fuckin’ see that? You’re the pain in the ass next door that I can’t get out of my fucking life!” he roars.
Wow.
Just wow.
“Let me go or I’ll kick you in the balls so damned hard I’ll ensure your penis never works again.”
He lets me go.
Then he steps back, his eyes flashing with something unfamiliar.
“Now get out of my fucking house. If you want me out of your fucking life, then I’ll make sure that happens. One way or another, I’ll make sure we never see each other again.”
“Eve ...”
“Get out,” I growl.
He turns and disappears out of my house.
When he’s gone, I fight back the angry tears welling to the surface.
What is it about me that he hates so much that he’d be so cruel?
What is he fighting against?
Either way, I’m going to end this damn war.
Once and for all.
14
FIRE RIPS FROM THE top of the garage next door.
I stare in horror as it pours from the ceiling.
I don’t think, I get my phone and run outside and over to the place that is currently being destroyed by fire. There are people everywhere, and the sound of sirens woke me from my sleep. Riggs and his guys are all standing, staring as their hard work is being torn to pieces.
What the hell happened?
The heat blaring off the building is enough to stop me in my tracks when I get too close. I look over to Riggs, and when he catches my eyes, his light with their very own fire, a fire that is directed at me. He stops speaking to the officer and then points toward me. What is happening here?
The officer he is speaking to, looks my way, and then turns and walks in my direction. When he stops in front of me, he introduces himself as Detective Spring and continues to inform me that I’m under arrest for arson. I stare in horror for a few minutes, sure I heard him wrong. Did he just say I’m under arrest? He
