The Neighbor #2 (The Neighbor Romance Series - Book #2) Read online

  THE NEIGHBOR #2

  Book 1

  By Claire Adams

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2014 Claire Adams

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  The Neighbor - Release schedule:

  Book 1: October 8th

  Book 2: October 22nd

  Book 3: November 5th

  Book 4: November 19th

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  Chapter One

  It was going to be a long class. What a way to begin my tenure at South Carolina. I was flooded with a sea of regrets. There was the obvious fact that my Sex Ed professor was my lover. I hated that term because I didn’t have sex with him. I decided I would refer to him in my mind as my recipient. He had been on the receiving end of my powerful mouth and my naked body was covered with his sperm.

  I had to deal with more pressing matters.

  I started to think about my appearance. When I went to his home back on Lewis Ave., I was showered and ready for a date. I was in jeans and a tank top but I was prepared. I had blown dry my hair and perfectly arranged my side swept bang. It looked as though I had just arrived back from a walk on the beach. It looked wind-blown. Not gale force winds but the kind that gently kisses the face on a day in May.

  Today it was severely fastened with an elastic and a little greasy.

  On that evening my eyes popped. I had learned from reading a magazine that there were several tricks. I skipped the part about false eyelashes. The Hollywood stars wearing them must have had a stylist because they were a bitch to put on by myself. They made my face look as if a giant hairy spider had attacked me. Instead, I took their advice and employed an eyelash curler. After losing a few hairs, I got the hang of the thing. An application of Very Black mascara and my eyes were almost complete. An insider tip was written in bold lettering. It said. A swipe of white shadow on the brow bone will get you noticed! I took the advice although I put on too much at first. My eyes popped and I was date ready from the nose up.

  Today I had on no eye make-up and I was wearing my glasses. They were not cute. I wore contact lenses most days and sometimes I relied on squinting. Since I was not accustomed to wearing my glasses every day, I had not bothered to keep up with eyewear trends. This pair was about six years old and hideous. They were scratched and the clear frames had yellowed.

  My attire was shameful. I did not look cute and tussled. I appeared lazy, frumpy and a little dirty. I looked like an old lady going through a rough time as she rolled out of bed. I realized my worst nightmare. I looked like my Mother.

  Every curve of my petite frame had disappeared under layers of clothing. It was chilly in the morning and it would be ninety degrees by the time I got back to my room. I was dressed for the Pacific Northwest, not for the Southeast. I was wearing a red and black South Carolina sweatshirt that was two sizes too big and stiff as a board. I had not laundered it yet and it screamed freshman. My jeans were roomy from getting in excellent shape in the summer months.

  My signature silver bangles were missing. In fact, I was wearing no jewelry. I smelled like shit because I was wearing no fragrance and no scented lotion. I usually dabbed on a little something. At the time, I was into Lily-of-the Valley. Enough to notice but not so much that I seemed to be covering up a bad personal odor.

  All of this could have worked in my favor. There was a chance that Ryder would not recognize me. I was sure he didn’t expect to see me. I breathed a sigh of relief as I glanced around the lecture hall. I had heard about many freshman lectures. Massive was how they were described and it was not an exaggeration. For years, the reduction in class size was the goal. It was one of the factors that determined whether you were within a good school district or one teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. In college, it obviously didn’t matter. I was sitting in an auditorium with 500 other clueless 18-year olds, a number of older students and one horny professor. The seats were like movie theater chairs that had not been updated. Made of wood or some material that was wood-ish. Tucked beside each seat was a writing surface that swiveled up. It was like the trays on an airplane in the first row when there was no place for a tray to fold down from. They were made of plastic so we could not carve them up. Of course, some geniuses came with a Sharpie that would suffice.

  The windows in Tobin Hall were old and the glass was squiggly. The early morning sun acted like a spotlight on Ryder. He looked Godlike as he stood on a riser. The only color was from the female co-eds who were wearing brightly colored garb. They must have stayed up all night choosing their fashions. There was a lot of orchid and emerald green, which were the trending shades. I knew that from reading the same magazine that clued me into the eye-popping trick. Everyone must have read the same issue.

  Ryder’s voice dominated but there was a quiet noisiness that pervaded the room. There were several conversations in progress. They were in hushed tones, which was frustrating because I couldn’t make out the words. If I had been able to hear what was being said, it would be priceless eavesdropping.

  There were other sounds too. Many students were chewing gum and other were gnawing on their pens or their fingernails. Laptops were clicking away. Texting and all types of social media were banned during class but many were ignoring the rule. There had been nothing to take notes on yet so their fingers had to be typing something. I heard everything and saw everything in the room. My overactive nerves had made me hypersensitive to everything around me. A pin drop would have been as if a tree fell.

  Choosing to sit near the front of class was a huge mistake. Max and I ended up in the second row. If I had only known. Thank goodness the girl in front of me had a great deal of hair. She had it in a messy ponytail/bun that must have taken hours to perfect. She had the Oh, I don’t care look about her that would only fool the amateur fashionista or a man. I began to mimic her head movements so Ryder would never see my face. I looked as if I had a nervous twitch.

  I tried to block out Ryder’s voice, although it was nearly impossible. The cacophony was not enough to cover up his voice.

  “This is an exciting time in your lives. I expect your libidos are pretty excited too,” Ryder said. His comment was followed by nods of agreement from the students. “That is why this class is a freshman requirement. We want you to have the facts straight before we set you lose.”

  It was a little late for me genius. This was going to be an excruciatingly long 55 minutes. My neck was beginning to ache as I tried to keep my head moving in unison with the woman in front of me. I thought maybe that she was having some type of seizure. I was using the same neck muscles

  “I don’t expect you to answer this question. Just think about it. Have you done something sexually in the past year that you regret?” Again, Ryder received nods.

  Oh, my fucking god. Things could not get any worse. Sure, I regretted that I gave him a blowjob at this point.

  “There is nothing you are left with but regrets. The good news is that I will teach you in this class how to take action to proceed safely in the future. It is like golf and I will teach you how to avoid the sand traps and water hazards. Maybe you won’t proceed at all but I
know that isn’t going to happen. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by this class.”

  Ryder looked down at his notes.

  I started to squirm in my chair.

  “Psst. What the hell is wrong with you Jenna?” Max whispered loudly. I thought the music at The Spot had affected his hearing.

  “Shut up Max.” I stared daggers at him. The last thing I needed was to draw attention.

  Ryder looked in our direction, right past the girl with the messy hair.

  “Is there something you wanted to add? If you have something to say to the woman beside you, please wait until after class. Maybe you and your friend can learn something that will come in handy later,” Ryder said and laughed.

  He looked behind the woman in front of me and his laughter ceased. The color drained from his face as he realized I was Jenna Walsh. For a moment, our eyes met. The woman in front of me ripped out her nest like ponytail/bun and shook her head violently. She sprinkled me with white flakes from her dried hair product and our view was blocked. Max was confused, his mouth twisted as he thought about what was going on. His eyes widened.

  “Walsh. Is that the older guy you nearly inhaled the other night? It all makes sense. Our professor is older, he mentioned golf and he nearly fell to the floor when he saw you. Jenna, you are fucking the Sex Ed professor.” Max was waiting for me to confirm his assumption.

  “Later Max,” I said quickly and quietly.

  Dear God. Let the floor open up and swallow me. Get me out of here.

  Just then, the girl with the disheveled hair and her friend turned to look at Max and me. It was apparent that they had heard Max’s comments. I was unsure if they expected me to confirm Max’s suspicions. I mouthed “No way” and swatted my hand to make them turn around. Ryder glared at the two girls, as he seemed to recover from his shock.

  Fifteen minutes remained in class. I did not want to draw any further attention to myself so I remained sitting. I didn’t even remember swallowing or blinking an eye. Max on the other hand was like a dog with a bone. He would not allow the topic to rest.

  Max grabbed a slip of paper from his messenger bag and started to scrawl. He passed me the paper. Now I was passing notes as if I was in 5th grade. Below his printed word was a crude drawing of a cock and a pair of lips, with an arrow connecting them. Max was way too proud of himself.

  I shot Max a glance and tore up the note. Max was trembling with laughter. He was like a volcano ready to erupt.

  ****

  “I look forward to Wednesday. Be sure to read the chapters outlined on your syllabus. We are going to have a little human anatomy refresher.” Ryder hurried off the stage.

  I knew all about Ryder’s anatomy.

  Suddenly everyone wanted to talk to me. The chick with the ruined messy hair was after me. She was asking me directions to the dining hall. I ignored her. Her friend asked me for a tampon. Really, couldn’t she come up with a better excuse to talk to me? Max said something, which I completely ignored. I was racing to get out of Tobin Hall.

  I made it to the door. I was considering that quite a people knew or would know shortly about my tryst with the Sex Ed professor. It was always the case. Max would confide in a few people who would tell more people and so on. Then there were the girls in class who overheard Max. God knows what they would do with my secret.

  The ramifications could be great, if people started talking. I imagined that there was some type of ethical code that prohibited professors from sleeping with their students. I could be tossed out of school and Ryder could lose his job. Why the hell did I care about him losing his job? I was confused, pissed off and scared. I continued down the corridor.

  “Hey Jenna. Some choice of dates? You have to admit it’s hysterical. You are going to be taught sex by the guy you spent the night with. You will get an “A” for sure. You have already proved to him that you know how to suck hard.” Max loved my embarrassment. I ignored him and kept walking but he continued. “Maybe you can volunteer to do a role play thing. He can drop his drawers and you can give him another blowjob. I will help you recreate his bedroom cause I worked on sets in high school. We can make it authentic. I can do sound effects like Potato barking from next-door. I wonder if I can get extra credit if I organize everything. I can see this being the start of a career in filmmaking. Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself but I envision receiving an Oscar someday. I will film it of course unless you guys taped it the first time. Sex tapes are popular these days. I think it will be educational. What do you think?”

  I walked faster and soon Max dropped back. I nearly blew it when I almost laughed at his preposterous proposal. I was already thinking about how I would approach getting into another school. “Hello, I’m Jenna Walsh. I am hoping you will give me a second chance. I promise not to give any of the professors oral this time.” I put my head down. I wasn’t going to cry. I was more astonished than upset. All I could do was shake my head in disbelief. I saw the exit a few yards away. I had made a clean getaway – almost.

  “Jenna. Wait up. I want to talk to you,” Ryder called from behind me.

  I shot back a confused glance. God was he as hot as ever. I picked up the pace.

  “Jenna, Jenna Walsh. Stop. I’ll call you.” Ryder stopped trying to keep up with me.

  Finally, I was out of Tobin Hall. I found an enormous live oak to sit beneath. I was out of breath. I collapsed and threw my head in my hands. I opened my bag where I had stashed some healthy snacks. Carrots and ranch dip were not going to cut it. Suddenly I didn’t care about the freshman 15. I wanted an ice cream sundae or perhaps a wedge of apple pie. I peeled off my sweatshirt. Maybe I would not be recognized from class if I were wearing different clothes. I closed my eyes for a moment. My phone started vibrating.

  Chapter Two

  It was the beginning of long series of texts from Ryder. My butt was tingling as my phone vibrated every 5 minutes. Ryder had gone from crotch tingling to butt tingling. Apparently, he was covering his bases. Actually, he was covering my bases.

  I arrived back at my room, which seemed smaller since the arrival of my roommate Kelly from Kansas. I had to begin referring to her as Kelly Womack, as she was a real person. For months, the only thing I knew about her was that she was from Kansas. I imagined some cardboard cutout of a girl standing next to a bale of hay. She was actually more cosmopolitan than I was. She was from Wichita and she did not live on a farm. Her parents were aeronautical engineers and she was not a member of 4-H. That was a disappointing because I was looking forward to visiting her farm. I thought pigs were cute. She was not what I envisioned but I was pleased with the job housing had done in putting us together. She did not think she was a llama and we were different enough that we could learn from each other.

  “Hey Jenna. You look like you have seen a ghost. Was your first day that bad?” Kelly asked, welcoming me home.

  “In a way I did see a ghost. And yes, my first day was horrendous.” I continued to give Kelly an abridged version of the story after she asked me more than a dozen questions. I did not get down to specifics, although I suspected she could have handled the details.

  “I am glad I’m not in your shoes. I think you are paranoid regarding being thrown out of school. I do not mean to belittle our University but we are not enrolled in Harvard. Plus, you are not a child. You and Ryder are free to be with each other in the eyes of the law. They probably don’t encourage relationships between a professor and his or her students but I doubt it is prohibited. I can’t be sure. I am just talking out of my ass,” Kelly said.

  “Well, at least you didn’t call me a slut. I appreciate that,” I said. I hardly knew Kelly and she could be plotting to have me thrown out of school. She would have the teeny space all to herself.

  “Yeah, I’m not about to judge. You can’t be expected to trust me yet but you can.”

  It was as though Kelly read my mind. I was being paranoid.

  “Thanks for listening Kelly. I hope you are not a vegetarian,
vegan or some other special eater. I feel the need to indulge and I don’t want to do it alone,” I said as I started going through my wallet to see if there was a spare twenty dollars for junk food.

  “I am actually on a no-sugar, no carbs diet and I try to eat Kosher. I am also a vegetarian,” Kelly said with a frown.

  “Oh, so you’re Jewish,” I commented.

  “Does it matter?”

  “Nope, not at all.”

  As I was thinking about how the hell I was going to survive with a picky eater, Kelly walked to a Rubbermaid container. I had wondered what she stored in the thing. In our small room I noticed everything.

  “I brought some snacks from home that are safe for me to eat.”

  Kelly opened the box. I expected an assortment of rice cakes. Kelly smiled and started to laugh. She revealed a cache of sweet treats. It looked as if Willy Wonka himself had paid us a visit. There were chocolate chip cookies, macaroons and peanut butter sandwich cookies. There were peanut butter cups, an assortment of Dutch and German chocolates, gummy bears and a couple cartons of cake frosting too. That was just the first layer.

  “I have died and gone to heaven.” I was in awe. Kelly had managed to get my mind off Ryder. It was a momentary escape but at that point, it was just what I needed.

  “I had you going there Jenna. I am a girl from the mid-west so of course I eat meat. My Mother travels to Germany and the Netherlands quite a bit. They have excellent chocolate. She has a major guilt complex so she always brings me some home. As far as the frosting goes, I eat it by the spoonful. I do love kosher pickles but I’m not Jewish. In the end, it’s better than drugs or alcohol. I will run off the calories.”

  “All this and you run too? I think we are going to get along just fine.” I breathed a sigh of relief. She was on her way to being a good friend. In the back of my mind, I thought of Sayler. I had to check-in with my best bud.