Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review the last chapter. Here is the next chapter! I don't own Fifty Shades. Happy Reading!
Chapter 3-Meet The New Neighbors
Is Jose helping our new neighbors move in? I rub my eyes, hard, thinking that I must still be dreaming. Jose, never helps anyone move in unless he has a motive. He must be getting something out of this. I don't know what exactly, but I intend to find out. I slowly walk to the moving truck and survey the scene in front of me. No one is anywhere to be found, all that can be heard is a man grunting, moving boxes from the inside of the truck. I notice Jose in the back of the truck, pushing the boxes forward, starting to break out in a sweat from all the manual labor he is doing. I start to help unload the boxes, knowing if I don't there will be hell to pay later. These people have a lot of crap. The boxes are all labeled where each box belongs in the house, each in girly handwriting. "How nice of you to drag your ass out of bed and help." Jose sneers at me, having finally noticed that I am outside. "What happened to Kate's work number in your phone?"
I don't respond to him, Shit! I was hoping he wouldn't see that was missing so soon. Knowing that he is looking for an argument already first thing in the morning. I respond, "I'm here and helping," at him as I grab a box as he mumbles "Yeah, but only because you want to make a good impression on these new neighbors. You don't want to chase these ones away like you did with Sean and Caroline."
I shake my head as I begin to walk away, Jose yells, "You have nothing to say about Caroline? Why because you know that she was right?"
"Jose, how many times do I have to tell you! It isn't my fault that Sean and Caroline got divorced eight months after moving into the other side of our house? They both told you when they moved in, that they were moving away from their old town to try to fix their marriage. Maybe if you had kept your hands to yourself and off of Caroline, their marriage would have worked out!"
"Of course, it was all your fault, Ana. Everything is and always will be your fault, yours and your brother's, the quicker you learn that the easier your life will be. I know that you and Sean had a thing going on between the two of you. I knew about it since the first week that he moved in. I saw you two making eyes at each other. I knew that he used to give you rides home from the hospital. In fact, Caroline even told me that, that was the reason why she was moving out, why she had filed for divorce from Sean when I asked her. She told me how you had gotten your claws into Sean. How you were after his money, trying to get away from me."
"Jose, Sean and I worked at the hospital together, on the same shift, in the same department. He was just trying to be my friend. I think you need a drink of water. You are clearly dehydrated." I say as I walk away from him, ending the argument before he can say anything else to me. I mumble to myself, "It wasn't the fact that Sean, walked in on Caroline and you half-naked in bed together, that made him move out and file for a divorce. It was me though, right?"
I don't even know, why I came out here to try to help with this. I should have just stayed in the house. He is just going to call me an ungrateful, lazy, bitch anyways. Our last neighbor Caroline, Jose fed so many lies to before I could even introduce myself to her. Caroline concluded that I was gold-digger, who was after her husband. I knew from the moment that I saw her that she had a crush on Jose. Sean the day that he was moving out, and the day he was leaving Caroline, when he had found her and Jose in bed together, half naked, he tried to get me to go with him, but I couldn't. I needed to protect Mason, and Jose had all my money tied up in his account. I wasn't allowed access to it, I never will, if Jose has his way.
Sean told me that Jose would feed Caroline lies about me to keep her away from me because he wanted to ensure that I was totally isolated and that he wanted complete control over me. It wasn't until Sean was giving me a ride home the very last time that I saw him, that he told me all about the lies that Jose had been spewing since day one, of their eight-month stay in the house.
I shake my head as I begin to read the girly handwriting that reads this box belongs in the kitchen, wondering how this neighbor is going to be. If she is going to be anything like Caroline? There are piles of boxes everywhere in here. There is a maze just to get to the kitchen. I gently set the box on the counter, not knowing where the new occupants want the box. I still don't see anyone, to ask. I start to back up when I bump into someone or something, and I hear boxes drop to the floor. I start to tumble backwards over a pile of boxes that I forgot were behind me as I yell, the ground getting closer and closer to my body. I brace myself for a fall, as my eyes close, and I attempt to make my limbs limp. I wonder how much this is going to hurt.
A pair of muscular arms grabs ahold of me as I feel myself being cradled by someone who clearly works out and smells great. I blink, not feeling the ground, but still feeling hard muscles. The last person, I felt this muscular, was C. I blink again, and I am staring up into the eyes of a guy. My blue eyes are met by dark grey eyes. My breath catches. Are those the same dark gray eyes that I have been dreaming about for the past couple of nights? My heartbeat quickens as does my breathing. I feel like I am going to pass out right there. The guy, he looks like C, but I'm not sure. I spent less than twenty-four hours with the guy. This guy looks different. He has a beard. His hair is on the slightly messy side, and he is wearing glasses. C, he was cleanly shaven with short hair, and he certainly didn't wear any glasses.
"Are you okay?" The guy asks as he stares at me. When he speaks, If I close my eyes, he even sounds like C, a small smile creeps across my face. but then he speaks again as he rights me to my feet as he says "Miss, are you okay? Did you hit your head before I got to you?" It is then that he speaks again, that I pick up on the small Californian accent that he has, that slips on certain words. The guy is tanned like C, but C didn't have an accent, at least any that I can remember. Maybe he was good at hiding it?
"I'm fine. Thanks for getting to me quick enough, for catching me." I say, trying to break the tension that I am feeling as I continue to stare at the guy. I can't help it. His grey eyes look familiar to me. They make me feel comfortable. He continues to keep his arms around me. His arms feel good around me, almost like C's arms when I woke up that morning in the airport and freaked out, but all too soon, his arms disappear from around me as the tension continues to build between us, as we stand there, staring at each other, not knowing what to say to one another.
Suddenly a girl coming running into the room, with dirty blonde hair that stops just past the top of her shoulders with bourbon colored eyes, saying "Honey! There you are! I was looking for you baby! You should see this place! The master bedroom is huge. I think we might need more furniture to make this place feel like home, this place is so big! I didn't realize how big this place was when Taylor was describing it! So many places for us to christen! Taylor did a great job picking out this place for us. I can't wait to get in that bathtub with you later." She says happily as she winks at him with a smile as she takes in the scene in front of her. Her voice changes from one of happiness to one of shock and anger as she asks "What the hell is going on here? Is she the reason that you agreed to move here with me? Explain yourself!"
The guy's fingertips drop from resting on my arm like I am on fire as he says, "No, you know why we moved here." The guy says as he stares at the girl like she is crazy. Of course, my luck, right behind her is, Jose. "Stacia, what the hell are you doing? I would like to know the answer to that question!" He asks angrily. Jose's face is bright red. If he were a cartoon character, he would have steam coming out of his ears with laser beams coming out of eyes, and he has a million accusations written all over his face. His words slam back into my mind that he had told me earlier today when I took the first box from the truck, about chasing the new neighbors away. My eyes skate over the girl, she is pretty. I wonder if Jose and she will end up in bed together? I feel a slight tinge of jealous as I wonder, why I'm not good enough as I move further away from the guy like he is on fire as well.
"Nothing is happening here." The guy says as he looks between his girl and Jose. "I was just helping, Stacia, is it?" I start to correct him. I want to tell him to call me Ana, but before I can, I hear Jose say "Yes, it is Stacia." Jose shoots me a look to keep my mouth shut. I want to correct Jose and tell him to stop calling me Stacia. I haven't gone by that name since high school. But, I know that if I correct him in front of our new neighbors, it will piss him off even more than he already is.
"Okay, well Stacia, here, almost fell onto the floor. I was coming into the house with another load of boxes when I saw her. She walked back into a pile of boxes that crash-landed onto the floor. I couldn't just let her fall to the floor and get hurt. I'm surprised that it didn't happen sooner with all the piles everywhere." He says seriously.
Jose looks pissed. He looks like he doesn't believe either story as he snaps angrily "Yeah Stacia, here is quite accident prone, aren't you?"
I smile, trying to laugh to lessen the tension in the room. "Yeah, I'm so sorry once again. I fall over my own two feet all the time. It is a problem of mine."
The woman who caught the guy and me in the awkward position hasn't said a word since Jose entered the room. Her eyes are locked on Jose. The man turns back to her, his arms going around her as he says "Lelia, really, you have to believe me. I would never do something like this to you. You know that I love you, and you mean the world to me." I glance at his left hand for some reason, he isn't wearing a wedding ring, and neither is she. She turns dramatically as she stomps away from him yelling, "Whatever you say!" as Jose roughly grabs my arm, saying "Excuse us for a moment."
As he pulls me out the door, he pushes the screen door open, dragging me into our house behind him, and angrily says through controlled measured words "What do you think you are doing Ana? Trying to prove what a whore you are? Are you trying to chase away our new neighbors already?"
"I'm sorry Jose. I was just trying to help, and fell over some boxes." I say whispering. "I didn't mean to."
"You never mean to do anything that you do!"
"I'm sorry."
"You are always sorry when you get caught. Maybe I should teach you a lesson." Jose says as he raises his hand to me, I visibly flinch. "Do you think that low of me, that I would hit you?" Jose asks as I feel my heart begin to race. "That guy that you were trying to start trouble for with his girlfriend. Well, let's just say that I wouldn't. He will be working with me."
I don't respond for several seconds as I think about what he just said when suddenly it dawns on me that the guy next door works in the mob too. I hope not. He looks too innocent and nice to be doing something like that.
"You hired someone to help out at the bar?" I ask innocently, wondering if that is really the case. If Jose works less, then he will be home more with me causing me more issues.
"Nope, sweetheart. He is in the mob with me. Let's just say that, that guy has more kills than my grandfather does." I gulp, thinking about how the reason Jose is never caught doing what he does with the mob, is because his grandfather is the police commissioner for the city.
"Why have I never seen him before?" I ask suspiciously.
"Go to work Ana." Jose yells frustratedly at me as he says "Maybe it is because he just moved from the south of the border. Stop asking so many questions. The less you know when it comes to my business, the less guilty by association you will be if I get caught. As much as you hate me. I am still trying to protect you, and I do love you most of the time."
"If you loved me, then you wouldn't be in the mob. The same mob that killed my parents. Jose, you know how I feel about that."
"I know, and I'm sorry. But, this is something that I have always wanted to do since I was a little kid. It was expected out of me to join especially since every male in my family has at one point been in the mob."
"I guess it is a good thing I can't have kids then, because, over my dead body, I would allow my son to join the mob."
"I guess it is a good thing then." Jose smiles at me as he watches me walk over to the door. He sounds slightly annoyed when he says "Oh Ana,"
"Yeah," I say trying to plaster a smile on my face as I turn to look him in the eyes, wanting to roll my eyes at him. "I love you. I know that you are working a double shift, but we are inviting my new associate and his girlfriend over to breakfast tomorrow morning. I expect breakfast on the table by no later than eight thirty." I slam the door behind me, once the door is completely closed, I flip him the bird.
The guy next door is standing there on the porch. He watches me flip the closed door, the bird. He laughs at me, as I shoot him a look to stay the hell away from me. I don't want anything to do with him; if he is involved with the mob. "Sorry, Princess. I will stay out of your way." He grins back at me, holding up his hands as I stalk down the stairs to the road with my backpack in hand. I hate Jose, and I think I hate these new neighbor already, especially if the guy is in the mob. I don't care if he saved me from taking a fall, I don't care if he is or was the president of the United States, I don't want anything to do with him. He is guilty by association if he works with the mob. I wish I had stayed with Kate and Elliot in New York. I wish I could call C right now. I wish that we could be friends. I wish I could find out how his leave is going. His two weeks should be just about up. I wonder if he caught up on his sleep like he wanted?
Silent tears fall down my face as I angrily wipe my eyes, thinking to myself that I deserve a much better life than this one, but I have no one to help me escape. I dig through my backpack to find my earbuds and begin my two-mile run to work for the night. Jose won't ever let me use the car. He said once, " You haven't done anything to deserve that privilege in this life, besides being worthless."
I find Pink's "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" as I start to run. My feet pounding to the beat of the music on the pavement. The two-mile run is exhausting, but I make it in time to shower with time to spare before I clock in for my shift. I check the whiteboard to get my assignment, get my patient report, and so far my shift is starting out easy. But, the ER can change at any moment. After I am done charting and checking on my patients. I take a short break before the witching hours of the early morning happens. I decide to email Kate, to tell her about Jose and about how weird he is being. I even give her the little bit of gossip about our new neighbors, about how the guy apparently works with Jose. My mind goes to C, once again. I think about looking him up, and before I realize it. I am trying to find him in the white pages, but I don't know his last name. Hell, I don't even know his whole name! I give up trying to find him for the day. He probably doesn't even remember me. I begin instead, to research apartments that I could afford if I figured out a way to save my lunch money for the rest of my life. In my mind, I daydream about a life without Jose in it.
As I am walking back into the ER, a phone catches my eyes, and I get a crazy idea. I pick up the phone sitting in the reception area and dial the number that I tried to memorize. As my fingers push the buttons on the phone, my heart beats faster. The ringing of the phone sends my heart into overdrive. "I can't do this!" I mutter to myself. Right before I hang up the phone a velvety male voice fills my ears with a "Hello?" I freeze, not answering back. I don't know what to say to him. I don't know why I even called him. He can't help me. "Hello?" He says again, "Hello, is this An..." he starts to say something else, but before I can even hear it. I hang up the phone with a smile on my lips. I did it. I managed to call C. I was able to remember his phone number. I might have a way to escape if I can figure out how to get away from Jose without hurting Mason in the process. Now I just need a plan.
At the end of my shift, I am dead on my feet. We had multiple motor vehicle accidents involving multiple injuries that came into the ER. I feel like I could sleep standing up right now. That's how tired I am. I want my bed. That is what always happens to me right after high adrenal cases. I change my clothes, wishing just once Jose would come to pick me up at the hospital. I slowly make my way to the coffee stand to get an early morning cup of tea, before starting my way home when suddenly I remember that Jose was going to invite our new neighbors over for breakfast this morning. Crap!
What do you think? Who do you think this new neighbor is? What do you think about Ana calling C and hanging up? Please review and let me know what you think about this chapter! Next chapter will be up around July 23. Until Next Time!