The Neighborhood Series (The Neighborhoood) Read online

  She's cute, and I know that I’ve seen her around here before – but I can’t place her name.

  "Hey Noah." She says in a sultry voice, crossing her arms in front of her creating the appearance of cleavage as she leans in, as if we’re old friends. I’ve definitely hooked up with her, she’s familiar.

  "Hey." I say throwing a French fry in my mouth.

  "You looked lonely." She notes. “So, I wanted to come over to say hi.”

  "Nah, I'm good." I relay, hoping that she will get the hint, any fucking hint.

  "Mind if I join you?"

  "I'm thinking that you already have." I say in annoyance.

  She smiles and settles in despite my tone and gives me a smile.

  I'm not a total dick, so I'll entertain the idea of her company, after all I've got time to kill and why not do it with a blonde.

  "So, are you working tonight?" She asks.

  "Yup, just finishing up my lunch, then my shift will start and I'm here until closing. The usual."

  "Oh. Cool." She fidgets with her bracelet on her wrist. "I was wondering, if you would like to hang out sometime this week?"

  I think about it and normally I would take up the offer, but my mind is fixated on Valerie and how she assumes that I'm not her type. I give blondie a good look, she's the typical girl that I would have no problem hooking up with. She's cute and looks like she would be a fun time. But she doesn't have chestnut hair and innocence attached to her like Valerie does. Plus, I have an inkling that I’ve already been there, done that and I usually hate to double dip. Considering she’s familiar, but I still can’t remember her – I’m going to say it’s a hard pass and just move on.

  "I have a busy schedule and can't commit to anything, sorry." I say, my tone dry.

  "Oh, that’s a bummer, maybe next week."

  "Actually, I'm kind of dating someone." I lie. The lie so smoothly and when I say it, Valerie’s face pops in my mind.

  Her eyes go wide in shock at my declaration. Why was I saying that?

  Yeah, I forgot to mention that I have a reputation. One for never having a relationship. Anyone who comes into my path is aware of this, and news travels fast around this town. That’s the problem with small towns like Mercy. I’m not sure that blondie will buy my new relationship status, but the words flowed out of my mouth before I could even stop them.

  Everyone knows everyone and they all know each other's business. Which makes me wonder, why don't I know Valerie Dubois? How come I have never seen her in this bar before, or around town?

  My thoughts drift to Valerie's comment of liking dick and I can't help but to feel my dick swelling to thoughts of her liking mine. Despite what she thinks, I'm everyone's type, she just doesn’t yet know that I am, in fact hers.

  I leave blondie sitting at the table and get rid of my plate. As I'm walking back towards the employee break room, I get a slap on my back.

  "I need your shift to start now, the kid working right now has to get to the hospital for his kids birth and there's nobody better than you." The bar manager says to me as we walk into the lounge.

  "Sure man, let me just get changed and head to the john." I smile. Of course, there's nobody better than me, I am the best in the town. At everything.

  Chapter Three

  I start my evening shift a little earlier than I was intending, but just the same, not even half-way through I see Valerie again. She's becoming a regular, something that I don’t mind, but my thoughts from earlier come to my forefront, is she new to town? I've got to ask her.

  Valerie walks up to the bar, this time not alone and waits patiently while speaking to her friend until I come to stand in front of them.

  "Noah." She breathes as I throw some coasters down in front of them both. "Noah, this is my friend Masie. Masie, this is your friendly Neighborhood bartender. The one that I was telling you about." With knowing eyes, Masie looks me up and down and smiles.

  "So doll, you're talking about me now?" I ask playfully with a tilt of my head.

  "More so whining about you." She rolls her eyes with a smirk, her demeanor completely different from all of our interactions.

  "Hello Masie, it's nice to meet you." I say holding out my hand. Maise's small hand takes mine and I smile at her.

  "You're talking about me, that's what's important here." I wink at Maise who blushes.

  "Can we get some drinks?" Valerie smiles. Her smile lights up her face which send jolts up my spine as it electrifies me.

  "Moscow or mojito?" I ask.

  "Blueberry mojito tonight and whatever Maise wants." Valerie waves her hand, “We’re celebrating tonight.”

  “Well ladies, what are we celebrating?” I ask leaning towards Valerie.

  A blush creeps up her cleavage and she averts her eyes for a split second. “I just got a new job, which is awesome because I was expecting more difficulty since I don’t have that much experience, well with anything really,” she says fingering the heart necklace at her neckline.

  “Well, then your first drink is on me tonight, congrats.” I say quietly as she breathes out a shaky breath. "Celebratory drinks coming right up." I say loudly, turn to grab my glasses and get to work making their drinks. I overhear Maise comment on my good looks and I wait for Valerie to say something, anything – but she doesn't – at least nothing that I can hear.

  I put the drinks in front of them and smile. Maise hands me her card with instructions for future drinks and to not take Valerie’s card and the ladies turn and walk away allowing me the pleasure of watching Valerie's ass sway away. She looks over her shoulder and smiles to me as she catches me admiring the view, the view I’ve become accustomed to, her walking away from me. The temperature between us is getting warmer. I’m not sure if she’s wearing me down, or vice versa.

  I'm closing up for the night when I notice Valerie and her friend Maise lingering in their booth. I throw a towel over my shoulder and turn the music off.

  "Hey ladies, what are you still doing here?" I ask as I roll up my sleeves.

  "I'm keeping this one company." Masie replies to me slinging her thumb in Valerie’s direction. “She wanted to wait around.”

  "Oh yeah?" I ask rounding the bar.

  Valerie looks up to me, her eyes are glassy - likely from the several refills that she got through the night -she fixates on me and smiles.

  "I wanted to personally thank you for the drinks tonight and stuff,” she shrugs hiccuping her response.

  “It was my pleasure, any small part that I could take while you were celebrating and all.”

  She giggles and looks over to her friend. They share a wordless exchange as I stand observing the two.

  "Well, I'm finished here and need to lock up." I say. I look to my watch, it’s two-thirty.

  "Do you mind if I get a ride with you?" Valerie asks as she stands a little wobbly on her feet.

  "Sure. Maise, you need one too?" I ask.

  "No, just her. I live around the corner, so I'm walking." Maise returns putting on her coat.

  "Nonsense. It’s late, I'll drive you." I say. Without waiting for a rebuttal, I motion them to follow me, lock the front door, turn off the majority of the lights and then we walk down the hallway. Once the alarm is set, we're all moving out the back entrance as I point to my car and unlock the doors.

  Within moments, Maise is giving the directions and five minutes later, I'm pulling my Jeep up in her driveway. She gives me a 'thanks' and then shares silent communication with her friend in my passenger seat.

  "So." Valerie says as I back out of the drive-way.

  "So." I return. “Where am I going?”

  She directs me to her house and the rest of the ride is full of sexual tension. I have her alone, in my own space and suddenly every single line, all my moves and assuredness has vanished. I’ve seriously become a pussy. Why?

  Valerie is twisting the strap of her purse continuously in her hands and I’m white knuckling the steering wheel. My cock is hard as a rock and she s
mells so fucking good that I could break the zipper. I want to run my nose against the column of her neck, I want to trace her entire body with my tongue and I want to bury myself in her repeatedly day after day.

  Day after day?

  I’m not completely sure what’s happening here.

  I find a parking spot directly in front her home she points out to me and cut the engine. I hop out of the driver's seat to open her door for her, but she's beat me to it.

  "Do you mind, walking me to my door?" She asks nervously.

  And I don't mind, not a damn bit. I nod and smile with my hand on the small of her back as we walk up the pathway.

  "How come I've never seen you around before?" I ask, the question that’s been burning in my mind the whole day.

  "I just moved here last month." She replies pulling her house keys out of her bag. “From the city.”

  "That explains why I've never seen you around."

  "Thank you for driving me home and for walking me to my door. I really, really appreciate it,” she says as she lingers a moment staring at me, toying with a strand of her wavy hair.

  "No problem." I reply like a complete idiot. Why do I feel like I’m all of a sudden a gentleman? Is she a witch? Did she cast a voodoo spell on me?

  She unlocks her door, turns to me again, leans in and lifts up on her tip-toes to kisses me on the cheek. She then pulls back a little and leans back into me, this time with her lips touching mine and her hand on my shoulder, her fingertips pulling me into her body.

  “Come in?” she asks against my lips.

  Yes!

  I mentally fist pump the sky and put my hands around her tiny waist crushing her body against mine. I slowly open my mouth and my tongue reaches out to her. She opens slightly and moans into my mouth as our tongues touch. Her hands go around my neck as our tongues dance together and the kiss deepens. She manages to open her front door and we stumble inside, our bodies intertwined together. I kick the door shut and push her against the wall as my palm cups her breast and I groan. She moves her arms and palms my dick through my pants and squeezes before pulling her hand away. Her hands are under my t-shirt and pulling it up by the hem. We release another for a moment and our shirts are gone the next second. She's wearing a skirt, making my access to her all the easier. I run my hand down her ribcage, to the globe of her ass and under her skirt. She reaches for my belt, unbuckles and unbuttons my jeans. Her hand breaches my waist band and she wraps her tiny hand my cock.

  Oh fuck!

  A part of me wants to do nothing more than to slide into her hot center, but I know that she's not the type of girl that I normally hook up with, no – she's better and she deserves more. The strange thing is that that I want to give her more.

  The one woman who showed no interest in me, who conveyed that she wasn't my type, is melting beneath my touch and I want to change my ways to be the man that she deserves.

  What the hell is happening to me?

  The cockiest bartender in Mercy is doing the chasing and giving rather than taking.

  I have a new challenge in mind, and that’s making Valerie Dubois mine.

  Chapter Four

  I didn’t fuck Valerie last night. I didn’t even get my dick sucked or even try.

  We had some heavy duty over the clothes make-out, but then I remembered that she wasn’t sober, so I backed off and made plans with her for another night.

  I made plans.

  Plans that seem to be a fucking date.

  Who am I?

  What kind of sorcery does Valerie Dubois have over me?

  I don’t make plans and I don’t go on dates.

  I went home and yanked my cock to thoughts of her plump lips sucking me off, to images of my cock between her tits, in her pussy and coming all over her stomach, marking her. Making her mine.

  Mine.

  What the fuck is happening?

  I open up The Neighborhood today and was in the back unloading a vodka order from the crates stacked in the store room when Miles showed up to his shift.

  “Yo, I hear you took home the new girl in town? You hit that shit?” he asks washing his hands.

  “Come again?” I turn my head slowly, a sneer creeping to my lips.

  “Yeah, it seems like news travels fast. How was she?” Miles crosses his arms over his chest as he leans on the bar.

  “You better back the fuck up before my fist lands in your mouth and I split you sideways.”

  “Whoa! What happened to you? You normally boast about all your conquests.” He holds up his hands in surrender.

  He’s right. Normally, I would come in with a smug expression and tell him all about my escapades. What makes her so different? Why am I protective? What makes her different?

  “Did you actually grow a heart, Grinchy?” Miles looks closely at me. I shake my head and push him away.

  “Get to work before I fire you.” I point at him.

  “I hate working alongside the boss. Can’t you be like all other bar owners and sit in a dark office and never come out?” he jokes.

  “What’s the fun in that?” I turn to him and laugh.

  “So, this chick?”

  “Miles, I’m going to fire you.” I threaten, albeit jokingly, kinda.

  It’s not every day where I bartend, and my mind is completely silent. Usually, I’m sizing up the customers, and mentally gauging their soberness, their bullshit and what kind of person they are by their drink of choice. Today, I ran with the motions. I poured drinks, I cleaned and stocked the bar, and I took peoples orders. I listened to a tale of female heartache without commenting and I refilled the same bowl of peanuts for a man who just lost his job. While standardly, this is a normal day, but I did it while pouring myself into the role. I was actually the friendly neighborhood bartender, like the one in the movies that everyone goes to, that people depend on and that is your friend. Not like the arrogant guy giving unhelpful advice and being a know-it-all.

  Overnight, I turned into a complete pussy.

  I had that realization as soon as the doors opened at the far entrance of the bar, the sun encased her as she walked to the bar with a smile on her face and her eyes on me. Today, she wore a platinum red knee length dress, with black heels. Her hair was wavy and her make-up was simple, yet her green eyes stood out to me.

  “Moscow please?” she says, her tone gravelly.

  “You’re dressed up fancy.” I say while making her drink.

  “It was the first day at the new job, dress to impress you know.”

  “I think that the city ‘dress to impress’ versus the small town of Mercy, ‘dress to impress’ varies in definition. But I think you should dress like this anytime you come to see me.” I pull the towel off my shoulder and run it across the bar top, not really having a purpose other to keep my hands busy.

  “Funny. I figured that much about one minute after walking into the office doors. Everyone else was dressed casually and I stuck out like a sore thumb,” she takes a sip out of her drink, I watch her close her eyes in anticipation while her lips form around the lip of the jar and her throat expands to take in the liquid and to drink it down. She licks her lips and slowly opens her eyes with a soft smile forming.

  I can’t stop staring at her lips, which is a good sign. It means that the real me is still here. Except right now, I’m not envisioning them wrapped around my cock. No, I’m seeing them attached to my own, I see us making out against the back wall of this bar. Instead of my hand hoisting her leg up and grinding myself against her – I am softly touching her waist and pouring myself into the kiss.

  “Earth to Noah. Noah, come in Noah?” fingers snap in front of my face. I blink a few times and then shake my head as my eyes focus onto Valerie. “Where did you go just then?”

  “I was daydreaming.” That’s it, I’ve officially gone to Pussy Town, population one and that’s all me. “I mean I was picturing you naked.” There, that’s a little bit better.

  “Noah! Noah!” A voice calls from t
he other side of the bar, I give Valerie a ‘sorry, work’ look and then turned around to come face to face with the last woman that I slept with.

  “You never called,” she complained loudly so everyone sitting around the bar could hear.

  “Why does that surprise you? Do you even know who he is? Noah here is the one-night stand king. He doesn’t spend extra time with a woman and he sure as fuck doesn’t promise you anything more than a good time.” Lewis, the bar regular says while pointing his beer bottle in her direction.

  She sneers and then zeroes her gaze on me again with her hands on her hips.

  “Was that all I was to you? A good time? You said that you would call.” She spits.

  “Have you ever had a hook up? Where someone says something that they don’t really mean?” I ask her.

  “Noah here, likes one-night stands and no walks on the beach. Pull up your big girl panties, chalk up the night to a good ole’ orgasm and call it what it is… a one-nighter.” Lewis continues on, ignoring my annoyed gaze as he tells Lisa everything that I want to be saying, but would rather have it said not at my bar.

  I groan, rub the back of my neck and lean my head back. I turn around, and see that Valerie is keyed in on the conversation with a look of worry on her face.

  Shit!

  I turn around, giving Lisa my back and walk back to Valerie.

  “So, you’re a player?” she asks with a look of disappointment on her face.

  “I wouldn’t call it a player, no. I’m a realist. I have never dated any of these women, Lisa included.”

  “So then, what was that all about?” she quizzes.

  “I have always laid my intentions out there, I don’t mislead anyone. It’s not my fault that Lisa ignored what I said to her. I didn’t once imply that there would be more… hanging out.”

  “Last night and for the past few weeks, you’ve been trying to get close to me. Last night, we made plans – care to clue me in on what those intentions are?” she asks.

  “It’s exactly as you just stated, I’m trying to get close to you. I’m making plans because I want to know you. I’m drawn to you and I don’t know how else to explain it to you. I’ve gone against everything that I’m used to, to get to see you more. We could have fucked last night, but we didn’t.”