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  “Love Next Door”

  M/M Gay Romance

  Jerry Cole

  © 2019

  Jerry Cole

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This book is intended for Adults (ages 18+) only. The contents may be offensive to some readers. It may contain graphic language, explicit sexual content, and adult situations. May contain scenes of unprotected sex. Please do not read this book if you are offended by content as mentioned above or if you are under the age of 18.

  Please educate yourself on safe sex practices before making potentially life-changing decisions about sex in real life. If you’re not sure where to start, see here: http://www.jerrycoleauthor.com/safe-sex-resources/.

  This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner & are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Products or brand names mentioned are trademarks of their respective holders or companies. The cover uses licensed images & are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any person(s) that may be depicted on the cover are simply models.

  Edition v2.00 (2019.12.04)

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  Special thanks to the following volunteer readers who helped with proofreading: RB, JayBee, Jenny, Naomi W., and those who assisted but wished to be anonymous. Thank you so much for your support.

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Authors Note

  Books by Jerry Cole

  Chapter One

  “Are you sure you’re okay, David?”

  David looked up, fork halfway to his mouth. Nicole was staring at him strangely, eyeing the food on his fork. David frowned.

  “Of course, I’m okay. Why?”

  “Because you’re eating peppers.” His sister gestured at the red pieces sticking out of the rice. “You’ve never eaten those in your life.”

  “Oh.” David popped the rice with peppers into his mouth and grinned. “I’ve been giving things a go lately. Peppers is the most recent of them.”

  And David was beginning to wonder why he had left it so long. He had been terrified of vegetables other than potatoes since he was four years old. Absolutely refused to have any of them willingly and drove his mother to despair. As soon as he was eighteen, they were cut out completely. David did manage to get his five a day in, but not in vegetable form. They just made him want to chuck at the thought. But in the last couple of months, he had decided to tackle the phobia head-on.

  It seemed to be paying off. Red peppers tasted sweet. Really nice. David had taken to mixing them in with a lot of his foods in the last week. For a twenty-four-year-old man, that was an achievement for him. Unlike his sister, who could eat everything.

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why are you now eating vegetables?”

  David laughed.

  “Come on, Nicole. You know how bad my diet is.”

  “I wouldn’t know it to look at you.” Nicole gestured across the table. “You just seem to have hollow legs. I don’t think there’s an ounce of fat on you.”

  “And I’m blessed with it.” David sat back and patted his flat belly. “I love the gym and the gym seems to love me.”

  “Good thing, too, or you would look like a couch potato and weigh about three-hundred pounds.”

  “Not a good look, I know.” David sipped his water. “I realized that I needed to take a deep breath and try some new things. It stopped me from going to many fancy restaurants, and I looked like an idiot.”

  “So, after twenty-four years, you’re trying things out now.” Nicole shook her head. “You’re strange, David.”

  “And you know it.”

  If their mother was still with them, she would be stunned. David outright refused to eat vegetables. Potatoes, he could eat in bulk, but nothing else. His mother had made him eat peas, just to get something in him, and now those David couldn’t even look at. Those he would not touch again. And sweetcorn. The smell of them made David feel ill.

  Vegetables didn’t hurt anyone. But David still eyed them up warily.

  His cell phone started buzzing again, sending vibrations through his thigh. David had switched it to silent while eating with his sister. They had such busy schedules so they made sure to meet up once a week for lunch. David enjoyed these times, which got him out of the office. Watching television screens looking for shoplifters could make any man go mad after a while. At least this was a change of scenery.

  David retrieved his phone and glanced at the number. His heart sank when he saw the caller ID. Not again. This was the fifth time today. The first one had roused David from his sleep that morning, which had set him off in a bad mood. Even hanging up on the call didn’t seem to stop the bastard. He just kept calling.

  “Fuck off!” David growled, hanging up and tossing his phone onto the table.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Sorry.” David scowled at the offending cell phone. “It’s James again. He’s been calling me all morning.”

  “Ah. I see.” Nicole’s expression softened. “He’s still bothering you, is he?”

  “Always,” David grumbled. “And it’s driving me mad. He will leave me alone for days and then suddenly, out of the blue, he calls and texts me over a short period of time.”

  Anyone else who had been handed divorce papers and gone through attorneys for nearly a year until it was all signed off would realize that the spouse who had given them the papers would want nothing to do with them. Any sensible person would leave their ex-partner alone. But James seemed to have got things wired up wrong in his head. He just wouldn’t leave David alone, even after three years. David hadn’t thought James as stupid, but now he was beginning to wonder.

  “Why don’t you text him and tell him to leave you alone?” Nicole suggested. “Maybe that would…”

  “I did that to start with, and that just made the calls increase.” David shook his head. “Doesn’t matter whether I respond or ignore him, they just keep coming.”

  “Then turn your phone off.”

  “Not when it’s my work phone. My boss would be furious if I switched my phone off.”

  Nicole sighed. She reached for her glass of wine.

  “Then get yourself a second phone and give the number out
sparingly. That way you can turn off your old phone.”

  That was a good idea. David had thought about it before, but he was always nervous about James somehow finding out about the new number and calling him on that. The man was very resourceful - went with the territory - and he was also very persistent.

  David wished he could just wipe the man out of existence. Then he might be able to relax without constantly looking over his shoulder, wondering if his ex-husband was going to turn up and attempt to reconcile, making David look like the bad guy. He had done it before.

  Nicole sipped at her wine.

  “Do you think he’s got cheater’s remorse?” she asked.

  “Cheater’s remorse? Is that even a thing?”

  “There probably is, but it hasn’t got a name. I just made it up.”

  David grunted. It did sound about right. James had cheated on him the moment he started his new job at the Sioux Falls police department. And it had gone on for nearly a year before David realized what was going on. Four years since that day and three years since the divorce was finalized. And James kept coming back, begging for another chance. He was thirty years old and acted like a spoiled brat.

  He had his pussy now, which as a bisexual man James preferred, and he knew that David didn’t share. David had lost count of the amount of times James had suggested that they could go to having casual sex while they explored other people, or they could even share. That just made David feel sick. In his mind, it was just two people in bed exploring each other, no splitting their attention with someone else. He had the selfish thinking that he wanted one person to himself.

  Clearly, James was not on the same wavelength.

  “David?”

  David jumped. Nicole was looking at him with a concerned frown. He hadn’t realized that he had wandered off into his thoughts. David sighed and picked up his fork again, spearing a chunk of chicken.

  “I’m okay. I’m just angry. James brings out a lot in me that just...argh!”

  Nicole gave him a sympathetic smile and plucked a french fry from her plate, dipping it in the mayonnaise before popping it into her mouth.

  “I get it. I do. And you know I’ve always warned you about getting married so young. You were only eighteen.”

  “And I wished I’d listened to you.” David grumbled.

  But it had felt so right. David and James had been together since David was sixteen, both being each other’s first boyfriend. They married when David was eighteen, just as he was going into the real world. Eighteen months in, after what felt like a brilliant marriage, David discovered James’ cheating, and then it was another year of sorting out the divorce.

  Almost three years later and David still couldn’t get rid of his ex-husband. Would this have happened if they hadn’t married so early? Or would James still be harassing David if they had simply been in a long-term relationship? David didn’t know, and just thinking about it made him shudder.

  It was people like James who put David off marriage for life.

  His cell phone started buzzing again, this time with a text. David scowled when he saw James’ name flash up again about the message.

  James: Can’t we talk?

  David growled and snatched up his phone. The bastard couldn’t even let him enjoy a lunch with his sister. He sent back a quick message.

  David: Don’t contact me! FUCK OFF!

  “Don’t you have something that can block his number?” Nicole asked. “Because I can see you’re about to burst a blood vessel with this.”

  “I’ve blocked him before, and then he uses numbers I don’t recognize, knowing that I’ll answer.” David tossed his phone back onto the table, almost knocking over his glass. “It’s easier to have his number so I can see who’s getting hold of me.”

  “I’ll pretend I understand that logic.” Nicole munched thoughtfully on her chicken for a moment, wiping her mouth with her napkin. “Can’t you file for a restraining order? How long has this been going on for?”

  “Far too long.” David grumbled. “But a restraining order is not an option.”

  “How come? You can’t be scared to talk to the cops.”

  “James is a cop, Nicole. You don’t think he’s told everyone that he’s an upstanding gent and I’m a drama queen who divorced him over nothing?”

  Not to mention there was a chance if something happened that required police assistance, there was a chance James would turn up. That would make things very complicated.

  “If he’s harassing you and using his job to hide behind, he needs to be brought into line.” Nicole insisted. “You can’t go on suffering because a cop is bothering you. That’s not right.”

  She did have a point. Even at twenty-one, Nicole was one of the most down-to-earth people David had ever met. He sighed and twirled his fork in his rice.

  “I’ll have a word with his boss at some point when I’ve got the time off. I doubt I’ll be given a restraining order, but a complaint might go some ways.”

  From what David remembered, James’ sergeant was a no-nonsense woman. You jumped as high as you could when she ordered you to. Hopefully, she would put the fear of God into James if she found out what he had been up to. With the wave of discontent against the police already across the country, they didn’t need any further bad press.

  David groaned when he saw his phone vibrating across the table. Not again. This was not fair. Why couldn’t he just be left alone? With a loud huff, Nicole snatched his cell phone away before David could reach for it and turned it off. Then she dropped his phone into her purse, which was hanging off the back of her chair. David stared.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I want to have lunch with my big brother, and that’s what I’m going to do without any interruptions.” Nicole picked up another french fry, gesturing at him with it. “Finish your lunch and talk to me about something that doesn’t involve my bastard ex-brother-in-law. Unless it’s turning him into one of my victims for my next book.”

  That had David laughing. That he would enjoy.

  “As long as I decide how he dies. I think it’s only fair.”

  Nicole giggled.

  “Deal.”

  ***

  Reese’s muscles were screaming at him, but it felt good. It always did after he lifted weights. Exercise had him feeling like he was on top of the world.

  But only for a short time. The crash afterwards was something Reese didn’t enjoy. It reminded him of things he had been trying to ignore. Things that wouldn’t leave him alone.

  That last job had been tough. And Reese had thought they could get out of it. He had been on the cusp of something new. Starting out on a new relationship. And that had been snatched away from him so quickly. Just moments after declaring his feelings. They had been reciprocated. Things could have been great.

  Now he was alone. Again. And Reese was beginning to hate it. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Henry bleeding out in his arms. Reese couldn’t get away from it. His nights were spent trying to get himself so worn out that he could sleep without dreaming. It wasn’t fair.

  Three months. Three months had gone by, and it was still fresh. Reese just wished it would leave him alone. That Henry’s ghost would leave him alone. But it taunted him, reminding him that he couldn’t save Henry. Making him feel worse.

  Reese stored his weights away and reached for his shake. The whey protein washed through his stomach, making him grimace. Why did he order banana? The stuff tasted foul, but it needed to be used up before Reese could order some more. Whoever decided banana whey protein was a good idea ought to be shot.

  A long, hot shower was in order. Reese was due at his sister’s in a short while, and she preferred people to be prompt. She had a bit of a hissy fit if people were late, something Reese was prone to do. He needed to get a move on.

  At least she made delicious meals. Amelia was one of those people who served an abundance of food in one go, which threw Reese’s meal plans out of the window. But he cou
ldn’t turn them down; her food was yummy. Reese’s stomach was already growling at the thought.

  He was still thinking about his impending dinner date with his older sister as he entered the house from the garage. His cell phone was on the kitchen counter buzzing away, flashing the caller ID. It was work. Reese thought about ignoring it - he was meant to be on vacation right now - but he knew it would keep ringing until he answers. His boss was incredibly persistent.

  Sighing, he scooped up his phone and put it on loudspeaker.

  “Yeah?”

  “‘Yeah’?” A woman snorted at the other end. “Seriously. Is that how you answer the phone to your boss?”

  “I answer it that way with everyone.”

  Maria Cliffe huffed.

  “Don’t you answer the phone properly?”

  Reese headed into the living room and flopped onto the couch, stretching his legs out. His muscles felt like they were spasming.

  “Maria, I’ve just done a workout lifting twice my body weight. You’re lucky you got any kind of response from me after that.”

  “Fair point.” Maria grunted. There was a squeaking on the other end. She was leaning back in her chair again. It was a surprise it hadn’t fallen apart already. “At least you’re doing something.”

  Reese snorted.

  “It’s either work out or wander around the house going crazy.”

  He had watched all of his movies, all the boxsets and most of the books on his shelf. There was only so much he could do to fill up his spare time before Reese went mad. Even tidying up the garden and doing errands didn’t help. It didn’t make his nightmares go away.

  Reese could almost see his boss now, sitting behind her desk as she bounced the swivel chair back and forth, twirling a pen in her fingers with her legs curled up under her. He had never seen a fifty-year-old woman sitting cross-legged on a chair before.

  “I was going to ask if you have a definite date for coming back, but it sounds like you’re still struggling.”