Inseparable Strangers Read online

Chapter 9

  Zoila gawked at me as if I had three heads growing out of my neck when I told her she could take the next week off.

  “Are you feeling okay, Lennox?” Her eyes raced over me from head to toe as if she was looking for some other kind of growth to come sprouting from my body.

  “Uh… yeah. Do I look sick?” I know it was out of character for me to give her time off with zero explanation, but she didn’t have to act like I was a complete bitch all the time.

  She quickly jumped in to recover her steps. “No, no, no,” she exclaimed frantically. “I didn’t mean it that way at all. You look beautiful as usual. I—uh—I just wasn’t expecting it.” Poor thing was a nervous Nelly. Normally, I found pleasure in watching her squirm, but today, I wasn’t getting off on it like I usually did.

  Aaron caught the corner of my eye as he walked from the spare room to the bathroom. My heart kick-started from zero to sixty. Oh shit! I wasn’t ready for this. I didn’t want Zoila knowing he was still here. Fuck a pig wearing a wig. I needed to avert her attention to someplace else. Grabbing her harder than necessary, I jerked her arm and pulled her behind the wall, blocking her view to the hallway.

  “Ow!” She shouted massaging the thick meat of her upper arm. “What is going on with you?”

  “What do you mean? Nothing is going on.”

  “The other week you texted me about some strange man in the house, but I never saw anyone. Then you give me a week off for no reason, and now you’re jerking me around as if you’re hiding something from me,” she said, eyeing me curiously. “Something is going on and you don’t want me or your daddy to know about it.”

  Zoila grew a set of balls and a spine right before my eyes. Talk about growing extra body parts… If I hadn’t been caught off guard, I’d probably fired her on the spot for talking down to me. Instead, I almost wanted to applaud her. Almost.

  Wait. Back up a second. Did I hear her clearly? Did she just tell me she never saw Aaron the other day? Oh hell, I can’t even think of where he went while I was gone. If my neighbors saw him roaming around the neighborhood, I would have a lot of explaining to do. Or, maybe nobody saw him since I haven’t heard anything.

  I put on my game face. She was reading my weak signals too well.

  “When I told you about the guy here, I didn’t know for sure if he would be here when you showed up or not. I just wanted to give you a heads up in case you ran into him. Next time I won’t give you a heads up, and you can die of a sudden heart attack from the shock. And the vacation…I’m having one of my rare giving days, so shut your mouth before I change my mind. As for me pulling you just a minute ago,” I said, gesturing toward the hallway, “that’s just a little paranoia I’ve got going on lately and I don’t want to talk about it so don’t ask,” I told her sternly. Zoila curled in like a meek little mouse and just like that, her spine and balls disintegrated as fast as they’d formed.

  Maybe I was a tad harsh, but it was necessary. Her snooping into my business was the last thing I needed on my hands. Aaron was a full-time job, and I didn’t need someone else to worry about. Besides, she was used to my hateful antics so this was nothing new to her.

  To let her know she was dismissed, I waved my hand to her and told her goodbye. “Enjoy your time off,” I said as I walked up the stairs. When I reached the top of the steps, I peeked over the banister to make sure she’d left. For reassurance, I watched her back out of the driveway from the half-moon window in the foyer.

  Once she was out of sight, I marched downstairs to the bathroom. That crazy bastard had a lot of explaining to do. I barged through the door, but was stopped dead in my tracks when I found a half-naked Aaron standing in front of the mirror brushing his teeth. His eyes widened in surprise, but I sensed a touch of worry in them too. He spit toothpaste in the sink, then observed me from the mirror. “Can I help you?” He asked, cramming the toothbrush back into his mouth to get back to business.

  His skin was perfect. Neither a mole nor freckle marred his upper body. Not even a scar. Hmm…no scars. That’s interesting. No bruises either? Trust me, I made sure to inspect thoroughly. For a short second, I glanced up at him. He wasn’t looking straight at me, but I could tell he was watching me in the mirror; waiting for me to answer. I couldn’t find my voice. It was lost in my dreams—the dreams I had of him. The dreams where he devoured my body with lust and love. The dreams where I saw every inch of his naked body and it looked exactly like what was standing in front of me. A small gasp slipped from my mouth. That familiar warm and fuzzy feeling in my lady parts started to tingle. What the hell is going on?

  “You’re making this uncomfortable. Could you please stop staring?” he said from the mirror while he rinsed out his toothbrush. Was it easier for him to talk to me without actually facing me? Had his balls disintegrated too? Wait, I was making him uncomfortable?

  He had no clue just how uncomfortable he was making me. At least his sweatpants weren’t poking out in the front. Thank God he couldn’t see the wetness pooling in my panties. With a hard swallow, I pushed the dreams away and focused on the reason I came in here to start with. “Where did you go that first week you were here?” I asked, tapping my fingers against my cheek.

  “Umm, nowhere,” he replied, his eyebrows furrowed. “How could I go anywhere? It’s not like I was in the best shape to be walking around.” He inspected his teeth closely in the toothpaste-splattered mirror. They were quite nice to be in the mouth of a homeless man. I wondered how long it had been since he’d seen a dentist, or if he had ever visited one in his life. Either way, he had some damn good genes to have enamel that tough. What the hell is wrong with me? Every time he asks me a question, I get so caught up in his beauty, I can’t comprehend what he’s saying long enough to answer.

  “The first week you were here and I had some errands to run, I texted Zoila about you so she wouldn’t freak out when she saw a strange guy,” I explained, eyeing him up and down, “looking like you did. Well, in the shape you were in,” I said, trying to cover my tracks.

  He chewed on the inside of his cheek as if he were trying to stop from smiling. He was onto me. My gawking was too obvious. “I don’t know what to tell you.” He shrugged me off. “I was here. I haven’t gone anywhere. I haven’t even been outside. You restricted me to a specific area downstairs and I’ve followed your orders. You’ve been nice enough to take me in, care for me, and befriend me. I wouldn’t dare take you for granted. I’m not that kind of person.”

  Befriend me? Were we friends? Did he consider me a friend? Did he not realize I didn’t do the friends thing. Had it not occurred to him I didn’t have friends? My cranium hurt. I hate fucking headaches. Aaron was giving me a headache. Zoila started the headache. I needed a nap. I needed to shut the brain down temporarily. This was becoming too much. Aaron was becoming too much. He needed to leave but I didn’t want him too.

  What the hell am I saying, and what is happening to my life?

  “Speaking of staying here, how are your ribs healing?” I wanted to test him, especially now that I saw his bruises and scars had miraculously disappeared. Get a feel to see if he was milking his injury. I couldn’t fathom him faking an injury as extreme as his was, but everything had healed so quickly, or so it seemed. Maybe he was using me. Maybe he’d grown accustomed to living in an actual home and eating a real meal. Sleeping in a cardboard box had to suck. And who wanted to eat at a soup kitchen? Surely not me.

  He twisted his torso back and forth with caution which brought my attention back to his naked abs…and back…and pecs…and arms. He didn’t have the structure of a body builder. His muscles were sleek and trim. Perfection at its finest. “There’s still a little discomfort but it’s nothing like it was.” He admired himself in the mirror as he talked. I think he was doing it purposely to get a reaction out of me. “It looks like all the bruising has completely healed, and that massive gash I had on my shin is a small scab now.” Funny how he was hiding the alleged “scab” from my view.
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  While he turned around to examine his back in the mirror, I took advantage of the situation and drank him in. All of him. Like a 7-Eleven Big Gulp. Slurp.

  He peered up at me through his rich, brown eyelashes. The animated smile faltered and the corners of his mouth tugged downward. “I guess the time for me to leave is right around the corner.”

  Was he asking me or telling me? His carefree voice told me he didn’t want to leave any more than I wanted him to. How would I bring up the subject of him staying? I couldn’t just come out and ask him. That wasn’t my nature. I had to figure out a way to keep him here without looking like I wanted it. Somehow, I was going to have to give him a reason to stay.

  Placing my hand on his shoulder, I nonchalantly brushed my fingertips across his silken skin. “Stop worrying about it. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Right now we need to focus on getting your health back to one hundred percent.” I dropped my hand when I saw him watching it in the mirror. His face was stagnant, but his body tensed. I didn’t know whether he liked or disliked me touching him. If I looked at his dick I would know. A guy’s cock never lies.

  An alluring shade of green greeted my eyes but then quickly disappeared. “You’ve been way too kind to me. How will I ever be able to repay you,” he said with complete sincerity. “I have nothing to offer unless you want to hire me as your housekeeper and I worked for free,” he smiled.

  I shook my head. “And what am I supposed to do with Zoila?”

  “I don’t know. Give her a long vacation or something. I would only stay long enough to repay my debt,” he laughed, clearly making a joke of it. I honestly thought he was being serious.

  He was a homeless genius. This could be my ticket to keep him around longer. I could learn more about him. Get a better feel of who he was. Make him comfortable enough to finally open up to me completely.

  Making a clicking sound with my tongue, I pondered as if I was considering his offer. But I had to play a little hard to get first. “Like I said already, you owe me nothing, but I have a sneaky suspicion you’re the type of person that doesn’t take no for an answer,” I said, using his exact words he’d said to me earlier.

  “Touché,” he laughed. And what a sexy sound it was. If I didn’t know any better I would swear he was casting a spell on me. I was breaking all my rules with him. “No, seriously. If I’d only spent a couple of days here I wouldn’t think twice about accepting your hospitality, but it’s now going on two weeks. C’mon, that’s beyond wearing out my welcome. You’ve got to let me do something or I’m going to leave here feeling like shit.”

  Holding up my hands in surrender, I reluctantly agreed. “Okay, okay. Let me think about it then sleep on it, and I’ll have an answer for you by tomorrow.” Dear Lord, please let Aaron visit me in my dreams so I can confirm my decision. Amen.

  He nodded with a victorious smile.

  “Now get the hell out of this bathroom before I ravish that luscious body,” I said to myself.

  As I walked up to my bedroom, I sent Zoila a text and told her her vacation was indefinite with pay until further notice.

  Chapter 10

  You know that feeling you get when someone is watching you? Chill bumps cover your body followed by the hair on your arms standing up as if an electric current buzzed by, and the hairs on your legs growing half an inch? Yeah, well that’s what I was experiencing while lying in bed sleeping. Or, at least I had been. I wanted to peek through the slits of my eyelids, but I was worried I’d get caught.

  Right about the moment I mustered up enough nerve to sneak a peek, a hand touched my shoulder. Fright pierced my heart, and I could’ve sworn it stopped beating for five seconds. With a nimble movement, my shoulder was shaken. “Lennox, wake up.” His voice was no more than a whisper in the dark. He shook my shoulder again. “Lennox, we need to talk.” One more shake; this time harder, but his voice was still soft. “Lennox, I need to talk to you. It’s important.” This was serious. His urgent tone told me so.

  Feigning sleep, I rubbed my eyes, acting like he’d woke me from a deep sleep. “Aaron? Is that you?” I asked groggily. I scooted up on my pillow to give myself better leverage. “Is something wrong?” Other than freaking me the fuck out in the middle of the night? I looked over at my clock and saw it was two in the morning. How long was he sitting here before I felt his presence? I swear, sometimes he could be one creepy dude.

  He exhaled loudly through his nostrils. “Yes and no.” Uh oh. This didn’t sound good.

  This sounded serious. I sat up, resting my back against the headboard. This deserved my complete attention. Silently, I waited for him to explain his impromptu wake up call.

  “Remember earlier today when we discussed my payment for your hospitality?”

  I nodded, “Yes.”

  He dropped his head and hesitated before talking again. “Well…” He threw his head back and blew out an exasperated breath. “God, this was a mistake,” he said, bending his head down and running a hand through his hair.

  What? I’m confused.

  Sitting up straighter in the bed, I pulled the comforter over my thin nightgown. “What was a mistake? Me helping you? Me bringing you here? You staying here instead of going to the hospital? I’m confused right now. You’re going to have to explain yourself a little better.”

  He nervously shuffled his feet back and forth then stopped to look at me. “No, none of those. Listen you have to hear me out and promise not to freak out or call the cops on me. Deal?” His forehead was etched with worry lines.

  “Umm, if you’re worried about me calling the cops on you then we have no deal. If anything, I think I need my phone in hand with 911 already dialed. All I’ll need to do is tap send.” Whoa! Remember the chill bumps I had earlier? Well, I was so freaked out now, my skin was buzzing underneath with frayed nerve endings. Was he planning to kill me?

  He shook his head,” It’s nothing bad, I promise. It’s just… well… you’ve grown on me over the short time I’ve been here,” he looked up at me and although I couldn’t make out the details of his eyes, it was obvious he was being sincere. “And even though I want to repay you by helping around the house, I also don’t want to leave.” He laid his hand over mine. “Because I really like you.” Awkward.

  What? Are we in first grade?

  “Umm, well, I like you too,” I smiled. Actually, it was more like a lopsided grin. I hoped he couldn’t see me well enough to notice.

  A light chuckle filled the dark room. The sound was soothing…comforting, and it made me feel good. He made me feel good. He made me feel a lot of things I normally didn’t feel. Happy? No, I was always happy. I loved myself, and I loved the life I’d always had, minus Pam. If you love who you are and what you represent then you’re happy. Maybe the word I was looking for was warmth. Yes. He made me feel warm inside. Kind of like a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie—delightful all around with pieces of sweet, melted goodness. “You don’t sound very convincing and that’s okay. I don’t expect you to return the feelings. I probably shouldn’t have said anything, but I couldn’t hold it in any longer.” He scooted my legs back before sitting down on the edge of my bed. “I know you don’t know me from Adam, and I unexpectedly imposed myself on you, so if I make you uncomfortable in any way, I’ll leave tomorrow. I think my ribs are healed well enough,” he said, lifting his shirt up just enough to give me a dark glimpse of the ripped abs I knew were hiding underneath. He rubbed his hand over his side as if checking to make sure they were still there. Don’t worry, buddy, they’re there screaming for me to touch them.

  Aaron scooted further onto the bed with one leg bent at the knee while the other leg grounded him to the floor. I swear he got pleasure from teasing me. “You’re not going to hurt my feelings if you tell me to go. Promise.” His eyes were begging me to let him stay.

  Shit. I was not prepared for this. I thought we’d had everything worked out. I wanted him to stay, but I couldn’t exactly come out and tell him tha
t. Shit. Chewing on the inside of my lip, I peered at him through my makeup free lashes. I wanted to kiss him. Shit. My head dropped back against the headboard a little harder than I’d intended. “Ouch.”

  Rubbing the back of my head, I took a deep breath, readying myself to spit a lie out about how I didn’t think he was ready to go yet. How he should give it at least two more weeks to make sure the bones were completely fused back together. But he was tired of waiting. He stood up, and my mattress formed back to its original form.

  “Thank you, Lennox. I’ll never forget this. I owe you.”

  “Wait. Where are you going?”

  “My time is up. I’ve been a burden on you long enough,” he said mournfully.

  “Aaron, you’re not going anywhere except back downstairs to your bed. WebMD says up to six weeks and that’s what we’re going to go by. Unless you want to see a doctor?” I threw that in purposely to see his reaction.

  He tucked his chin down into his chest, glowered at me behind lowered eyelids, and gave me a ‘get real’ stare.

  I laughed, “I was waiting for that.”

  “Almost two weeks and you already know how to push my buttons,” he chuckled.

  Shrugging my shoulders as if it was no big deal, I told him the truth. “What can I say, I’m a bitch.”

  “You’re not a bitch,” he said quickly, cutting me off.

  This time I was giving him the ‘get real’ look. “Aaron, I’m not oblivious. I know I’m not the kindest person. Actually, I’m not nice at all. Ever. Until you,” I whispered, not meaning for him to hear the last part. That part was meant to stay silent in my head.

  He walked up to the bed and stood over me like a giant statue. An Adonis statue. “Why?”

  I shrugged my shoulders again. I didn’t have an answer. There was no reason. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t,” I kept my head down. To look at him now would be too revealing. He would see what’s inside of me. “I’ve never helped anyone before, you know. Maybe you give me a sense of clarity about life. If you haven’t noticed, I’m selfish. I’m number one in my life. But since you’ve come into my home, I don’t always think that way anymore. I mean, damn, I’ve actually worried about you. I’ve been nice to Zoila. I even bought a crying little boy a lollipop at the store the other day because his mom didn’t have enough money to buy one.” Closing my eyes because I didn’t have the balls to face him, my head banged against the headboard, but this time it was protected by his hand. Aaron cradled the back of my head, pulled me to him and kissed me with intense disparity. I melted. My insides turned into that gooey goodness again. His tongue lapped over my lips as if he was ready to devour me. My mouth parted and the satisfying taste of him burst over my tongue. We continued to kiss passionately, afraid to break free. Afraid we would sever the invisible cord that intertwined us together.