Dirty Neighbor(29)
“You’ve got that right. It’s what I’m paying you for, and quite well.” He waited for Sean to leave before making his way toward the door, and flicking on the lock. Turning back to his room, he walked past the commissioned work, and tugged off the blanket that covered his own personal artwork. It was a picture of Elisha, like most of his drawings had been just lately. This was one taken from memory from two days ago. They had been in her home, and he’d woken first and stared down at her. He’d taken a picture of her on his cell phone so that he could draw her when he was alone. The blanket covered her ass and some of her back. The curve of her breast was visible, and that was all.
She was perfect to look at, and beautiful, so beautiful.
He wanted to bring her here so that he could make many sketches of her.
“What the hell is wrong with me?”
Brant hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her, and every chance he got, he was around her. Usually women were the ones chasing him, but this time, it felt like he was the one chasing her.
His cell phone started to ring, and he reached into his pocket, pulling it out, and answering without even looking to see who was ringing.
“Brant here,” he said.
“Hey, baby, I’ve missed you.” Kasey purred down the line as if she was some fucking cat.
“What do you want?”
“I need you, baby. I need your nice big cock and your expert touch. No one gets me off as good as you.”
Her voice was grating on his nerves, and he didn’t want anything to do with her.
“You’ve not been answering any of my calls.”
“I don’t want to see you anymore. We never had a thing going on. I don’t want to be near you, or to find out what you’ve got. We’re over, finished, completely over.”
“Please, Brant.”
“No. I’m not interested, and I’ve told you this before, but you refuse to even listen to me.” He was done with this woman. “Stop calling.”
“It’s that fucking slut, isn’t it? Your fat neighbor? What does she have that I don’t?”
“She has class, and you know what, she has me.” Brant hung up, and placed the blanket back over Elisha’s picture. He made his way back to the main shop to find Sean playing on his cell phone. “You won’t believe who just called me.”
“Jennifer Lawrence?”
“No.”
“Kate Winslet?”
“No.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t believe you if those two hot babes called you.” Sean looked up from his cell phone. “Who called?”
“Kasey.”
Sean burst out laughing. “You’ve got our very own bunny boiler. I’d be careful if I was you. She’ll go all mental, and kill your bunnies.”
“I can’t even believe I thought you’d be serious about this.”
“Hey, if you’re serious, and you’re worried, then go to the cops. Kasey was always a little crazy, but I just didn’t think she’d go like this.”
“It may be nothing.” Brant ran a hand down his face, not liking the stress of thinking of Kasey as a problem.
“You tell me. She’s crazy, and I did warn you about her.” Sean got up from his seat. “Do you think she’d hurt Elisha?”
“Nah, men and women break up all the time.”
“They do, but the women don’t stalk their exes. At least in horror movies they do.” Sean looked toward the door. “Speaking of women, here’s your beautiful woman coming now.”
Brant turned around to find Elisha walking into the shop. She was dressed in a pink summer dress, which did wonders for her dark hair and pale complexion.
“Hey guys, I’m stopping at the store, and I was thinking of grabbing some meat for the grill. I’ve yet to use mine. What do you think? Would you like to come to my place tonight? Steaks, potato salad? Can I lure you to my place?”
“I’m totally in. Steaks, potatoes, brownies—if you’re making, I’m there,” Sean said.
Elisha turned toward him. “What about you? Can I lure you to the dark side?”
“I’m already at the dark side, and I thought it was me doing all the luring.” He tugged her into his arms and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Count me in.”
“Right, I will go and do the shopping. I’ll see you guys later.”
“You bet your sweet ass I will,” Sean said.
Brant watched her leave his shop and stepped up to the door. Kasey wouldn’t cause a problem. He was ninety-nine percent sure of it. What he had with Kasey was just sex. What he had with Elisha was something more, and women don’t go all crazy and stalk.