So Toxic(Bad Boy Next Door Book 4)(9)
“That’s not creepy. It’s normal, Jo.” She shakes her head as she slips her feet from her sandals. “Curious neighbors are world-wide phenomenon. I’m doing my part to fit in.”
A chuckle escapes my twitching lips. “You? Normal? Sure. Whatever.”
Stevie doesn’t fit in anywhere. She stands out.
If I were the jealous type, I’d hate the very air she breathes.
Most women do.
But I don’t. Stevie has been my staunch supporter and shoulder to cry on, my voice of reason and partner in crime since the day we met. She calms me at the right times but will drag me into chaos when I’m stagnant. She’s the friend who wouldn’t be able to bail me out of jail because she’d be sitting in the cell right next to me.
Stevie juts out her hip, tiny hands resting at her waist. “Normal. Is. Over. Rated. It’s a proven fact.”
“Sure it is.” I slide my arm through hers and pull her toward the sofa. “Look, how about—let’s not bother the neighbors. Leave them in peace.”
“I wasn’t going to bother them. I was going to be neighborly and introduce myself.” She plops down and grabs the remote.
“Well, be neighborly when I’m not around, would you?”
She surfs channels, focused on the television. “When you aren’t around, eh? Somehow, it sounds like there’s a story behind that. Spill.”
“There’s nothing to—” My lame attempt at lying is interrupted by raucous laughter from outside.
Stevie dashes to the door and is through it before I can nab her.
I follow but pull to a stop at the threshold.
If I go out there, Ty’s probably waiting with a big pile of crap to give me about the banana peel I found stuck to my yoga pants or the way I almost knocked us both on our asses in the lobby of that building yesterday.
Heat creeps up my neck. I back up, my hand on the door, ready to close it on the memories.
“I’m Stevie.” She waves me over. “That’s Jo.”
I force a smile. Good manners compel me to step out onto our porch. “Hey.”
At least Tyson’s not out here.
An older man, stooped and wrinkled, beckons me. “Come on out and meet your neighbors, Missy.”
The residue of my embarrassment evaporates as I head across the yard.
I hold out my hand. “Jo Jordan.”
“Lovely to meet such beautiful girls.” His soft hand engulfs mine as he brings it to his paper-thin lips. He drops a kiss on my knuckles.
“You must be our landlord,” Stevie says.
He winks. “Don’t I wish? I’d trade you free rent for favors.”
Favors?
Ew.
I snatch my hand away.
A large hand clamps down on the man’s shoulder. “C’mon, Uncle Clyde. Quit hitting on my tenants.”
Clyde grins. “Kid, someday you’ll learn that you have zero chance of catching anything if you never cast your hook into the water.”
The blond guy rolls his eyes. “Keep your hook in your pants, will you?”
Uncle Clyde turns away, mumbling, “You wait until it’s been ten damned years since the last time you had your dangler diddled by a beautiful woman.”
Our landlord’s cheeks tint the lightest shade of red as he shakes his head.
A second later, he looks up, zeroing in on Stevie and smiling. “I’m Jake. Nice to meet you, Stevie Landow. It is Stevie, right?”
She shamelessly checks Jake out as she takes his offered hand. “Well, hello, handsome.”
One eyebrow quirks and his blush darkens. “Hi.”
Poor guy doesn’t stand a chance.
He turns to me. “You must be Jo.”
I raise my hand in a slight wave.
“Nope. That’s JoJo. Always and only ever JoJo.”
Allowing the irritation to wash over me, and then forcing it to drain away through my feet, I clamp my teeth tight and suck in a deep breath through my nose.
Let it go. He only does that to get a reaction.
If I give him what he wants, he wins. And I can’t let him win.
I already owe him, and that’s enough.
Stevie side-eyes me. “You two know each other?”
“Sorta.”
“Sorta?” Ty throws an arm around my shoulder. “JoJo’s been giving me that same scowl since elementary school.”
My elbow connects with the rock solid muscles wrapped around his ribcage. “I do not scowl.”
They exchange a glance.
Stevie looks away and gives a loud cough that sounds an awful lot like do too.
As I wriggle out from under Ty’s arm, I glare at her. “Traitor.”
She blows me a kiss in return.
Ignoring her, I say, “So, you guys are moving out already?”
“Why on Earth would we want to go and do that, especially now that we’ve met the neighbors?” Ty captures me around the waist, once again pulling me close.