Her Arrogant Demon Next Door

Chapter 2

I painted my room until late , too late after a long day of moving. My arms had felt like lead by the end of it. But I’d white coat all the walls and glossed all of the woodwork. I’d even managed one coat of the blush pink , I needed to add another today. The room had moved slower than I had hoped and I’d ended up having to put the mattress on the floor and sleep on that.

Without any curtains in the bedroom, I’d woken up way too early, but there was no way I’d sleep now. The room was way too bright. Grumpy and tired, I dragged myself up off of the mattress and down stairs. Rummaging through the boxes, I find out my kettle, a cup and coffee. I’ll have to take it black this morning. I haven’t been to the shop or even plugged my fridge in yet.

As the kettle boils, I open the patio door and take in the fresh air. The street I’d moved to the estate agent said was peaceful. I wanted a peaceful place, a haven of relaxation after my thirteen-hour shifts at work. I worked as a lackey, basically , in a prestigious law firm, as the fetch me get and just make me girl. I was the first one there and always the last to leave, so my day varied depends if anyone else decided to stay late involuntarily. That made me stay late. I filed, cleaned , answered phones , fetched lunch, basically anything they wanted me to do.

One day I wanted to be one of the partners' assistants or a partner, hopefully, just responsible for one person and organising their day and doing their bidding or someone doing mine . Not the whole solicitors floor , where I was about twenty peoples slave. It’s not what I’d dreamed of as a kid. I’d always wanted to be a nurse. But I worked at a cafe at a young age after school to help Auntie pay for stuff. She’d suffered badly with arthritis from a young age and could only work so much a week or she’d be in too much pain.

So my grades had slipped , no time for homework or too tired. Auntie worked part time at a telesales company, but before that she used to be a typist in courtrooms. She got me the job where I worked. She knew some people still here and pulled some strings. I’d always thought one day I could retake my maths and English and take myself back to university, but that dream got further and further away until I changed it to stop me longing.

I hear the kettle click and I’m about to go back inside when I hear a heavy thumping from next door. Craning my neck, I see him on his porch , he’s shirtless again and seems to have a punching bag suspended from porch roof. His hands moved like lighting on the bag one smack after another . His face is focused , he whips his fist out over and over some moves too quick to even see.

Bang bang bang against the bag , then he spins his feet coming off of the ground until his foot connects with the bag in a round kick. He didn’t even look tired as he bent down to pick up the bottle. He tips his head back, squiring water into his mouth from the bottle. Once he’s done, he wipes a hand across his mouth, then his head whips up to me quicker than light , his head tilting as he looks right back at me. Did I make a sound I didn’t think I did .

My breath hitches , s**t what was it ? I’d not moved had I alerted him of me watching. “ Chelsea “ he says, and I feel like he said it right in my ear the way a lover would a sweet whisper not from across the fence . Stumbling back into the house , I ask myself if I’m still asleep. Maybe, I’m just still too tired to socialise. “ Chelsea “. I hear him shout , through the still open door. I look up to now see him at the fence leaning over.

“ What is the matter you seem. . . . ” he pauses, his eyes raking my body “ flustered “ he finishes. The bastard was a cocky son of a b***h. I hated people full of themselves and he definitely was. It was right there in his smirk. Anger simmered in me. I think it was my own actions that made me angry though. “ Nothing is wrong, I’m fine “ I said , he rubbed a hand along his chin contemplatively .

Then I watch in disbelief as he hops the fence. Like a cat, his muscles bunch and he pounces, then he’s over. He wades through the long grass and up my porch steps like he owned the place. Once he’s at the threshold, he stops , “ are you always so quick to anger ?” He asks, his hands on his hips, his head tilted and eyes studying me like a project . His boldness takes me back a step to “ no “. I managed to get out around the sudden lump in my throat from the nerves.

“ Twice now you’ve been snappy with me. Is there any reason? I mean you don’t even know me, as far as I’m aware. Anyway, has a friend told you about me? I haven’t done anything wrong for you to be so rude “, he asks in a way that makes me feel like I’m in the wrong. That he’s the injured party, how can a man I don’t know make me feel that way? Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I looked back up at him. “ I’m just not very sociable “ I told him, it wasn’t true, definitely a lie. I really loved socialising. I don’t know he just annoyed me for no reason, like he said I didn’t know him. But there was something about him that made me defensive, he obviously liked to bully or take the piss out of people. Him calling me pretty last night was him definitely winding me up.

His green eyes bore into me , his pupils seemed to enlarge and then go back . I feel like he was seeing into my head or reading something, he seemed so still so focused . Then he snaps out of it , his jaw tight with tension, “ fine Chelsea if that’s the way you want it “ he says, simply turning on his heel, stopping whatever it was he was doing or looking for . He trams back through the grass and back over the fence . I hear his patio door slide open and then seconds later loud rock music plays from his house.

It was exceedingly loud , too loud for this early in a morning . I stick my head back out the door and look outside and at our neighbours' houses ready to see them come out and complain. If they were still sleeping, that definitely must have woken them. But after five minutes, still no one came out . Not the guys at the side of me or the one at the other side of him. Strange unless he always did this and now they are used to it.

Damm I hope not , it was that loud in my tired head it felt like it was rattling my brain. Sighing, I headed back to the kettle and poured my coffee, heaping in two spoons of sugar. If I had to have it black, I would definitely need the sugar. Searching through some more boxes I found a towel and my bathkit bag.

Time to have a shower and then back to more painting. I definitely wanted my bedroom finished today. Then the next thing was to cut the grass. I loved sitting outside on a warm night with a book, a blanket and a hot drink. Aunt's flat used to have a balcony. It had become my favourite thing to do besides my bed, of course , sleep was definitely a favourite thing too. I couldn’t wait to do it in an actual garden. It was another happy place of mine.

When I got out of the shower, blissfully the music had stopped , so I eagerly cracked on with the painting. Soon enough I’m finished, all I need now is the walls to dry so I can put up my curtains and set up my bedroom. The flooring was in need of changing but a good scrub up with a cleaner. I think it would be like new or I would have to budget it in to the money my parents left but I really wanted a new bathroom so I had to compromise . Not wanting to waste a single second of my free time , I quickly ran down, grabbed a sandwich and a drink, scarfed it down and then headed out back.

By the time I’d done this mammoth task, surely the walls would be dry. Here’s to hoping anyways. When I’d come to look at the house there was a lawn mower left in the shed. I was hoping it still worked. If not, I would need to spend some money I didn’t want to and buy a new one.

Slowly making my way through the jungle of grass , I reached the shed. The grass hadn’t been this long when I viewed the house. But I did remember the shed was a spider-infested cave. I hate spiders. They gave me the creeps. Slowly opening the door, I braced myself for what in my mind would be a billion spiders jumping out at me.

Slowly I creeped in , I could see the mower and a rake. It was at the back amongst other arrays of tools and such. The people who had this house before must have either passed away or forgot about the contents in here . Taking a deep breath and keeping my eyes on the prize so I didn’t look round , I rushed into the back, grabbed the handle and pulled the mower out of the shed.

Imaginary spiders crawl all over my skin, so I stand sweeping my hands all over my body like I was wiping off muck. “ Eeeehhh “ I jump around and probably pull very unflattering faces imaginable “ ergghhh”. Shivers ran up and down my spine but I tried to shake it off ,before rolling the mower up the garden pulling the cord as close to the house as I could . Then go inside and rummage through the boxes to find my extension cord, plugging it in and then pulling it outside.

“ DAMM IT “ I shouted in frustration. The mower wouldn’t turn on. I knew it would just be my luck. If I didn’t have bad I wouldn’t have any.my heart breaks as I look up at the long grass, I’d been hoping and praying it worked. It probably explains why they left it.

“ You could borrow mine if you ask nicely “ his dark sultry voice says from behind me. Why did he seem to be everywhere , gritting my teeth not to be rude, as he called it, and didn’t even turn to face him. “ I’m alright thanks “ I bite out , he lets out a low whistle and clicks his tongue. “ damm you really don’t like me huh “ he says behind me . Auntie would be turning in her grave. She didn’t raise me to be rude to complete strangers. He was right, as much as I wouldn’t admit it I was being rude .

“ Not at all, I don’t know you enough to hate you “ I forced out a little less bitchy. “ so you're just a b***h to everyone, then is that it ?” My head snaps around at his words, my eyes narrowing. He had a f*****g smirk on his face and he was laughing at me again . How did he look like that? I mean, surely he was too good looking? Is that a thing? s**t no, I was mad not gawking at him.

“ excuse me ?” I snapped , he just smiled bigger, showing off his pearly white teeth too perfect he was. God, I hoped he had a small wiener, like, mini, or something that made him not perfect . “ You heard me quite clearly “ he says back, “ you do not know me to make that assumption either , now if you’ll excuse me I’m very busy “ I stomp of to the sound of him chuckling behind me.

Once I’m inside, I’m even more pissed. I wanted to do the garden but his perfectly smart mouth drove me back inside, that and the busted mower, but I chose to blame him . Sighing I get to work on unpacking boxes instead , the garden would have to wait until I could go buy a new mower . I tried my hardest all day and avoided him. The next day, too. If I saw him outside, I didn’t go out. Before I went back to work, I managed to do my bedroom and unpack most things , my sanctuary was all set up . That was the main thing. The night before, I was due back to work and I had to be up early. He had a f*****g party , music banging and a storm of girls entering his house, a few men too obviously, but I focused on the girls as I was spying through the landing window. My lack of sleep and tossing and turning made me want to go punch him. In a weird way, I felt he was aiming this party at me as a way to piss me off even more. Like he was egging me on for what though.