chapter 45

CHAPTER ONE - In which she suffers for eavesdropping 

"Jake..." 

"Don't...please...don't stop!" 

"Oh my God! Oh my God! So big... You're so big!" 

Sweat. 

All Lexi Thorpe could feel was sweat coming out of every pore, making her nightie cling on to her bare skin. A small gasp escaped her mouth before squeezing her eyes shut even tighter than before, wondering how things had ended up like this. 

She had already planned her evening out - have dinner, watch a movie then crawl into bed with her covers tightly wrapped around her. But of course, how foolish of her to forget about Jake and his overbearing appetite for sex. 

The last time she had checked for the time was around one in the morning and yet, here she was, in bed, laying on her front with her face buried in her pillow, wet and begging for Jake to stop. 

A loud curse ripped from her plump lips, jutting her head up, flashing her dark brown eyes wide open and hoping that for the fourth time - the sex would finally just stop. 

Jake couldn't be that sexually crazed, could he? She silently wondered, flipping herself on her back, staring holes into the ceiling. Her eyes then shifted on to her stars, sighing in defeat. Even her stars had given up on, she noticed when only two out of hundreds had lost its glow. 

Her bloodshot eyes then fell on her alarm clock laying on her side table and she gave way to another vexed sigh. 

Seriously?? Who fucks till four in the morning? She thought furiously to herself. Maybe she should just push back the covers and ask him whether he was on some kind of dick power-up meds. But all thoughts of doing that immediately vanished at the sound of the bedpost beginning to bang against the wall. 

letting out a groan of the utmost misery broke, Lexi lazily entangled her bare legs from the cotton sheets and rolled onto her side, hugging herself as the moanings continued on. 

"Babe, I'm cuming... I'm cuming... I'm cumiinng!!!" 

Lexi listened, holding on to her breath. 

It was quiet. Peaceful. And she waited for a few more minutes before finally letting go of the lung full of air as she sent small prayer, thanking the Lord for the brief moment of peace. 

She had suffered enough with the annoying screeching sounds of heavy furniture being dragged around the room relentlessly, followed by loud male grunts and a female moaning out in ecstasy, begging for him not to stop whatever the heck he was doing. It was about as much as Lexi could stand. 

Her eyes remained closed as she begged for patience. Something's got to give. She would have moved out a long time ago but this was the only place that fit her budget and given her delicate situation, she couldn't risk going around town and making herself known by everybody. All she needed was to make enough money so that she could drive off to the next town and the next until she was sure that she was far away enough from her traumatizing past. 

Tomorrow, she thought. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day at work, she knew that but apparently the choice of getting some sleep, if not, any, wasn't entirely up to her. If only her neighbour Jake would finally grow some decency and just let her get some sleep or simply stop screwing every single one of his one night stands until sunrise. 

For heaven's sake! He must know by now just how thin the walls were! But then again, it wouldn't surprise her if he actually enjoyed having an audience. She rolled her eyes at the thought remembering the time when her brother had told her how some men found the idea of having other people watching or listening, arousing. 

To her, it felt disgusting, repulsive even and she had been more than happy to give her brother a piece of her mind. 

Her brother. Lexi's heart tugged at the thought of him. It had been almost two years now since she had last seen or heard from him. But for one thing, he was right. The less he knew about her location, the safer she was. 

It had been two months since she had moved here determined to keep a low profile, and now, she wasn't sure how long she would go without bursting his door down and beating the crap out of him. 

Jake was an insensitive asshole and that's how she would always remember him by. A jerk who would wake her up in the middle of the night with groans and moans, and would often go on for hours. Over a month ago, she had mustered up the courage to face him and tell him exactly what she thought of him, but of course, 'Mr.Fucks-like-a-rabbit' wasn't home. It was either that or he preferred not to answer the door. 

But each silence that came after the loud over-compensating session of sex was blissful. So much so that it would bring a smile to her face. 

Lexi closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. 

"Please,” she prayed, “let this be it this time." 

And when the silence continued then followed by footsteps stomping around and finally, Jake's front door slamming shut. Her lips curved into satisfaction knowing that it could only mean that he was done and was sending his newest victim home. 

She muttered a silent ‘thank you’ before bringing the covers up to her chin. It was already close to sunrise but at least she could get an hour or two before needing to get up to go to work. Her heavy eyelids fluttered closed and she sank further back into the softness of her mattress. 

Hopefully, she wouldn't look like zombie walking into work tomorrow. 

Loud banging sounds on her door, jerked her wide awake. Lexi jerked up, her heart strumming against her chest, wondering who could possibly be knocking at her door. 

Throwing the cover away, she grabbed onto the baseball bat that kept beside her bed a deep slowly made her way into the living. 

They couldn't have found her, she told herself. She had been careful, discreet. Her fingers tightened around the neck of the wooden bat and when she reached the door, she slowly lifted herself to her toes. 

A hard frown appeared on her face when she caught sight of a half naked man standing in front of her door. As perplexed as she was about why he was there, she let out a breath of relief. At least, she was still safe. 

"Yes?" She snapped as opening her front door with full force. 

Her eyes travelled up the bare chested male figure standing in front of her door. She tilted her head back to see who it was. 

“Hey neighbour,” the man said and her eyes immediately went up to his face. 

Green eyes. That's what she saw staring lazily back at her with his dark curly hair tousled, as if he had just gotten out of bed. 

“Neighbour?” Lexi frowned, sticking her head out of the doorway, giving both ends of the hallway a quick glance. 

“Yeah,” his lips pulled up at one side of his face. “I'm Jake.” 

Her brows jutted up at the sound of his name. “Jake?” His name felt like sand in her mouth and it made her eyes twitch. 

Freaking Jake! Her sex crazed neighbour. Finally she was seeing him up close and she had to give him props because he did have a pretty face. No wonder he was always in demand. 

She always thought that Jake had brown eyes, not that she had ever had the pleasure of seeing him close before but somehow whenever she would picture him apologising for all the sleepless nights she had lost because of him, it was with light brown eyes. 

"Did I interrupt something?" Jake asked, raising his eyebrows at her. 

There wasn't even one ounce of sympathy in his voice or on his face. It was as if he expected her to have no life. 

"Yes, my sleep." She replied, cocking her head at him, wishing that would just state his business. 

"Hmm..." he smirked, unbothered. His eyes travelled from her face, down to her breasts and lowered to her waist. 

Lexi shrank under his eyes, suddenly feeling naked and vulnerable. Her nightie was light and her nipples poking out through the fabric was not helping her at all. She could feel him slowly undressing her and a wave of familiarity washed over her, causing her entire body to tense up. 

"Do you need help with something?" She immediately regretted the words as they left her mouth. It didn't sound the way she had wanted it to ; it sounded more like a plea - and she was most certainly not asking him to come in. 

He quirked a brow and smiled, as if she had just given him a free invitation of some sort. 

"Yeah, I've actually ran out of rubber," He stopped and inspected her for a second time before speaking again. "Do you have any spare?" 

Lexi stared at him for a second. 

“It had to be a joke.’ she told herself. But when she realised that he was waiting for an actual reply, she knew that there was not going to be a punchline.

She took a sudden step back. Appalled by his request. She barely knew the guy, and he barely knew her. In Fact he didn't know her. How was he this comfortable asking her for condoms?

And to think that he had gotten her out of bed for this?Just so he could keep her up again. Her fingers tightened are the knob, all the while pretending that it was his finely tanned neck. 

"Excuse me? You honestly think that I'd give you condoms?" She stared at him in a deadpan expression. 

And with every word that came out of this jakes mouth was just more insult after insult.

"Yeah, why not?" He quirked a brow at her taking in her no bullshit face and when she didn't reply, he sighed, "Look lady," he began, resting a hand on her door frame and the other one on his waist. 

Lexi felt a cold rush of blood pulse through her veins as she swallowed down his insult. It was unbelievable how every word that came out of his mouth, somehow seemed worse and worse. 

The frown on Lexi’s face instantly vanished and her jaw clenched. 

Lady? Was he calling her old? 

She allowed her eyes a well deserved minute to assess his God-given-complexion and when she was done, she drew up a sharp brow at him -  like a woman ready for battle.

He looked at least a few years older than her, so maybe she should go ahead and call him grandpa. She scoffed, unamused, folding her arms over her chest, daring him to throw another one of his insults. 

Jake leaned his head against the door and smirked. "All I'm asking is for you to help a neighbour out. Now you either got a spare condom laying around or you don't. Matter of fact," he ran a smooth tongue over his perfectly white teeth, his eyes darkened as he took in her sex appeal, “You do look like a spare kinda girl.” 

Lexi had to blink several times to reassure herself that she wasn't dreaming. That her neighbour was indeed an asshole who had just insulted twice in one the space of only two minutes. 

Her eyes squinted murderously at him, then to the baseball bat that she left leaning against her cupboard. 

“Mind saying that again?” She said, wrapping her fingers around the neck of the bat. 

Jake straightened himself. “I've touched a nerve, haven't I?” He said, taking a step towards her. 

Lexi flinched, holding on to her breath. He was standing too close and it somewhat felt like déjà vu. And when he lifted his hands and traced a finger down the valley of her breasts, fear paralysed her and she was suddenly having trouble to breath. 

Dark memories that she had kept locked away, flashed and unfolded in front of her, stinging her eyes with hot unshed tears. 

“You need to leave.” She half whispered. And when he didn't, she yelled, “Now!” 

He snatched his fingers away from her as if her skin had burned him. “Jesus! You want to wake up the whole building?” 

“You don't think you've done that already?” She snapped, her upper lip pulled in disgust. "Haven't you defiled her enough?"She asked. 

Jake's lips pulled in a smirk then stretched into a smile. "You get off on listening to other people fuck, sweetheart?" 

She winced, horrified that he would think that she'd masterbate herself at their expense. 

"Fuck you and fuck off!" She yelled slamming the door in his face. But Jake was quick to act, he placed his foot through the door. 

"So is that still a no on the condoms?" He smirked, his voice was mocking her. 

Then his eyes slowly raked over her body and both his brows jutted up. "Huh,” he said, as if  he finally understood what was wrong with her. “Figures." 

“Figures?” Lexi fumed. 

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

“Should have known that the old man rented next door to a prude.”

That's it. That was it! 

She had had enough of him and his snarky comments and if he didn't leave now, she was going to beat the hell out of him.

"Get your foot the fuck out and go fuck her raw, you asshole. The sooner you get an STD, the sooner I can finally get some well deserved sleep." She roared, pushing against her door and kicking his foot out of the way. 

The nerve, the fucking nerve he had! She thought, pushing her back off the door and stormed her way back into her bedroom. 

She was seriously going to have to talk to the landlord about this.