Forbidden Neighbor: A Contemporary Romance Boxset (Forbidden Saga Book 2) Read online

  Forbidden Neighbor

  A Contemporary Romance Boxset

  Summer Brooks

  Contents

  Forbidden Neighbor

  Accidental Roommate

  Forbidden Hero

  Copyright © 2020 by Summer Brooks

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental.

  Forbidden Neighbor

  1

  Jasmine

  I snapped my journal shut as soon as my sister barged into my room without warning. I hated when she did that, and she did it often. Somehow, she would just know when I was about to write something personal and profound in my journal, and then show up with her annoying face to interrupt me.

  “Jasmine Ashman!” She said, her nostrils flaring. “I’m leaving in one week and you’re sitting in your room, being a creepy loner instead of wanting to spend time with me? What is wrong with you?”

  I was a loner. Freya was right about that, but creepy? That wasn't accurate.

  “All loners aren’t creepy.”

  “Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.”

  She plopped herself on my bed and I sneakily slid the journal under the pillow behind me. Of course, she noticed.

  “You know one day, I will read whatever weird shit you keep writing in there.”

  “That day won’t arrive. You know that. I'll make sure of it.”

  I had the best sister in the world, but also the most intrusive one. I couldn’t trust her to not read my journal so I ended up getting a fancy-ass diary that I was able to keep locked at all times.

  “I know where the key is,” she winked, then laughed when my mouth opened.

  “You do?”

  She nodded at my closet. “In your underwear drawer.”

  I smacked her arm and she squealed, “Ouch!”

  Freya was ten years older than me. I was twenty-two and she was ancient, in my opinion. Yet, her actions were more like those of a two-year old child.

  We were nothing alike. We didn’t look alike and we sure as hell didn’t share the same philosophies in life.

  “You shouldn't have told me that. Now all I have to do is move it,” I shrugged. “That is, if you haven’t read it already. But I know you haven't or else you'd probably not be able to keep your mouth shut about whatever you read, and you'd be talking about it right now.”

  Just saying that terrified me because I would be absolutely devastated if she really had read my journal. Or if anyone had.

  “I haven’t,” she fake pouted. “But it would be a nice distraction.”

  Her pout turned into a frown and I leaned forward to grab her hand.

  “You okay?”

  She nodded with lips turned downward.

  “Is he really coming to dinner tonight? I mean, why don’t you just cancel it?”

  Freya shook her head and frowned some more.

  “Doesn’t work like that. I don’t want to make it uglier than it already is.”

  My sister’s ex-boyfriend who she had broken up with only a few days ago was going to show up for dinner at our house tonight.

  Blake Henderson, Freya’s most recent heartbreaker, was our neighbor. His parents were friends with ours and she dated him for almost five years before deciding to call it quits.

  “He’s friends with you. He’s nice to Dad. Our parents are friends, too. I mean, it’s okay if I have to see his ugly face one last time before leaving.”

  Okay. Blake Henderson was not ugly. He was over six-feet of pure muscle and you’d have to be blind, or heartbroken in this case, to call him that.

  But I didn’t argue.

  I was in my sister’s corner, regardless of whether or not I thought that she’d made a mistake.

  For the record, she had.

  Blake didn’t just look like a sex god. He also had a heart of gold.

  I’d watched him be a complete gentleman to Freya over the years, which brought me happiness and jealousy at the same time.

  Now, she was throwing it all away because she couldn’t handle a little road bump that had presented itself.

  “I still can’t believe his parents are living with him. It’s just crazy. I can’t handle it. I mean, who could?”

  “I don’t think it’s that, honestly. It’s not his parents.”

  “Oh, please,” she rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling. “Don’t you start again.”

  Blake's younger sister Amy had been in town for a week. She worked as an accountant in Chicago, the closest big city to our small town, Hinsdale. Freya, on the other hand, had a promising career but had felt stuck in this place ever since she returned back to town after graduating from the University of Chicago. Initially, she'd wanted to go back after a year or two.

  "I can't survive in this shit hole," were her exact words, but then life happened. She started dating Blake.

  Hanging out with Amy last weekend made her realize that she was making a huge mistake, wasting away her life in this "shit hole." Well, that combined with the fact that her and Blake didn't share a healthy relationship anymore.

  They dragged out their relationship for way too long even after realizing that it was pretty much dead. Two years seemed like a huge time investment for them, so it was hard for either of them to let go for a long time. Maybe it was complacency, too much comfort with the safety of their routine. I wouldn't know, and I didn't care, so long as my sister wasn't miserable anymore.

  All of these things were amplified by the fact that Blake's parents had recently moved in with him after retiring. Being the completely responsible son that he was, he was looking after them like he was their parent.

  "I think it was a lot of things," I told her. "The parents, your career, the relationship in general."

  Freya made a mousy sound in response, then sat up straight.

  "I'm nervous about dinner," she said. "Mom is making such a huge deal over it. You know, how she gets all crazy about Blake, doting over him like he's her child."

  "Uh...yeah," I giggled. "And Dad too. Blake's like the son he never had."

  Freya shook her head, running her hands over her light brown hair and blonde highlights.

  "How do you think they're going to react?"

  "To your breakup?"

  I gave her a half-smile and pondered. Truthfully, I had no idea how our parents were going to react. I wasn’t really the dating type. Blake and Freya had been a thing since the last five years, so we didn't have much experience in the breaking our parents' hearts department.

  "I think Mom's going to worry a little bit about what everyone's going to say. The gossip. You know how it all goes, but she'll get over it."

  Freya shrugged, knowing that her “getting over” phase will take a while to reach.

  Pretty much everyone we knew in town was expecting Blake and Freya to get married. She and Blake were like our local celebrities, the two most beautiful people that lived here. In a way, I was happy that she stole all of the attention so I could live in peace. But I always wondered how it felt like to be the talk of the town.

  Freya was gorgeous. She always had been. Even her baby pictures looked like they were all taken in studios with proper lightening and a professional photographer. She was just n
aturally photogenic, no matter what the angle. Her baby hair was never out of place and Mom always dressed her in the cutest colorful frocks.

  But when my time came, it was as if she just lost interest in being a parent. I didn't know what it was, and why it was that way but I never felt like our mother loved me. Freya was always the smarter one, the prettier one, the one that this town and our family couldn't get enough of.

  Me, on the other hand? I was the unplanned, accident child and a complete nuisance to my parents. I always thought that maybe if I had hair like Freya's that Mom would love us equally, or maybe if I had her dimpled cheeks, or a winning smile. But I doubted it. It was as if my mother resented my very existence. At this point, I was used to the taunts and the harsh comments that would come my way.

  This was also one of the reasons why I was so close to my sister. She'd always been in my corner too, defending me and praising me to our mother out of the blue, distracting her when she was giving me a hard time. It was ridiculous, the way she took care of me. Freya treated me like her little girl and we were way more than just sisters and best friends. In a way, she was more like a mother to me than our own mom was.

  "Don't worry, though," I said. "Mom will be too busy picking on the way that I breathe to give a shit about you."

  She couldn't hide her laughter, but I appreciated that she tried to. Though, by this point, it shouldn't even be funny anymore.

  "Don't be silly," she said, waving it off and changing the subject.

  "Anyway, what do you think I should wear to my first dinner with the ex-boyfriend?"

  "First?" I widened my eyes. "You mean there are going to be more? Can I un-invite myself from the rest of them in advance?”

  "Well," she shrugged. "Maybe not after I'm in Chicago and things settle down. But this week is going to be weird. Not to mention, some of my clothes are still at his place. I don't think he's going to be bringing any of them by tonight. With our parents around, you know. It'll be all awkward. So, I'll have to see him again after this. Maybe not over dinner, but..."

  I squeezed her hand with tight lips. "It's okay. It's going to feel weird for a while. You still have to figure out what your life is going to look like without him. Five years is a long, long time."

  "When did you grow up so much?" She chuckled. "So crazy."

  She tilted her head and smiled at my journal again. "No," I snapped.

  "One day," she poked my arm. "For sure."

  2

  Blake

  I heard laughter coming from the living room area and I smiled, feeling happy about the fact that my family was no longer pitying me.

  I was a thirty two-year-old grown man who lived with his parents. Well actually, my parents lived with me. I asked them to move into my house last month after I saw how much they were struggling to pay rent. Soon after that happened, the real truth about my relationship with Freya Ashman started to become apparent. That breakup was long overdue. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't missing her, but I knew I would get over it. I had to. It was for the best.

  Though, I was fretting the stupid dinner that I was invited to that evening. I was surprised that she hadn't un-invited me yet. Honestly, it was a little bit frustrating because I absolutely did not want to go hang out with my ex-girlfriend and her family when my sister was over.

  Today was my day off and I hoped that it would stay that way.

  Being a Fire Lieutenant, emergencies were common occurrences. My family and I knew that all too well. This line of work had been long-running in our family. My father and my older brother were both firefighters, too.

  "Blake, you coming to eat or what?" Mom yelled from the kitchen. I slid out of my bed and made my way downstairs.

  Dad was busy reading the newspaper on the dining table and Mom was making pancakes. It was a pretty normal day for our family, except for the fact that my sister Amy was in town for another few days from Chicago.

  She lifted her eyebrows at me and smiled. "Good morning, Lieutenant. Want to go for a morning walk with me?"

  "It's not really morning anymore," I commented, after glancing at the wall clock. It was nearly noon. But over the weekends, it was morning whenever we decided to wake up.

  "Exactly my point, you lazy bum."

  "He's not lazy, Amy," Dad came to my rescue, adjusting his glasses over his nose and not once taking his eyes off the paper. "Everyone needs a day off once in a while."

  "Yeah, yeah," she teased. "You're just saying that because Blake is now your favorite child. You two are always welcome to stay with me in Chicago, you know?"

  Mom turned around and scrunched up her nose, displaying the spatula in her hand.

  "Nay. City living is not for us. This is where your father and I were born, and this is where we're going to die."

  "Whoa!" Amy held up her hand. "No need to get dramatic, Ma."

  "I'm not getting dramatic," she replied. "I like being here, in this town with our friends, so you really need to drop the idea of us moving to Chicago.”

  "I was trying to be nice," Amy snapped, then looked at me.

  "Yeah," I stood. "Let's go for that walk."

  Our family dynamic was strange, to say the least. All four of us were madly loyal and loving to one another, but still argued like we couldn't stand being in the same house.

  "See?" Amy spread her arms when we got out of the house. "Wasn't that uncalled for? What is wrong with her, seriously? And Pa doesn't even say anything to shut her up. She's just getting more annoying by the day. No wonder..."

  "No wonder?" I narrowed my eyes at her. "No wonder Freya left me because of them?"

  She shrugged. "I don't know... I don't know anything, anymore. But you saw what happened in there."

  "They're just insecure," I said. "They think that I'm doing them a favor by letting them stay with me, and whenever you bring up the idea of them moving to Chicago, they get all uncomfortable for whatever reason. Maybe it makes them feel like they don't have an actual home of their own, you know?"

  Amy softened a bit and we stopped walking. She stared at Freya's house that was right next to ours.

  "Yeah, I get it. That could be it. But for what it's worth, you're doing an awesome job making them feel like your home is their home."

  "It's the least I could do," I shook my head. "They're my parents."

  "You're a good guy," she smiled. "Brian would be proud."

  Brian, our older brother, who was no longer with us.

  Any mention of him would still jab a spear into my heart, but I appreciated it whenever anyone said his name and remembered him.

  "Thanks. I'm glad you think that."

  "So...," Amy looked to the ground. "Are you and Freya really done for good? I mean, you guys have broken up before."

  "Yeah, broken up," I said, air quoting. "That wasn't real. This is. Now she's moving for good. Leaving Hinsdale, finally, after years of contemplation. Honestly, I'm happy for her. I hope her career really takes off in the city."

  She shook her head and swallowed like she was going to cry.

  "Oh, come on!" I chuckled, shaking her by the shoulders.

  "I feel like I'm partly responsible," she sniffled. "I shouldn't have reminded her of the opportunities that she was missing back in the city."

  "It was only a matter of time before she realized that she needed to leave," I replied. "Wanna know a secret?"

  Amy nodded at me.

  I looked to the left, and then to my right like I was about to tell her something confidential.

  Well, in a way I was.

  "I hadn't been in love with her for a long time. I mean, we kind of kept going with it because we were used to having each other around. I'm not sure what it was, but it's over now and we can move on."

  "Move on by having dinner with her and her entire family?" She arched a brow, her frown disappearing.

  I groaned and ran my fingers through my hair.

  "Don't ask. I really don't want to be the one to cancel and come across as an asshol
e. We’ve talked about staying friends and…”

  “What about trying the long distance thing?” She asked. “You guys consider that?”

  “No,” I rolled my eyes. “Thankfully, we’re sparing ourselves that mistake. It would just be a matter of time until we broke up if we were to go that route. At least, this way we’re getting to part ways in person and not over text.”

  Amy followed me when I started walking toward the car.

  “Where are you off to?”

  “You’re coming with me,” I patted her back. “Gotta pick up flowers for the evening. I can’t show up at her place empty-handed anymore.”

  3

  Jasmine

  I watched as my older sister got dressed like she was going to prom.

  "You do know it's just dinner, right?" I teased. "With your ex-boyfriend who you claim to not care about?"

  She clenched her jaw and rolled her eyes at me.

  "You wanna mind your own business?"

  I shrugged. "I'm just sayin', you can be a little contradictory sometimes."

  "So what?" She said, tossing her hair to the side and still looking in the mirror.

  I was sitting behind her on the edge of her bed, wondering to myself how I could be related to this girl who looked like a Disney princess. More specifically, like Ariel, with long, wavy hair just like hers. Only Ariel had red hair whereas Freya had brown.

  "You ready?" She asked, turning around when we heard the doorbell. "That's probably Mom and Dad."

  "No," I chuckled. "They would have barged in without pressing the bell, silly. It's your ex-lover."

  She sighed. "Yeah, I knew that."

  My heart was pumping loud, and I could only imagine how Freya must be feeling with this completely avoidable dinner lingering over her head like a dark cloud.