Neighbors With Benefits

19 - Bash

19

Bash

I’d been thinking about Jazz for the past day. Specifically the comment she’d made last night.

That’s the dream! My own harem of men!

She was almost certainly joking. She didn’t actually want the exact same thing the three of us were looking for. The odds were too low. Downright minuscule.

But I couldn’t get the thought about of my head.

I liked Jazz. What wasn’t there to like? She was gorgeous, obviously , but she was so much more than a good-looking woman. She was sharp-witted, and sarcastic, and easy to be around. She had this way of smiling with half her mouth when she was about to make a joke, like she was already trying not to laugh.

And there was a spark between us. The same spark I felt when we first met at her housewarming party. I was certain of it.

Yet there was something holding her back. More than just the fact that she was already sleeping with Aiden. Obviously, being neighbors complicated things. Sleeping with one was already a big risk. Aiden’s ex who burned a bunch of our plants was evidence of that. Getting romantically involved with someone who lived thirty feet away was an objectively bad idea. I should have let Aiden have her and put any other fantasies out of my head.

But knowing that fact didn’t make it easy to ignore how good she looked. I stole a glance at her while pausing to dip my paintbrush into the can. She was wearing a pair of ratty jeans I had never seen before. There were holes in the knees, but they hugged her ass in the most irresistible way. And the loose T-shirt she paired with it was cropped, showing several inches of delicious midriff. Especially when she stretched to reach the upper edges of the wall with her paint roller.

I returned to my task of carefully painting the edges along the ceiling. It was impossible not to feel jealous about what Aiden had. I didn’t even have any details, other than that they’d been sleeping together for a few weeks, and had been exchanging sexy texts while he was out of town. But that was enough to create a fire in my chest. What if I had hit it off with her that first day instead of Aiden?

That’s the dream! My own harem of men!

I pushed the thought out of my head again. There was no way she was serious.

Polyamory wasn’t new. It had been around for thousands of years in one form or another. Swinging was big in the seventies. But modern polyamory was still in its infancy. The internet had helped it grow, but it was still one of those things most people considered “weird.” Hell, it was weird. Anything outside of the standard monogamous relationship was looked down on by the vast majority of society.

It also wasn’t easy. Two-person relationships were already incredibly difficult. Throuples were even tougher. But four people? That was really hard to maintain. You had six relationships that required maintaining:

A and B.

A and C.

A and D.

B and C.

B and D.

C and D.

If any of those relationships faltered, the whole thing fell apart. They were rare, and usually flared out after a few months.

It was easier the way we were trying to do it. Since Aiden, Dante, and I were already very good friends, it was just a matter of integrating one woman into the mix. But it was still difficult, and extremely rare for one to succeed long-term.

We had been looking. We hadn’t found anyone yet, despite the help of the internet.

But now Aiden was sleeping with Jazz.

And no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t ignore my growing attraction to her.

“Thanks again for helping,” she said.

“That’s the sixth or seventh time you’ve thanked me. I’ve lost track.”

“And I’m going to say it at least four more times. We’re already halfway done with this room! I originally expected it to take all weekend, but we might finish by tonight.”

“We’ll definitely be done by tonight,” I agreed. “We could start on one of the other rooms tomorrow, if you want. I have plans in the morning, but my afternoon is free.”

“That would be amazing!” She flashed the most irresistible smile at me. The fire in my chest flared a little brighter. Then she added, “I don’t want to take up your entire weekend though.”

“I would have just sat on the couch watching baseball. I like to keep busy,” I explained.

“Oh! Do you want to put the game on?”

I glanced at my watch. “First pitch in the Phillies game is in an hour, and yes, I will definitely be turning it on. As long as you don’t mind listening to it two days in a row.”

“You could play screaming death metal at maximum volume and I wouldn’t mind. Seriously, I can’t thank you enough for the help.”

“That’s now the seventh time you’ve thanked me. Or eighth. But it’s all good. What are friends for? When we need help with something, we know we can call you to help.”

“I will totally help you! With literally anything. I owe you guys. And not just for painting. You and Aiden have made me feel so welcome in this neighborhood.”

Once again I felt a small pang of jealousy. Aiden had definitely made her feel welcome, all right. It was too bad she didn’t know that I knew, or that would have made a good joke.

“We will definitely hit you up for help in the future,” I said while touching up a spot I had missed in the corner. “It’s rare, but sometimes all three of us are out of town and need someone to water our plants.”

“I will water them so good!” she said enthusiastically.

“Careful what you agree to,” I warned. “We have a lot of plants.”

It was a beautiful day, and we had all the windows and doors open to keep the paint fumes from getting too strong. So it was a surprise when someone knocked on the door frame and poked her head inside. “Hello? Is somebody home?”

“Hi, we’re here,” Jazz said.

“Your front door has been open for quite some time, so I wanted to make sure everything was okay.” She took another step inside, and saw me. “Oh. Hello there, Sebastian.”

“Hi, Mrs. Porter,” I said warmly.

The elderly woman’s eyes scanned my body, lingering on the parts of my upper body exposed by the overalls. “I did not realize you were making friends so quickly.”

“Yeah!” Jazz replied. “Bash and Aiden have been so helpful.”

“I’m sure they have been. They are quite nice, unlike their roommate.” She gave me a smile. “I did not intend to intrude, I merely wished to make sure everything was okay. Enjoy your painting!”

She practically fled from the house. Jazz and I shared a look.

“She’s the one who has a crush on you, right?” Jazz asked.

“That’s Mrs. Porter, yep.”

Jazz giggled. “She got an eyeful of you. If she stuck around any longer she would have offered to massage those shoulders while you paint.”

“I think she got the wrong idea about us,” I said carefully.

Jazz grinned. “She definitely thought you were mixing my paint, so to speak.”

“Oh, I’m coating your walls all right,” I said.

Jazz busted out laughing and nearly fell off the ladder. I reached over and grabbed it to keep it steady.

“But yeah,” she said, “you’re right. Seeing you in those overalls definitely gave her the wrong idea.”

I frowned. “What do you mean? These are my painting overalls.”

She gave me a skeptical look. “Which show off your sculpted shoulders and arms. I’m not complaining: you’re giving me a nice show while we paint!”

“I aim to please!” I replied. “You don’t look half bad in that T-shirt, too.”

She laughed, then abruptly cut off. Her cheeks reddened, and she cleared her throat and returned her attention to the wall in front of her. She must have been embarrassed about commenting on how I looked.

But the compliment, and the knowledge that she was checking me out, lifted my spirits for the rest of the day.