Between Lust And Control - S01 E01

Story 1 year ago

Between Lust And Control - S01 E01

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 1

The Fence Between Us

I didn't know heartbreak could hit this hard.

I was leaning against the fence in my backyard, phone pressed to my ear like it was the last piece of her I had left. "Come on, Jess... don’t do this. We can fix it. Please." My voice cracked, and I hated how desperate I sounded. But I couldn’t help it.

Three years together. She was my first everything. Now she was off at some college a thousand miles away, talking like I was a boring phase she’d outgrown. Like I wasn’t even worth keeping.

The line went dead. Just silence.

I stood there for a while, staring at the patchy grass, the weight in my chest heavier than it had been all week. I felt pathetic. Nineteen years old, heartbroken over someone who’d already moved on. I didn’t even feel angry. Just… hollow.

That’s when I heard her voice, soft, warm, and surprisingly close.

"You okay, sweetheart?"

I looked up, startled. Katherine, my next-door neighbor, was standing just on the other side of the wooden fence, a garden hose in one hand, sunglasses pushed up on her head. She was wearing a black bikini top that hugged her chest just right, cleavage practically spilling over. Her skin had that soft tan glow not fake, not sunburnt, just real. Her body was the kind that turns heads at every age, curvy, thick in the best ways, with an ass that looked amazing even in shorts.

I tried to play it off. "Yeah. Just... life stuff."

She smiled at me, eyes kind. "Breakups suck. But trust me you’ll survive."

I laughed awkwardly. "Is it that obvious?"

She nodded with a smirk. “You were yelling into your phone like it owed you money.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Damn. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize. I’ve got a son about your age. I know how rough it gets. Look, if you ever wanna talk, or just hang out, don’t be a stranger. We’re neighbors now.”

I looked at her, really looked and for a second, I forgot how shitty I felt. “Thanks. That... actually means a lot.”

She gave me a wink. “You’ll bounce back. And in the meantime, lemonade’s always cold over here.”

Then she turned around.... and yeah, I absolutely stared. I didn’t even try to hide it. That ass. That walk. The little bounce. Goddamn.

The next few days blurred together. Mostly late nights and mindless scrolling. I tried going for runs, hitting the gym, blasting music too loud anything to drown out the quiet.

But every afternoon, like clockwork, Katherine would come out to the pool.

It was her routine. A towel over the chair, big sunglasses on, and that same bikini... or sometimes a different one, smaller even. The fence between our yards wasn’t high enough to block my view from my bedroom window. Not even close. She must’ve known. Part of me wondered if she did it on purpose.

She’d lay out, oil up, stretch in ways that had me holding my breath. Sometimes she’d read, one leg draped lazily over the other. Sometimes she’d just close her eyes and tan, her chest rising and falling slowly, peacefully. And I’d be watching, barely blinking with a rock-hard problem in my boxers and the same question running through my mind over and over:

What would it feel like to touch her?

I shouldn’t have been thinking it. She was probably twenty years older than me. Married. My neighbor. But none of that stopped the thoughts or the way my body reacted to her. Every time she bent over to adjust the pool umbrella, I swore she was going to break me.

She was a woman, not a girl. And somehow, that made everything worse.

One evening, just before sunset, I caught her looking back at my window. Not for long. Just a quick glance. But it happened. My heart jumped. Did she know? Could she tell I’d been watching?

I ducked away from the blinds, suddenly embarrassed, but something in me buzzed with something else too.

Not shame.

Not quite.