Chapter 7 










  Leon watered the potted flowers on either side of his doorway.  He deliberately didn't glance across the courtyard at Apartment Number 15, which was still empty three weeks after its last tenant had moved out. That surprised him; rental places were hot properties in this economy. But his landlord had remarked that the place HAD actually been rented again, but the new tenant hadn't yet moved in. Apparently he'd rented the place long-distance, and had told the super that he'd be moving in sometime in the next few weeks. 
 
That suited Leon just fine. He didn't know how he felt about someone else living in Caleb's former apartment, even if he was still furious with the man. It would be so weird to look across the way and see a strange face. He wondered if he'd be friends with the new tenant, but he highly doubted it. He was a lot more wary about strangers now. 

 Leon sighed. Curse that sexy, lying FBI agent! He'd made Leon doubt people, and had made him have to wonder if everything they said to him was a lie. Now he didn't trust strangers anymore, and it was all because of Caleb Vargunin. Never mind that the man had been doing his job, and that if he hadn't been watching Leon they never would have caught his murdering terrorist of a cousin. He was still bitterly angry over Caleb ingratiating himself as his friend, when he should have kept his distance. If Caleb had simply made it seem like he didn't want anything to do with him, Leon would have been a little hurt but he'd have gotten over it. How was he supposed to get over these feelings of mistrust, suspicion, and wariness that he felt every time he met someone new? And what was it going to do to his love life? Nothing good, that was for sure!

  He gritted his teeth as he turned to go back inside his apartment. If Caleb were here right now, Leon would punch him in the face as hard as he could. He might hurt his hand, but at least it might make him feel a bit better. And he really needed an outlet for his rage. It was all he could do not to snap at his friends and co-workers these days, though he wasn't angry at any of THEM. But being deprived of the real target of his anger, he had to struggle not to unleash it on those innocent of any wrong-doing. And it was a battle that was becoming harder to win every day.



   He heard a noise behind him, and he turned to see men with packing boxes entering the courtyard. They made their way to Number 15, one of them producing a key. He opened the door, and the movers began to tote the boxes inside the apartment. Leon's new neighbor had finally arrived.  
His curiosity finally got the better of him, even though he knew what it had done to the cat. He set the watering can down on the small table near the door, and wandered out into the courtyard again. He idled over near Number 15, watching the men carry boxes and furniture inside. "hey," he said casually to one of them. 

"Hey," the guy grunted in return, not stopping. He took a box inside as another mover emerged.

   Leon craned his neck to try to see inside. The furniture he saw being carried in had a decidedly masculine flavor to it; no little knickknacks or frou-frou items, nothing feminine at all. A bachelor male, then?  Or maybe the more feminine things were inside of the closed and taped packing boxes? Another of the movers saw him standing there, and came to a halt. "Can I help you?" he asked in a friendly voice.

 "Oh, no! I was just curious about my new neighbor," Leon admitted hurriedly.  

"Ah. Can't tell you much; the moving truck arrived today, and this guy told us to unpack everything in it over the phone," the mover explained to Leon. 

"That's okay. I was just curious," Leon retreated back toward his own door, but paused by it to watch the rest of the new tenant's stuff being carried in. 



   Soon enough the last of the boxes and furniture had been carried inside, and the movers emerged. The one with the key locked the door, and they departed en massse. Leon shrugged and went into his own apartment, having learned very little about his new neighbor.

Not that he cared. He wasn’t going to try to make friends with this person, no matter how good-looking or sexy he might turn out to be! He'd had enough of that to last him a lifetime, than you very much. He was just curious, that was all. Of course he wanted to know who his new neighbor might be, and what he might look like. Once his curiosity was assuaged, that would be the end of it. Right. Sure. That was the ticket.




     Leon hurried up the walk toward his apartment, wanting to get changed. He'd agreed to go out for a night on the town with his friends, but work had run late so he only had about twenty minutes to get ready. And he was determined to look his best; if he could, he was going to try to meet somebody tonight and put this whole Caleb Vargunin fiasco behind him for good. He’d learn to trust again, and the first step in that would be to go out and meet new people. 

 He started to dart across the courtyard toward his apartment, when he saw a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye. He came to a screeching halt, his heart hammering in his chest. It couldn’t be...? He turned slowly, his head swiveling around to the right, and he felt his breath rush out of him in a gasp when he saw the man standing in the doorway of Apartment Number 15. 
His eyes met a pair of black ones as Special Agent Caleb Vargunin said: "Hello, Leon."

  Leon was frozen in place in shock. What the hell was Caleb doing here? He couldn’t have been sent to spy again; Leon knew who and what he was.  But before he could recover his wits, Caleb stepped out of the open doorway and came toward him. He tensed, and Caleb stopped in his tracks. "I know I'm the last person that you want to see right now," he said.

"That is an understatement," Leon growled, finally getting his voice back. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

 "I live here," Caleb replied, waving a hand back at the open doorway. "I just moved in today."

  "What?! What do you mean, you live here?!" Leon's voice was climbing in outrage and fury, and he tried to pull it back before it went completely falsetto. He didn't want to sound like a shrieking woman. 

"I requested a transfer to our San Diego office," Caleb said, watching his face intently.

 Baffled, the first thing that he could think to say was: "The FBI has a San Diego office?"

 Caleb's lips tilted upward wryly. "Yes, I know it's hard to believe," he remarked. "But it's true. Since I needed a place to live, I thought I'd move back to this apartment complex because I'd already lived here before. And I really liked my neighbors..." he added more softly.

 Leon's mouth opened and closed at this outrageous statement. The man's audacity had totally stunned him. "What? You think if you move back here and say some sweet stuff I'll just magically forgive you?" he hissed, his eyes darkening with fury. 

Caleb shook his head ruefully. "No, of course not. I never imagined that this would be easy. But I AM going to try to get you to forgive me, Leon. I'm telling you that now so you'll be prepared." 

Leon began to sputter helplessly. "You actually think that I'll forgive you," he said, complete disbelief short-circuiting his brain.

  "I'm not totally sure that you will, but I have to try. I need you to forgive me," Caleb said, his voice almost grim now.

 "Why?" Leon demanded, glaring at him.

The black eyes met his in a steady stare. "Because you're the perfect man for me, Leon. And if I'm not already head-over-heels in love with you yet, I know I will be soon. So I have to get you to forgive me, or otherwise we can’t be together. And that’s an outcome I'm not sure I can live with."

  His heard was hammering so loudly in his chest that it was a wonder that Caleb couldn’t hear it. Leon felt almost dazed. But how could he trust a word that came out of this(admittedly insanely sexy) liar's mouth?  Okay, Caleb was saying that he might be in love with Leon. But that could be as big a steaming pile of bullshit as the last set of lies that he'd sold Leon. So he firmed and lifted his chin mutinously, looking at Caleb down his nose. 
"If you say so," he sneered. "But I don't buy it. Why should I? Every word out of your mouth was a total lie.  Who's to say that that isn’t a total lie, too? I can't trust you."

 Caleb sighed " I know you can't," he said resignedly. "I'm hoping to change that over time, though. And not every word I told you was a lie, Leon. All of those things I said about my childhood and my teenage years - every word of that was true. I can give you the number of one of my sisters if you want to verify it."

  "I'll pass," he snapped. "Now if you'll excuse me, Caleb - if that is your real name - I have to get ready. I'm going out on the town with some friends. And I'm sure that I'll meet a great guy when I do, somebody a hundred times better than YOU. Welcome to the neighborhood...again!" he gibed, storming off toward his apartment in a huff.

 Caleb sighed again as he watched Leon's angry retreat. This was NOT going to be easy. Not that he'd thought it would be. It was going to be an uphill battle, trying to get Leon Ferris to trust him again. Well, he’d hurt the man deeply, just as he'd been afraid he would. He didn't blame Leon for being so angry at him. Hopefully, over time, he could atone for his sins and win Leon back. Not as a friend this time - or as just a friend, anyway - but as a lover and a partner. A partner for life, he hoped. And he'd vowed to never, EVER lie to Leon again about anything, not even a little white lie. It was scrupulous honesty for him from now on where Leon was concerned, if he managed to win the man's trust back. But that was going to be a tall order...




  Leon raged into his bedroom, and stood there with his chest heaving and his eyes snapping. He couldn’t BELIEVE that man's audacity.! Moving back in across from him, telling him outright that he wanted to win his trust again, saying that he might be in love with him...bastard! Why couldn’t he just have disappeared for good? Why did he have to come back and torment Leon again? How the hell was he supposed to endure having Caleb Vargunin living across from him, now that he knew that the man was both attracted to him and interested in him? How was he supposed to stay angry for months or years to come, as he fended off Caleb’s attempts to win him back? Oh, man, this was so awful! And he was going to have to ignore his traitorous, heart, too, because it kept gleefully pointing out that a chastened Caleb coming back to beg his forgiveness and sweep him off his feet was exactly what he wanted, whether he was willing to admit it or not...




A/N: Heh. Looks like Caleb has his work cut out for him, eh? :P Anyhoo, some reviews for your author? Pretty please? -DL


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