The Promise (Neighbor from Hell Book 10) Page 8

  “We already went over this,” she said with a sigh as she cracked one eye open and debated pushing herself free and taking her chances with gravity.

  “Humor me,” Reed said, tightening his hold on the back of her pants to let her know that she wasn’t going anywhere until she answered his questions.

  “I didn’t want to bother him?” Joey said, regretting her decision not to steal one of Reed’s sweatshirts before she tried to make her escape when a gust of cold wind swept over her.

  “That’s really thoughtful of you.”

  “I try,” she said, sighing heavily only to wince when the move caused more blood to rush to her head.

  “Try again.”

  Closing her eyes, she shook her head with a sigh and said, “Because he would drop everything to fix this.”

  “That’s his job,” Reed pointed out, and if she could roll her eyes without passing out, she would have done it.

  “I don’t need him to rescue me,” she grumbled.

  “He loves you.”

  “Which is why I haven’t killed him yet,” she pointed out, ignoring the incredibly sexy chuckle as she hung there, really wishing that she’d used the bathroom before she’d tried to escape.

  “He’s not that bad,” Reed said, shifting his hold as she hung there, snorting in disbelief.

  “Why are you holding my ass?” she couldn’t help but ask when she felt a large hand cup her ass.

  “For safety,” Reed said, even as he cleared his throat and shifted his grip back to her pants.

  “Are you done yet?”

  “Yes, you little pain in the ass,” he said as pushed the window up and pulled her inside.

  Before she could so much as glare at him, her legs were giving out and she found herself curling up on the floor, deciding that this was the perfect time to admire the hardwood floor. She was never trying to escape through another window as long as she lived, she promised herself as she laid there, willing the world to stop spinning.

  “You’re not an obligation,” the large man that she’d really been hoping had forgotten all about her, said.

  “Really? Then please explain why you won’t let me leave?” Joey managed to ask.

  “Because you’re a pain in the ass,” he reminded her as she laid there, really wishing that her head would stop spinning even as she decided to show herself out when the opportunity presented itself.

  “That really doesn’t explain why you won’t let me leave,” she pointed out.

  “Because your brother would kill me. Plus, I promised your grandmother that I would look after you.”

  “That’s the definition of an obligation,” she couldn’t help but point out.

  “You need someone to take care of you,” he said with a bored sigh.

  “I can take care of myself,” she said only to narrow her eyes a second later when he patted her leg and followed that up with a disbelieving, “Uh huh.”

  “I can,” Joey bit out as she cracked open an eye to glare up at the annoying bastard.

  “Then you have a plan?”

  “Of course, I do,” she said, lying her ass off because she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do now.

  “So, what’s this wonderful plan of yours?” Reed asked as she tried to come up with something that was going to stop him from calling her brother.

  “My plan?” she repeated back, nodding to herself as she glanced around his bedroom, looking for something to save her.

  “Your plan.”

  “I actually have a great plan,” Joey said with a firm nod, hoping to give credence to whatever lie she was about to come up with.

  “And I can’t wait to hear it,” Reed said, folding his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the chair as he waited for her to start talking.

  “Well, I haven’t got all the details worked out yet,” Joey mumbled before she shifted, cleared her throat and threw him a hopeful smile that had him pinching the bridge of his nose.

  “Then just the basics will do,” he said, gesturing for her to get on with it.

  “The basics…” she murmured back.

  “So, I’m just going to assume that you don’t have a plan,” he said, sighing heavily as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face.

  “You would be assuming correctly,” Joey said, nodding solemnly.

  “You can stay here,” he said, already standing up and heading for the door.

  “Really?” she couldn’t help but ask as she laid there, trying not to get her hopes up.

  “Rent’s due on the first, try to stay out of trouble, and don’t kill the little bastard,” Reed said, and with that, he was gone, leaving her laying there, wondering what had possessed her to agree to this.

  Then again, since Reed hadn’t actually bothered to ask her if she wanted to stay, she couldn’t really say that she’d agreed to anything. Not that she was going to refuse this opportunity to spend the next year living with her childhood nemesis, because she wasn’t, not when the alternative meant living in a hotel.

  She’d just like it duly noted.

  Chapter 14

  “This can’t be happening,” Reed thought as he sat there, rubbing his hands down his face and wondering where he went wrong.

  “That’s exactly what I said,” the reason that he needed a drink said with a solemn nod as she helped herself to another piece of candy.

  For a moment, he could only sit there, running several questions through his head only to ask, “Why?”

  Blinking up at him, Jen said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Keeping his glare locked on her, Reed gestured toward the large window to his left that overlooked the front office where Mrs. Stone was currently curled up in the fetal position on a stretcher as it was pushed toward the front doors and the ambulance waiting to take her to the hospital.

  “Oh,” Jen said with a thoughtful frown, “that.”

  “Yes, that,” he said dryly as he shifted his gaze to the reason that one of his substitute teachers was being rushed to the hospital. When the little bastard saw Reed looking at him, he rolled over onto his side and flicked his tail all while he glared at Reed, daring him to try to move him off his desk.

  “Didn’t you go home for the day?” Jen asked with a nervous smile, trying to change the subject as she reached over to scratch the little bastard behind the ear, eliciting a purr as the little gray bastard rubbed his small head against her hand.

  “Jen,” he said, sighing her name heavily as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face while he sat there, trying to figure out what he was going to do with her.

  “Yes?” she asked, blinking innocently at him.

  “Is there a reason why you felt the need to bring a kitten to school?” Reed asked just as the little bastard unleashed his claws and cleaned them one by one, all while staring at Reed.

  “I felt that a public education should be available to everyone,” Jen said going for a smile until she saw the glare on his face and then settled for shifting in her chair, clearing her throat and adding, “However, if I had known that Mrs. Stone was allergic to cats I probably would have looked into making other arrangements.”

  “Why is there a cat in my school?”

  “That’s a really good question,” Jen said, nodding in agreement as she grabbed another piece of candy and popped it in her mouth while he sat there, narrowing his eyes on her.

  “What did you do?” he asked, sighing heavily as the little bastard finished cleaning his claws and settled for flicking his tail at him.

  “You’re really going to blame me for this?” Jen asked, shaking her head with a long, drawn-out sigh. “This makes me so sad.”

  “I’m sure it does,” Reed murmured absently as he sent a text to his brother.

  Keep an eye on the little brat.

  “How did the cat get in your bag?” Reed asked as he sat there, really wishing that he’d taken the rest of the day off, but that would have meant spending more time with Jo
ey and he honestly wasn’t sure that was a good idea. He also wasn’t going to think about her, he reminded himself. He definitely wasn’t wondering what she was doing right now, he told himself as he shot a glare at his phone, wondering why the little bastard hadn’t texted him back yet.

  “I have no idea,” Jen said with a shrug as Reed forced his attention back to the little pain in the ass in front of him.

  “She just crawled into your bag?”

  “It would seem that way,” Jen said, nodding as she reached over to pet the kitten that was now fast asleep on top of the stack of resumes that he’d already decided to pass on.

  “What are we going to do, Jen?” Reed asked even though he already knew what he had to do, but he wasn’t ready to give up on her yet.

  “Pretend that this never happened?” she suggested with a hopeful smile that wasn’t going to help.

  Not this time.

  “And the cat?” Reed asked as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face, wondering when he was going to catch a break.

  “Could really use a good home,” she said, nodding solemnly as he glanced down at his phone and saw his brother’s reply.

  Happily.

  *-*-*-*

  “Everything’s going to be fine,” Joey said because really, there was nothing else to say.

  Well, that wasn’t entirely true, she thought as she gave up searching the puddle by the rock that she’d tripped over last night, stood up, stumbled, and headed toward the next puddle, determined to find her keys. It wasn’t much of a plan, but at least looking for her keys gave her something to do. It would also give her a way to hunt down a Dr. Pepper, she thought with a wistful sigh as she knelt down by the next puddle, reached over and-

  Fell face first in the cold puddle with a groan.

  Pushing herself up, she reached up and wiped away the muddy water with a nod, because this was fine. She could handle mud, she told herself as she reached back into the puddle, determined to find her keys and…

  Well, she’d figure it out later.

  It wasn’t much of a plan, but for right now it was all she had.

  With that in mind, she did one last sweep of the puddle before turning her attention to the one that she was almost eighty percent sure that she’d fallen into last night. Pushing back her hair, she focused on searching for those keys. Five more puddles later and she sighed with relief when her hand closed around the old Eeyore keychain that her brother had given her when she was six.

  Relieved that something was finally going her way, she grabbed her keys, brushed herself off and headed to her car only to slip and fall on her ass along the way. Trying not to think about how many times she’d fallen on her ass in the past twenty-four hours, she stumbled the rest of the way to her SUV and-

  “Umm, what are you doing?” she couldn’t help but ask as she once again found herself thrown over Reed’s shoulder and heading toward the old path.

  “Finishing our discussion,” Reed said as she resigned herself to another interrogation even as she had to wonder, “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

  “Yes,” Reed bit out.

  “Okay then,” Joey said, not really knowing what else there was to say.

  “Where’s Matt?” he asked, shifting her on his shoulder while she hung there, really hoping that he wasn’t going to make a habit of this.

  “In the barn looking for a bed,” she said as she reached up and wiped the mud out of her face even as she resigned herself to another shower without her favorite tea tree shampoo.

  “Good,” Reed said firmly and before she got a chance to say anything he asked, “What are your degrees in?”

  “Umm, history and biochemistry. Why?” she asked, wondering where he was going with this.

  “Are you allowed to take on a full-time teaching position during your sabbatical?” he demanded as he made his way up his front steps and carried her inside.

  “Yes,” Joey said only to frown when he followed that up with, “Do you have a criminal record?”

  “Not that I’m aware of,” she said, absently noting that he had a really nice ass.

  She was a sucker for a nice ass, she thought, biting back a wistful sigh as she forced herself to focus. “Why are you interrogating me?” she couldn’t help but ask as he set her down on her feet.

  “I can fit you in, in about an hour. Get dressed and bring your resume,” Reed said absently as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket while she stood there, wondering where the grey kitten currently attaching itself to his leg came from.

  “Any questions?” Reed asked as he reached down and pulled the kitten off his leg and handed it to her.

  “One or two,” she murmured absently.

  “Don’t be late,” he said, throwing the kitten in her arms one last glare before he left, leaving her standing there, not really sure what just happened.

  Chapter 15

  “I don’t believe that I should say anything until I’ve had a chance to speak with my lawyer,” the little deviant said with a sniff as she folded her arms over her chest only to quickly rethink her decision when Aaron, her uncle, a firefighter, and a man that Reed had gone to school with, leveled a glare on her.

  Noticeably swallowing, Jen sat up straighter in her chair, cleared her throat and said, “I believe I’ll wave my rights to legal counsel at this time.”

  “That’s really considerate of you,” Reed drawled as he sat back in his chair and waited.

  “Start talking,” Aaron said, leveling a glare on his niece that had her shooting Reed a pleading look that wasn’t going to work.

  Not this time.

  “She’s failing,” Reed said as he glanced to his left in time to see Joey walk in, carrying two large brown paper bags with “John’s Deli” stamped on them. As he sat there, watching her, he couldn’t help but note the adorable shy smile on her face as she walked up to the front desk to check in, the way that her “I love 3.1415” shirt hugged every devastating curve of the large breasts filling out her shirt, the generous curve of her ass as she turned around, and-

  He realized with disgust that he was checking out his best friend’s little sister.

  “That’s interesting because her mother told me that she made the honor roll,” Aaron murmured as Jen tried for a hopeful smile only to wince when she caught the murderous glare that her uncle was sending her way and settled for sitting there, staring down at her hands.

  “She’s also setting a record for detention,” he said, glancing back up in time to see Joey take a seat in the waiting area..

  “Two years in a row,” Jen said, nodding solemnly before clearing her throat and suggesting, “Shouldn’t we wait for my mother?”

  “We probably should,” Aaron murmured in agreement before adding, “except that someone took it upon themselves to send her a text and told her that she didn’t need to come today.”

  Shaking her head with a heavy sigh, Jen asked, “Who would do such a thing?”

  “Go to class, Jen,” Reed said, deciding that it was time to stop playing games.

  “But-” Jen said with a hopeful expression that turned defeated when her uncle gestured for her to move her ass. With a pitiful sigh and a grumbled, “Damn it,” she reluctantly left.

  “What needs to happen?” Aaron asked as soon as she was gone.

  “Besides getting her grades up, she needs to stay out of trouble,” Reed said absently as he watched Jen reluctantly walk off toward what he hoped was her class before his attention shifted back to Joey. As he watched her walk over to the sitting area and sat down, he couldn’t help but wonder what the hell she was looking at.

  “Any suggestions?” Aaron asked, drawing his attention back to the problem of the little pain in the ass that probably wasn’t going to make it to the twelfth grade.

  “As of right now, she has detention for the rest of the year and is banned from all extracurricular activities, dances, and field trips. I suggest that we use that time to help bring her grades up. The problem
is going to be keeping her out of trouble, because with the way that she’s going it’s only a matter of time before the choice is out of my hands and she’s going to find herself expelled,” he explained, glancing back at the window to find Joey bending over and…

  What the hell was she looking at?

  “I think it’s time that I had another talk with her mother.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to help,” Reed said absently, as he watched Joey sit back up with a frown, look around the sitting area only to lean back over and look at the table the PTA kept well stocked with flyers and brochures covering all the school-sponsored activities for the year.

  “She’s not going to have much of a choice this time,” Aaron said, sounding distracted as Reed sat there watching as Joey quickly made her way across the room and-

  “What the hell is she doing?” Aaron asked as Reed stood up, sighing heavily as he went to find out.

  *-*-*-*

  Well, that’s something you don’t see every day, Joey thought as she leaned over to place the large bags of food on the dull marble floor that hadn’t changed all that much since she went to school here only to sit back up and look around the large lobby to see if anyone else had noticed the kid hiding beneath the table yet.

  The woman sitting next to her continued staring down at her phone while the teenage girls sitting to her right looked completely bored. Wondering if she’d just imagined it, she leaned back down and took another look, only to sigh when the kid pulled his feet further back so that he was completely hidden by the black tablecloth. A look down at her watch told her that whoever was hiding under that table was probably missing lunch.

  “Principal Bradford will be a little while longer,” one of the secretaries told the woman sitting next to her.

  With a nod and a murmured, “Thank you,” she returned her attention to her phone as Joey threw her backpack back over her shoulder and grabbed the bags of food she’d brought with her to entice Reed into keeping her presence a secret a little while longer. At least, until she figured out how she was going to tell Jackson without him freaking out. Without a word, she walked over to the table, raised the tablecloth and thanks to years of fleeing angry mobs, was under the table with the black tablecloth back in place in under five seconds flat.