Delectable (Neighbor from Hell 9)

“You really can’t,” Sara agreed, flipping through her magazine. “Then again, it doesn’t help that they already think that you’ve screwed their husbands and fathers.”

“I have been busy,” Kasey said, nodding as she took another sip.

“You really have.”

“I need to learn how to pace myself,” Kasey said with a sad shake of her head as she handed him the bottle of juice.

“You probably should at this point,” Sara said, tossing her magazine aside so that she could rummage through the cooler.

“I just don’t know if I can control myself,” Kasey said, taking the bottle of juice back so that she could finish it off before she hopped off his lap and headed towards the chain-link fence so that she could cheer on Mikey, leaving him sitting there thinking about just how much he hated this town.

“It’s not true,” Sara said after a minute.

“What’s not true?” he asked absently as he glanced over his shoulder to find the women glaring towards the fence, taking away any doubt that their glares were for Kasey.

“About Kasey sleeping with all of them.”

“Wouldn’t care if it was,” he said, shifting his attention to find Eric sitting on top of the bleachers and watching Kasey.

“Seriously?” she asked, handing him an ice cold Coke.

“She was a kid.”

“This is true,” she mumbled, looking thoughtful as a thought occurred to him.

“Why does she stay?” he couldn’t help but ask as he glanced around for a vender, hoping they had one here because there was no way in hell that he was going to be able to survive this game on an empty stomach.

“She’s stubborn and refuses to allow a bunch of bitches to push her out of her home,” she said, pointing past the bleachers towards a snack shack that promised the best hot dogs outside of Fenway Park.

“Shocking,” he said, making her smile as she tossed her magazine aside.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, getting up and heading towards the concession stand and before he could follow her to find out if those hot dogs were really as good as they claimed, Kasey was back and sitting on his lap.

“So, Yummy,” she said, helping herself to his Coke, “I was wondering about something.”

“And that is?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her so that he could pull her closer.

“Well,” she said, shifting so that she could reach into her back pocket and pull out the bill that he’d handed her this morning, “it’s about this bill, Yummy.”

“What about it?” he asked, taking his Coke back and took a sip, telling himself that she wasn’t on to him.

“Yeah,” she said, shifting on his lap with a little wiggle that had him choking on his Coke, “So, I’ve been thinking about this bill all morning and I can’t help but wonder about a few things.”

“Like what?” he asked only to grunt when the devious woman gave her bottom another wiggle that had him wishing that they were having this conversation somewhere more private.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, glancing off as she took his soda back and took a sip, “Things.”

“Things?” he asked with a grunt and a groan as she did another wiggle.

Nodding, she repeated, “Things.”

“What sort of things?” he asked, shifting his hands to her hips to stop that damn wiggling that was driving him out of his fucking mind.

Instead of answering, she said, “Yeah, funny story,” and something told him that it wasn’t going to be a funny story, at least not for him, “I made a video for my website showing what the living room and kitchen looked like before and what it looks like now and some of the ladies who’ve had their houses remodeled recently couldn’t help but share how much their remodels cost them.”

“I-”

“Yeah, and funny thing, they all paid more than I did, a lot more, and none of them had anything custom made,” she said with a pointed look at him while he sat there, trying to figure out how to respond.

Apparently, she didn’t expect one, because she simply nodded and continued, “Yeah, so that turned into them guessing how much it cost to have my living room and kitchen renovated. They of course decided that my renovation must have cost a great deal more than theirs because of the two rooms and let’s not forget the custom-made built in shelves, the hand carved dining room table and chairs, the restaurant grade appliances, and the kitchen island. The floor they decided added another fifteen thousand dollars to the price tag,” she said, with a pointed look at him as she took another sip.

He opened his mouth, closed it and cleared his throat before he asked, “And how much did they estimate the cost of your renovation?”

“Oh,” she said, pausing to finish off his Coke, “about sixty thousand dollars, but they didn’t add in the cost of the dining room table set since they felt that was separate from the renovation.”

“I see,” he said, as she reached up and petted him on the head with a big smile that scared the hell out of him, “I’m glad that you do, pookie. I’m glad that you do.”

And with that, she was off his lap and heading back towards the chain-link fence to cheer on Mikey while he sat there, deciding that it would probably be for the best if he slept with one eye open tonight.

Chapter 45

“Are you and Reese fighting?” Mikey asked, hopping onto the freshly made bed with a sigh.

“No, why would you say that?” Kasey asked, as she tossed a pillow onto the bed that Mikey was crashing on for the night.

“Because you haven’t spoken a word to him since the game and he keeps watching your every move as though he expects you to suddenly attack him?” Mikey asked, as she laid back on the bed and pulled the covers up so that she could return to rolling the baseball between her hands.

“Cause he’s paranoid?” she suggested, biting back a smile since it probably wouldn’t do to let her daughter know that she was screwing with someone’s head for the simple joy that it brought her. Well, that and they needed to get a few things straight like that bill for one thing.

“Probably,” Mikey easily agreed as she looked around the room that Reese had given her for the night. “Are you sleeping in here?”

“So that you can kick me out of bed in the middle of the night?” she asked, with a shake of her head and a sigh. “No, I think I’d be better off grabbing one of the other rooms.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Mikey said, rolling over onto her side.

“And why’s that?” she couldn’t help but ask as she turned the television on before handing Mikey the remote.

“Because you snore,” Mikey said with a shrug as Kasey narrowed her eyes on the cruel little girl that she’d actually shared her dessert with tonight.

Never. Again.

“Goodnight, brat,” she said, chuckling as she leaned over and kissed Mikey goodnight.

“Goodnight,” Mikey said, as she put on the sports channel and settled in for the night.

Once she was sure that Mikey wasn’t going to get up and demand another glass of water, try to con another snack out of her, or suddenly need to use the bathroom, she closed the door and headed down the hallway towards the room that she’d picked out earlier for herself, the one that was in the opposite direction of Reese’s bedroom.

Even though he’d offered to sleep on the couch and give her his room for Mikey’s benefit, she felt that sleeping in a different room so that he was forced to squirm for a few hours would also give her a chance to figure out how she was going to come up with the rest of the money to pay him, because there was no way that she was going to feel right about only paying him a third of what the renovations were actually worth.

He’d spent the entire summer working his butt off fixing her kitchen and living room and the only thing that he’d charged her for it seemed was the materials and the appliances and she wasn’t comfortable with that. She didn’t need charity and she definitely didn’t want it from Reese. In a few hours, h

e’d figure that out and-

“We’re going to talk,” Reese announced softly, which normally wouldn’t be a problem, but since he’d made that announcement as he’d taken her by surprise and pushed her up against the wall and pulled her hands behind her back so that he could handcuff her, she found herself having a difficult time coming up with a proper response.