The Promise (Neighbor from Hell 10)

“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.