The Promise (Neighbor from Hell 10)

“Maybe it’s Julie,” Matt said as he began drumming his fingertips against the table and really making her regret promising not to kill him. “It would make the most sense.”

“It’s not me,” Julie said from her usual spot next to him where she waited for her daily entertainment to start with a stack of gossip magazines, a large cup of coffee, and a-

“I really should know better by now,” Julie grumbled, letting Joey know that Matt had finally noticed that large blueberry muffin that she’d foolishly brought with her.

“You really should,” Matt readily agreed.

“It’s not Julie,” Reed said as he walked into the kitchen.

“Then who is it?” Matt asked, making her sigh even as she considered crawling beneath the table so that she could pass out.

She just wanted a little sleep before she had to drag herself to work. She really didn’t want to go to work. Not today. Today, all she wanted to do was pass out in his bed and stay there until she could open her eyes again without feeling like she was dying.

“Why do you want to know?” Reed asked, dropping into his chair.

“Why wouldn’t I want to know?” Matt asked, snorting in disbelief. “The woman has you screaming to the rafters every night. Of course, I want to know who it is.”

“I already told him that it was me,” Joey mumbled weakly, wishing they’d take pity on her and let her sleep.

“She really did,” Julie said, sounding amused.

“Fine,” Matt said, sighing heavily. “If you’re not going to tell me who it is, then at least tell me why you needed a favor at six in the morning.”

“I need you to wait here for Trevor and Jason and give them a ride to school,” Reed announced, making her frown.

“Why?” Matt asked the question that she didn’t have the energy to ask.

“Because I need extra chaperones so that Joey and Shawn can go on the field trip,” Reed said, and admittedly it took her sleep-deprived mind a few seconds to grasp what he said, but once she did…

“Really?” she asked, shoving her chair back and scrambling over the table and onto his lap so that she could wrap her arms around him as she kissed him.

“Oh, my god! What is the meaning of this?”

*-*-*-*

“You know,” Joey said, pausing to take a sip of her soda as she watched another group of students walk towards the ax throwing booth that she wouldn’t mind trying, “this isn’t so bad.”

“It’s too loud,” Shawn, her assigned field trip buddy, said, taking a sip of his soda before he put it down on the ground between them and focused back on building her fortress.

“There is that,” she said with a nod and a yawn as she took in her first field trip and had to admit that this wasn’t a bad way to spend a school day. She’d never been to a Medieval Faire before and as she sat there keeping Shawn company, she had to admit that it looked like a lot of fun.

“Do you want to have a look around?” she asked, although she was more than fine where they were, she felt that she should at least try to encourage Shawn to have a look around.

“No,” he said, shaking his head.

“Okay,” she said, nodding as she settled back against the small fence that separated the booth area from the game area.

She would have preferred to take him over to the picnic area where she could have set him up at a table out of the way, but he’d barely made it off the bus before the noise and crowd became too much and he’d started to panic. Before he could lose it, she’d managed to get him over by the fence, shoved her iPad in his hands, and demanded a fortress. After glaring at her, he sat down with a sigh and began working on her fortress.

“I love field trips,” Jason, Reed’s cousin who was working on Garrett’s house this weekend, said with a heartfelt sigh as he sat down next to her with a replica medieval mug in one hand and a large turkey leg in the other that made her stomach turn.

“What are you building?” Trevor asked as he sat down next to Shawn with a large tray of food.

“A fortress,” Shawn said, throwing Trevor a nervous glance as the large man placed the tray of food between them.

“And a bridge,” Joey said, biting back a smile when Shawn leveled a glare on her.

“We didn’t discuss a bridge.”

“We’re discussing it now,” she said as Trevor handed Shawn a small tray with a hamburger, hot dog, and fries, making sure that he had everything that he needed before he handed Shawn a fresh bottle of Coke.

“Thank you,” Shawn said, ducking his head with a shy smile as he picked up his burger.

“You’re welcome,” Trevor said with a fond smile, setting to work on his own food as he watched Shawn work.

“Hey, Pookie, still mad?” Jason asked Garrett, whom she noted always had a glare on his handsome face, as he joined them.

“Shut up,” Garrett said, dropping his head back against the fence with a sigh.

“That hurts my feelings, Pookie,” Jason said with a sad shake of his head only to pause mid-shake as something caught his attention and within seconds there was an anticipatory gleam in his eye that had her frowning and following his gaze to find Reed standing in front of them, looking down at the clipboard in his hands.

“Don’t,” Garrett said with a tired sigh.

“Can we help you?” Jason asked, blinking innocently up at Reed as his eyes narrowed suspiciously on his cousin, who seemed to enjoy screwing everyone over.

“Have you seen Matt?”

“I believe Matt was getting some food for Joey so that they could enjoy a romantic lunch for two,” Jason said, blinking innocently as Joey bit back a grimace while she shifted in an attempt to get more comfortable on the rough ground as Reed’s eyes narrowed dangerously on them.

“He also said something about winning a teddy bear that Joey had her eye on first though,” Trevor added as he took Shawn’s empty plate away and handed him a large brownie.

“She wants the white one,” Shawn added, making her lips twitch as Trevor shot him a wink.

Jaw clenching, Reed glanced over at the long food lines before glancing back at the strongman game just as Matt picked up the large hammer. Without another word, Reed tossed his clipboard to Jason, walked over to the game and-

“That’s going to leave a mark,” Joey found herself mumbling with a wince as she watched Reed grab the large hammer from Matt and shoved him out of the way.

With a glare in her direction, Reed raised the hammer and swung it, nailing the plate with a loud ding that echoed throughout the busy fair. He did it two more times before he tossed the hammer back to Matt, who caught it with a grunt, grabbed one of the white teddy bears that she’d had her eye on and walked back towards them. When he reached them, he hunched down by her side and handed her the teddy bear.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling down at the large teddy bear in her arms only to glance past Reed and couldn’t help but notice how cute the brown teddy bear was.

“You want a brown teddy bear, don’t you?” Reed asked, reaching over to push her hair back over her ear with that smile that she loved so much.

“We really do,” Shawn said, making their lips twitch.

“It’s true,” Joey said, nodding. “We really do.”

“High maintenance,” Reed said with a mock glare.

“I really am,” she said, nodding in agreement as she watched him walk back over to the game, grab the hammer back out of Matt’s hands and won the brown bear for her just as she couldn’t help but notice how cute the pink teddy bear was.

Chapter 44

“So, you still haven’t told me why you’re using my room,” Matt said as he dropped down onto that mess that he called a bed with a sigh.

“And I’m not going to,” Reed said as he adjusted his tie one last time only to pull it loose and toss it aside with a sigh and reach for the striped one.

“The black one,” Matt said as he searched through the mess on his bed.

Tossing

the striped tie aside, Reed grabbed the black tie and put it on, all while telling himself that he had nothing to be nervous about. It was just dinner, drinks, and if he planned this right, a romantic night downstairs with her “pretties” where he would finally tell her that he loved her.

He’d been debating telling her at all for the past month, but now he was at the point where he needed to tell her. He never thought that he could love someone as much as he loved her. She was everything that he’d ever wanted and more. She was the woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

“Where are you going?” Matt asked as he settled on a half-eaten candy bar.

“Out,” he said, straightening his tie and deciding that it would have to do as he turned his attention to his hair, making sure it looked right before he reached for the bouquet of white roses and-

“Are the flowers for Joey?” Matt asked as he popped one of the chocolate covered orange jellies that Reed picked up for Joey, into his mouth.

“Does it matter?” he asked, wondering if he had time to run out and get another box only to curse when he saw the time.

He was running late.

“Does Jackson know yet?” Matt asked, finishing off the box of chocolate that had taken Reed a week to find.

“No,” he said, taking one last look before he turned around and-

“You really don’t think he’s going to find out?” Matt asked excitedly, trying to get off his bed only to get tangled in the mess that Reed had been meaning to talk to him about.