Finally (Neighbor from Hell 12)

“It’s almost over,” Devin promised her.

Sniffle. “No, it’s not,” Charlie said, once again shaking her head frantically as Aidan reached for the forceps.

“No, no, no, no, wait! I can’t do this!” she said, trying to pull her foot away only there was nowhere to go.

“I have to take the glass out, Charlie. I’m sorry,” Aidan said as he carefully wrapped his hand around her foot and-

“Oh, shit…”

“Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!” Charlie mumbled frantically as she watched Aidan pull a large piece of glass from her foot and placed it in a small metal basin on the tray next to him.

“Okay, that’s it, right?” Charlie said, sounding hopeful only to start rambling again when Aidan went back for more.

“Don’t look at him,” Devin said, trying not to wince when Aidan dropped another large piece of glass in the basin.

“T-Tell him to stop,” Charlie mumbled, sounding terrified.

Biting back a sigh, Devin pulled his arm free so that he could reach up and cup her face, pulling her focus to him. “It’s almost over, Charlie,” he whispered, gently caressing her jaw as he looked down into her beautiful blue eyes.

Shaking her head, she said, “No, it’s not.”

God, she was beautiful, Devin thought as he traced his fingertips along her cheek and-

“You want the bear, don’t you?” he found himself asking when Charlie worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

With a nod and a sniffle, she said, “I really do.”

Chapter 9

“You’re dead to me,” Charlie said, crossing her arms over her chest as she pointedly looked away from the man that she was no longer speaking to.

There was a heavy sigh that she really didn’t appreciate at the moment and then…

“I have to go to work,” Ben said, walking around the bed only to grumble something that she chose to ignore as he turned around and walked back the way he came when she turned her head again, deciding that he deserved nothing less for what he put her through yesterday.

“Come on, don’t be like that, Charlie. I said I was sorry,” he said, sighing when she turned her head so that she could narrow her eyes on him.

“Oh, I must have missed that. Was that before or after you ran out of the hospital yelling ‘Good luck!’?” she demanded, shaking her head in disgust.

“I don’t understand why you’re mad. I waited until you passed out before I left,” Ben said with a helpless shrug as though she hadn’t just disowned him and dropped a white bakery bag on her lap as though that would somehow make up for this latest betrayal.

“They were sewing me up, you jackass!” Charlie said, grabbing the bakery bag and went to toss it at him only to decide to hold off on doing that until after she found out what was in the bag.

“And watching you go through that was just too much for me to take because I love you so much. Doesn’t that mean anything?” Ben asked with a heartfelt sigh as she opened the bag and noted that the cheap bastard only brought her one jelly donut.

“No, it doesn’t,” Charlie said, pulling the small donut out of the bag and taking a bite while she sat there, glaring at him.

“Would it make you feel better if I promised to swing by and check on you at lunchtime?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

She considered him as she took a bite of the donut that tasted a little stale. “Do you actually plan on coming back here at lunchtime or are you hoping that I’ll forgive you and forget your promise when you don’t show up later?”

Looking thoughtful, Ben said, “The second one.”

“I should have pushed you off that swing when I had the chance,” Charlie mumbled bitterly as she took another bite of her donut and was forced to bite back a wince when the move somehow caused her foot currently wrapped in gauze to brush the wrong way against the stack of pillows that it was currently propped on.

“I would have just told Grammy Bea on you,” he said, shrugging it off and making her eyes narrow on him.

“She never would have believed you,” Charlie pointed out as she popped the last bite in her mouth.

“She really would have though since I was her favorite.”

Eyes narrowing dangerously on the man that had been there for her since she was five years old, she said, “Is that really what you think?”

“It’s what I know,” Ben said, nodding as he stood up and gestured towards her foot. “Do you need anything before I go?”

“You’re really going to leave me like this?” Charlie asked, worrying her bottom lip as she did her best to look pathetic.

For a moment, Ben stood there, looking torn, and then…

“Yes, yes, I am,” he said, shrugging it off as he reached for the crutches the emergency room had sent her home with and placed them closer to her bed with a satisfied sigh.

“This is why I hate you,” Charlie said, returning to glaring while she watched as he pushed the bottle of water on her nightstand a few inches closer.

“What are you talking about? I’m making sure that you have everything that you need,” Ben said, gesturing between the remote on the bed next to her and the bottle of water.

“What if I have to use the bathroom?” she asked, narrowing her eyes on him.

“It’s only a few feet away,” Ben said, gesturing absently towards the bathroom that had taken her fifteen minutes to get to this morning.

“Food?”

“What the hell are you talking about? I just fed you,” Ben demanded, gesturing towards the empty bakery bag by her side.

“I took better care of you after you had your tonsils taken out,” she pointed out with a glare.

“You’re really going to compare that to this? I could have died!”

“You had a mild case of tonsillitis. They only took them out to get you to stop bitching,” Charlie reminded him.

“That’s what they told you so that you wouldn’t worry.”

“You can leave now,” Charlie said, nodding slowly as she gestured for him to get out.

“I’ll check on you later,” Ben promised as he reached over and pushed the bottle of water a tiny bit closer.

“We won’t be speaking later if you go out that door, Benjamin Lopez,” Charlie said, watching as he headed towards the door.

“I’ll see you later, Charlie Marshall,” he said mockingly with a chuckle that she did not appreciate, not at all.

“You’re dead to me!”

“I love you, too!” he called back as he closed the door behind him, leaving her sitting there, seething with righteous anger.

Definitely should have pushed him off that swing, Charlie thought, continuing to glare at her front door as she absently reached over for her bottle of water only to accidentally knock it to the floor.

“Damn it,” she said, sighing heavily as she sat there, debating leaving it but…

The fridge was way too far to get to right now, Charlie realized as she carefully shifted closer to the edge of the bed with a pained wince when the move caused her stitches to pull. Closing her eyes, she slowly exhaled as she waited for the pain to go away, only to feel her shoulders sag in defeat when the pain doubled.

Great.

She should have taken an Advil when she had a chance, Charlie thought as she opened her eyes and found herself wondering what Devin was doing here since he’d left for work over an hour ago. That led to her wondering what was in the small white bakery bag he’d placed on the bed next to her. Curious, she picked up the bag and looked inside, noting that there were two very large jelly donuts waiting for her attention.

Pleased with his offering, Charlie selected the plumper of the two donuts and took a small bite while she watched as Devin shifted the grocery bags in his arms so that he could lean over and pick up her bottle of water. Without a word, he placed it back on the nightstand before adding a second bottle of water and a small prescription bottle, which she assumed was the prescription of painkillers that she’d to

ld him that she didn’t need last night.

That was followed by watching him walk over to her kitchen and setting aside the moving boxes that she hadn’t had a chance to unpack yet so that he could put away the food that he’d picked up for her. Once that was done, Devin grabbed one of the rolls of gauze that his cousin had given them last night and walked back over and sat down on the edge of her bed. She nibbled on the incredibly delicious donut as she watched him unwrap the gauze on her foot and inspect her stitches before carefully rolling the new roll of gauze around her foot.

Once that was done, he asked, “Do you need anything else?” while she sat there, considering the large man glaring at her as she continued to nibble on her donut and decided that there were one or two things that she could probably use a hand with since he was offering and all.

Chapter 10

“This isn’t what I had in mind when I asked if you needed anything else,” Devin bit out as he stood there, rubbing his trembling hands down his face as he struggled to figure out how this happened.

“Which is why I really appreciate it,” came the mumbled response from the woman currently stripping naked on the other side of the black shower curtain.

He should have kept his big fucking mouth shut, Devin thought as he watched helplessly as she tossed her shirt through the small gap between the shower curtain and the wall seconds before the light gray shorts that she’d been wearing joined the shirt.

“Can I ask you something?” the reason that he was on the verge of losing his fucking mind asked as the last item was thrown through the small opening, forcing him to reach back and grab hold of the bathroom counter before his legs gave out.

“No,” he bit out as he tried to get the image of her white panties on the bathroom floor out of his mind.

God, he really couldn’t fucking take much more of this.

“Fair enough,” Charlie murmured as she carefully slid her legs beneath the curtain and onto the stack of towels that he’d placed on the floor so that her stitches stayed dry while she took a shower.

Just when he felt himself relax, she said, “I’m ready!”

Sighing heavily, Devin released the counter and reached inside the shower so that he could turn the water on for her.